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I don't think using quintiles is unfair. Consider thinking about it using an extreme: If I'm earning (and spending) in the top percentile in NYC or London, I a

by geocar 7y ago

I don't think using quintiles is unfair. Consider thinking about it using an extreme: If I'm earning (and spending) in the top percentile in NYC or London, I assuredly have a very nice standard of living, but the effort (personal growth, career, etc) to move to that top percentile from anywhere else is far lower in London than it is in NYC.

nostrademons 7y ago
Is that actually true? In refurb's example, you can move from the 4th quintile in the U.S. to the 5th quintile in London simply by moving from the U.S. to London and holding everything else constant. In my career, the biggest bumps in compensation have been through events that I had little to do with. Pick the right industry and company, pass the hiring bar, have their wage-fixing cartel broken by Facebook, and let stock-price appreciation do the rest. I worked hard, but I worked hard mostly because what else am I going to do with my time? I also feel like there's a difference in working models between your post (and by extension, most middle-class and lower people) and how people actually get to the top income & wealth percentiles. Most people believe it happens through hard work: put in the hours, learn the material, diligently do what you're told, get a steady stream of promotions, and you'll get rich. In practice, this usually results in a series of 6-7% wage increases that keep you roughly where you were within the relative distribution, because everybody else is doing the same thing. All really big fortunes are made through arbitrage: identify a problem that lots of people really want solved, present yourself as the solution to that problem, profit. Work is required for this, but the returns from it are highly non-linear: you might work a little more (or sometimes even less) than someone who slaves away at their career, but get orders of magnitude more return.
- geocar 7y ago
  Moving simply to London is not an easy task though, even for a high earner.

by geocar 7y ago

nostrademons 7y ago

Is that actually true? In refurb's example, you can move from the 4th quintile in the U.S. to the 5th quintile in London simply by moving from the U.S. to London and holding everything else constant. In my career, the biggest bumps in compensation have been through events that I had little to do with. Pick the right industry and company, pass the hiring bar, have their wage-fixing cartel broken by Facebook, and let stock-price appreciation do the rest. I worked hard, but I worked hard mostly because what else am I going to do with my time? I also feel like there's a difference in working models between your post (and by extension, most middle-class and lower people) and how people actually get to the top income & wealth percentiles. Most people believe it happens through hard work: put in the hours, learn the material, diligently do what you're told, get a steady stream of promotions, and you'll get rich. In practice, this usually results in a series of 6-7% wage increases that keep you roughly where you were within the relative distribution, because everybody else is doing the same thing. All really big fortunes are made through arbitrage: identify a problem that lots of people really want solved, present yourself as the solution to that problem, profit. Work is required for this, but the returns from it are highly non-linear: you might work a little more (or sometimes even less) than someone who slaves away at their career, but get orders of magnitude more return.

geocar 7y ago
Moving simply to London is not an easy task though, even for a high earner.