The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the median
income in the United States is a little more than $70,000 a year. But, as
the old saying goes, where you stand is a function of where you sit.
To get a better sense of where you stand in terms of earnings power, let's take
a look at the wealth breakdowns by percentile and age.
The Wealth Breakdown
- Bottom
10%: $25,000
- Bottom
25%: $41,000
- Median: $70,000
- Top
25%: $126,000
- Top
10%: $203,000
- Top
1%: $717,000
Income is obviously different than wealth. It doesn’t matter
how much money you make, if you don’t save any of it, you’re not really
wealthy. But, there is a perception that a high income makes you wealthy, and
perception is often reality when it comes to how people think about their
finances.
The Move To Extremes
Pew Research compared the breakdown by lower, middle and
upper class between 1971 and 2021 and found that more people are now in the
upper-income bracket. The strange thing about having more people in the
upper-income tier is how many of them seem unhappy. Making a little more than
$200k a year puts you in the top 10% of all earners in the entire country, yet
someone living in Manhattan or San Francisco who makes that much money might
try to argue that kind of salary only puts them in the upper middle class, not
the wealthy elite.
The New York Magazine profiled people in New York City who
are wealthy but don’t feel like it based on their peer groups. A friend of the
journalist said, "It’s so crazy how rich you have to be in New York to
live comfortably, just comfortably. There’s this very subtle heartbreak that
perhaps people made better life choices than you and their houses are bigger
and they are happier."
Living The Rich Life
The research on happiness shows that the more often you
compare yourself to others — good or bad — the less happy you are. And, in
today’s world, it’s never been easier to compare yourself to others. Rich is a
subjective term so there is no right or wrong answer to the title of this blog
post. There are plenty of ways to live a rich life that have nothing to do with
income or the amount of money you have in the bank.
The only thing I really read this week was a book on my
flights to and from Chicago. It’s called The Good Life: Lessons from
the World’s Long Scientific Study of Happiness. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I’ll have some thoughts on it next week as it pertains to what actually does
make us happier.
0 Comments