Most first worlders do not recognize how rich they are. The middle-class person living in a first world thinks they have it rough. So hard to work, and balance earning and bills, keep a house and a car, so that they can continue earning.
However, each one can afford three meals a day. Usually quite easily. Even eating out whenever they want, paying what amounts to a weeks worth of food in a 3rd world country.
And, the gap is equally above them. The middle-class person struggles to afford a house and a car. An upper-class person does not. To an upper-class person a car is just a useful object. Or a fun object. Something that you might buy on a whim, and dispose of it after the weekend. To an upper-class person, the car is a trivial expense, like the middle-class person can afford a decent meal.
There are only a few levels, and knowing about them, comprehending them as levels/strata allows you to comprehend what you will need to do to maintain that level.
The levels/strata
0-$10 yes, there are people on the planet that live in this range. Where all their money goes to food. In America, even our homeless on street corners can make more begging or collecting cans/bottles.
$10-$100 If you notice, the person who only makes $10 cannot even hope to get into this bracket. Sweat-shop laborers in 3rd world countries are often here. And, do not be repulsed by the term "sweat-shop" as this group of people is often paid quite a bit more than those who do farming, without a roof to shade them from the sun.
$100-$1,000 These people do not fear missing meals. They probably even have a mud shack. But a car, a refrigerator, these things are way out of their ability to acquire.
$1,000-$10,000 These are the middle-class in many poor countries. Far above starving, but still below what we call poverty in America. No fridge, no electricity. Rarely a car, unless it is specifically useful for the job.
$10,000-$100,000 This bracket is weird, because it encompasses the poor and middle-class in America. The one making $100,000 a year can just afford a more expensive car. And that car is seen as a useful tool, not something you can just use and throw away. Everyone has a fridge. Everyone goes to the grocery store.
$100,000-$1,000,000 This is a weird bracket. From the rich point of view, this is poor. They can easily afford a house, but not in the rich mansion areas. Just in gated communities. They can afford cars, but not really super-cars and their maintenance. They can have all the frills in their kitchen, but it is not one where they have a head chef, and servants.
$1,000,000-$10,000,000 This is still broke lacky area. They can buy all the things the middle-class dream of. Buy lots of it. Buy all the cars. But the biggest McMansions. However, they are not actually rich. Musky is worth $1,000,000,000,000. Look how many more zeros are there. A person in this bracket can't even imagine being rich. Super-yachts and private jets are out of their league. Simultaneously this level of wealth is far beyond what a middle-class person can dream of achieving.
I will not go any higher, because i really don't know, and the people in there are NOT on the Forbes richest people list. The Card-ass-ians are not rich. They borrow stuff… props to use in their TV shows. The TV shows are to make "normal" people jealous and despair that they will never be rich. While showing them how to NOT be rich.
understanding finance
The actual cutoffs may not be accurate, but the x10 is pretty close. It could be x12, but really it is about how the next bracket can easily afford several of the things the lower strata can barely afford one of.
The teenager can barely afford an old junker, unless their parents buy a car for them. But, after a little work experience, and getting a better job, a car is quite easy to afford. (except that most people buy a house, and put all the furniture on the CC, and so, are really broke by their own actions)
To avoid this trap, a good rule of thumb is, "If you can't afford 5, then you can't afford 1". Owning something is more expensive than just paying for it. Their is maintenance and repair costs. And, more importantly, if you haven't got the money to afford five of them, you are overextending yourself by buying one of them.
Overextending is where you get yourself into financial trouble. Putting things on the CC (credit card) makes sure that you will never get to the next bracket, and may put you in a lower strata. Buying things with credit costs you almost 10x as much. Think about it the next time you think about getting something now, by putting it on the CC. You could have had 10 of them, instead of just one.
Why do the strata exist?
The strata seems to be a layer of cost, where a certain group of things clump together in price.
Simple things like the cheap Chinese stuff you get at Wallymart. They all live in a certain price range.
Major appliances are another price range.
Car/motorized toys
Each is a step up in complexity. Each is a step up in price.
And so, the strata cluster around those prices, and the jobs that can reach that level of living, cluster around those prices too.
Unfortunately, this clustering causes big spaces in between where earning a little bit more has almost no meaning.
You can't do what you did, just harder, faster, and make it.
If all you are getting for time and labor is $10, there is no way to make it to $100. Some people can force themselves to work twice as hard, twice as long, but only gets you to $20. Frustratingly short of $100.
You will need to make your labor increase 10x. You need to get a force multiplier. Like using a forklift instead of your arms to move piles of boxes.
On a construction site, in America you see men with electric saws, and air powered nailers. Roofers of olde could drive nails, with a hammer and muscle power quite fast, but not nailer fast. So, you see a group of men in Africa assemble a mud hut. Creating mud bricks and some kind of thatch roof. That is the limit of their technology. You make a one room house for weeks of labor. Every step in the process of making a home in America is done with machines, power tools, cranes. Factories that create boards that are almost finished before they get to the house.
The other way to increase your earning is through investments. You work to get the extra $10, and then invest. That $10 at 10% only gets you one extra dollar. And that is very frustrating. Frustratingly slow. But, you add another $10, and that $1 back into the investment, then soon (7 years) you will double your money. Do it again and now you are at 4x. So long, to just get to the point where you are actually seeing returns. But, you can get to the next strata this way.
If you want to get to the next layer, you have to stop thinking like those around you. The people in your same strata.
Like, the poor in America buy lottery tickets. The rich, would take those dollars and invest them instead. And takes discipline and a willingness to persevere. Because in the short term, you really see no gains.