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A creative blog by Heidi Huber on The Whole 9

Heidi Huber started her career with the sink or swim theory. Luckily she knows the freestyle which has taken her from the Chicago stage to behind the scenes in Los Angeles where she currently continues to tap as The Whole 9’s Chief of Everything Else.

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How much money would you have to have to consider yourself rich?

July 27, 2010
20 Comments (see all)

Today, we’re getting materialistic.  We’re talkin’ funds, casheesh, cabbage, dinero.  I don’t want any “My life is rich through my creativity, family and friends.”  We all know about that and that’s good.

It used to be a millionaire was set for life and in some parts of the world that may still be the case.  While I certainly wouldn’t step over that million-dollar pile (hell, I’d pick up a buck!), I just don’t think one million dollars goes as far as it used to.

How much money would you have to have to consider yourself rich?

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20 comments (see all)
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  1. jonathanc

    Right now enough to pay my bills and have something left over, lol. I’m not really sure. I guess I’ve never really thought about it. Though I have expensive tastes, I am a bargain shopper kind of person and outside of the desire to travel much more than the limited amount that I have I guess traveling and having the financial means to make a positive impact on other peoples lives. Oh and maybe just a really good cigar each day. It’s funny thinking about what I would by and even though I can’t do it having guilt of spending $200 on a meal and knowing that would feed a village somewhere for a week. Thinking of a nice car or home and knowing that money could save thousands of children from blindness. Some days having a conscious stinks. It even ruins wistful thinking.

  2. rosendo

    My definition of rich has always been:

    Any one person who has more money to lose than myself~

    How much more do I need to consider myself rich?

    Hey brother, can you spare a quarter?

    peace~

  3. theroadhome

    Not much more than I have right now…which ain’t much at all. BUT my wealth is endless when I think of the quality of family and friends. Now, how much would I need to get out of debt and have a few ‘things’? (like a house maybe?)…that’s another story.

  4. dangerousideas

    Rich = Having enough $ to say FU to a job or work you’d rather not do. It means having the financial security to know you and your family can live well, now and in the future without having to worry about paying for food, shelter, clothing, education, healthcare, etc. It represents having the wherewithal for you and your family to be able to travel, engage in the activities that interest you and contribute to charity/good causes as you see fit. In factual, unadorned accounting terms, yesterday’s symbolic “millionaire” would probably be today’s “10 millionaire” (if you live in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris or any of the large, cosmopolitan first-world cities).

  5. poorgood

    5 million in the bank.

  6. kimmy

    I would have to have enough to be able to travel wherever I want, whenever I want and take photos on every continent.

  7. roxiemarie

    I have the distinct impression that money and I don’t know each other all that well…our relationship is a love/hate thing…fairly confusing at times. But, in my belief system I say “How much money I have or don’t have, really has nothing to do with how rich I feel…as it’s all my perception of the power, freedom and control that I give to money that gives me the sense of ‘being rich or not”.
    I can feel rich when I’m poor, and I can feel rich when I’m rich…if I’m connected to who I’m being~what I’m doing and loving it.

  8. yumeworld

    You can never be too rich or too thin…that’s what they say anyway…not sure about other parts of the world….

  9. agodoy

    My wife handles all the money (she’s the numbers person), so I really have no idea how much money we (she) have (has). I know she’ll go back to the checkout at the grocery and argue fiddy cents, and she’ll make me settle for a $12 twelve-pack of beer over the $13 using some crazy sophistry, like, “It’s better,” when she doesn’t even drink beer and how the hell would she know anyhow? But that’s just her communist sensibilities. She’s an off-the-boat-for-a-while Romanian.

    But we own a house, and our (my) car is almost paid off. We have a get-liquid-quick plan, of sorts, with which we could blow this country were that tea-baggie hoey dummie Palin to become any real serious threat. And according to a panicky letter I got from James Carville yesterday, she’s getting closer.

