[Therian]

Originally Posted by timeless2

If someone makes $250,000 as an individual and doesn’t feel prosperous, perhaps his/her expense ratio is weighted the wrong way.

If someone makes $250,000 as a business entity and doesn’t feel prosperous, perhaps his/her expense ratio is weighted the wrong way.

Reads the same.

Now, the difference (in many, many cases) is that someone running a business is likely going to have more expenses beyond their personal locus of control. Operations, shipping, payroll, facilities, equipment, insurance, taxes, etc are all variable and subject to change given market conditions. It’s easy to see how quickly a stream of incoming cash, even the amount of $250,000, can be saturated.

On the flip side, a person who has a family with a gratuitous amount of luxuries might also consume such a cash flow, but is there really a direct benefit to their consumptive pattern? Sure, they might “stimulate” the economy with excessive spending, but when everyone jumps on this bandwagon, we tend to end up where we are today. Read: overstepping your means. This type of individual could be seen as "rich", given the nature of required variable expenses when compared to income.

Put it like this in direct contrast of two households: A quarter million annually for me would definitely put me in the realm of feeling “rich”. Heck, I feel extremely blessed now, and I’m nowhere near that mark. Conversely, a relative of mine, with two businesses (farming and real estate) sees a quarter million as not “rich”, but barely making it. Why? We have two totally different frames of reference with respect to expenditures.

Therefore, I don’t think we can safely apply a label of “rich” to an income stream of $250,000. Where does the threshold change? Hard to say, and it’s very relational to the situation of the individual/business/organization.

Lots of good points. It is indeed hard to make a claim for something across the board. I believe I've spoken towards this point before.

Indeed, there will be some who do not feel rich at $250,000 for whatever special circumstances they may be in.

On average however, and for the average person making $250,000+ a year, I would think that they would consider themselves rich. Again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe my views on this are a product of my environment completely, and I'm out to lunch. I grew up with a single parent, working as a librarian, supported by the modest insurance from the death of my Father. I felt rich, and we were nowhere close to $60,000 a year annual income, let alone $250,000.

When you apply something like this across the country, I have a feeling that you will find those making $250,000+ a year are doing very well for themselves, and I really have a hard time believing that a 6% tax is going to put them in the poor house. Again, maybe I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by BlackArtemis

The cheapest house in my neighborhood is 550,000

it says the median income was $130k in 2000

Definitely a wealthy neighborhood, and yet a 250k income is 100% higher than average.

Originally Posted by BlackArtemis

Funny thing being a few of them employ people in their businesses, those people don't make 250k, I hope they enjoy their tax cut in the unemployment line, cause they will be the first to go.


When saddled with the choice of cutting your take home salary vs firing a few expendable people ( or even firing and rehiring new people at a cheaper rate)

guess which one happens more often?

They make the necessary accounting adjustments so that neither has to happen?