Am I Rich? An alternative way of getting there.

Mommy, are you rich? - my 5 year old daughter asked me this week.

What would have been your answer?

My guess is that you likely would answer “NO” to that question, regardless of how much money you have.?According to a report by investment bank UBS, only 28% of people with $1 to $5 million in assets consider themselves wealthy. Even when you ask people with more than $5 million in assets, only 3 in 5 consider themselves wealthy.

So what is rich?

Does a million dollars make you rich?

Maybe? Funny thing about wealth is that it is relative…Whether you feel rich depends on where you live, how you live, and who you are hanging out with.

The higher your income and net worth, the nicer neighborhood you will likely choose to live in. Which means you will likely be surrounded by people with similar or higher level of earnings and wealth…your lifestyle and spending habits in those neighborhoods will likely increase as well. If most of the people you spend time with are wealthier than you (or spend as if they were wealthier), chances are you will be answering NO to that question for quite some time.

Your definition of wealth changes with age too. The?Spectrem Group’s survey?asked investors what net worth you need to be considered rich. Results varied widely by age. 45% of investors under 40 felt $1 million was the threshold, but only 22% of investors older than 60 felt $1 million was enough to call yourself rich. ?

What about my income?

When asked how much money they’d need to earn annually in order to feel rich, the majority of Americans said at least $200,000, according to the recent CNBC Your Money Survey.

Many set their sights even higher. An annual income of $1 million or more was the most popular answer, with 22% of respondents saying they need to rake in seven figures to feel rich.

Based on the Economic Policy Institute, in 2021 you're in the top 1% if you earn $819,324 or more each year. The top 5% of income earners make $335,891 per year.

On a global scale, top 1% wealth becomes more attainable. All you need is an annual income of $32,000. The average laborer in Ghana would have to work 200 years to earn $32,000. This highlights the huge income (and cost of living) gap between countries.

So?what does it really take to be rich?

Good question. How much money do you believe you need to feel rich? ?

And once you get there…how will you feel?

Whether I work with people who make $50,000 a year or $1 million a year…there is always a new dollar threshold of getting there!

I believe that more important measure is actually feeling wealthy, since most people even in the top earning brackets still do not feel wealthy enough. ?

It’s easy to fall into a trap of more is always better mentality. I have been on both of the sides of equation myself.

I felt rich when I came to the US with $100 in my pocket or when I got my first job out of college.

And I felt like the poor kids on a block when we moved into a Southern California coastal community while making half a million a year….as our routine now included daily school drop offs in a parade of Teslas and Range Rovers followed by taking our kids to afterschool playdates to multimillion-dollar houses.

Here we were, at the top of our earnings, yet feeling like we needed to work harder and make more money to keep up and feel enough. While I so desperately wanted to explore new career opportunities, the idea of taking a “haircut” to our income below our current level was inconceivable.

That’s when I realized that it’s not the neighborhood, or amount of money we had what was causing this angst in me. It was my relationship to money and self-worth that needed some adjustment. ?

An alternative way to know you are rich ?

We can debate endlessly about what traditional income level or wealth is considered rich. However, I would like to invite alternative definitions for when you consider yourself rich.

-??????Build Passive Income: If you don’t have to work for a living, you are also considered rich.?To be financially independent, you just need to have enough investment income to cover your desired daily living expenses.

In 2018, I started investing in real estate properties that soon were generating a few thousands a month. It was not enough to cover our living expenses, but it made a path to financial freedom feel possible and real. Plus, I gained confidence that I can learn new things and generate income and wealth outside my employment. ????

-??????Bet on Yourself: If you are doing what you love for a living, you are rich! I left full-time work in 2020. Even though I went from a multiple six-figure salary to $0 active income, I felt incredibly rich because I was 100% in control of my time.

Earning a high level of income is a choice, no matter what the naysayers tell you (or what you tell to yourself). It is up to each of us to further our education to develop a skill-set that enables us to earn more.

-??????Go the traditional route.?Want to become a millionaire? The good news is, building a $1 million nest egg is not as hard as it looks. Earning six figures?and saving millions of dollars is straightforward. It just takes time. If a 25-year-old saves $405 a month, they will have a $1 million by the time they hit 65 (assuming an average annual return of 7%). Even if you start later in life, you can hit the $1million target with relatively small monthly contributions. It just takes discipline and planning!

-??????Get help. If you want to learn how to become wealthy, learn from someone who is already wealthy and is creating a path you are inspired to walk yourself. Seek out a mentor or a coach and do everything possible to ingratiate yourself into their circles. Successful people want to give back.?It’s the way they are wired.

-??????Remove limiting money beliefs. Each of us have a money mindset (set beliefs around money) that governs how much income and wealth we can allow ourselves to create. Whether you believe you can or cannot – you are right. Your beliefs about money (and yourself) will either propel you or sabotage you to achieving it. Our mind is literally a super computer that does what you program it to do. What you tell to yourself most is what you create (both wanted or unwanted). So clear any limiting beliefs around money and re-program it to align with what you want. ?

-??????Reconnect to all the abundance you already have. It's easy to take for granted all the things that you already have in abundance - good health, loving relationships, personal growth, and meaningful experiences. These are all forms of wealth that money cannot buy. By focusing on these things, you can cultivate a rich and fulfilling life, regardless of your financial status.

So am I rich? ?

“Yes, mommy is very rich” - was my answer to Aria. Because that is how I feel. I feel extremely wealthy on the inside, and I bet on myself to always be able to learn new skills that will allow me to continue to make high income and continue building my wealth. And so can you!

Have an abundance mindset around money and be willing to learn the skills and tactics to earn and grow your money. This will allow you not only build wealth but also feel wealthy. Which is the only path to feeling satisfied with where you are in life as opposed to always chasing and feeling like you can’t never have enough.

True wealth is about living a rich and fulfilling life. So, go out and embrace all the riches that life has to offer and start building the wealth you truly desire!

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Thank you for taking time to read this article. I am on a mission to live the most alive and vibrant life authentic to myself, and to empower others to create that for themselves.

If you have a goal that seems impossible right now (yep that one you have been thinking about for a while but haven't made much progress on?), book a complimentary?Strategy Session?to get clarity on what exactly you desire to create next, and how to build the bridge from where you are to where you want to go.

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