Take a look at how rich people are depicted in children’s movies. Rich people are often depicted as snobby, materialistic, greedy, mean, and evil. Culturally, we clearly have a disdain towards rich people but why is that?
In this article, we’ll explore why we as a society hate rich people so much and why we shouldn’t hate rich people.
Table of Contents
What networth do you need to be considered rich?
Some people categorize anyone with a networth of over 1 million to be rich. But let’s look at what the general consensus has to say.
According to CNBC:
- Millennials believe that you need a networth of $1.4 million to be considered rich
- Gen X believes that you need a networth of $1.9 million to be considered rich
- Baby boomers believe that you need a networth of $2.5 million to be considered rich
Clearly, we have different answers to this question. But generally speaking, if you don’t look at the generation, Americans on average said that you need to have a networth of $2 million to be considered rich.
If you want to be in the top 1% of Americans however, you’d need a household income of $10 million.
Why do people hate rich people?
Most people admire rich people and are interested in learning more about rich people’s lifestyles. They’d follow and like rich folks’ vacation pictures and don’t mind following them over videos of cool cars. However, beneath all that, you’d often find boiling resentment. Why?
Below are the most common reasons why some people hate the super-rich.
1. The belief that rich people stole money from the rest
Some people believe that the reason rich people are rich is that they stole from the poor.
There may be some logic to it, if you think about it, lots of rich people do pay less taxes than the poor. Taxes that are used to fund public facilities the rich also benefit from.
The rich may also compensate their workers unfairly. We have people getting paid $30,000 per year while their CEOs are making $30,000,000 per year. It does seem like the rich stole the money that could’ve been used to make their employees’ lives easier.
2. The belief that the rich are entitled, selfish, and will step on people to become rich
Not all rich people are entitled and selfish but there are plenty of rich folks who are entitled, selfish and have no problem stepping over someone if it means they could become rich in the process. People like that exist in all social classes, not just the rich.
There’s a saying that you don’t get to the top by playing nice and they are kind of right. There are many at the top who got there by pulling someone down and stepping over them.
An example would be a person who lied about what another manager candidate said in order to create more chances for themselves to get accepted for the manager role. They could do the same thing, play angles, are deceitful, play mind games, etc to get to the very top and take over the role as a CEO.
3. They believe that most rich people come from generational wealth
88% of millionaires are self-made so it’s actually a misconception that most rich folks come from generational wealth.
Generational wealth is money that has been in the family for generations and the person is born into wealth not having to do anything in return to become rich. You can see how that can breed some ignorant out of touch people who can’t shed a once of empathy for those who have to work their way up.
4. They believe that rich people see themselves as godlike or superior
This is something some rich people do. Some rich people do see themselves as superior or godlike simply because they have more money than you.
I don’t have to explain why no one likes this kind of person.
5. Rich people can and will buy their way out of trouble
This is very true. A lot of murders are “unsolved” because the rich can buy their way out of jail. They can bribe investigators and police officers to destroy evidence. A lot of those “incompetent” police officers who didn’t secure the crime scene properly were “incompetent” on purpose.
It’s sad but the rich can murder people and cover everything up without consequences. It’s best not to mess with a super-rich person. They can have people follow you all day every day if they want and everyone can agree on who did it while no justice gets served.
6. Rich people don’t tip well
This is something many restaurant servers found. It’s typically the middle class and the lower class who tip better than the higher class people.
7. Rich people use money and influence to impact laws put in place for their benefit
There are laws and loopholes in place to protect the rich. They have the money to impact the decision of what laws get instilled into the country. It’s better to be rich than to be poor.
8. They believe rich people committed fraud and were dishonest and underhanded
Many believe that most rich people had committed fraud before and were dishonest and underhanded to get to where they are today. I don’t have the exact figure to show how what percentage of rich people were dishonest while in their pursuit of wealth since not many would admit to it.
However, there could likely be a sizeable chunk of rich people today who did a few shady practices to get rich.
You can see why some people would think it’s unfair.
9. They believe that rich people are out of touch with reality
Some people can be out of touch with reality. They may tell you to get an electric car because the gas is crazy but they failed to consider why electric cars are more expensive and it’s simply out of reach for people who can’t afford them. You see, it’s costly to be poor.
Some rich people can be so out of touch with reality that they can’t understand why most people get upset at a $0.30 cents rise in the price of noodles. When everything gets a bit more expensive, your monthly grocery bill can jump up by $100. This places much more strain on those who are already tight on their budgets.
Many rich people also hire someone else to do grocery shopping for them so they have no idea what everything costs and certainly wouldn’t notice if they have to pay $200 more for their groceries that month. It simply doesn’t fade them.
This out-of-touch with reality aspect of rich people is what infuriates many people.
10. They believe rich people drive up the price of homes
When houses are getting bought up only to be rented out or only to sit vacant on the lot, it would make a lot of people angry.
