Are you rich?
A new report by a French organisation has defined what it means to be ‘rich’ and how many people that includes.
It says that to be considered rich, a person must have a revenue of €3,673 per month (£3,135) – this amount is double that of the average person and comprises 4.5 million people in France.
The ‘super rich’ are those with a monthly revenue of €7,180 (£6,126), after tax, per person.
Tres bien.
We all love a benchmark, comparing ourselves with others and finding the answer to the question: have we made it?
But as we all know, these figures are meaningless
For a start, the word ‘rich’ feels as if it belongs in a fairy tale.
Rich people live in palaces, ride golden carriages and wear jewels. (Poor people eat gruel, sweep the hearth and wear rags.)
In reality it’s not so simple. Especially these days.
Take the workplace. In the past, the power suit signified your importance and a hoodie meant you worked on the factory floor. Now the situation has flipped.
It's not that people aren't still interested in status, it's just that 'status' is changing. It's less about wearing a suit and owning and a 5-bedroom house. It's more about experiences.
This is particularly true of younger people.
Fine dining for example was once the preserve of the those celebrating a Golden Wedding anniversary or enjoying a generous expense account, but Generation Z are eating in restaurants as regularly as people twice their age according to a 2019 report by the Foods Standards Agency.
These are valuable, one-off moments, something people can create and curate: crucially, these experiences also look great on social media.
So the upshot is that being 'rich' is extremely personal. One person’s ‘luxury good’ might be security, health or time. Another might be having an impeccably crafted Instagram feed.
Mine is the ability to say no to things I don’t want to do. And to get me out of situations I’m not happy in. And engineer the ones that will make me happy.
The value of money is therefore potentially complex. It’s not about a figure, it’s about having options, flexibility and freedom.
As such it’s a fairly deep, personal and emotional topic.
It’s no wonder it’s something people need help with wheedling out...
Simple hack
Use Kloki to track your time and the log hours taken for any activity. It can be triggered from a simple keyboard shortcut and is free.
Shameless plug
In this week’s Money Marketing, I discuss this year’s most aspirational lifestyle trend – the ‘coastal grandmother’ – and why we need to ditch her from financial marketing.
Article of the week
Formal suits and unwanted power ties clogging up your wardrobe? Here are The Wall Street Journal’s creative suggestions for giving them a second life.
It’s the pits
This self-assembly fire pit kit, the Charnwood Fireball, will keep you warm on chillier evenings as well as looking like a rustic outdoor garden sculpture.
Sign up to my newsletter.
Thanks for signing up!
