What is Rich? Survey Reveals Income Aspirations
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Americans attribute being “rich” to either earning $150,000 a year or having a net worth of more than $1 million, according to results based on a recent Gallup poll on Friday.
About 53 percent of Americans believe they would need to earn a median of $150,000 a year to be considered rich, the poll found.
However a third of Americans believe less than $100,000 would be considered rich, and about 18 percent considered themselves to be rich if they made less than $60,000 a year. At least 15 percent of Americans say they would need to earn at least $1 million per year before thinking of themselves as rich, the poll found.
Timur Abdrakhmanov, 21, an investment banking analyst in New York’s financial district who currently has an annual income of $70,000, or about $20,000 above the median annual income, says that an annual income of $500,000 should make him rich, for now.
“It’s more than what other people get at this age. New York is expensive and I am ambitious,” Abdrakhmanov said.
Ann Herderson, 62, also of New York, and a manager at a non-profit says she would feel rich if she earned $100,000 per year.
“I would be able to live comfortably… I could go travelling,” s said.
Currently, Americans also believe that having a net worth, or savings in cash, stocks, real estate and other investments of $1 million would make them rich, which was the same as in 2003, according to Gallup.
About 26 percent of Americans say they would need a net worth of at least $1 million to consider themselves rich, of those 14 percent say they need $5 million or more. However 13 percent of the nation would consider themselves rich with less than $100,000 in savings.
The annual income Americans defined to be ‘rich’ rose from 2003 at $120,000 to $150,000 in 2011, according to Gallup.
The Gallup poll finds that people making below $50,000 per year on average say that they would earn at least $100,000 per year to be rich, and those earning above the median household income say they need to earn at least $200,000 a year to be rich.
There were also discrepancies between demographics. Generally men had higher estimates of annual income needed to be rich compared to women. The estimates were also higher for younger versus older Americans, college graduates compared to non-graduates and urban and suburban residents compared people living in towns or rural areas.
Parents with children under 18 years of age also had higher estimates compared to people without minor children.
The Gallup poll results were based on a survey that was conducted from November to December 2011. They were based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,012 adults living in 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.