With US$25 million, you’re just about starting to be rich
In the US, private bankers have arrived at a figure for how much money a person should have before they can even begin to be considered wealthy
Just how rich is “rich”?
The answer, of course, depends on who’s asking – and these days, many are.
In rich-tropolises such as New York and London, the 1 per cent moan that living on US$500,000 a year feels Dickensian. With a pot of US$40 million – and private schools, a Hamptons retreat, a horse and a charity to feed – a hedge funder on the Showtime drama Billions exclaims: “F***! I’m broke!”
Here, then, is a real answer, courtesy of the hush-hush world of private banking: US$25 million.
Twenty-five million dollars in investable wealth. The kind of money you could afford to see dip into the red for a quarter or three, maybe even a year or two, without breaking a sweat. With US$25 million, maybe, just maybe, you’re starting to be rich.
Because in this era of hyper-wealth and hyper-inequality, that is simply where rich begins – a ticket, in truth, to the first, lowly rung of rich. For most of the planet, US$25 million represents unfathomable wealth. For elite private bankers, it buys their basic service.
Call it economy-class rich. Business class? That’s US$100 million. First class? US$200 million. Private-jet rich? Try US$1 billion.
We all know the wealth gap between the rich and poor, and the rich and the really rich, is only getting wider, due in large part to the bull market in stocks and wealth generated in private businesses around the world.
What may be less apparent, at least outside financial circles, is what all that money is worth to the bankers who discreetly tend those fortunes.