I don't know your net worth, but having a net worth between 5-10m might be considered rich to most because that put you in the 96-98th percentile of net worth. It's ok that might not change your mentality; after all individuals with 5m vs. 10m probably can have similar lifestyle (if their net worth is not tied up in their homes).
Wealth percentile calculator for you to compare to United States data, and see top one percent, average, and median. What net worth percentile are you?
dqydj.com
One thing people should realize there are levels to these thing but that does not mean you are not rich. If you are on the top percentile of net worth, you are rich by almost all standard. Yes, you won't have Gulf-stream G700 like the billionaires.
You probably saw the interview in which Odell Beckham Jr (NFL player) said a 5-yr 100m contract is not a lot of money, and broke it down how much that will ultimate be after taxes/fees etc... It's a lot money to most but not to him.
It's just there are different levels of being rich.
For me, being rich depends on a combination of assets and liabilities. For our household, each of us have a liquid passive income more than twice the median income for our roles ($270k for me given the median income of $135k for pharmacists, $380k for the median IP attorney in my wife's case) and actually quite a bit more. We have absolutely no liabilities as a separate passive fund pays all taxes, all upkeep, etc. We have liquid above that range, and nonliquid in that range. Everyone figures out a money sink at that amount. Ours happens to be "security."
One of our nonliquid assets that will take care of us should the economy completely fail is a farm that sells to JBS and Cargill, and is fully paid off with land, equipment, and labor. It's not anywhere near as performing as the stock market, but we both wanted a nonliquid asset that has a major personal utility function. In terms of learning, I can tell you that sellling heads of cattle run us around $125 a head in profit right now even with beef prices skyrocketing because of the structural imbalance in the market and herd size, but having cattle access is really nice. I can't believe that there is such a thing as a stupid farmer owner in modern America given how razor-thin the margins are and the unwritten requirement that you have to know the commodity markets, or you go bankrupt. For 1200 acres, the ending profit is like $55k after paying for labor, fuel, insurance, and other expenses. As you can probably tell from the writing, the farm isn't run as a tax write-off like many physicians I know.
Both of us were highly influenced by Dmitry Orlov's books about living through an economic collapse and the difference between someone who has material assets (gold, currency, etc.) vs. someone who has utility assets (farm, power generation, access to labor like a gang). What's money worth without security? We also have rather good disability insurance and bought a Charter House condo at Rochester to be grandfathered into the Mayo system's for long-term care.
Wealthy is having a majordomo or equivalent such that you don't even deal with money. In present day, that can be as low as $10M using the 2% rule for a funds manager, but most in my circles define wealthy as having sufficient assets to have a family office. At the 2% rule, that's $50M or so.
Being rich is a reasonable attainment for us without necessarily going to the extremes Momus and perhaps BMB did. We don't invest in the market at all, preferring index funds and just making money. An average pharmacist couple should be in the $3-4M range adjusted for inflation with two children on retirement with the historical market. I'm hoping Momus and BMB have made their magic numbers and are enjoying life away from it all. As for me, I like to see how this turns out, and I love what I do in academia and government.
I hope you all make enough and are in a good enough job that you don't think about these issues and just live the good life. What's sad is that many don't. But given AI, the chain pharmacy debacle, and the upcoming hospital collapses, I remind you all that I have always observed that survival to voluntary retirement (30 years) in our line of work is somewhat rare. I used to think it was 40% or so of those who were consistenly full-time, I think it is less now. It was not easy in our parent's time, and it doesn't look great for us right now.
