Here you used the comparative or subjective way of defining who is rich. You called that guy with combined household networth of $3.7M rich, obviously because you have much less than $3.7m.

The $3.7M guy may not think he is rich, because he would know some people who have lots more than him, like his bosses or seniors for example. The subjective way of defining who is rich is, well, very subjective and thus is quite meaningless. You already know the uselessness of this because you deliberately suggested that he upgrade to a bungalow where his $3.7M is only adequate to cover the down payment!

This is why I prefer to use the quantitative or objective way of defining who is rich. And I think the defining line is $10M. Why $10M? $10M because it is a figure that will really sets apart the truly rich from the masses. The average household networth has been increasing (although not evenly spread) over the years, and the average HDB 4 room household would have a minimum of $1M including the flat. Those staying in condos would have easily $2M to $5M in household networth. And not forgetting Singapore has the highest concentration of millionaires in the world. A person with just a $1M networth knows he is not rich because this amount doesn't last long and cannot buy him much here.

It is much like owning a car nowadays is no longer a status symbol because so many people and families have one. So be careful when you call someone rich. It will only reveal that you have less than that person.