Centurion

Excellent point you brought up there. They talked about it on 60 minutes a year ago. I was very shocked because in Sweden it is totally orthodox to take loans for buying material things except a house or a car. On the show they showed a couple of people who had used their house as a security for for like 5 loans or something. They were all in dept but didn't have a problem with it.

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Matt

Debt is every where- in the private sector, the public sector etc. etc. However if its domestic debt-or debt within the U.S. it shouldnt hurt the economy all that much-but if we owe all sorts of money to neighboring countries then we might have some issues.

Hypersonic

Also, don't forget that the Japanese and Chinese Foreign banks buy US government debt -- they will make hundreds of billions of dollars from the excesses of the US.

The future could be very bleak for millions of people.

Check out THIS thread.

NarutoRamen

To answer your questions to why one might have those things to truly say they're rich is because where I come from, the culture I was born into and the culture I live in now Wealth isn't measured by How much money is in your bank account, it is measured by the things you own.

I didn't say that you have to take out loans to buy your cars, to buy your big ass house or any of that. I said you must OWN those things. Owning means that everything has been paid off. I'm not one of those people who count loans as owning something. For example, I don't own my car yet, the bank owns it. So when someone asks me, "is that your?" I always tell them, "I'm still paying it off." That is how I classify things. So when I say you must own those things I mean you must absolutely, completely F__King own it.

A mansion 5-10million
2 super exotics: 1million
extra property: 5-10 milion

just that right there is 11-21milion. any questions?

450SEL6.9

I didn't that say you or anyone in particular have to take out loans either to afford mansions, cars, cottages either . . . I was merely pointing out a sad fact that many households do pay for their lavish lifestyles with easy debt. Originally, you never said you needed to "own" the abovementioned items. You said you needed to "have" them. I didn't know what you mean by having them.

Also, ownership doesn't have much to do with debt. I worked in both a bank and a law firm. Legally, ownership doesn't mean everything has been paid off. I know you have a different perspective and that's okay. According to most property laws, ownership has more to do with title. If a property developer puts up a building, it owns the finished building, even if it had to borrow from a bank to build it. The bank has a claim against ownership only if their loan is not repaid.

450SEL6.9

But a debt is still a debt. Debts need to be repaid! Didn't John Travolta play a kneecap-smashing loan shark in a movie and say exactly that?

Canada's economy is booming and the outgoing central bank head is already expressing concern about debt-financed takeovers by hedge funds and private equity. These are multibillion dollar businesses. If their borrowings provoke concern, than households borrowing massively against property should be more troubling.

Mirage77

By the way, did anyone notice the spectacular rise of a Mexican magnate to near the top of the richest men in the world list? I didn't catch his name, surname Slim I think, and he's third (or second richest).

ateekt

I'll be happy, getting around "3-5 Million" Dollars (annually) & I guess, it's enough ...!

notic

1 million in assets not including your home. thats probably what is considered rich in the world. for most of us here in the forum, we are probably in the top 15% of the worlds wealth just having the opportunity to live in the countries we do and having the a computer to socialize with. There is no extreme poverty in the developed world. poverty in the developed world just means that you are excluded from cultural goods (in my case, a mac book pro). So the disparity in wealth on a global basis is quite large. Relative wealth in your own country may be different however seeing as how some country's gdp per capita doubles even the most developed of countries (ie. luxembourg). If any of you are ever interested in how big the gap is between the rich and the poor in your country, just look up (probably on google) the Lorenz curve or the Gini coefficient.

Me personally, I'll slow down or stop when I hit 5m (USD..or maybe not considering the US economy these days, so maybe Euro?) in assets. Otherwise get rich or die trying.

I personally think that is the case, especially in America where consumption has been a huge part of gdp for so many years. Here is an - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

China's savings rate is 40% (roughly), American? In the negative territory. Put down those lattes and cut up those credit cards! To be fair though, china is a growing country and america has already grown, but still, stop the overspending! Savings = investment, investment = growth (yes, i know there are other factors that drive growth, but the accumulation of capital is still very important).

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