How Much Money Do You Need to be "Rich" and Is It Worth It?

What exactly is “rich?”

I am reading a very interesting book right now: How to Get Rich, by Felix Dennis, who created the magazine “Maxim” and many other successful publications.

He is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and decided to write a book about it. I randomly found this book on Amazon and I was intrigued by the title. I have been pleasantly surprised by many interesting tidbits in the book that you don’t find in the average “get rich” book.

How Much Money Do You Need to be “Rich’?

The first thing that popped out at me was Mr. Dennis’ definition of rich. He defines “lesser rich” as having a net worth of 30 million to 80 million dollars. Yeah, the “lesser rich” have a little more money than I thought of what “rich” was as well. He based his calculation on someone being able to do whatever they wanted for the rest of their lives without having to work. That is assuming you don’t have grand aspirations of taking over the world or anything line that.

My Idea of What Rich Is

My definition of rich keeps changing every year.

It seems as though the higher up the totem pole you make it, the farther up you need to go to “make it “. I used to think $100,000 was rich, then $300,000 then 1 million, now I and starting to think 30 million may be closer to the mark if you really want to be able to do whatever you want without having to worry about money.

Things are expensive, taxes are expensive, families are expensive, running a business is expensive. It seems as though the more money you make, the more expenses you have. Am I complaining? No! I love where I am and the things I have accomplished, but my definition of rich has definitely increased the more I do and experience.

With Money Comes Responsibility

This book touches on many sensitive subjects.

One of those subjects is… “can you handle being rich?”

Most of us think it will be easy to have all the money you need, but the more money your have, the more complicated things get. More bills, more employees, responsibility for other’s lives, more taxes, more liability and more pressure from others.

The book explains that you will have conflict with more money. People will be jealous, good friends will be jealous, family will be jealous. I love a quote from the book:

“Most people will tell you it is impossible and foolish to want be rich, while a small part of them are secretly hoping you fail. The truth is most people don’t have the drive or guts to try to strike it rich. They would rather be “comfortable”.

Many people won’t take the risks necessary to be rich and they don’t want to see others accomplish what they were afraid to try. If you want to be rich, you have to take the heat from those that don’t want you to be rich.

You Can’t Have a Balanced Life

I keep hearing this over and over from the “rich books.”

If you really want to make it big, you can’t have a balanced life.

You have to be obsessed with money, your plans and drive at all costs. Felix says he lost many a girlfriend, friend and much of his life being obsessed with making it. He even admits he pushed it too far and should have quit well before he did so he could enjoy life.

I personally could not abandon everything in search of being ultra rich. Maybe I will never be “rich’ because I refuse to give up my family to make it big. I have a wonderful wife and twin two year olds. There is no way I would sacrifice them in order to make more money.

However, that doesn’t mean I won’t try to be rich. My plan is to prove all those people wrong that say you can’t have a balanced life and make it.

I talk about delegation in this article and I think that is the key to making it and having a life. I have a lot on my plate, but I also have a lot of time for my family as well. I could not imagine not having time for my kids or my wife or golf!

I will keep building, keep hiring, keep investing, keep being positive, keep planning, keep thinking and see where it gets me.

What about you?

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.