55 ms·

You're mixing wealth and income.

• ef4 14y ago
  But when we're talking about capital gains income, we would expect the two to be correlated.
• jaxn 14y ago
  No, he is saying that $1B in wealth (about 400 people) generates $77m (threshold to make list of highest earners) in income assuming a 7.7% rate of return (which seems unrealistically high to me).
  • leot 14y ago
    Actually, I'm saying that if the 200+ Americans with >$2 billion in wealth consistently generated more than 4% return on capital, then at least 50% of the top 400 earners should stay relatively the same year after year (since those with >$2 billion usually stay billionaires). The fact that only 27% have appeared more than once suggests that those with more than $2 billion in net worth are reporting returns less than 4%.
    • jaxn 14y ago
      Appreciating assets don't count as income. They very well may be minimizing income while still maintaining growth. When they sell those assets, they make the list.