How much do you need to earn to consider yourself wealthy?
The answer has several factors to consider in it, including location and consumption preferences, but I was wondering how many people would have an answer for it. I think it would have to take into consideration the changing economic landscape, where whatever that amount is, it would have to be able to service future needs also. That would require not only being able to provide a "living wage", but also the ability to have disposable income to invest as conditions change and opportunities rise and fall.
Honestly. I have no idea what this would be for me, as each time I look at it, I have the tendency to understand it from the current environment, which I recognize as increasingly volatile. For example, lotteries often give the opportunity to pay out in a lump sum, or an annuity amount over time, where the longer payout works out to more than the lump sum. However, that doesn't factor in the volatility of change throughout that time. Imagine winning the lottery only to discover a few years later that the payout currency would no longer be supported. I don't even know what happens in those probably rare circumstances.
For me, I would lump sum it, because I trust myself to make financial decisions in my best interest, than I do governments over a long period of time to work for me. As I wrote in my last article, moving into Bitcoin and crypto is a hedge against what the governments can do to manipulate the value of fiat holdings, and it is a hedge that businesses with a lot of cash on hand are increasingly willing to take. While people see this as risk exposure to go into a volatile asset, what they fail to see is it is actually reducing exposure to potentially far greater risk in holding a centralized currency, where the owners and controllers of it (governments and banks) can manipulate it as they please.
But, with the lumpsum, the future value of it and what it could pay per year is going to be determined by what I do with it now. Many people end up in a worse position for wining the lottery, because they consume, but do not invest into anything that provides a return, meaning that they continually eat into the principle until there is nothing left - and what they have bought has maintenance needs they no longer have the means to afford. Living within means is harder than people think, even though most of us carry debt.
But, I am not expecting to win the lottery, although I do count myself lucky enough to enter into crypto when I did, as while not at the start, I am probably considered an early adopter. Even though I have made for more trading and ownership mistakes than I should have, if the industry does play out as I hope (nothing is guaranteed), I will eventually be okay. In fact, it could be that this very year, 2021, is the year that I will be able to walk away.
No, I don't mean retire off into the sunset of a tropical beach, even if that was a fantasy of mine. I mean set up my life in such a way that the years to come will be far more certain, as I will have built a foundation that can keep bringing in revenue streams. This includes working jobs of course, but I hope that I will increasingly be able to add yield to the tokens I hold, without having to risk it all in various pools. Will there come a time where my little bit of BTC will use its "Gold 2-0" moniker and become the standard to underpin another global currency, so it can just sit there and earn me something without me having to move it or sell it? I don't know. Perhaps.
While there is no lumpsum coming, if the crypto industry continues to develop, I suspect that many more opportunities are going to arise and in order to take advantage, I have to have the financial potential to. I have to have free resources to open the door when the chance knocks, which means managing my income quite well in order to make sure that there is always excess. This is hard at the moment during a renovation of a house, so I am relying on my crypto hedge to act as the provider of future potential.
As said, I don't know how much I would need each year to sufficiently cover all of my needs and a few of my wants, but it is more than I get now, as currently it is needs only, and it still means sacrifice of the lesser needs. The temptation is there to use a little crypto to cover the shortfall and expand lifestyle to have all needs fulfilled and a couple simple wants, but I am (perhaps too much so) consciously aware of the future cost to my foundation. Yes - we only live once and live for today etc, but I am taking the position that I will live tomorrow too, as will my family.
For me, I think I would need around double my salary to consider myself comfortable and a few years of double that again, in order to get into the sense of being wealthy. This is no king's ransom by anyone's measure, considering there are people in the county earning 100x what I do a month, but it would definitely give me the opportunity to knock off a lot of the mortgage, plus have some extra to invest into something generative, whether that be in the crypto or traditional markets. But, there is no job I can do that would get me that kind of earnings, so it will have to be developed through a combination of working as an employee, working as a small business owner, investing into crypto and blogging for a return - combined with managing my finances well and keeping consumption to a minimum.
This wouldn't have me living large, but I would feel wealthy if I do not have to worry about how to pay the bills each month and when there was something special I wanted to buy, I could purchase it without feeling that I am taking from some other area that I will have to make up for later, or suffer the consequences.
I don't know about you and I don't really know if this will be the year that it will happen, but I will keep working toward financial sustainability to support well-being and walking away from debt slavery. It may never happen at all, but I feel that acting toward it brings focus to my activities and daily value to my life.
How about yourself - How much do you need to consider yourself wealthy? Is it a level of income, an an ability for purchase or like me, the sense that money no longer has much bearing on everyday decisions?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
