Just When Do Private Bankers Think You’re Wealthy?

BY SUZANNE WOOLEY, BLOOMBERG NEWS

Just how rich is “rich”?

The answer, of course, depends on who’s asking—and these days, many are.

In rich-tropolises such as New York and London, 1 percenters moan that living on $500,000 a year feels Dickensian. With a pot of $40 million—and private schools, a Hamptons retreat, a horse and a charity to feed—a hedge funder on the Showtime drama “Billions” exclaims: “F—! I’m broke!”

Here, then, is a real answer, courtesy of the hush-hush world of private banking: $25 million.

Twenty-five million dollars in investible wealth. The kind of money you could afford to see dip into the red for a quarter or three, maybe even a year or two, without breaking a sweat. With $25 million, maybe, just maybe, you’re starting to be rich.

Because in this era of hyper-wealth and hyper-inequality, that is simply where rich begins—a ticket, in truth, to the first, lowly rung of rich. For most of the planet, $25 million represents unfathomable wealth. For elite private bankers, it buys their basic service. Read the complete story from Bloomberg News by clicking here.