Top 1%?

But, why look at just America? Let's be "world citizens" for a moment.

To be in the top 1% of the world, you need:
1) an income of $32,400
2) a net worth of $770,000

That's the top 1%. Nearly everyone living in the US is quite well off (materially) by world standards and certainly by historical standards.

Do we feel better now? Honestly, I don't. To think that the majority of the world still lives in abject poverty is not much to smile about. The median net worth for adults worldwide is $3,582. That's how much it takes to be doing better than most people. In Africa, it is $438.


The good news is that wealth and living standards in some of the world's poorest places are improving.

Note, these figures were from a few years ago.
 
Last edited:
Last I looked you need 10 mil to make the bottom of the 1% ers
 
Top 1% by income is $430,600 for a household. Top 1% by NW is $10,374,030. I make way more than the income number but fall way short on the NW number. I got me some savin' to do!
 
I might make the income number this year, but that is one year out of my 55 years on the planet. I have about half the NW.
 
imoldernu said:
I didn't quite make it, but maybe you did?

https://cnbc.com/2018/07/19/what-yo...ercent-in-america.html?recirc=taboolainternal

Here's how much you have to earn to be in the top 1 percent in America.
Does anyone here live in Jackson Wyoming?

Anyway... the amount is for Family Income, not individual.
Click to expand...



I do think I made the higher end of the Top 1% on the “Happiness Scale” (the scale on average established by me over my lifetime so far). The income I/we made along the way had an influence. Using the annual numbers quoted: no. But,it is all fine by me. Thanks for sharing!
 
As Jackie Vernon used to say in the 1960s and before, "We were so poor we were adopted by a Korean family".
 
If I converted my part-time earnings to a FTE then I would have made it in my best years.
 
I'm not in the top 1%, but gee, I have more than enough already. Well, the way I define "enough", I do. I guess the point of the article is for people to get all envious, but TBH it wouldn't really make any difference in my life.
 
samclem said:
But, why look at just America? Let's be "world citizens" for a moment.

To be in the top 1% of the world, you need:
1) an income of $32,400
2) a net worth of $770,000

That's the top 1%. Nearly everyone living in the US is quite well off (materially) by world standards and certainly by historical standards.

Do we feel better now? Honestly, I don't. To think that the majority of the world still lives in abject poverty is not much to smile about. The median net worth for adults worldwide is $3,582. That's how much it takes to be doing better than most people. In Africa, it is $438.


The good news is that wealth and living standards in some of the world's poorest places are improving.

Note, these figures were from a few years ago.
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
W2R said:
I'm not in the top 1%, but gee, I have more than enough already. Well, the way I define "enough", I do. I guess the point of the article is for people to get all envious, but TBH it wouldn't really make any difference in my life.
Click to expand...


+1


I'm not in the 1%, and unless they obtained their wealth in an illegal manner I don't care about what the %1 earns or has.

If you play high school baseball or football, you have smaller odds of making it to the pros than to the 1% of earnings... yet you do not see anyone raising "skill envy" about that. :)
 
I can say that I've always been in the top 100%.

I can't say that I've ever cared.
 
I saw a "Top 1% of the US" and "Top 1% of the world" mentioned, with vastly different results. But how about "Top 1% of the advanced world" which would exclude the very poor, third-world areas such as much of Africa? I'm sure there would be a large grey area to exclude poorer countries which are not really considered Third World. But it might provide a better benchmark.
 
joeea said:
I can say that I've always been in the top 100%.

I can't say that I've ever cared.
Click to expand...

+1
As I have stated before, I supported a trader back in the 1980's who made 5m yearly back then. A lot of the folks in my former industry who were in the top 1%, one wouldn't want as a friend.
As long as I can enjoy retirement happy and healthy, that works.
 
Gimme that sugar!

I click on these threads and polls dealing with comparisons, even though I know better.

They are fiscal empty calories, providing some momentary guilty pleasure but making not a whisker's difference to my own situation.

Whether I'm in the top X% or the bottom X% shouldn't matter. I'm not living anybody else's life, so what they do and what they have is their business, not mine.

But I can't help myself, any more than I can resist the brownies and cookies and doughnuts that my co-w*rkers occasionally bring into the sweatshop. I know I'll never lose these love handles eating that stuff, but it's soooo sweet!

Oh, well, I'll regret it later. Feed me now!
 
scrabbler1 said:
I saw a "Top 1% of the US" and "Top 1% of the world" mentioned, with vastly different results. But how about "Top 1% of the advanced world" which would exclude the very poor, third-world areas such as much of Africa? I'm sure there would be a large grey area to exclude poorer countries which are not really considered Third World. But it might provide a better benchmark.
Click to expand...


This might interest you - average household wealth from OECD countries: https://www.businessinsider.com/net...und-the-world-oecd-countries-2018-7?r=UK&IR=T

"Average household wealth varies widely across OECD countries, ranging from a low of $4,429 in Turkey to a high of $176,076 in the United States. Across the entire OECD, the average household wealth was $90,570."
 
I never understood what exactly this income number is. Taxable income? If I get $40k*2 in tax deferred compensation or non vested stock options of 50k or something is that part of the equation? What about investment income? If I have $2mill and the market goes up 20% I’m almost 1% without working?
 
Yup. Any way you make 400 grand a year makes you a 1% er.

10 mil in net worth or 400 grand / year in income. Of course more is always better!
 
I still struggle with the idea that because others are doing better than you that is somehow harms you. I just don't "feel" harmed, and my experience indicates no harm to me. The conclusion of the study is that the top 1% are doing better at the expense of everyone else, rather than just stating they had more gains. Like it is a zero sum game.
 
corn18 said:
Top 1% by income is $430,600 for a household. Top 1% by NW is $10,374,030. I make way more than the income number but fall way short on the NW number. I got me some savin' to do!
Click to expand...
COcheesehead said:
I might make the income number this year, but that is one year out of my 55 years on the planet. I have about half the NW.
Click to expand...
Maybe not ready to retire yet. RE demands a balance between employment earnings and net worth.
 
pj.mask said:
I never understood what exactly this income number is. Taxable income? If I get $40k*2 in tax deferred compensation or non vested stock options of 50k or something is that part of the equation? What about investment income? If I have $2mill and the market goes up 20% I’m almost 1% without working?
Click to expand...

I would say it's gross taxable income but I suppose people can use any number they want. Since it doesn't "matter" if you are a 1%'er or not a 1%'er.

I'd like to be a 1%'er and not let my friends know it!
 
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