Good post Nine!
I said earlier -- or maybe in the OWS thread... that what really scares me the most is that people don't have enough savings for retirement. The reason that scares me is because I know what it costs to live and how much it takes to earn enough off of your "savings". Todd said it very well - that it's not how much you make - but how much you spend. That's very true. But there are basic living costs that everybody has... and these take real cash to pay.
If you need 50K to pay your bills now (4K per month) - that will take 60K or more with inflation. Property taxes keep rising etc. To "take home" 60K - a guy might get 2K (maximum) from Social Security.... Now you have to make another 36K after taxes... and that takes just short of one million bucks.
You really can't just sell your house and move somewhere cheaper... it just doesn't work like that. You'll have grandkids and friends - and it's where you've lived for "X" years etc. So that "asset" really isn't available to live on. Plus - most will need to sell their house later when they're needing assisted living etc (it cost me over 500K to support my mother for 4 years... Since I owned the house outright - I sold it for 204K and used that up first). That equity needs to be the court of last resort.
I think what Nine - and I - have been saying is that all this "millionaire" talk is nice if you're looking up from the bottom... it looks like OMG that guy is rich... but in reality -- you have to have a "few" million just to be "comfortable" - a "bunch" to be "rich" - and a gazillion to be the kind of millionaire that people dream about (including the guy that is comfortable and the "rich" guy!). And oh hell yeah life is "easier" when you have some dough but you have to be HAPPY first. Even the Ten Commandments makes a statement about coveting the other guys stuff...
And here's what Nine was saying - it's what makes the difference... I have a personal trainer. While working out - we discuss life etc. He is now invested in some stocks - 10K worth that he'd saved up that was "sitting" in CD's earning zippola. We'd sit and watch CNBC - next thing he's asking about why/what/how - what did I do with this or that and what they were talking about and what it meant...HE TOOK INTEREST on his own! Then asked me for "help" selecting etc. Then he took action and now owns some dividend paying stocks. Now we're working on some ideas that could really be a hit (or not). They're HIS ideas - we're just bouncing around the add ons and the possibilities of marketing etc. My point is... that he hasn't stopped at just being a PT... he's always thinking about "the next thing" - a move up - how to work a little more and what it takes to be an achiever. He's not sitting around being static.. he's active in his own success.
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