The greedy rich owe their ill gotten gains to three factors

[Kidlicious]

I, with a regular bachelors out of college after five years make right around half that,

WTF?! I thought you were in the Navy.

[Patroklos]

The pay charts have changed a bit since your day But that is everything (not just base pay) and gross.

[Kidlicious]

So you actually get paid more in the Navy than if you were a civilian? It used to be the opposite.

[Patroklos]

No, I would be making a whole lot more on the outside using my classmates who recently got out as a marker, and they didn't have military experiance that translates as readily as mine does to civilian applications. I am sure you have heard the old saying "choose your rate, choose your fate."

Now, that was last year when I had my letter written, I didn't even bother looking once the job market collapsed and just signed up for another tour anyway, the implications were obvious.

[Ben Kenobi]

If it were just about staying in school and working hard, Galnemer and I would be rolling around on a pile of ****ing gold.

You'll get there, Guynemer. You've got a doctorate? You'll be free and clear pretty soon, if you make the right decisions.

I'm free of my loans, but then I didn't shell out for an advanced degree either. The hard part is in the beginning, but it gets easier after that. Trust me.

[Wiglaf]

I make over $150,000 a year on investments and gravedigging alone. I'm not sure how to say this but I think I'm smarter than everyone here to be getting that kind of return in this economy.

[Jon Miller]

As this thread proves, "rich" is hard to define. In many respects, over half of us are rich. In the US, a two income household, where each income is reasonable, throws off an incredible amount of money -- over time it is much more than needed even for those with modest budgeting skills. In most parts of the US (e.g., Columbus, Ohio, and Newport News, Virginia), it's dirt cheap to live grand.

Rents in the part of Newport News where I live are the same as rents in DC.... spending over 1000$ for a crappy two bedroom apartment is not 'dirt cheap to live grand'.

I view "rich" as an accumulation of wealth such that you would not have to work, even with a comfortable lifestyle. Most rich are older people who have spent less than they earned consistently through their lifetime and have invested in financial instruments with reasonable return.

I consider rich to be someone who does not have to work to live grand, or who does work but lives extravagantly.

Living grand I take to mean a nice house, a couple nice cars, nice TV/entertainment. A nice vacation or an expensive hobby...

Extravagantly means an extra house (at least), expensive weekend trips, basically more of everything.

JM

[Jon Miller]

I, with a regular bachelors out of college after five years make right around half that, I have a hard time seeing a doctor not pushing well over the 100K range after residency and a couple years proving he is competent.

That's true, but 100k is not enough to be rich right now.

JM

[DirtyMartini]

A lot of black women aren't married because such a large number of black men are in prison.

[Jon Miller]

Did no one look at the census data I posted? It handles all of these issues directly.

Even the high average (I think 4.8m over the work life of someone who gets a professional degree) would barely classify you as rich if you were very careful about what you spend. i live pretty cheaply, other than food, in a not dirt cheap part of the country, and I don't quite live on 20k. If you don't have kids you are looking at saving at most 4m after a lifetime of work.... and that is if you are very careful while you work (don't buy a fancy house/tv/hobbies/cars/etc).

JM

[DirtyMartini]

I, with a regular bachelors out of college after five years make right around half that, I have a hard time seeing a doctor not pushing well over the 100K range after residency and a couple years proving he is competent.

For the record:
College tuition, figure 10K x 4 years
Med school tuition 25k/year on average x 4 years
Living expenses x 8 years
Followed by 3 years (minimum) of residency at about 40k/year

So, your primary care doc starts his actual career making 160k at age 32 and may have something like 200k in student debt to pay back.

I'm not saying doctors aren't well paid, it's just not exactly a road to easy riches.

[Jon Miller]

Fair point. My 4m if you just save and live very very cheaply after a lifetime of working with a professional degree, is only true if you get helped through college. Otherwise it is less.

JM

[DanS]

Even the high average (I think 4.8m over the work life of someone who gets a professional degree) would barely classify you as rich if you were very careful about what you spend.

You are forgetting the most powerful force in nature -- geometric progressions.

[Jon Miller]

I don't consider living like I make minimum wage until I am 65, if I put a lot of effort into my work, and am smart, to be an acceptable way to be rich after I am 65.

JM

[Patroklos]

That's true, but 100k is not enough to be rich right now.

You need to factor in when you are making that 100K. For a 20 something 100K is living pretty damn large indeed. Hell, even without that 20K I pretty much live the life I want.

Rents in the part of Newport News where I live are the same as rents in DC.... spending over 1000$ for a crappy two bedroom apartment is not 'dirt cheap to live grand'.

Stop living in that area. I grew up in Hampton Roads, you aren't going to pull any wool over my eyes about that housing market