There are many ways to become rich, including here in Germany. But the question is: at what point does being rich really mean rich, and when can you honestly say you've made it? We'll look at that question and answer it below.

How much does someone have to earn per month to be considered rich?

An employee working full time in Germany in 2017 earned an average of 3,771 euros gross per month. According to the Federal Statistical Office, those who earn less than 60 percent of the German average monthly salary, namely 2,262 euros, are considered at risk of poverty. Most recently, that was just under 20 percent of employees in the country. So when does being rich apply? In terms of income, someone is rich if they earn at least twice what the average person earns per month. Converted, that means anyone with a monthly income of 7,542 euros counts as rich. As an annual salary, that comes to a total of 90,504 euros gross. So you can see that being rich, by definition, is not reserved for stars and starlets or airline pilots alone; the (private) business world makes it possible, too.

Rich through inheritance: an overview

When it comes to wealth through inheritance, the statistics are not fully developed. Still, the point at which someone is truly rich can be defined as follows. The reason is that the statistics only include inheritances that exceed a certain tax-free allowance, which applies in each case. For spouses, this allowance is set at half a million euros, while for children it is 400,000 euros. So when is someone rich by definition when it comes to inheritance? Only those who inherit more make it into the statistics and count as wealthy by definition, or in everyday speech, as nouveau riche. In 2017, slightly more than 110,000 inheritances were subject to tax. Another study from 2017 states that just over 15 percent of Germans would inherit more than 100,000 euros.

When are you considered rich



At what level of assets is a person considered rich?
There is even less transparency than with inheritance when it comes to defining wealth by assets. Data is missing here as well, especially since the wealth tax was abolished. So when are you rich if you look at a person's assets? The Deutsche Bundesbank, for example, states that the average wealth per household in the Federal Republic of Germany is 60,400 euros (net). Net worth is calculated from the value of all money and all possessions, minus all debts. At the same time, this median, this midpoint value, is also the figure that divides our society into a poorer and a richer half. Prospects of future assets that every German builds up over the course of a working life through the statutory pension insurance are not included in this figure. So when are you rich in terms of total possessions? If you want to express in numbers how many Germans, including their assets, house or car, reach a value of more than one million euros, it is 1.67 percent of the total population, one in every sixty people.