Net Worth of the 10%, 1%, and 0.1% Households

[CSdot]

Don't forget TV shows where unemployed or low wage earners in New York live in massive apartments.

Like the apartments on Friends and Seinfeld. Presumably Jerry made good money as an entertainer, but he lived across the hall from unemployed Kramer, and in the same building as mail carrier Newman.

On the flip side, George, who occasionally had what appeared to be good jobs, lived with his parents.

 

[JoeWras]

Didn't The Honeymooners address life in a cold water flat?

 

[GravitySucks]

DW always laughed that the Bundy's lived in a bigger house than us.
We ate better though. Never lacked for toaster leavings in my house.

 

[kcowan]

When I retired in 1993, the NPV of my non-Cola pension was just under $800k. Today it has paid out over 150% of that and still going strong. Not even considered in such studies.

Yet it has made a huge difference in our retired life.

And yes inflation has been a factor in expenses but also investment returns!

 

[Andre1969]

Didn't The Honeymooners address life in a cold water flat?

I think I read somewhere that "The Honeymooners" was the first tv show to portray a blue collar, working class family. Most of the tv shows from that era tended to have families, or at least couples, with successful husbands and stay-at-home moms, and they lived in nice homes.

Although, when I was a little kid, I used to think Lucy and Ricky Ricardo were poor, because they lived in an apartment and didn't have a car. But, in my neighborhood back then, that's usually how it was, so I was just going with what I was exposed to, and trying to apply it to "I Love Lucy". But, in retrospect, the Ricardos got a '55 Pontiac to drive to California in. My grandparents had a '55 Pontiac. But they didn't get it until 1958. And it was a 4-door sedan, not a flashy convertible. And that house they bought out in Connecticut was pretty darned nice.

As for Kramer on Seinfeld, is it possible his apartment was rent controlled?

 

[JoeWras]

As for Kramer on Seinfeld, is it possible his apartment was rent controlled?

With Kramer, anything was possible.

Let's not forget he had a personal assistant for a while, until, well, you have to watch.

 

[GravitySucks]

With Kramer, anything was possible.

Let's not forget he had a personal assistant for a while, until, well, you have to watch.

The guy Kramer is based on supposedly made his money selling disco jewlery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Kramer

 

[JPatrick]

I'm thinking those numbers are inflated, or the totals contain a few lines that they didn't tell us about.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm thinking those numbers are inflated, or the totals contain a few lines that they didn't tell us about.

Explain.

 

[foxfirev5]

My Grandad built Mom and Dad's house for 3K in the early 50's. Dad made about $100 per week. So what?

 

[Spanky]

Including homes' value skews it for HCOL areas.

My old college roommate in California bought a home for ~$300,000 a couple of decades ago & now jokes he could retire just off the proceeds of selling his home...now valued at ~$1.5 million, probably ~$2 million by the time he cashes out and moves to a LCOL in a few years.

Yea - not to mention the exorbitant high salary, bonus, and stock grants/options given to tech workers, executives, entrepreneurs in the SF Bay Area. The number of millionaires and billionaire, I suspect, is much higher than average.

Edit: San Francisco Now Has the Most Billionaires in the World per Capita

 

[Koolau]

EDIT - there was a low-point in 1972 of $2.22/gal, gasbuddy.com says the closes station to me is at $2.25/gal.

For whatever reason (probably because I bought a relatively fuel efficient car in 1972) I recall putting $3 +/- in the car every week. That was 10 gal. at $0.30/gal. That got me almost 300 miles of driving. As ol' Blue Eyes said "It Was a Very Good Year."

 

[youbet]

For whatever reason (probably because I bought a relatively fuel efficient car in 1972) I recall putting $3 +/- in the car every week. That was 10 gal. at $0.30/gal. That got me almost 300 miles of driving. As ol' Blue Eyes said "It Was a Very Good Year."

DW and I purchased our first new car in 1971: a VW Super Beetle. It cost $2.5k out the door. Gas was 25 cents a gallon when we left for a road trip from Chicago to the SE. We drove all day for $2!

While I can't remember exactly what my wage was "working in da factory" (as John Prine would say), I do recall that 25 cents for gas didn't seem all that cheap!

 

[CSdot]

It might just be me, but the gap between the haves and the have nots seems wider now than I remember it being in some time (maybe since Bush I). With inflation the threshold for being in the 1% will go up each year, but has anyone seen a chart showing the annual levels for the 1% so we can see visually how it compares with inflation?

Edit: Found this https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-year/

 

[GravitySucks]

For whatever reason (probably because I bought a relatively fuel efficient car in 1972) I recall putting $3 +/- in the car every week. That was 10 gal. at $0.30/gal. That got me almost 300 miles of driving. As ol' Blue Eyes said "It Was a Very Good Year."

There's another piece to the equation.
A 1975 Ford Maverick with an earth shaking 75 horse power averaged 18.2 mpg combined city/highway.
A 203 hp 2021 Camry 32 combined mpg. Almost twice as many gallons to drive the same distance.

 

[Amethyst]

This chart does show a growing gap between the top and everybody else.

In addition to data, I suspect the gap seems even bigger than it is because people on social media talk about it all the time.

It might just be me, but the gap between the haves and the have nots seems wider now than I remember it being in some time (maybe since Bush I). With inflation the threshold for being in the 1% will go up each year, but has anyone seen a chart showing the annual levels for the 1% so we can see visually how it compares with inflation?

Edit: Found this https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-year/

 

[Koolau]

There's another piece to the equation.
A 1975 Ford Maverick with an earth shaking 75 horse power averaged 18.2 mpg combined city/highway.
A 203 hp 2021 Camry 32 combined mpg. Almost twice as many gallons to drive the same distance.

