Actually, there is a qualitative difference in play. It is reached at millions USD in (relatively) liquid assets or highly concentrated political power.

It is the potential to do almost anything w here only another big player or a whole society can blunt it and not necessarily effectively.

It is the difference between playing the rules and making the rules.

If you can live entirely from investments you're rich.

Exactly this. I make well into six figures, but only recently. I’ve got a bunch of student loan debt to pay off, I don’t own a house. If I got laid off tomorrow, my family would have serious financial problems within a few months of living off of savings.

I’m doing well, but I’m by no means rich. Now give me another ten years and it’s a different story.

I've made six figures going on three years now. I came from nothing. I was an emancipated minor at 15, made every mistake I possibly could from there to 35(now). I'm climbing out from under it quickly in some respects. My teeth are getting fixed, I'm paying off debt, etc. I know for a fact that I'm one bad lift and twist moving a couch or peculiar mental/physical incident from being homeless.

When I fret to my partner, she says "Honey, you're being to hard on yourself, we are doing great!" But when I look at the stakes and the people I know; The only ones insulated have established families. Having established family even has it's own curse in this day and age. Insulated, sure, but kids that are too insulated via trust fund can get stuck in this weird developmental purgatory that even though they have and won't want, it's hard to find meaning or even give a shit to look for it and take on the risk for what it's worth if they weren't groomed. I've seen lack of meaning take lives.

In the next year I might break loose because I have some ownership in something interesting, but I'm acutely aware of how much it costs to transcend being the wretched of the earth. The treadmill we are on as a human race isn't sustainable. Something I think the article points out succinctly is that with greater inequality we all lose. His grandmother bet it all on the dot com boom and went to work at Wendy's. Anything that isn't an ivy league education is indentured servitude.

I'm lucky to have technology and because I have it, I guess all I can see is potentially a technological equalizer in the near future (at least I hope we can find it near), but we are all being fleeced no matter how you shake it. Globally we are in a race condition similar to a drug addict who didn't realize they were that far gone getting fired from their job. Yeah, the apartment and the girlfriend are up next. But, we have plenty of lies to stack up before then to mask like it's the status quo. This problem is going to take a good think to get solved and we'll need to get high and tight to deal with the stress.

We can still pawn grandpa's coin collection to get a fix this weekend. We'll be back on top before anyone notices.

So all retired people are rich?

Let me guess, you can't entirely live off your investments? ;)

Not sure I agree though. So someone who makes $1M per year from their work, but has no investments isn't rich?

Isn't this a strawman?

Clearly someone who makes $1M could live of their investments.

They could once they acquire enough assets.

By your definition, everyone who retires and lives off their investments is rich as well.

I would say so. 23% of married retired couples and 43% of single retirees subsist on their social security; 50% or so have pensions, and some rely on their children. It's the wealthiest minority who have sufficient investments to live off of.

> 50% or so have pensions

A pension should be considered equivalent to the assets that would produce the same returns.

Except you can't borrow against it, or liquidate it in case of an emergency/opportunity. And it means nothing to your heirs.

Accountants have ways of accounting for pension/annuity returns. Their accounting tricks should be used in these cases.