Are You Top 1% ?

[RetireBy90]

Article found on CNBC, at https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/01/how-much-money-you-need-to-be-part-of-the-1-percent-worldwide.html

Says according to Credit Suisse Research to make the top 1% world wide, you need net worth north of $871,320. I find that number very low considering what I've heard in the past. I expect that most of the top 1% discussion I've read about was top 1% in US not the world. One site found by searching for top 1% was

https://dqydj.com/net-worth-brackets-wealth-brackets-one-percent/

That says you need north of $8M or $10M to be top 1% in US. That sound closer to what I expected.

Something to think about especially if you are thinking of moving to a low cost of living location for retirement or are thinking about how much the UBER rich have compared to your nest egg.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Says according to Credit Suisse Research to make the top 1% world wide, you need net worth north of $871,320. I find that number very low considering what I've heard in the past. I

there are a LOT of people in the world

 

[bingybear]

search the topic on ER, it has come up a number of times before

 

[6miths]

I'm surprised it's that high. It has been mentioned before but Gapminder is great to play with for those interested in world stats. Linked is Life Expectancy v Income by country. Can make up all kinds of fun charts and see the changes moving through time.

 

[jkern]

Yes, but world wide stats are misleading. Top 10% in the world doesn't even get you a down payment on a 1 Bedroom condo in the Bay Area.

 

[youbet]

Yeah, it's interesting but not very pragmatic for middle class America to compare themselves to worldwide statistics. Where you fit into the good ole USA is really what counts. Amounts that few on this forum would consider adequate for FIRE (< $100k) put you into the top 10% on a WW basis!

 

[pjigar]

World count is useless unless you have comparable expenses where you live. It's all relative. As one researcher concluded: The best factor that correlates with happiness level is when a person lives in an area where everyone else is less wealthy than him/her.

 

[joeea]

I don't see any value in determine which percentile I fit into - worldwide, US, or even just my neighborhood.

I'm doing just fine and I hope others are too. I don't aspire to be better than the Joneses.

 

[youbet]

I don't see any value in determine which percentile I fit into - worldwide, US, or even just my neighborhood.

I'm doing just fine and I hope others are too. I don't aspire to be better than the Joneses.

I think it can be useful in a general way. Say that the lifestyle and income that makes you "just fine" is $X in the area where you live and spend. If you look and see that in an area you're considering moving to that $X would put you in the bottom 10%, you might take the implications of that into consideration.

But, yes, being "happy" with your own situation totally independent of where you fit in with your neighbors is a nice trait to develop.

 

[dtbach]

there are a LOT of people in the world

+1 I'm pretty sure I'm 1% in say Yemen, but so what??

 

[Sojourner]

https://dqydj.com/net-worth-brackets-wealth-brackets-one-percent/

That says you need north of $8M or $10M to be top 1% in US. That sound closer to what I expected.

What astonishes me in those statistics is that roughly one out of every 10 households in the US has a $1M+ net worth. It's hard to believe (although I guess the numbers don't lie) that around 10% of the folks you see out and about each day live in "millionaire" households. Although I suppose if you don't live in a HCOL locale like Manhattan or the Bay Area, that percentage would be somewhat lower.

 

[Totoro]

This tool does it all:
Global Rich List


Keep in mind almost half of the worlds people or so have hardly any or negative net wealth, and that includes quite a few americans ..

 

[Car-Guy]

Top 10% in the world doesn't even get you a down payment on a 1 Bedroom condo in the Bay Area.

Some of us (me) wouldn't want to live in the Bay Area even if we were in the top .000001%... However, it "was" a nice place to visit a few decades back.

 

[target2019]

I find this to be useful information, and feel very fortunate.

 

[Car-Guy]

I don't see any value in determine which percentile I fit into - worldwide, US, or even just my neighborhood.

Probably not much real value. Just human nature for many us to want to know.

 

[corn18]

Oh my.

 

[gauss]

What astonishes me in those statistics is that roughly one out of every 10 households in the US has a $1M+ net worth. It's hard to believe (although I guess the numbers don't lie) that around 10% of the folks you see out and about each day live in "millionaire" households. Although I suppose if you don't live in a HCOL locale like Manhattan or the Bay Area, that percentage would be somewhat lower.

I think the following two concepts would go a long way towards explaining this:

1) I believe the value of primary residence is included in those numbers.

2) The large Baby Boomer population would be at their peak wealth years, thus demographically skewing the data.

Also keep in mind that a 2017 millionaire is very different than a 1960s millionaire (ie inflation in the 1970s.)

 

[GrayHare]

What astonishes me in those statistics is that roughly one out of every 10 households in the US has a $1M+ net worth. It's hard to believe (although I guess the numbers don't lie) that around 10% of the folks you see out and about each day live in "millionaire" households.

It jives with the National Debt. The US National Debt is currently about $15 trillion, which divided among the 300 million populace is $50,000 per person. That means for each 10 people with $0 net worth there is one person with 10x$50,000 = $500,000. That's 1 in 11, or 9%. A household of 2 such people has twice that, or $1 million.

 

[imoldernu]

WITH(what in the heck?)

The eternal question... is the "you" really you? If you're married, does the $1,000,000 really become $500,000? Or should it be "youse".

Not much of a difference but fun to wonder about when folks are posting about wealth.

HH Households? or HaHa ?

National debt?

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

 

[gauss]

It jives with the National Debt. The US National Debt is currently about $15 trillion, which divided among the 300 million populace is $50,000 per person. That means for each 10 people with $0 net worth there is one person with 10x$50,000 = $500,000. That's 1 in 11, or 9%. A household of 2 such people has twice that, or $1 million.

Interesting that the numbers come out like this, but I think that it is just a coincidence and that there is a fallacy in the reasoning.

 

[MichaelB]

It jives with the National Debt. The US National Debt is currently about $15 trillion, which divided among the 300 million populace is $50,000 per person. That means for each 10 people with $0 net worth there is one person with 10x$50,000 = $500,000. That's 1 in 11, or 9%. A household of 2 such people has twice that, or $1 million.

The liability for the national debt is shared by people and businesses. The distribution of wealth is not, because the wealth of businesses is already counted in the wealth of people.

 

[NW-Bound]

I don't see any value in determine which percentile I fit into - worldwide, US, or even just my neighborhood.

I'm doing just fine and I hope others are too. I don't aspire to be better than the Joneses.

I think it can be useful in a general way. Say that the lifestyle and income that makes you "just fine" is $X in the area where you live and spend. If you look and see that in an area you're considering moving to that $X would put you in the bottom 10%, you might take the implications of that into consideration.

But, yes, being "happy" with your own situation totally independent of where you fit in with your neighbors is a nice trait to develop.

While one should not spend too much time comparing himself to the Jones, defining a minimum level of comfort for happiness is not easy in the absolute sense.

Even a homeless man is comfortable and relatively safe sleeping in a back alley, compared to a Neanderthal man who had to watch out for sabertooth tigers loitering outside his cave.

If I were in a 3rd world country like Bangladesh or a sub-Saharan country, what I considered necessary for happiness would be a lot lower than what I enjoy now, even though I have always been LBYM.

 

[HadEnuff]

there are a LOT of people in the world

and a lot of them don't have squat.

 

[aaronc879]

I am not in the top 1%. I would retire immediately if I had $871,320 in investable assets.

 

[MikeWillRetire]

Here is a great website that gives a glimpse into the economic life of families across the globe. https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix