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If I Were A Rich Man
by
Carl Hampton
01/04/2010
Many Americans living in the lower, middle,
and even upper middle classes now more than
ever before believe that they are striving
for wealth that is unreachable. They believe
that they will never be truly wealthy, only
perhaps maybe with a little more luck they
just may be a little better off than they
once were, or better yet, better off than
the people next door or that guy down the
block.
Do the celebrity images put forward by the
media exemplify true wealth? If that is the
case then maybe most of us will never be truly
wealthy.
This struggle with what real wealth should,
especially during this recession, bring to
light many questions, what is wealth? Is it
the size of the house we live in? Is it
flashy cars and jewelry? Is it were we take
our vacations? Realistically the most
important question should be how is wealth
defined for the average man—that lower,
middle, and upper middle class family that
makes up the bulk of the American people?
Many Americans define wealth by the size of
the income they earn. How much income per
year defines wealthy? Depending on where you
are starting form your opinion may change. Is
it a “triple digit” income? Perhaps $75,000
means wealthy in your book?
Well, according to Kiplinger Washington
Editors if you made at least $35,000 in 2008
you are more prosperous than over half of all
of taxpaying Americans. According to the
Department of Agriculture, in 2008 nearly 50
million Americans struggled to put food on the
table. With these figures along with figures
from the US Census, that is roughly one sixth
of the entire population of the United States.
One sixth of the United States had a hard time
feeding themselves and their families.
I find that statistic staggering. Never the
less, that puts that $35,000 into some kind of
perspective-- that is a lot of money. In
fact, if you were to be able to make a little
less than twice that, $66,000, you would be in
the top twenty five percent of all wage
earners in the US. That means realistically
that you would be more affluent than 75% of
the American population.
So, what’s my point? Well, if you are
fortunate enough to fall into these
categories, why do you not consider yourself
of considerable wealth? Why do you not see
yourself as having the opportunity to be even
more prosperous? Should so many of us define
wealth by outward appearance, showy cars,
perhaps a boat or private schooling for the
kids?
Why not define wealth, in these times of
recession, as the ability to be without debt,
have food on the table, and perhaps being able
to invest some money into a future for your
family, whether it be college funds for the
kids or a strong stable plan for retirement?
Wealth
can also be measured by what you do with your
money and how you make it work for you, after
all it is easier to save money than it is to
make more so why not make it work harder for
you?
Have an opinion or a question you would like me to answer, then write to me!
http://www.CarlHampton.com
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