re: Americans think they need to earn $233,000 to live comfortably, and $483,000 to be rich

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Enough to cover all credit cards (we generally don’t use cash or debit cards), tuition, and bills. After that not much. I feel like I’m very much over sharing about myself here

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That’s cool. Life can feel rough and overwhelming for everyone no matter the income levels. From what you’ve said here you are blessed and love better than the vast majority her in the USA and worldwide. Enjoy it. God bless and sorry to pry.

Make 180k between my partner and I. Don’t feel rich. 3 years ago if we made this much I would say we would feel rich. Everything has gone up too much the past few years. Home/New cars are about 1/3 more expensive

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putting enough away.

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You gotta define this too.

Honestly, I think it boils down to perception. We are definitely comfortable, but I'd like to save more and my wife and I have champagne tastes... So when we want something, we don't shy away from doing it right or spending the money for it. Because of that, we do a lot less than you would think a couple with our income would do.

Wife and I pull in 350k, no not an OT joke. When I was younger I guess that with earnings like that, I could do literally anything I wanted, whenever I wanted.

Between maxing retirement savings, HSA, and a 529, 4 fricking kids, and taxable account contributions, that's not the case. But at the end of the day, we will be retiring at 50 with no debt. Would 483k be cool? Sure. But we could also get by with less.

Also, if Amazon went away, I'm pretty sure we could retire at 45. The shareholders owe me a thank you.

if you’ve got the freezer space…

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Live in a nice home with upgrades, i.e. new home or older renovated home, 1800 sq ft plus in a nice neighborhood, travel where and when you want at least 6 times a year (meaning via flight not 3 to 4 hour drives), drive newer vehicles and dine out 3 nights (sit down decent meals) per week without worrying about cost and be putting enough away.

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Sounds really stupid and out of touch. Kind of people who will be wondering why they will barely be able to keep the lights on in retirement and eating canned food every meal.

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Honestly, I think it boils down to perception.

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Absolutely. There is no objectively defined monetary definition for "comfortable" or "rich".

When my first wife and I got out of grad school in the early 90's we were making a combined $145k and I definitely felt "comfortable" partly because I was used to making a LOT less. Now, even adjusted for inflation, $145k would be nowhere near comfortable.

Money is a bit analogous to temperature. Someone living in the deep South with no AC probably considers 85 degrees indoors during the day very comfortable. As the OT clearly shows a lot of people think that unless the indoor temp is closer to 70 they would be positively melting. If you make $65k a year $233k likely seems really comfortable, if you make $600k a year $233k doesn't seem comfortable and $483k probably doesn't seem "rich". If you make $54k (median family income in LA) $233k probably looks really comfy and $483k (nearly 10x what you make) probably looks "rich" or the favorite LA term "loaded".

Zillow

I only took 5 vacays via flight last year, it was a struggle

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I only took 5 vacays via flight last year, it was a struggle

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Our typical summer vacation growing up was to drive to Astroworld/Waterworld and catch an Astros game