who are the wealthy? not the mega rich, but average well off? [View all]

I have one of those “stupid” questions. Who are the wealthy? I am not speaking of the Buffet/Koch type, but rather the the upper middle class. I have googled and and find how much per year persons/households make, but not a chart of net worth. A person could make $500,000. per year and be broke; mortgage debt, credit debt. A person/household could make $45,000. per year and have saved over $1,000,000. in investments over time is the second person wealthy, what percentage point on the wealth scale would they be? Top 50%, 20%, 5%?

I have been thinking of the millionaire next door scenario, is a person worth over one million (liquid, stocks, bonds, money market) with out any substantial debt truly wealthy any more, or have the mega wealthy devalued the average persons wealth? Take the one million invest in dividend stocks the return on capitol in dividends would be around $40,000 per year less the low 15% tax rate. Or if one were foolish and were to take a percentage out each year you could estimate living 30 years so you income would be around $33000. per year less the 15%, again not so much. So if you were to retire on your “wealth” you would not be all that wealthy. At what point would you cross in to the I am wealthy mark? One, two, three or five million net?

I understand that I am still speaking of someone who is well off, but the majority of us think of having a million as being rich, as something to aspire too that once you get one million your rich, but in all honesty are you?