There are companies out there that buy up houses at a higher price than what the marketplace values them at. They’d then fix it up and sell it. If you’re a seller and someone else offers a higher price, wouldn’t you take it? Of course! And that’s how the home prices get pumped up by the rich who can afford to drop massive money on several homes sometimes an entire neighborhood at a time.
Not all rich people do this because there are different levels of wealth. A person with less than $10 million networth is less likely to do this. A corporation located on Wall Street whose CEO gets paid hundreds of millions a year and has close to or more than a billion of company money at their disposal would be more likely to undertake such a massive project of buying up an entire neighborhood.
11. They resent how the rich spend money to impress rather than help the poor
Some people hate the fact that the rich would rather spend millions on private yachts, first-class seats, brand name bags, etc rather than help the poor homeless man on the street they pass by every day.
Some people do like to impress people with how much money they have. This is especially the case for those who are above average rich but aren’t that rich. Of course, there are those who are truly rich and still like to show off.
12. They are jealous
I know this would make some people upset but it’s a valid point. Some people are mad at the rich because they are envious of what the rich have.
Some people are poor their whole lives and they never have enough. Seeing the rich come in and not having to worry about money at all, would make a lot of blood boil.
We do have to acknowledge however that many of these people who hate the rich would rather spend their Friday nights drinking and partying and spending every dime they have instead of learning how to invest money, start a business, and grow their wealth.
If you got access to the internet, you can become rich. You just have to make some sacrifices. It could mean waking up extra early or working late into the night to get work done. If you want to become rich and you don’t come from wealth, that’s what you have to do. Most millionaires are self-made and they made their fair share of sacrifices and hard work.
13. The rich made choices to ruin the environment
The choices the rich made to deforest lands, build new nuclear plants, dispose of untreated wastes, etc all contribute to climate change.
You can see how the world can be angry at the decision that few have which impacts the rest of the world for the rest of humanity’s generations.
Climate change is irreversible. We can only try our best to deal with it. If we don’t take drastic actions to stop the top executives from making choices that benefit their pocket at the expense of the environment, we’d regret it.
14. The rich pay less taxes
Oh yes, did you know that the rich pay less taxes? How? Well, think about it like this, there are certain expenses that you can write off when you have a business. Even if that expense has nothing to do with the cost of running your company, you can still write it off and pretend that you had to incur the cost due to running your company. Your taxable income would thus be less and you’d pay less in taxes.
One thing to note, however, there are still some limitations. Some things can’t be written off or would be hard to without some evidence. And if you’re planning on getting a mortgage to buy a house, you may want to increase the amount of reported income on your tax receipt so you can get more money for a mortgage.
The rich do still get mortgages because the interest rate for mortgages is typically less than the annual return of index funds. In simple terms, it’s better to invest the money into an index fund and let it grow more money for you over time rather than dropping that on a house. This is why you’d see lots of rich people taking out mortgage to buy a house even if they could afford the full price upfront.
15. The rich don’t donate as much percentage of their portfolio to charity
It’s true. The rich don’t donate as much money compared to middle-class or lower-class people because they earn a lot. If they do donate the same percentage of money compared to middle-class people, you’d be looking at millions and millions of dollars per year in donations.
If they do donate money, the rich like to donate money to their own charity. There’s a reason for it. We’ll talk about that in another article. And yes, it is another loophole the rich use to pay less taxes.
You can see how the rich are really good at keeping their money and can be quite stingy. Another reason why some people don’t like the rich.
Are all rich people snobby and stingy with their money? No. Just like how not all middle-class and lower-class people donate money to the less fortunate. We can’t lump everyone into the same bin just because they have a high networth.
Why you shouldn’t hate rich people
Okay, so there are a lot of valid reasons to hate rich people. However, we should also look at another side of the coin. There are also reasons not to hate rich people as well.
The subtitle of this section is just for effect. I’m not telling you who to hate and who not to hate. I’m merely giving you glimpses into another perspective you may have never considered before.
So here are some things to consider:
- Rich people create jobs when they start companies
- Most rich people are self-made (88%)
- Most rich people worked hard and made sacrifices to get there
- Many rich people do donate money
Final thought
There are many good reasons to dislike the rich just as there are quite a few good reasons to like the rich. Whatever your stance on the matter, one thing you can’t deny, it’s better to be rich than to be poor.
You can always become poor anytime you like if you are rich but if you are poor, it’d take you quite a bit of time, effort, and luck to escape poverty. For many people, that isn’t possible at all. For a person who was born and raised in Africa where there isn’t internet access, a road, or even enough food to last them through the day, escaping poverty would be next to impossible.
There’s a saying, if you can’t beat them, join them. If you don’t like the rich, join them. You can always be a different kind of rich person, the kind who isn’t snobby, entitled, patronizing, condescending, or stingy. The choice is yours.
The truth is, no one cares about your effort, they just care about the result so get to work!
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Thanks for reading, tell me, do you have any personal reasons for not liking the rich? Or do you not have any negative feelings for the rich?
