Are you wealthy (2 mill.) or just comfortable (1 million)?

[marylander1940]

The answer is not that simple and also depends on where you live. To no surprise is easier to be wealthy in the South but gentrification and people moving to some states might change it soon. 

 

How much money you need to be considered wealthy across the U.S.—it's over $2 million in most places

WWW.CNBC.COM

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Americans say you need $2.3 million to be wealthy in 2025, but that number changes depending on where they live.

 

[marylander1940]

Do you need $1 million to be financially 'comfortable'? Answers here.

WWW.USATODAY.COM

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Most people think you need millions to be wealthy. But what if you merely want to be "comfortable"?

 

[+ Charlie]

My late parents would have considered me wealthy now, but they never lived in 21st century Palm Springs. My father would be flabbergasted at what I paid for a simple haircut at the barber yesterday--he would have budgeted that amount for the family to have a holiday dinner at a good restaurant! He knew about money, because he was a credit investigator for Dun and Bradstreet in New York. But, of course, that was 80 years ago, when they had just bought a three bedroom house in the suburbs for $5500, with a 20 year mortgage (a smaller house across the street from me here just sold for $575,000). 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I read somewhere (Financial Samurai) that wealthy people should not have more than 40% of their net worth tied up in their house.  So, with $2 Million net worth, someone's house should not exceed $800K.  I've looked, and I can't buy a $800K one bedroom in Manhattan and feel wealthy.  I'm looking at moving to Ft Lauderdale in 2 years, and even $800K there doesn't buy anything that would scream "wealthy".

[Pd1_jap]

I guess I'm poor. Any daddies want to rescue me 🤪

[BeamerBikes]

“Father was well off, very well off.  His considerable income was derived from fireworks, bunting and other patriotic accruements”.  - Ragtime 

I’m supposed to be comfortable I suppose but it’s mainly locked up in a 401k prison. Then in home equity as well….  I gotta get busy living.  I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dying.  
 

[Bokomaru]

$2.3M is wealthy in the Northeast??! News to me. I’d say more like 4.0+. 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

On 12/6/2025 at 6:53 AM, marylander1940 said:

The answer is not that simple

Are you wealthy (2 mill.) or just comfortable (1 million)?

I wonder what amount is considered "comfortably wealthy"? 😉 

Edited December 12, 2025 by Vegas_Millennial

[+ PhileasFogg]

Many say that the US lags other countries in household wealth - but these comparisons often exclude the NPV of the social security annuity (and we aren't the only ones to have a federally sponsored retirement trust fund).    But sometimes, wealth is more about consumption.   If I do the math, as a newly minted retiree, if I invest at a rate that earns 2% more than I consume, by new worth will double in 30 years when I'm likely be dead.    It' won't have the same purchasing power for my kids and grandkids, but it will be substantial simply because I limited my spending and investment goals to reasonable targets

 

[jeezifonly]

Me and the huzz are lucky.

We have, in Boomer fashion, done considerably better than our Deression-era parents.

Both our retirements happened with COVID in 2020 - more or less on schedule. 

We have no car loans, nor student loan debt, and have paid off our remodeled residence in a SoCA location we love, so no moving. There's investment property rental income, SS and modest annuity drawdowns. We're not 'lifestyle' types, nor lavish spenders or big travelers. Neither of us had full corporate pension plans, and only recently have dabbled in individual stocks. If together we liquidated everything to go be off the grid, (which would not ever be a thing) we'd be taxed on over 4M I imagine. 

Keeps the nieces and nephews interested. And there's no such thing as extra money until you're dead. 

Edited December 16, 2025 by jeezifonly

[Rudynate]

On 12/6/2025 at 10:14 AM, Charlie said:

My late parents would have considered me wealthy now, but they never lived in 21st century Palm Springs. My father would be flabbergasted at what I paid for a simple haircut at the barber yesterday--he would have budgeted that amount for the family to have a holiday dinner at a good restaurant! He knew about money, because he was a credit investigator for Dun and Bradstreet in New York. But, of course, that was 80 years ago, when they had just bought a three bedroom house in the suburbs for $5500, with a 20 year mortgage (a smaller house across the street from me here just sold for $575,000). 

