Very interesting, all the comments this post has received. I posted this link on HN because I guessed that several readers here are entrepreneurs like myself, who would one day like to be amongst the 'rich' (or according to the articles author 'upper middle class') and would like to know how that segment of society lives. I had no intention of starting a discourse on class warfare ;)
On the other hand, personally I found this article to be extremely instructive on the relationship between 'net worth' and 'income'. As someone who has worked a job all my life, till date, I have always looked as my salary as my measure of how well I was doing financially. This article made me take an alternative perspective and look at 'net worth'. If and when I decide to stop working for money (side note - someone said Steve Jobs worked so he was middle class. He worked, yes, but I am sure it was not for money! He was Rich.) I would like to still have cash flow coming in from my investments and other passive sources. I believe that is what the author is getting to. If that amount at which I can stop working for money is $100,000 per year, I need to have $2 million in net worth; for an income of $1 million (whew!), I need to have $20 million, and so forth...
On the other hand, personally I found this article to be extremely instructive on the relationship between 'net worth' and 'income'. As someone who has worked a job all my life, till date, I have always looked as my salary as my measure of how well I was doing financially. This article made me take an alternative perspective and look at 'net worth'. If and when I decide to stop working for money (side note - someone said Steve Jobs worked so he was middle class. He worked, yes, but I am sure it was not for money! He was Rich.) I would like to still have cash flow coming in from my investments and other passive sources. I believe that is what the author is getting to. If that amount at which I can stop working for money is $100,000 per year, I need to have $2 million in net worth; for an income of $1 million (whew!), I need to have $20 million, and so forth...