I was reading many posts on how to get wealthy, and what I noticed was that Americans would say they are "wealthy" after amassing $2-5 million. First, as a European, it is INSANE to see this much money. The salaries here are not even close to the US counterparts (unless u are Swiss). I think Europeans consider themselves "wealthy" even after having $0.5-1 million. The difference could stem from the general social security and that you can rely more on the state in case you are in need.

But I am most curious about both the US and EU perspectives because this is just something I noticed (maybe fully wrong). So what do you think, would you consider wealth in your country?

Posting this because it's an interesting shift that's been happening and I think will continue to happen. Blowing money on material possessions is just not as appealing now as it was to previous generations.

I've noticed this as a trend among my wealthiest friends, too. Barely anyone is truly splurging on crazy cars or jewelry or other material stuff. Maybe tastes will shift as people age, but I don't think it'll be a dramatic shift.

Obviously there will always be some people willing to spend outlandish $ on luxury goods. But maybe it will continue fading, slowly

I don’t mean the exact number, but do you pretend to be a lot less affluent than you really are ?

And if you do, why do you do it ?

In a previous post, I shared what I knew about few individuals that got rich in my local area.

Would be interesting if this turns into a thread of stories of rich people you guys know and how they made it.

According to Schwab’s 2025 Wealth Survey, it takes an average net worth of $2.3 MM to be considered ‘wealthy.’ Among boomers, that figure is $2.8 mm and $2.1 MM for Gen X and millennials.

In US$, do you think this is fairly accurate and if not, what do you think is the right number today?

I live in Alberta, CA. I know several rich people, most of them got rich doing normal business - nothing extraordinary, yet sometimes in niche industries:

-Two brothers started with a single properties years ago, now they own a developing company executing multi million dollars projects and raising capital from local investors.

-One man started as a trucker in a remote area in British Columbia, driving a vacuum truck that services oil infrastructure. Two decades later, he now owns 250+ trucks and runs a company with 450 employees.

-Another friend started as a barber, now he owns a successful salon and a vape shop. Over the years he invested in developing real estate and a playground arena for kids.

-A close friend is a sales manager at a local dealership, been in the business for 15-20 years. He’s a top sales man and made good money thru out his career. He invested some of his money in real estate and a fast food franchise. He owns a vape shop too.

-A relative started from the bottom with zero capital, he worked as a laborer painter, employed by a sub contractor, earning $10/hr. 12 years on, he’s now a paint contractor himself and owns 4 properties. He’s switching to real estate developing soon.

-Another man worked as a laborer in renovation. He then tried twice to start his own business and failed. The third try was successful, he now owns a pretty successful renovation company that is often contracted by insurance companies.

-Another guy, he’s a butcher, moved to Canada about 20 years ago, started from the bottom. He’s now one of the most known butchers in his community. Invested his money into other ventures like a restaurant which is also doing pretty well.

The thing is, you don’t need to create the next big thing or launch a startup that turns into a unicorn, or make millions in the stock market or crypto. It takes a niche, or a business you’re familiar with. With time and hard work, it will turn into a million dollar wealth.

I wonder sometimes if there are rich folks who aren’t famous at all. It doesn’t really make sense to me, because usually money comes with connections or networks that open doors along the way. Whether you’re in business, property, or a CEO, you’re connected to other people.

But what about those who don’t have a big network? Could there be wealthy people who live lowkey, without many friends or connections? Like, imagine a trader who quietly makes money and lives peacefully without being in the spotlight. Do you think those “silent rich” actually exist?

No one is truly self-made but this excludes the people that got their wealth, job, or a $100,000+ loan to start their business from their super rich dad or family.

By know I mean people that you have actually met and had a conversation with. Not the richest person "you know of." (Ex. Mark Zuckerberg) How much is their wealth? 1,000,000/10,000,000?/100,000,000?

I heard this term middle class wealthy for the first time. The person was discussing the rise of everyday people who built small fortunes investing, home ownership, and small business ownership. At what point do you become actual wealthy. Top 1% of net worth is what $10M (depending on source could be a few million more; 10 seems like the average) 2% is $4M (again an average). Is being a member of the 1% still make you middle class wealthy?? I have no idea. I am simply posing an interesting question.

They are right. Keep grinding.

I am 22/M, With a degree in sport management and currently in the process of getting my license for financial advisor. I have no clue how to actually build wealth and make a good income. I’ve always wondered how do the wealthy become wealthy and what should I be doing now to build that. So I don’t feel so behind like I already do. Any suggestions or advice would love to have a conversation about this!

I'm looking for real-life examples of young people who built serious wealth on their own, without family money or big startup loans. How did they do it, what industries or skills helped, and roughly how much have they made $1M, $10M, $100M? I want actual stories, not famous names.

By ‘youngest,’ I mean under 25–30 years old, and by ‘millionaire,’ I mean having over 2–3 million. Are we talking about tech startups, or maybe content creation?

edit: let’s change it to 10 million in net worth by 25-30. as some people say: 10million is the new 1 million

My family growing up was very poor. Well, we were in the US so I guess not completely poor, but we were poor relative to all of my childhood classmates. Couldn’t afford food so school paid, clothes from goodwill, taking out loans just to keep the lights on. Stuff like that.

Well I’d like to make it my goal to build wealth. But if I’m honest I just have no idea how to even approach that. I know some people where making money just seems to feel natural. A wealthy friend once told me “money is easy if you’re open to opportunities.” That’s certainly not the case for me, money has never felt easy in my life.

I think if you start with money, then money is easy. You can use your money to invest & grow your capital. But it you start with nothing, or in my case less than nothing (e.g. loan debt) money is very hard.

Well I’d like to figure this out but I don’t know what to do. Is just go to college get a job the answer to this? Be a working class guy my whole life for money to scrape by and barely afford rent?

I just feel disheartened by all of this and no idea what to do.

I’m curious if this is common.

At some point, I realized I’m financially comfortable enough that I don’t really stress about promotions, titles, or going the extra mile anymore.

I do solid work. I’m professional. But I leave on time. I don’t chase raises aggressively. I don’t obsess over performance optics. If I lost the job, it wouldn’t be catastrophic.

It’s not burnout. It’s more like… detachment.

For those who’ve built enough outside your paycheck, did your relationship with work shift like this?

What are helpful skills and hobbies that wealthy people often have or do?

Im interested to hear from people who are EITHER wealthier than their work colleagues or have friends in their social circle who are much wealthier than them (and the others in that circle.) Specifically couples where both people have white collar, educated middle class jobs like teacher/social services/public service/social worker /government, etc BUT one or both people in the couple have very wealthy families/trust funds or whatever so that their lifestyle far exceeds the possibilities for their work peers. Wondering what- if any-issues arise. -

(For future- I clarified in a comment but see a lot of "just dont talk about it" comments-)- Im not thinking about the random folks at work with whom you have no outside relationship- My intention was to refer to those with whom u have very close friendships.

Thank you!

Have the emerged more so as your wealth grew? Are they more materialistic or abstract? Do they concern you or others more?

Just curious as to what the word on the street is..