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US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

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Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#151

Post by Shorel »

indecisive_user wrote: post #127
lonelappde wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is a house an asset but an education isn't? Do you think a potential spouse would pass over the neurosurgeon?

A house is a nearly guaranteed asset. The value will likely steadily rise throughout the years, and with good homeowners insurance you'll get paid even if the house is destroyed. An education guarantees nothing. The neurosurgeon could die, or suffer an injury preventing them from performing surgery, or just plain quit and decide to pursue art instead. Of course the neurosurgeon has a significantly higher potential fu…

I would put some numbers to each risk.

Like: 1.5% of neurosurgeons suffer an injury that prevents them from performing surgery. Then adjust all calculations based on this.

As with everything: to know if a single flip coin is going to be heads or not is basically impossible, but over a large enough number, you can be certain the number of heads will be close to 50%.

A single neurosurgeon? Who knows?

The entire population of neurosurgeons? Now we can use actuarial science and measure everything in micromorts.

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#152

Post by throwaway9d0291 »

brownbat wrote: post #71

> But debts in the Alpine country are far higher than in the US... Debts make this comparison difficult to make meaningful. A few cases: - Minimum wage earner barely scrapes by but does not seek any credit. - Someone in a high cost of living area takes out a mortgage. - A young neurosurgeon with fresh educational debt takes on a very high paying job. - A billionaire borrows to finance a major real estate project The…

An important detail here is that in Switzerland it's somewhat normal to simply never pay back your mortgage, so many people will keep around a bunch of debt because it doesn't make financial sense to eliminate it.

When you get a mortgage it's usually broken into two amounts: an amount that you have to pay back (~30% if I remember right) and an amount that you don't (the rest). You can simply pay back the first amount quickly then pay interest on the second amount indefinitely. Interest rates here are extremely low (even a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage can be had for <1%) so you can keep the low interest loan and put the money elsewhere (e.g. stocks if you like to live on the edge).

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#153

Post by acchow »

EpicEng wrote: post #36
soperj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you still have plenty of homesless and destitute. Pretty sad that you can't look after the most vunerable.

I saw a ton of people sleeping on mattresses and blankets in German train stations last time I went. Were they just enjoying their freedom from the pressures of society? Maybe we should look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_... So what are you talking about exactly?

This shows the Netherlands having the same homeless ratio as the US at 0.17%

I can't believe this is true. They must have different definitions for homeless.

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#154

Post by collyw »

indecisive_user wrote: post #127
lonelappde wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is a house an asset but an education isn't? Do you think a potential spouse would pass over the neurosurgeon?

A house is a nearly guaranteed asset. The value will likely steadily rise throughout the years, and with good homeowners insurance you'll get paid even if the house is destroyed. An education guarantees nothing. The neurosurgeon could die, or suffer an injury preventing them from performing surgery, or just plain quit and decide to pursue art instead. Of course the neurosurgeon has a significantly higher potential fu…

So without the insurance, then the house would be similar to the neurosurgeon? A natural disaster could wipe it out.

And can't a Neurosurgeon take out equivalent insurance to cover the worst case scenarios that you described? I am sure I have heard of famous singers insuring their voices.

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#155

Post by mseidl »

hartator wrote: post #8
anxrn wrote: post #2

I suspect using the median net assets instead of the average would lead to vastly different results.

Actually the 20% poorest in the US has it better than the average EU middle class. Ref: https://www.google.com/amp/s/fee.org/articles/the-poorest-20...

Maybe in pure dollar amount. As a German that lived in the US for a long enough time, I'd rather be poor in the Germany than in the US. As least I have good worker rights, healthcare, and all the other benefits.

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#156

Post by mantoto »

hartator wrote: post #8
anxrn wrote: post #2

I suspect using the median net assets instead of the average would lead to vastly different results.

Actually the 20% poorest in the US has it better than the average EU middle class. Ref: https://www.google.com/amp/s/fee.org/articles/the-poorest-20...

Are we reading the same?

"The high consumption of America’s “poor” doesn’t mean they live better than average people in the nations they outpace, like Spain, Denmark, Japan, Greece, and New Zealand. "

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#157

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

dillonmckay wrote: post #52
thatfrenchguy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The second decile in the US had in 2017 a wealth of $4798 (-962 for the first decile), while in France in 2015 the second decile had E12900, E4300 for the first decile. And, you know, access to health care :-)

and affordable highspeed internet.

Residential 10 Gbps connections. $50/month.

That's not a typo. salt.ch/fiber

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#159

Post by ggambetta »

lonelappde wrote: post #121
jcheng wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you take out a loan, it doesn't decrease your net worth, right? If I'm worth $X, then I take out a $1MM loan, at that moment I'm still worth approximately $X (because the $1MM the bank gave me and $1MM I owe the bank cancel each other out). So I'd rank them as: - Billionaire - Home owner - Minimum wage earner - Neurosurgeon

Why is a house an asset but an education isn't? Do you think a potential spouse would pass over the neurosurgeon?

Oh god, I hope the potential spouse bases their decision on factors other than net worth. I don't want to live in that awful world.

Re: US takes 'richest nation on earth' crown from Switzerland

#160

Post by nabla9 »

US has high average net wealth per capita but is not close to top in median net wealth. Switzerland is close to top in both measures.

Median tells how rich the typical person is.

United States ranks #22 in median wealth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe...

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