I remember, in 1960, or thereabouts, my parents decided to really splash on New Year's day and take the entire family to an upscale landmark restaurant on the Erie Canal in Medina NY.  The check for 7 of us, was around $50.00.

[samhexum]

One last unfortunate financial situation for 2025:  by not going to Stopnshop today I will be forfeiting 23 GoPoints, which expire today.  That's 23 cents I'll never get back.

[samhexum]

With Americans paying higher prices for everything from groceries to car insurance, savings are dwindling, credit card debt is mounting and household budgets are stretched thin. 

And so are their options to do something about it. Job insecurity and anxiety have spread with the hiring slowdown and waves of layoffs. Many workers are keeping the job they have rather than hunting for a new one, even if that means it's harder to negotiate better pay. 

Only 1 in 5 workers say their pay increased more than inflation over the past year. One in 3 say their pay kept pace with higher living expenses. 

“The American paycheck isn't keeping up with American life,” Eva Chan, career expert at Resume Genius, which makes resume builder software, said in a statement.

More than half of workers have less than three months of living expenses saved up in the case of a layoff. Nearly a third only have enough to last one month and almost a quarter could hold out one to two months.

The USA TODAY/SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey also found:

42% of workers say their current savings can cover three months or more of living expenses

16% have three to five months worth of living expenses saved up

12% have six to 12 months saved up

14% have more than 12 months saved up

Social media is rife with tearful videos of how hard it has become to make ends meet. Some 14% of workers can’t or struggle to pay their bills each month, PwC found. Another 42% pay their bills with little or nothing left over for savings. PwC says that’s more than half of the workforce experiencing financial strain in 2025.

“I have to work 40 hours a week just so I can have a place to live,” one woman said in one Instagram post. “Forty hours a week makes me $2000 a month and my rent is $1,660. So I work 40 hours a week so I can have a two-bedroom apartment and an extra $300 a month. Like, that doesn’t even cover my phone, internet, food.”

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 11:20 PM by samhexum
because it's that kind of day

[Lotus-eater]

7 hours ago, samhexum said:

 

“I have to work 40 hours a week just so I can have a place to live,” one woman said in one Instagram post. “Forty hours a week makes me $2000 a month and my rent is $1,660. So I work 40 hours a week so I can have a two-bedroom apartment and an extra $300 a month. Like, that doesn’t even cover my phone, internet, food.”

 

That woman is living beyond her means. She makes only $2K a month and yet rents a 2 bedroom apartment. She could get a roommate and cut her housing expense in half. Even worse, she cries because she has to work 40 hours per week: "working makes me soooooooooo exhausted" that she can only rouse herself to do other housework/errands on weekends, which leaves her with no free time. Talk about the stereotypical snowflake Gen Zoomer.

Edited Tuesday at 06:59 AM by Lotus-eater

[+ Charlie]

At least one third of the mail in my spam folder every day lately is ads offering some sort of "debt relief." But except for my mortgage, I won't buy anything that I can't pay off in full within a month (probably a psychological legacy from my penny-pinching parents). 

Edited Tuesday at 04:40 PM by Charlie

[+ Pensant]

On 12/15/2025 at 12:31 PM, PhileasFogg said:

Many say that the US lags other countries in household wealth - but these comparisons often exclude the NPV of the social security annuity (and we aren't the only ones to have a federally sponsored retirement trust fund).    But sometimes, wealth is more about consumption.   If I do the math, as a newly minted retiree, if I invest at a rate that earns 2% more than I consume, by new worth will double in 30 years when I'm likely be dead.    It' won't have the same purchasing power for my kids and grandkids, but it will be substantial simply because I limited my spending and investment goals to reasonable targets

 

And don’t forget “step up value” for your kids when they inherit your real estate. It’s a great tax code benefit.

