What Does It Take To Be Wealthy In America?

Via ZeroHedge

The goalposts of wealth are always shifting due to inflation and other factors.

For example, someone with a net worth of $1 million several decades ago would have been considered very wealthy. However, as Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu details below, according to recent survey results, however, $1 million is only enough to feel “financially comfortable” today.

In this infographic, Visual Capitalist has visualized several money milestones to give you a better idea of what it really takes to be wealthy in America.

Net Worth Milestones

This table lists the data used in the above infographic.

It covers data on what it takes to get into the top one percent for wealth in key states, along with broader survey results about what net worth thresholds must be crossed in order to be considered “comfortable financially” or even “wealthy”.

 

According to Charles Schwab’s Modern Wealth Survey, a net worth of $774,000 is needed to feel “financially comfortable”, while $2.2 million is needed to be considered “wealthy”.

Both of these milestones are far greater than the average (median) American’s wealth, which according to the Federal Reserve, was $122,000 in 2019.

Joining the One Percent

Research by Knight Frank determined that in order to be a member of America’s one percent, one would need a net worth of $4.4 million. This is very high compared to other developed countries such as Japan ($1.5 million), the UK ($1.8 million), and Australia ($2.8 million).

The difference is partly due to America’s large population of ultra high net worth individuals, which includes the country’s 724 billionaires. See below for a list of the top five countries by number of billionaires.

 

Source: World Population Review (As of 2021)

Focusing again on the U.S., we can also see large discrepancies at the individual state level. Entry into California’s one percent requires a net worth of $6.8 million, which is 62% higher than the national average.

California is famously home to many of the world’s richest people, including Google co-founder Larry Page, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Being a one percenter in Mississippi, on the other hand, requires $766,000. That’s 83% lower than the national average, and just a tad lower than the amount needed to be “financially comfortable” by the average American. This is partially due to Mississippi’s poverty rate of 19.6%, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is the highest in the country.

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23 Comments
Llpoh
Llpoh
July 7, 2022 7:14 am

No matter how cheap it is to live in Mississippi, you get what you pay for. I have in-laws in Mississippi. Nice folks. But the no go zones are pretty extreme. Think Chicago without the huge city.

flash
flash
  Llpoh
July 7, 2022 7:37 am

Thomas Chittum is his book Civil War II , says no Whites get out of Mississippi alive. It is a third world shithole, but we’re all the same…reeeee.

https://ia800807.us.archive.org/8/items/TheLexiconImperium/Civil_War_II_-_The_Coming_Breakup_of_America_-_Thomas_W_Chittum_1997_1.pdf

Llpoh
Llpoh
  flash
July 7, 2022 7:56 am

That fuckwit lost me when he started writing shit about the sovereignty of Indian reservations. That sovereignty stems from the Constitution, and from treaties, and is settled law.

flash
flash
  Llpoh
July 7, 2022 8:09 am

Sovereignty is dictated by might. If you can’t defend it, you don’t own it. History is replete with examples. Regardless, he ain’t wrong about Mississippi or any other third world Southern state, for that matter. The South is demographically done.

TN Patriot
TN Patriot
  flash
July 7, 2022 10:18 am

I will take the south over either East or Left coast any day of the week.

Chuck
Chuck
  Llpoh
July 7, 2022 9:17 am

I quit when he said “average (median)”. Those are two completely different statistics.
If the writer and editor don’t know and won’t check something so simple, I could give a fuck less what else they have to say.

BL
BL
  Llpoh
July 7, 2022 3:48 pm

Don’t count on it Cheif, just recently TPTB were rumbling in the direction of undermining native rez rights.

Colorado Artist
Colorado Artist
  Llpoh
July 7, 2022 7:56 pm

Money is absolutely the LAST metric of “wealth”
Is your time your own spent as you wish?
Do have your health?
Does your family love you?
Does your wife or husband?
Do you live your life on your terms?
Do you spend your precious, ever dwindling days doing what you want?
Money is a means to an end.
You don’t need much of it to be “wealthy” if you spend it where you alone wish.
I know several dozen people who are incredibly wealthy who collect my work.
Not all of them are remotely happy or fulfilled. Many have broken families
and broken souls.
BTW, I am in the top 15% of US money earners.
And I don’t live any kind of lavish lifestyle by any means
and wouldn’t change a single thing. Except be a little leaner
at the waist and a little thicker below there……

Anonymous
Anonymous
  Colorado Artist
July 7, 2022 8:19 pm

The Story Of The Mexican Fisherman

There was once an American businessman that was enjoying his holiday at the pier of a small Mexican coastal village. He was relaxing on the beach when he saw a small boat rowing to shore. Inside the boat was a fisherman that had caught several big fish.

The American told the fisherman that he was impressed and asked how long it took to catch these big fish.

The Mexican fisherman replied, “Oh, only a short while.”

The American didn’t understand, so he asked for clarification. “Why didn’t you stay longer and catch more fish?”, he curiously asked.

The Mexican fisherman told him that this was enough to feed his entire family.

The American businessman then asked, “Okay, but what do you do with the rest of the day ahead of you?”

The Mexican fisherman replied, “I wake up early to catch a few fish in the morning. After I’m finished fishing I go home to play with my kids and take a siesta with my wife. We eat dinner and we will go to the village to have a drink with our friends. We drink, we sing, we dance, and we have the best time with my friends. I have to say, we have a wonderful and full life.”

The American businessman wanted to help the fisherman. “I am a Harvard MBA and I can help you! You should start by staying out longer every day and catching more fish. The extra fish you will sell in the village and you can buy a bigger boat with that money.”

