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IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

evergreensmallbusiness.com

11–20 of 24 posts

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#11
post #7
post #3

Click bait. Do not waste your time. >Looking at the finances of people who have more money that you or I do can be a little unsettling. If we’re not careful, the financial voyeurism can also foster a sense of ingratitude. That’s not good… "Ingratitude"? Right after US congress passed the tax cut that will add 1,000,000,000 to the deficit? Is the author - "Steve" - funded by the Mercers or the Kochs?

Don't forget that they will be creating jobs for you and me. So there is reason to be grateful.

I've only had a perspective from the point of view of smaller businesses, I admit, but 100% of the hiring there I've seen has been driven by expected or actual demand, not "oh look we have extra cash, let's hire some people".

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#12
Ignoring the ... quality issues of this post, looking at the statistics of wealth _is_ interesting.

The author points out a couple times the sub-optimal investment strategies apparent in this data, and reads into them under the assumption that the wealthy must have some trick of their sleeves and so their investment strategies must just go _beyond_ us mere mortals.

I don't concur. I think, rather, most everyone is financially naive. _Especially_ wealthy people. Why? Here's an example.

Doctors make a lot of money. And yet the vast majority of doctors are abysmal when it comes to A) running a business and B) managing money. And it makes sense, because doctors have to spend the vast majority of their young adult lives in school, and then the rest of their lives in a high stress, high demand work place. There's no time to pick up those skills.

There's no reason to suspect that anything different happens for the wealthy in America. You don't just acquire skill with money simply because you have or it, or earn a lot of it. Most of the super wealthy are people like actors, athletes, etc. None of them would have the time or inclination to be proficient in finance.

Even in the case of wealthy business people, aptitude in business does not necessarily translate into aptitude with money. It sounds a bit contradictory at first glance, but managing finances is actually one of the least important things when it comes to running a business. It's mostly an after thought. It's just that it tends to be salient and a common topic of discussion. Zuckerberg isn't wealthy because he's good with money. He's wealthy because he had a good business idea with good execution. It's why the CEO isn't a CFO.

In other words, at the very least I believe the wealthy are as illiterate when it comes to money as the average American. But more likely they're worse, because being successful tends to mean being hyper focused on one specific goal in exclusion of other things.

And don't forget, your ideas about what wealth looks like and how the wealthy live ... comes mostly from celebrities; people who build their business on appearances. So no wonder they want to portray an image of 1) extravagance and 2) aptitude.

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#13
post #7
post #3

Click bait. Do not waste your time. >Looking at the finances of people who have more money that you or I do can be a little unsettling. If we’re not careful, the financial voyeurism can also foster a sense of ingratitude. That’s not good… "Ingratitude"? Right after US congress passed the tax cut that will add 1,000,000,000 to the deficit? Is the author - "Steve" - funded by the Mercers or the Kochs?

Don't forget that they will be creating jobs for you and me. So there is reason to be grateful.

I hope that was ironic, because if you believe that excessive taxes were what was holding down job and wage growth then oh boy are you in for a surprise.

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#15
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget that they will be creating jobs for you and me. So there is reason to be grateful.

I hope that was ironic, because if you believe that excessive taxes were what was holding down job and wage growth then oh boy are you in for a surprise.

I was sarcastic.

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#16
This seems like a rather naive approach to understanding the top one percent. Interviewing them and actually talking to them about their financial strategies seems like a much better idea. Many people have done this and there are books written from this perspective. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that they don't have much in their retirement accounts or mutual funds. Those are very middle class vehicles that are very inefficient. Most of the wealthy put their money in real estate investments, their own businesses, and high cash value life insurance.

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#17
post #6
post #2

Anyones else getting really strong vibes of "author doesn't understand what they're analyzing" from this? [edit] In particular, they seem to spend a lot of space marveling over marginal utility as if they'd never encountered such a thing, yet fail to mention it by name, and there are gems like: "curiously, the wealthiest Americans hold relatively modest balances in their retirement accounts" for which the author betr…

I still have no idea what his point was.

There wasn't a point, the post is just published personal musings... And that's okay. And awesome.

This feels like a throwback to a pre social media internet. Just some guy, somewhere, passionate about a topic noodling with the amazing wealth of information that can be had online (IRS financial data).

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#18
post #2

Anyones else getting really strong vibes of "author doesn't understand what they're analyzing" from this? [edit] In particular, they seem to spend a lot of space marveling over marginal utility as if they'd never encountered such a thing, yet fail to mention it by name, and there are gems like: "curiously, the wealthiest Americans hold relatively modest balances in their retirement accounts" for which the author betr…

> "gee, look how wrong these other stats are"

I get the feeling that the 1% knows how to hide their wealth from the IRS.

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#19

Ignoring the ... quality issues of this post, looking at the statistics of wealth _is_ interesting. The author points out a couple times the sub-optimal investment strategies apparent in this data, and reads into them under the assumption that the wealthy must have some trick of their sleeves and so their investment strategies must just go _beyond_ us mere mortals. I don't concur. I think, rather, most everyone is fi…

I think it depends on your personality. You can be more of a visionary (i.e. a Zuckerberg) and make a lot of money. Or you can be a numbers person (i.e. a Warren Buffet) and be good at investing. Or a speculator (i.e. George Soros). Or a good operator but not a visionary. Etc

A lot of it comes down to personality and personal preference of what you like. The path and approach to wealth building can be and is different for everyone.

Re: IRS Wealth Statistics Paint Fascinating Picture of Top One Percent

#20
post #3

Click bait. Do not waste your time. >Looking at the finances of people who have more money that you or I do can be a little unsettling. If we’re not careful, the financial voyeurism can also foster a sense of ingratitude. That’s not good… "Ingratitude"? Right after US congress passed the tax cut that will add 1,000,000,000 to the deficit? Is the author - "Steve" - funded by the Mercers or the Kochs?

Trillion has an extra comma. 1,000,000,000,000
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