There are many myths about wealth and income in the US, and worldwide. Some facts give an interesting perspective:
Annual income:
A family income of $175,000 in the USA puts you in the top 5% of income earners. Family income of $500,000 earnings rank you in the top 1% in the U.S.A.
World Perspective:
Half of the world’s richest one percent live in the U.S.A., which is based on an annual income of $136,000 worldwide, according to CNN.
The world’s median income is only $1,225 per year.
Wealth — what is owned:
Most millionaires earned their money and still go to work, drive a Ford, and worry about their kids’ college expenses. Millionaires come in all shapes and sizes; some may be elitists, but most are just regular Joes who saved their money.
Only 20% of millionaires inherited their riches. Most millionaires didn’t get their wealth overnight when a rich relative died — they just worked for the money.
Many millionaires actually drive a Ford, with the American auto maker topping the millionaires’ preferred car list at 9.4%. Cadillac runs second on the millionaires’ favorite car list, and Lincoln third — and 77% drive an older model.
Most millionaires worry about retirement, their kids’ college fund, and about paying the mortgage — just like the rest of us. Those worries are greatest among millionaires who recently acquired their wealth.
At the extremes,“Runaway inequality has created a world where 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population — a figure that has fallen from 388 just five years ago,” the Anti-Poverty Agency said in its report published ahead of their annual gathering of the world’s financial and political elites in Davos, Switzerland. The richest 1% now own more than all the rest of us (99%).