Exactly What Is “Rich”?

There has been a topic, which has been going on for as long as I can remember that has been an on again/off again type of discussion. It concerns the issue of “What Is Rich?“, or “What constitutes being wealthy?” . The outcome of any such discussion ended with the fact that being Rich or Wealthy depended a viewpoint. In other words, wealth is often relative.

Don’t get me wrong, I am sure even someone with Bill Gates’ wealth would claim that Mr. Gates was an extremely wealthy man, however that is the extreme and very much like saying a person with no property and no income is poor. Such extremes don’t answer the the question of “How much does one have to earn or have to be considered as wealthy?”.

Prior to beginning this topic, I would like to tell a story. The reason for my telling it is to exemplify the idea of how different people view the status of Wealthy and Poor.

One night while I was in Honduras, I was bored and couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to disturb the other person in the hotel room, so I decided to take my briefcase down to the restaurant in the lobby and putter around with a few designs I was working on. After I had taken a seat in the eating area, I saw a ‘waiter’ walking my way. I asked him if I could just get some coffee and use his table to do some work. Since it was around midnight he said that it wouldn’t be a problem and I could use the table as long as I liked. So I got out my sketches and calculations to do some work.

It was about half an hour later that I became bored, ordered another coffee and pushed my things aside. I sat there watching the few people in the lobby area move around going about their business. It was then when the ‘waiter’ came over to me and said that he saw I quit working and he wondered if he could speak with me. I told him to grab a coke or a coffee and have a seat. I thought he was bored too for I noticed him mostly standing in the doorway to the kitchen looking like he was wishing to be somewhere else.

He began by asking me about America and where I lived. I told him I was from Las Vegas and I answered his other questions. He seemed highly interested. I then asked about Honduras and he looked so relieved. My inner voice said “Uh-oh, just what did you step into”. I wasn’t a novice at traveling to foreign places.

He told me about Honduras being a poor country, which is a fact I already knew. He told me the unemployment rate and what the average worker earned ($300 to $600 a year at that time). He then began saying how expensive things were and the living conditions of most Hondurans. At this time I began to see that he was gearing up to ask me something and I had no doubt that the military or the Honduran Government would classify it as ‘black marketing’. I could not help but to notice that he particularly made it a point to tell me the cost of Televisions in Honduras (about $1,300 for a 13 inch black and white). I admit that I really never bothered to check out the accuracy of his figures, but I was told by other sources that the average Honduran only earned about $300 a year, if they worked at all. Those employed at American Companies, like Coke or Dole, tended to earn better wages than the average Honduran.

He then turned the conversation again to me and “America”, asking what the average wages were and he even asked if it was alright to ask how much I earned a year. I told him that I didn’t mind and answered his questions. So I said I earned about $1,500 a month, more or less, and I didn’t know the average wages in America. I did know what some occupations earned, but that was about it and I gave him the data. I also told him what minimum wage was and explained that to him. He was astonished, he thought minimum wage workers earned a lot of money and he thought I was rich. It was then that I told him “Yeah, but the money doesn’t go far”. I had to explain what I meant and I broke down my expenses for the month. He saw that I only ended up with 100 to 200 dollars a month for my own entertainment. I didn’t confuse him with the gambling aspect and how I would often win enough money to play the quarter slots for a couple hours a night about twice a week.

By this time the woman in the kitchen came out and sat down. He told her what I was saying and she was amazed at how rich “Americans” were. $200 a month for entertainment was something most Hondurans could not afford. It was then that the woman said something and the man translated it to mean: “She asked me if you could get her a 13 inch black and white TV. She would pay you $700 for it”. I first asked, “You mean Lempira, don’t you?” He told me “No, I mean $700 in American money.”. I jokingly made the comment of them being paid well in this job and he told me “No. She has 7 brothers, 2 Sisters and her parents that would all help pay”

I was not shocked at the offer to do such things for people in foreign countries, but I was a little rattled over the fact that these people were willing to spend so much money on a garbage TV like that. I told him that I couldn’t do it because I just bought a 19″ color TV for about $350 and I made the comment that I couldn’t charge them anymore than $50 for carrying fees. I knew that I could bring 1 TV into the country legally and no one worried whether I took it back home again. I told him that $700 would get her a 25″ color TV. He insisted that she would prefer a black and white set because they knew people that could fix those, and if I could get a bigger black and white set then she would be happy. I told him to let me think on it and talk to people, maybe something could be worked out because I thought this was my last trip to their country. They were willing to give me the money the next night, if I wanted it. Well I ended up seeing a good friend of mine and telling him about it. I knew he didn’t mind a little black marketing and as a favor to me he would give them a price not much more than it cost him. I knew that if he would do it, he wouldn’t rake them over the coals. That got me out of the loop pretty quick, which made me happy enough.

I like telling that story because it serves to show people’s perspectives and how they can vary widely. This Honduran man and woman thought I was wealthy until they found out how much money I needed to for living expenses. They still thought I was doing well, after the discussion, but I no longer was some “Rich American”. I learned just how poor some people in other countries actually were through something other than 3rd party reports and books. I saw first hand how some people would scrimp and save or do other things just to have some meager simple luxury item. I thought I knew poor in America, I actually saw it in places like Honduras.

Even in America, or other wealthy countries, there are contrasts from person to person with the idea of what makes one rich or poor. It mainly a thing called ‘Perspective’.

I did a little research for this blog article and found that on February 29, 2008, the IRS announced that the U.S. median gross income was $61,500. According to “ESTIMATED STATE MEDIAN INCOME, BY FAMILY SIZE AND BY STATE FOR FY 2009″, the median income for the US for a family of 4 was about $70,354. Other sources claim that if you had $5 Million, then you were rich. On the other hand other sources claim $25 Million is the magic number. Some notable people, such as President Obama and Sen. McCain, disagree with some of these figures. Meanwhile the ‘issue’ of what “Rich” is carries on with no hard core set of figures figures that everyone can agree on in sight. We can most often agree on the extremes, but we can’t really point to a dollar value and all agree that this was the line between Rich and Poor.

In my view, I believe anyone earning over the average income is classified as ‘doing well’ and anyone below that figure falls in varying degrees of being poor. Income alone most often does not determine whether someone is rich or poor because a person can earn huge amounts of money per year and be in debt up to their little pink ears. I tend to go on the idea that Rich or Poor incorporates many things. Things like Salaries, savings and investments, property owned, and other things all come into play. Debts also can detract from their apparent wealth. However if a person’s personal wealth is in the millions, I consider them rich.

So I put the question to youi all… “What is Rich?”