    We have a sugar shaker stolen from some restaurant, full of quarters and dimes and a ten Eruo bill that we haven’t touched in years, which is something of a barometer where previous jars of change in my life never lasted long at all.

    She keeps buying me shoes I don’t need. And I work with what I would consider top-of-the-line gear. We have a crazy alarm system and are on a first name basis with the local fuzz who show up in an instant anytime we accidentally trip it, so, we’re pretty secure. We must have something to protect.

    So I guess through keeping the mystery, I can suppose I am rich. Filthy. Dirty. Rotten. And in a way I hope Palin would get closer to screwing the pooch in the biggest way (she’s going to be surprised when she feels how fucking big that dog really is), because I really love Europe, and am sure I have enough to invest in a gelato cart in Italy. Anywhere in Italy.

  10. awaken2sun

    It’s odd because money has only ever been important in allowing me to do what I want…and as long as I can do what I want, I feel rich. Every morning, I wake up when I want, hang around with my daughter, head to the office/gallery to do “work” that I’m more excited about than any other I’ve ever done.

    I imagine changing the world and having a few adventures. I have people I love all around me, most of them incredibly talented. I can usually go out to eat whenever I want or have people over for dinner. I have a beautiful home with lots of flowers and plenty of space. And I have nearly perfect health. Sure…I’d love to buy a really cool watch or a few more pieces of art or clothes, and let’s not forget the commercial building for the gallery, but outside of that and making sure that my daughter is well-taken care of, I can’t think of anything I want badly enough to waste any time shopping for it. In my opinion, rich is a state of mind, and through hard work and lots of trial and error, I’ve found it and staked my claim firmly in the middle.

  11. dangerousideas

    Well Lisa and others above are absolutely right: Rich is a state of mind that can’t truly be measured in dollars and cents. But Heidi’s question was very specific, “We’re talkin’ funds, casheesh, cabbage, dinero. I don’t want any ‘My life is rich through my creativity, family and friends.’ We all know about that and that’s good.” So that’s what I, Poorgood and Agodoy (kinda sorta) were addressing in cold, concrete terms as requested.

  12. grool

    I could live mighty really comfortably on 75k a year. Though, as a few said above, living richly is more a state of mind than anything. I am a pretty no frills kind of person. Sure, I collect a few things and like electronics but am happy with getting stuff little by little. I really just want to live a pretty comfortable lifestyle without to many bill worries is all.

  13. sorchae

    I’m with Lisa…enough money to allow me to do what I want…and at this point it’s been quite a while since I’ve had that to any degree :( However, even with the not-so-great situation I’m in now, I’m still enjoying my life, friends/family, and mini adventures :) I will be more than happy when I get this situation to CHANGE though…..

  14. awaken2sun

    @dangerousideas — :) I never was very good at following directions!

  15. celestevoce

    Enough to more than take care of myself and enough to share!

  16. dreaddaze

    enough to keep the bill vampires away
    and help many is the goal.

    but really to me
    Health is Wealth

    bless dat

    peace-in

  17. montoyaville

    Enough to spread around to fam and friends.

  18. wonderwall

    Hmmm, rich would be enough money to follow every dream.

  19. bigpicture101

    Wonderwall( I love that pick!) says it best. It is in the doing that we become who we are. Dream on!

    A million(AFTER taxes) wolld work for me at this point. I’m really OK as far as lifestyle and wouldn’t want to get too greedy( why?-just look at the effect it has on the world around us). The point would be that if I had that much I could continue to live the same lifestyle, without having to work, and the money would last me over 30 years, Oh, and that’s if I just stuufeed it under my mattress. On the other hand, having 10mil in an interst bearing account would be sweet. Just live off the interest. Any more than that and I would have to start being a philanthropist. Just couldn’t see spending millions or billions on myself. But the philanthropy thing, helping in major ways would be a blast!

  20. wordsmith

    Enough to secure the health and happiness of my family.

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