Many Americans living in the lower, middle, and even upper middle classes now more than ever before believe that they are striving for wealth that is unreachable. They believe that they will never be truly wealthy, only perhaps maybe with a little more luck they just may be a little better off than they once were, or better yet, better off than the people next door or that guy down the block.
Do the celebrity images put forward by the media exemplify true wealth? If that is the case then maybe most of us will never be truly wealthy.
This struggle with what real wealth should, especially during this recession, bring to light many questions, what is wealth? Is it the size of the house we live in? Is it flashy cars and jewelry? Is it were we take our vacations? Realistically the most important question should be how is wealth defined for the average man—that lower, middle, and upper middle class family that makes up the bulk of the American people?
Many Americans define wealth by the size of the income they earn. How much income per year defines wealthy? Depending on where you are starting form your opinion may change. Is it a “triple digit” income? Perhaps $75,000 means wealthy in your book?
Well, according to Kiplinger Washington Editors if you made at least $35,000 in 2008 you are more prosperous than over half of all of taxpaying Americans. According to the Department of Agriculture, in 2008 nearly 50 million Americans struggled to put food on the table. With these figures along with figures from the US Census, that is roughly one sixth of the entire population of the United States. One sixth of the United States had a hard time feeding themselves and their families.
I find that statistic staggering. Never the less, that puts that $35,000 into some kind of perspective that is a lot of money. In fact, if you were to be able to make a little less than twice that, $66,000, you would be in the top twenty five percent of all wage earners in the US. That means realistically that you would be more affluent than 75 of the American population.
So, what’s my point? Well, if you are fortunate enough to fall into these categories, why do you not consider yourself of considerable wealth? Why do you not see yourself as having the opportunity to be even more prosperous? Should so many of us define wealth by outward appearance, showy cars, perhaps a boat or private schooling for the kids?
Why not define wealth, in these times of recession, as the ability to be without debt, have food on the table, and perhaps being able to invest some money into a future for your family, whether it be college funds for the kids or a strong stable plan for retirement?
Wealth can also be measured by what you do with your money and how you make it work for you, after all it is easier to save money than it is to make more so why not make it work harder for you?
Author Resource:
"Your Money Matters" By Carl Hampton Author of "From Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire" http://CarlHampton.com
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