“And Then?”
“The bigger boat will make sure you catch more fish and bring in more money. With that money, you can buy several boats. In a couple of years, you will have a fleet of boats. Soon you will be able to skip the middle man and sell directly to the plants. Eventually, you can open your own company, open your own production facility to can the fish, and you will have your own distribution network. Then you would have moved out of this small coastal village and move to Mexico City, where you can set up a headquarters.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But then what?”

To which the American laughs and says, “This is the best part! You will live like a king of course. When the time is right, you will take your company public, sell your shares, and become very rich. You will make millions of dollars!”

“Millions?” asked the fisherman. “Okay, and then what?”

The American said, “Then you can finally retire. You can move to a small coastal fishing village where you can fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and eat dinner. Then you can go to the village to have a drink with your friends. You can drink, sing, dance, and have the best time. You would have a wonderful and full life.”

—–

I have been richly poor for decades in a similar way to above. Time is way more valuable than money, yet so many trade 1/2 of theirs away for dollars they don’t really need. Ironically, often because they think they are buying time, as in retirement!

In my early 20s I had already seen that slaving for the best 40+ years, to be free (no guarantees) for the likely shitty last 20, was not a deal I was signing up for.

Colorado Artist
Colorado Artist
  Anonymous
July 7, 2022 11:57 pm

My point precisely.

ken31
ken31
  flash
July 7, 2022 12:19 pm

I think the mosquitos get you eventually, regardless.

TN Patriot
TN Patriot
  Llpoh
July 7, 2022 10:16 am

There are some pretty nice places in MS. Not every area is as infested as Jackson or as poor as the Delta.

Scot
Scot
July 7, 2022 9:50 am

How to make a small fortune in the USA:

1. Start with a large fortune.
2. Allow communists to illegally install their puppet who lost the election- Joe Biden.

Aunt Acid
Aunt Acid
July 7, 2022 10:10 am

“…goalposts of wealth are always shifting …”
– Zero Hedge

Same for the definition of “fully vaccinated”. The criteria are always shifting now its “…current” or some shit like that.

Wealth which, when the everything bubble bursts, will vaporize like a dream when waking up.

But it won’t be a dream but rather the grand nightmare of the Money Masters.

Aunt Acid
Aunt Acid
  Aunt Acid
July 7, 2022 10:31 am

And just remember what the WEPH said, kids, “You will own nothing and be happy.”

Stucky
Stucky
July 7, 2022 11:43 am

ZH has no idea what real wealth is. (Hint: It ain’t $$$).

But, hey … keep misleading people. Stroke that envy! Feed that greed! Take pride in your huge barns, then tear it down and build a bigger one! Be smug in your satisfaction …. you made it to the top!! What can go wrong?”

“ZH can go fuck themselves.” …. the ApostlePaul

Glock-N-Load
Glock-N-Load
  Stucky
July 7, 2022 2:15 pm

Wealth IMO is, in no particular order…

1. Health
2. Friends/Family
3. Love of a significant other
4. Not worried about how you will be fed.
5. Not worried about shelter.
6. Not worried about safety.

Quess what, ALL OF THAT COSTS $$$.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs
  Glock-N-Load
July 7, 2022 4:34 pm

4, 5 & 6 do not exist except in fairy tales. The kind told during tranny hour.

Glock-N-Load
Glock-N-Load
  Fleabaggs
July 8, 2022 9:56 am

If you have enough $$, you don’t have to worry about 4, 5 or 6.

Ghost
Ghost
  Stucky
July 7, 2022 3:29 pm

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest what it really takes to be wealthy in America these days is a way to protect and secure that wealth.

One of the very first things the Second Constitutional Convention should address (after hanging the traitors on lampposts along Pennsylvania Avenue) is the elimination of the Illegitimate use of Executive Orders to impose policy without debate in Congress. The second of the very first things should be term limits, eliminating the tendency of decent men to become Congresscritters. Next, ten year terms for SCOTUS. Lifetime appointments are a joke on the US citizens

President Obama has been using executive orders (EO’s) in ways they have never been used before. He is using them to do end-runs around Congress by legislating from the White House. Some EO’s are dormant but pose a potential future threat. One of those is EO 13603.

President Obama signed EO 13603 on March 16, 2012. The purpose is to delegate authority and address national defense resource policies and programs under the Defense Production Act of 1950. It provides the framework and authority for the allocation or appropriation of resources, materials and services to promote national defense.

It is an update and it is not much different from prior EO’s on the National Defense Resources Preparedness. However, one difference which is concerning to some is that the definition “national emergency” is now broader and it is quite vague. There were other subtle changes that might be of interest.

The EO includes all of Obama’s out-of-control agencies and they would have unlimited power if the president declared a “national emergency.”

lamont cranston
lamont cranston
July 7, 2022 6:24 pm

Last time I looked Mississippi is “MS” not “MI”. That’s Michigan.

Llpoh, lived in MS until I graduated from State in ’74. Love the state itself but didn’t want to stay, although my cousin Ed wanted me to work for his wholesale paper company. Sorry, Meridian was a POS then and is worse now.

Llpoh
Llpoh
  lamont cranston
July 7, 2022 6:27 pm

Jackson is a lovely place. Sarcasm off.

BL
BL
  Llpoh
July 7, 2022 6:44 pm

Llpoh- Have you met Chokwe Antar Lamumba?? I have family outside Jackson and they never get near the city, the DARK dangerous city.