5 ms·

This is one of the more whiny-er pieces I've read from the NYT. There's going to be rich people out there. Get over it and stop acting like the cards are alway

This is one of the more whiny-er pieces I've read from the NYT. There's going to be rich people out there. Get over it and stop acting like the cards are always stacked against you. Yeah, it sucks not being loaded. Yeah, I wish I were rich. Sure, things would be easier. Do I spin my wheels thinking about the inheritance baby boomer kids will get from their rich parents? No. I'll spend my time thinking how I'll build my own 'empire'.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- cobrausn 13y ago
  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101099732 http://www.cnbc.com/id/101099732 FWIW, 1.7 million Americans last year were.
  - Jtsummers 13y ago
    So by those numbers 3.7% of the US population were millionaires, and 0.5% more became millionaires. Good odds for the rest of us!
    - cobrausn 13y ago
      Sure, if you assume everyone has an equal chance in the running for millionaire. I don't think you are really competing with your waiter or bartender for that coveted slot. Of course, you don't have the same odds as the VP of Department X either, so there's that.
      - Jtsummers 13y ago
        Ignoring the odds part (becoming a millionaire isn't really, for most, a lottery), I was trying to point out the scale of the numbers. 1.7 million sounds like a lot of people, and it is. But it's a very small percentage of the total US population. Also, if you have a good 401k and are reasonably frugal and own your home, your net worth can (fairly) easily exceed $1 million in your lifetime. Your link also doesn't really say where in the spectrum of millionaires those new folks sit, or their ages, or the sort of work they did. Which (in the context of the now deleted post) makes it difficult to tell if they were people who struck it rich on investments and business (the temporarily embarassed millionaires), or just middle class folk that worked for 30 years and crossed a magic threshold.
        icedchai 13y ago
        A million isn't that much these days. You probably want at least 2 or 3 to be financially independent, able to live a comfortable life in perpetuity with minimal risk.
    - randomdata 13y ago
      I has been widely reported that college graduates are expected to make $1 million more in their career over someone without a degree. If you have a degree, and are willing to live like someone without a degree, the odds should be very good. I think the problem is that vast majority of the population like to spend rather than grow their wealth.
      - Jtsummers 13y ago
        Very true, why many of my peers here are still relatively poor even though they make as much money as I do (more or less). Engineers get a 25% signing bonus, nearly every one of the engineers that started when I did had a brand new car. A wiser choice would have been to make their emergency fund and invest the rest - possibly in a house. Instead, like me, they were living in an apartment because they threw all that money away in their first week and took on unnecessary debt (for most of them, some may have needed a car but probably not the $30k one they bought). Most came in under an internship program so the starting pay wasn't really that great, but a huge pay raise each year for the first 3 years).
    - allsystemsgo 13y ago
      What exactly are you wanting? Does the world owe us all something?
      - Jtsummers 13y ago
        Nothing. No. It was a comment pointing out the actual percentages of millionaires in the US. The now deleted post had made a reference to the old trope about Americans being temporarily embarrassed millionaires. The post I responded to was indicating the number of new millionaires last year. I was putting that number in context with the entirety of the US population. Is there a problem with providing percentages along with the raw numbers?

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cobrausn 13y ago
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101099732 http://www.cnbc.com/id/101099732 FWIW, 1.7 million Americans last year were.
- Jtsummers 13y ago
  So by those numbers 3.7% of the US population were millionaires, and 0.5% more became millionaires. Good odds for the rest of us!
  - cobrausn 13y ago
    Sure, if you assume everyone has an equal chance in the running for millionaire. I don't think you are really competing with your waiter or bartender for that coveted slot. Of course, you don't have the same odds as the VP of Department X either, so there's that.
    - Jtsummers 13y ago
      Ignoring the odds part (becoming a millionaire isn't really, for most, a lottery), I was trying to point out the scale of the numbers. 1.7 million sounds like a lot of people, and it is. But it's a very small percentage of the total US population. Also, if you have a good 401k and are reasonably frugal and own your home, your net worth can (fairly) easily exceed $1 million in your lifetime. Your link also doesn't really say where in the spectrum of millionaires those new folks sit, or their ages, or the sort of work they did. Which (in the context of the now deleted post) makes it difficult to tell if they were people who struck it rich on investments and business (the temporarily embarassed millionaires), or just middle class folk that worked for 30 years and crossed a magic threshold.
      - icedchai 13y ago
        A million isn't that much these days. You probably want at least 2 or 3 to be financially independent, able to live a comfortable life in perpetuity with minimal risk.
  - randomdata 13y ago
    I has been widely reported that college graduates are expected to make $1 million more in their career over someone without a degree. If you have a degree, and are willing to live like someone without a degree, the odds should be very good. I think the problem is that vast majority of the population like to spend rather than grow their wealth.
    - Jtsummers 13y ago
      Very true, why many of my peers here are still relatively poor even though they make as much money as I do (more or less). Engineers get a 25% signing bonus, nearly every one of the engineers that started when I did had a brand new car. A wiser choice would have been to make their emergency fund and invest the rest - possibly in a house. Instead, like me, they were living in an apartment because they threw all that money away in their first week and took on unnecessary debt (for most of them, some may have needed a car but probably not the $30k one they bought). Most came in under an internship program so the starting pay wasn't really that great, but a huge pay raise each year for the first 3 years).
  - allsystemsgo 13y ago
    What exactly are you wanting? Does the world owe us all something?
    - Jtsummers 13y ago
      Nothing. No. It was a comment pointing out the actual percentages of millionaires in the US. The now deleted post had made a reference to the old trope about Americans being temporarily embarrassed millionaires. The post I responded to was indicating the number of new millionaires last year. I was putting that number in context with the entirety of the US population. Is there a problem with providing percentages along with the raw numbers?