[+ Pensant]

My deceased money manager friend in Newport Beach once told me “10 million” is the magic number.

[+ PhileasFogg]

16 minutes ago, Pensant said:

And don’t forget “step up value” for your kids when they inherit your real estate. It’s a great tax code benefit.

Not just real estate.  Retirement accounts get stepped up basis too.  Saved me a fortune when my mom died 

[Kevin Slater]

4 hours ago, PhileasFogg said:

Not just real estate.  Retirement accounts get stepped up basis too.  Saved me a fortune when my mom died 

I believe it's the converse, actually.  Non-retirement (i.e. taxable brokerage) accounts get the stepped up cost basis (as of the date of death).  Distributions from traditional pre-tax accounts are taxed to the beneficiary as ordinary income, regardless of what the investments were worth at death.  For Roth accounts, there is no tax consequence.  

Kevin Slater

 

[Kevin Slater]

5 hours ago, Pensant said:

My deceased money manager friend in Newport Beach once told me “10 million” is the magic number.

The formula is quite simple: a million more than you have today.

Kevin Slater

[+ PhileasFogg]

3 hours ago, Kevin Slater said:

I believe it's the converse, actually.  Non-retirement (i.e. taxable brokerage) accounts get the stepped up cost basis (as of the date of death).  Distributions from traditional pre-tax accounts are taxed to the beneficiary as ordinary income, regardless of what the investments were worth at death.  For Roth accounts, there is no tax consequence.  

Kevin Slater

 

I don't know...I suspect the rules have changed.   For instance, what I inherited was grandfathered and not subject to RMD - which wouldn't have mattered if the balances had been taxed, right?   Beyond that outdated experience I had, I'm certain you are better versed in current requirements than me.

[+ purplekow]

American live over their means.  They buy the newest phone, a better car, get meals delivered or go out to eat.  They pay heavy interest on credit card debt.  They hire expensive escorts.  Of those, my phone is old, my care was 10 years old until a deer ran into it, so now I have a three year old car, I stopped getting meals in.   I have one credit card and it is paid off automatically every month.  When I go out to eat, it is not usually a spectacular place.  As for the escorts, well we all have our needs which are a bit on the costly side.  

The truth is, I do not like spending money when I can avoid it.  At this point in my life however, my limited travel will be economy or first class, not coach.  I will allow myself the occasional financial indulgence at a restaurant.  But, I rarely get wine with dinner.  

I think many Americans could avoid debt if they tried.  I do realize, there are plenty of people who have jobs that barely let them get by.  When I was in that position, I had three jobs, two full time and one part time.  They allowed me to pay for school and become trained in a better paying field. 

 

[+ JamesB]

Assets Typically Subject to Step-Up in Basis:
 

Real Estate: Homes, land, rental properties or other real property owned individually or jointly 

Stocks and Bonds: Individual stocks, bonds or similar securities held in taxable brokerage accounts.

Mutual Funds and ETFs: Funds and exchange traded funds in taxable accounts.

Collectibles and Tangible Property like art, antiques, coins, precious metals, furnishings or other personal property.

Business Interests: Ownership in partnerships, LLCs, sole proprietorships or other business entities.

Assets held in revocable trusts or jointly owned (with rights of survivorship) often qualify, as they are typically included in the estate. Bank accounts, cash, or similar non-appreciating assets are at face value and don't require a step-up, but they are passed without capital gains implications.

 

Assets Typically NOT Subject to Step-Up in Basis

 

Retirement Accounts: Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457 plans or pensions.

Annuities: Tax-deferred annuities (gains are taxed as ordinary income).

Assets in Irrevocable Trusts: Those not included in the decedent's estate (e.g., irrevocable grantor trusts) generally do not qualify.

Gifted Assets: Property gifted during the owner's lifetime (prior to death) carries over the original basis, without step-up.

[ajvanguard]

On 1/28/2026 at 10:10 AM, Pensant said:

My deceased money manager friend in Newport Beach once told me “10 million” is the magic number.

Does the $10 million include real estate?