Yeah, I recall those days of adding 5mph bumpers and detuning to control NOx and CO2 emissions. Then electronic fuel injection and advanced computers came in, and most of that was reversed. Now we have cars with performance AND decent gas mileage. Amazing how things have changed. My '72 (Opel) had very little in the way of controls and got almost 30mpg. YMMV

 

[TOOLMAN]

Explain.

Bizarre

 

[Skyward1]

According to the Newsweek calculation I'm a one-percenter in a few states (not even close in the OP) which is beyond belief. Anyone aspiring to the 1% would give up in disgust if they saw my lifestyle.

 

[yakers]

I'm surprised that there are not more paper/residence millionaires. Don't know where to get the real estate data but it seems to me (SoCal resident) that there are countless $!M properties in Cal, NY and major cities. There are $!M+ house trailers in Malibu. So many, many people in HCOL areas with a paid off mortgage would automatically be 'rich' as I usderstand the data

 

[dunkelblau]

I'm surprised that there are not more paper/residence millionaires. Don't know where to get the real estate data but it seems to me (SoCal resident) that there are countless $!M properties in Cal, NY and major cities. There are $!M+ house trailers in Malibu. So many, many people in HCOL areas with a paid off mortgage would automatically be 'rich' as I usderstand the data

Most households who own a home free and clear in the SFBay area are total net worth millionaires, but they're not as dense in the large west coast metros to the south and to the north, and it's pretty rare nationally. CA median crossed 700k a few months ago.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/real-estate/2018/11/09/million-dollar-homes-number-increased-400-000-year/1936628002/

Slightly more than 3 million homes nationally, or 3.6% of the total, are worth at least $1 million, up from 3.1 percent last year and 1.5 percent in 2012.

Of the roughly 15,100 larger neighborhoods around the country analyzed by Trulia, 838 have median home values of $1 million or more and about two thirds of those are in California. Nearly 30 percent of California’s neighborhoods have a median home price of at least $1 million, the most by far of any state. New York, Florida and Washington followed.

 

[DawgMan]

Interesting perspectives on this topic. I have come to look at wealth as a very relative thing. Everyone seems to have opinion of what is "rich" is and what the "rich people's" lives are like (i.e. greedy, lucky sperm). There always seems to be the $1M-eer who thinks the $5M-eer has way more than they "need" and how could they spend that much money. The $5M-eer thinks the same thing about the $10M-eer. What's also interesting is that the same principles that a $1M-eer employed are often the same principles that a $10M-eer employed. Perhaps one had a larger income than the other, but the same principles/practices apply in most cases... it's all relative. As said, it's all about do YOU have enough to make YOU happy... who cares what the number is. I like this site because of the wisdom and common practices, but I often sense some judgment on those who may have a higher NW or higher planned spend. I happen to be in the 1% club excluding my home. I earned all of it and was very fortunate, but practiced many of the frugal practices that many here have implemented. I also make charity part of my annual practice and have plans to be try an be strategic in my gifting to my kids and grandkids while still alive. Now that I am basically retired at 56, I realize I have a pile of dough I will have a hard time spending, but I also realize my good fortune and will continue to look at ways to make a positive impact in this life. But guess what, for every guy that has $10M, $15M, there is someone with $50M. I think everyone on this site is "wealthy" and very fortunate... we are the lucky ones!

 

[CardsFan]

Interesting perspectives on this topic. I have come to look at wealth as a very relative thing. Everyone seems to have opinion of what is "rich" is and what the "rich people's" lives are like (i.e. greedy, lucky sperm). There always seems to be the $1M-eer who thinks the $5M-eer has way more than they "need" and how could they spend that much money. The $5M-eer thinks the same thing about the $10M-eer. What's also interesting is that the same principles that a $1M-eer employed are often the same principles that a $10M-eer employed. Perhaps one had a larger income than the other, but the same principles/practices apply in most cases... it's all relative. As said, it's all about do YOU have enough to make YOU happy... who cares what the number is. I like this site because of the wisdom and common practices, but I often sense some judgment on those who may have a higher NW or higher planned spend. I happen to be in the 1% club excluding my home. I earned all of it and was very fortunate, but practiced many of the frugal practices that many here have implemented. I also make charity part of my annual practice and have plans to be try an be strategic in my gifting to my kids and grandkids while still alive. Now that I am basically retired at 56, I realize I have a pile of dough I will have a hard time spending, but I also realize my good fortune and will continue to look at ways to make a positive impact in this life. But guess what, for every guy that has $10M, $15M, there is someone with $50M. I think everyone on this site is "wealthy" and very fortunate... we are the lucky ones!

Well said!

 

[jazz4cash]

Yeah, I recall those days of adding 5mph bumpers and detuning to control NOx and CO2 emissions. Then electronic fuel injection and advanced computers came in, and most of that was reversed. Now we have cars with performance AND decent gas mileage. Amazing how things have changed. My '72 (Opel) had very little in the way of controls and got almost 30mpg. YMMV

Which Opel? My 1st new car was a 74 Opel Manta. In ‘72 that same body style was called a 1900. I had one of those also. Always wanted a GT but it never happened. Maybe you had a Kadette? They got better mpg.

 

[aleabo]

It’s 4 of 10 can’t come up with $400 FWIW. Not inconsistent with the stats above.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/10-americ...0-emergency-expense-federal/story?id=63253846

This is all statistics. Lie, bug lie and statistics
Let's take my family - Wife, daughter, myself, my mother and mother-in-law.
Both mothers came to US after 60. Didn't earn SS. They live on SSI. So, for them $400 big money. Let's assume that survey called to all of us - now you have 2 out of 5 cannot come up with $400 - 40%.This is your number
Technically correct but in reality - it is not bad as it looks.