Dearest monkeys,
Happy 4th of July!
A month or so ago, on the way home from gymnastics, eldest asked if we were rich. I don't remember what led up to the question, although I think it had to do with you wanting to do gymnastics every day, and I said how expensive that was. You were newly 7, and I had to think about how to respond at a level that would make sense to you. Whatever I answered seemed to work, because we moved on to other subjects, but I wanted to make note of it, because there is a difference between being rich (which we probably are) and being wealthy (which we are definitely not). And it's important to understand it (and strive to become wealthy, not rich).
Being rich, in my opinion, means you earn a lot of money and can buy a lot of stuff. Your buying power is great. We definitely qualify for that. If dad has his way, our family car would be a Hellcat. We go on vacations every year and you guys don't really want for anything. But we're not far off from living from paycheck to paycheck, and we have a crapton of debt and little in the way of security if something goes wrong.
Being wealthy, on the other hand, might mean all those things too, as far as buying power goes. But it also means that you have security. You're not relying on the paycheck to make ends meet, and a layoff won't cause huge blips. It's not necessarily about numbers, it's about how the money is used.
I've just started a book called The Thin Green Line and the first chapter or so talks about this idea and how the line is narrow, but there. And it all involves your relationship with money.
According to the IRS, in 2014, the top 1% of incomes in the US was $465,626 (this is adjusted gross income). We're definitely not there, but even if we were, that would not define us as wealthy instead of rich.
Love,
Mama
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