The typical idea of acting rich is to drive a huge Mercedes or BMW, live in a posh condo in downtown Manhattan, or a huge McMansion in Silicon Valley.
The only problem is that people who aren’t millionaires, and own huge McMansions with BMWs on a $100,000 – $250,000 salary aren’t really rich.
We don’t drive around with our net worth on the side of our car, plastered on our foreheads, or painted on the side of our modest homes, but maybe we should.
I may not be a millionaire, billionaire or gazillionaire, but I feel rich without having to show off and act like I am.
At least, I don’t think I wear, use or drive what people would consider “rich”.
(10+ year old minivan, no designer logos or clothing of any kind..)
My idea of being rich is having everything I could possibly need and want, and just being happy & relaxed.
What I don’t need, is the stress of having a fancy car and home that I can’t really afford without the job that I have to work to pay for all of it.
I wouldn’t have the delicious freedom of being able to quit my job at any time and saying: “See you later“, and having the option to move to another part of the country, or the world!
To me, that’s the way I feel that rich people live — they’re able to pack up, get on a plane and go anywhere they want, and to do anything they want.
And that is exactly what I am able to do now.
Even if I had billions in the bank account, I am not sure I would change my feeling about not having to be tied down to anything.
Perhaps I’d just live out of a very nice, fancy hotel and just rent fancy cars every week to drive, ordering specially prepared meals for every whim and fancy.
I’d probably just upgrade my life but the principles of my life, and my attitude would stay the same.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
I agree with you that feeling rich and acting rich are two totally different things! However I would argue that you can totally feel AND act rich on $100K-$250K a year. It depends where you live of course (and how many dependents you have), but in most areas of our country you can live in a posh urban condo or suburban McMansion and also drive a luxury car comfortably on that salary – while also saving heavily. But regardless, I think most people spend way too much trying to ‘feel’ rich when really that just makes you feel poorer if you don’t have the bank account to back it up.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m very new to the personal finance world and have some serious catching up to do in terms of paying down my massive student debt (I downloaded the brilliant budgeting sheet and I love it!) Feeling rich will be several years away for me, but the one thing I’m learning on my path to financial freedom is that wealth is not determined by how much you earn, but by how much you spend.
I am not $Rich nor do I act $Rich but I do want to be Rich :). Rich for me is having balanced life. This translates to having long lasting and close relationships with families and friends, lead a healthy/fit lifestyle that involves a lot of outdoor activities, have money to provide for those I love and have money to spend time and enjoy life with friends and families!
CONTENTMENT. When I feel content with what I have – why would I need more? SECURITY. When I can sleep at night with the knowledge that I have a fully-funded Emergency Fund – why would I need more? DEBT. When people are amazed (that’s so so sad), that the only Debt I have is my home – yikes, why would I need more ?! xoxo, 😀
Stay smart, FB! You are right on the money, excuse the pun 🙂 I fell into that trap of spending everything I/we earned plus more on a big custom built home, flashy cars and all the rest of it. I was never more miserable. Today, we live on one income, have money in the bank and live a more minimalist lifestyle. We are much happier than we could ever have believed possible living a less materialistic, consumerist life. Now, I’m talking about my own personal situation and mindset when I say that. Each to his/her own.
This is exactly what we have been doing living humble life styles and well beyond our means. Both of us are at work, but we could quite comfortably live on one salary only.
I sincerely hope that over period of time our position will improve and we could start feeling / getting to financial independence. In the current climate there is no incentive to save the money. I recently did some calculations and the results are very much frustrating, to be brutally honest. Have a look yourself – they are all published.
If you invest $ 40, 000 a year over 35 years, at modest inflation rate of 2% and administration fee of 1-2% you need stock market to perform at 4% just to preserve value of your money and higher to gain anything.
This means that you are only preserving money you are investing at a very high risk. So it is just plain wisdom – is there a point to be frugal and try to save, if you ended up loosing money?
Feeding financial industry or living your life in full now?
You described my idea of rich EXACTLY. In fact, I’m forwarding this to my husband because you said it better than I’ve been able to.
I don’t feel rich nor act rich. My only luxury is my large downtown condo but I have to work to pay for it. I definitely act less rich in comparison to a lot of my friends in similar financial situations. Your comment about having your money plastered on your forehead reminded me of a friend. This was a girl that was all about acting rich – we’re talking about going into 40k consumer debt due to shopping, annoucing her new Louis bag on facebook, telling people the second she met them what a lucractive career she has, and showing off her gold visa card at every whim. We’re no longer friends for this and other reasons, but by the end, when I was getting really tired of her show-off ways, I really wanted to tell her “why don’t you get a tattoo on your forehead that says “I make a lot of money, and this purse is expensive? wouldn’t that be easier than having to tell every single new person you met?” Maybe I should have said it in any case, I wonder how she would have reacted :p
I agree with you. If I don’t have freedom to do as I please with my life, I can’t feel rich. At present, I neither act nor feel rich – I need my job to get by, and I don’t live a lifestyle I can’t afford. But one day, I want to be able to work my own hours and do my own thing without worry.