Are you a millionaire? poll

I've often wondered how many millionaires we have here at DU, and I have never seen a poll here about it, so I'll make it simple.


Do you have a net worth over one million dollars?

I'm not suggesting a majority or anything, but folks tend to forget the equity they have in their home counts towards their "net worth". Between that, 401K's, and savings, more folks are technically "millionairs" that realize it. In terms of "net worth" most of us don't have our money in "cash" so to speak. And if you start to figure in the value of retirement plans, Social Security, etc. folks are "worth" more than they realize.

real estate values in the big east coast/west coast urban areas push many in the middle class into nominal millionaire status.

Given the actual purchase power of the dollar, and the returns from t-bills, 10 million is a better measure of who's rich and who isn't.

to enter the world of multiple residences that double as private hotels, private airports, and the rest of the infrastructure that keeps the plutocrats well separated from the rest of us, invisible unless we know where to look.

It also gets you treated as a poor relation by the true plutocracy.

Most people who are counted as millionaires in net worth have most of that net worth tied up in houses they bought long ago in areas that saw the biggest real estate bubble. I have one aunty in California whose house went from a modest $25,000 all the way up to $2,000,000 before the crash. It's still "worth" a cool mill, but good luck selling it in this market.

Paper worth with no possibility of access is what a lot of "millionaires" have, especially in this economy.

Then there are the ones who looked at their paper net worth and decided they wanted the lifestyle enjoyed by the truly rich and have leveraged themselves all the way down to a negative net worth. There are more of those out there than you'd think and they're still counted as millionaires because of what they own, even though they owe as much or more.

Most new money dies broke, and that will likely happen to a lot of new "millionaires," especially the ones who let it go to their heads and used it to leverage debt in order to live the high life.

The bottom line is that being a millionaire now is not what it used to be 50 years ago.

I have an empty bank, but some (inaccessible) assets still.

and some old clothes and household goods (are they still 'goods' if they are all worn out, broke down, and usually picked from yardsales, dumpster and thrift stores)..even if I could restore the few antiques I have left it would not amount to more than a few thousand. Living with HIV(and associated illness) will ruin you financially and in order to get help you have to be destitute and indigent (or indignant?).

If you looked at my bank balance right now, though, I'm a hundredaire.

Worked my ass off for 25 years in a good paying profession and I'm not even close. Nobody gave me anything and I have inherited nothing either, so maybe people have lucky enough to be sitting on a valuable house - I dunno.

so if it has appreciated enough, maybe we are half-millionaires? Dunno.

:spank:

Like you, I've worked around 25 years in relatively good-paying jobs, been generally frugal, invested as much as I legally can (usually between 15% and 16% ) in 401Ks, dumped the max amount in IRAs when I was self-employed (around $3000 each the last time we did it in 2005 or 2006), and we are still under $500,000 including the equity in our house (to which we pay an extra $200 per month toward the principal).

Go figure.

P.S. This is not counting the money we've dumped into college funds, which I reckon is close to 6 figures by now.

Its a sensible profession. Perhaps you should consider a career change.

Can you imagine how much of a shock that would be? I hate weddings and all the crap that goes into them. Uggh, now I'm imagining my daughters getting married - I can't afford that shit!

Me either but we paid off our house as soon as we could (7 years) so yeah, we're sitting on a valuable house that we worked our asses off for.

Without that we certainly aren't close and I'm not even sure real estate should count towards such a declaration (at least not a primary residence...)

I thought about posting "yes" just for the hell of it, I can't imagine that I'm the only one.

If you add up home equity and all retirement funds it comes to just over a million, but if I had to liquidate in a hurry I'd not get that sum in green folding things net (mostly thanks to 401K penalties/taxes etc).

No inheritance either (technically I think I got a few thousand from a distant relatiove a while back). Just persistence in 401K and savings despite several bubbles and busts, and some fairly judicious housing choices.

As such I didn't vote.

in my 401K over next 20 years I would have been one at 62. Well that's what I did and some SOB from AIG ended up with most of it.

that is between my two properties' equity. however if I should sell out, I would have a million dollars without new income or a place to live.

Brought a property years ago that gets me over $1M in net worth today, but the reality is I have a middle class income at best based on my pension(s) and teaching. Prop 13 is a godsend for me.

Okay, okay, I'm not that broke. But I'm no millionaire, either, unless you count that 100 trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe I've got somewhere at home, and that bill might buy me half a loaf of bread.

for me, both answers are no.

Depending on what you could get if you sold all of my instruments.

:)

I thought you were asking if I was a nillionaire.

$0,000,000.

Actually age doesn't matter and neither does the money. But a lot of people are attracted to people who have wealth. That's why you see so many rich people with trophy wives or husbands. People with hearts and minds are the real treasures in this world. Money doesn't mean anything.

I mean, I'm working harder and harder and that's the way you get rich in this country, right?

Any day now....

Maybe if they make them measured in kilometers, and if I pull really, really hard, I might, one day, get back to even.



Millionaire?


I'd have to hit the lottery. Otherwise, time is against me.

This is going to be sooo accurate.

About 20% of DUers, 1% of the population. Sort of explains the love of capitalism in these parts. Liberalism and capitalism go hand in glove. The corollary is that Liberal is not left.