Here at Get Rich Slowly, we imbibe many flavors of frugality, smart investing, and money management. Between J.D.’s (and others’) posts and the treasure trove of comments, you could build a path to wealth tailored to your individual income, assets, and circumstances.<\/p>\n
But how will you know when you’re done? Are you there yet? Are you rich? And what will you do once you get there?<\/p>\n
When I worked as a lawyer at a Big Bank I conducted an informal poll of my co-workers, asking what their magic number was: What dollar figure would make them feel comfortable retiring? (Or at least leaving their comfortable jobs to pursue their passions?) I guessed that at least some would say $1 million would be enough to let them leave in comfort. After all, we weren’t living in a big city, and the cost of living in our town was pretty reasonable.<\/p>\n
I was wrong: $1 million wasn’t even close to the magic number.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This didn’t completely surprise me. Some people have a lifestyle they want to maintain, and they’ll have to save a lot<\/i> of money if they want to maintain that lifestyle. But even those colleagues who lived frugally threw out numbers like “$5-7 Million, minimum,” citing the impact of taxes, inflation, medical care, the desire to travel, etc.<\/p>\n $5-7 Million? Minimum?<\/i><\/p>\n I have a friend whose husband makes a six-figure income at his job, plus significant income as a consultant. They have a million-dollar home and a cottage on a lake and one million in a retirement account. One day, I made an off-hand comment about how wealthy they were, and my friend vehemently objected to the description. “We are not<\/i> wealthy,” she said. “I’m not saying we’re poor. We’re comfortable, but we’re not wealthy.”<\/p>\n On the other end of the spectrum, most of the world would view the readers of this blog as incredibly wealthy. (Check out this “Wealth-o-meter<\/a>” to see how you compare to the rest of the world.) On a personal note, my job was eliminated by the Big Bank at the beginning of this Great Recession. I got a severance package, which has since run out. Despite the absence of a steady income, I’m not alarmed, hysterical, or panicked. Most days, I feel blessed, perhaps even \u2014 dare I say it? \u2014 wealthy. Why?<\/p>\n On one level, my husband and I are the poster children for Why You Should Establish an Emergency Fund. We did the things that readers of this blog do, including:<\/p>\n This meant that when I lost my job, we knew we had resources to fall back on. In addition, by viewing our financial situation as just another challenge, we adopted many of the cost-cutting strategies on this and other blogs, which allowed us to substantially reduce our expenses.<\/p>\n For me, the bottom line is this:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What about you? Do you think of yourself as wealthy? Do you have a magic number? Are you waiting until you’re wealthy to do what you love? How will you know when you’re rich enough?<\/p>\n\n
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