Am I Rich? a stream of consciousness | Aja Dang

this all steamed from a question I was asked on Tik Tok Live - that I haven't been able to get out of my head.

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Tik Tok: ajadang

[simplymelanie]

For me, rich is being able to not worry about housing or groceries. Not living paycheck to paycheck and having to decide on health/medical or food.

[kaynenbrown]

Being able to afford my wife staying home full time. Not looking at prices at the grocery store like you said. Trips every 3 months etc. more than enough for me.

[Fivetimesthree]

I feel very rich because I can buy any food I want to eat. I can save enough for a vacation. I can take sick days without worrying too much. I can replace my bike if it was stolen or fix my car. I can treat myself and my friends to iced coffees or a breakfast meal here and there. But I grew up poor and I feel like it could have been so easy for me to stay in poverty.

[viviena]

YES please do more FINANCIAL videos again!!! I miss them sooo much🥺❤️

[Undersizedutopia]

This is an interesting video format. I like it ☺️.
Also I think the richer you get the bigger your expenses are and your “normal” becomes way more expensive. I think that’s why you don’t see many celebrities just retire and live out their dreams because they in fact still have to make enough to live at the level they’re at. I think to be truly happy you must live under your means, but idk just thinkin

[mahalthrift]

Growing up, I’m learning what it’s like to feel rich in relationships and purpose

[bleached]

Ok still watching but the post-roller HAIR FLIP 🤌

[idakramerjensen]

I love the honesty and asmr-feel this video gives. I think I could listen to you talk about anything, as long as the audio is this relaxing hahah

[primrosed]

This comment section is amazing so authentic. What a wonderful community you built Aja!

[beckabest]

Loved this. Here’s my stream of consciousness reply-

Based on the comments about being rich being free to buy whatever you want…makes me wonder: is that really the goal? Is it good for me if I could “buy whatever I want without thinking about it”? Wouldn’t that make me excessive? Would I appreciate things less?

There’s obviously a threshold. There needs to be a baseline of having a good quality of life. I’m not worried about food, shelter, healthcare. I have a relatively updated closet. I need to save up for a vacation, but I can have 1-2 a year. However, I’m not “rich”. Yet, I’m pretty content, and I like having to save. Saving helps me prioritize what’s important.

I see “rich” people that buy whatever they want, appreciate their things and experiences less. And they only need more to feel the same level of joy. Is that what I want?

[DelenaKT]

I related to so much of your thoughts. I get a lot of comments about being "rich", financial goals/achievements, and being childless and feel like I can't complain about anything or feel confused or stressed. I have so much internal monologues like this just because I don't feel like I can connect with anyone.

[shellym]

Rich to me is being able to afford an ok place to live and never worry about car repairs or food. Whether the income comes from work or not.

[KayKayBayForever]

I don’t really know where the line is for rich, but I don’t think it’s when you’re able to buy whatever you want. I think lots of rich people still can’t afford “whatever” they want. The highest end rich people, maybe. But not all of them. I consider my childhood friend’s family rich, because they can take their whole 12-person family to Disney Land and still go on multiple overseas trips a year.

[Lal-vmhe]

For me rich is when your basic needs are a small percentage of your take home pay and you have enough money left over to live comfortably (travelling how you really want to, putting your kids in good schools, eating well, buying things at the store without worrying about the price tag, having a nest egg)

[marieobligacion]

Love this video! So simple yet so powerful and relevant to what we go through. These are the things that I think I about too. Especially the part of not having children and what to do “if I were rich” vibes. Thanks for always being real with us!

[evileyez]

i won't lie, i didn't think you were rich but I did think you always have a great deal of money, based on how much you are able to afford certain things, or special foods, or special things for the pets, or repairs, or the rent or being able to knock out 200, 000 debt in such a short time, or the house catastrophe, but it's not off-putting like other people, but after like 8 years of watching, I still like seeing how you do stuff with money and fantasize I could do it too.

[HangNguyen-ihrf]

Rich is when you don’t have to work and don’t have to worry about money for the rest of your life.

[tinytarakeet]

love the stream of consciousness videos! honestly, i think there's something to be said about lifestyle inflation and relativity. so many different levels of wealth, different types of communities, different definitions of luxury. all i know is, , , relative to *you*, you're doing better and better each year! ^^ so cool to see how far you've come!! ^0^

[pamelacord]

I really loved this style of video. I still look at the prices of food but I have money set aside so no emergency is ever too much of an issue. I save for what I want but not much left over for whims. There are definitely levels.

[mariamunoz]

Loved this post… when I was a child other kids used to make me feel awkward on the school bus and would say things like “you’re a rich girl” and I had no idea what they meant. After my parental divorced my mom and I struggled financially. Now as an adult, I am happy to create 6 figures and my husband has built a successful career as well. I sometime find myself feeling awkward again when people make comments about my home, my car, or other ways in which I enjoy my money (which I worked really hard to earn, think bachelors degree and getting my masters full time while I worked full time). No I think about “rich” as “hard work”. So translate the question “how does it feel to work hard?”