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What is Wealth in America?

forbes.com

11–20 of 43 posts

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#11

It would be interesting to see Forbes 400 adjusted for local economy. For instance, Warren Buffett who spends most of his time in Omaha certainly gets more bang for his buck than the Billionaires that live in Silicon Valley.

Once you're at that level, differences between local economies are such a small percentage of your net worth that it really doesn't matter.

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#12

"A million dollars then would be about $20 million today, which is, interestingly, $1 million a year at a 5% aftertax return." 5%?? Does anyone know what investment is he talking about?

5% is pretty conservative, especially if you're in it for the long haul. If you look at any 30 year average pretty much since 1920, it tends to be 9% or more:

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/12/16/how-much-does-t...

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#13
Keep in mind that Forbes (and this author) live in a world where people make money almost exclusively via cash investments. Given THAT world-view, the article makes more sense, and $2M is indeed a dividing line between classes.

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#14
post #2

Great snakes! That's because $100 million is really a 'tweener number: You can be Richie Rich among your upper-middle-class friends or a hanger-on in the superrich crowd. It takes tens of millions to be an upper-middle-class person? That would be news to most of us, and to the IRS, I bet. It appears that this whole article is skewed by the editorialist's particular place in the very rich of society. I think that ever…

Well, I think it would be useful to make a distinction. There are a few kinds of wealthy. Moderate wealth requires maintaining and wisdom. However, there comes a point where you have so much money you could spend like a fool for the rest of your life and never run out of money. I could see $100 million teetering around that point.

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#15

Two million bucks is the great dividing line between middle-class comfort and worry in America right now. Is this irony or just staggering cluelessness? A family net worth of $2 million puts you in the top few percent. (From http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/scf/scf_2009p.htm , it's somewhere above the 95th percentile of family wealth in 2009)

Someone just has a very different relationship with "worry". As someone who's net worth is currently a tiny fraction $2mil, I will observe that the only times I have ever worried about my finances were when my net worth was negative AND I was unemployed.

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#16

Two million bucks is the great dividing line between middle-class comfort and worry in America right now. Is this irony or just staggering cluelessness? A family net worth of $2 million puts you in the top few percent. (From http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/scf/scf_2009p.htm , it's somewhere above the 95th percentile of family wealth in 2009)

I think this is assuming you don't work. If you exert any effort to support yourself, you are by definition working class.

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#17
> the chief technology officer ... of a tech startup ... might own a golf membership or two at fancy clubs, costing $300,000 each

Really? This strikes me as rather implausible, and makes me doubt a lot of the other claims.

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#18

"A million dollars then would be about $20 million today, which is, interestingly, $1 million a year at a 5% aftertax return." 5%?? Does anyone know what investment is he talking about?

5% is pretty conservative, especially if you're in it for the long haul. If you look at any 30 year average pretty much since 1920, it tends to be 9% or more: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/12/16/how-much-does-t...

Please, please do not use 9% as your expected investment return. The numbers touted over the past decade & a half are mostly an artifact of the post WWII period.

Furthermore, consider the demographic issue of boomers retiring. These boomers are forced sellers, in other words returns will be muted for the foreseeable future because of the larger class of people who will sell equities in order to fund their retirements.

The equity risk premium is closer to 4% over cash, which in today's markets means your expected returns should be between 4.25% & 5%.

Regards, TDL

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#19
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5% is pretty conservative, especially if you're in it for the long haul. If you look at any 30 year average pretty much since 1920, it tends to be 9% or more: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/12/16/how-much-does-t...

Please, please do not use 9% as your expected investment return. The numbers touted over the past decade & a half are mostly an artifact of the post WWII period. Furthermore, consider the demographic issue of boomers retiring. These boomers are forced sellers, in other words returns will be muted for the foreseeable future because of the larger class of people who will sell equities in order to fund their retirements…

Zero effort investment return is typically a shade or two under inflation, so even if the absolute number increases your ability to buy stuff steadily decreases, as does your effective net worth.

Re: What is Wealth in America?

#20
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5% is pretty conservative, especially if you're in it for the long haul. If you look at any 30 year average pretty much since 1920, it tends to be 9% or more: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/12/16/how-much-does-t...

Please, please do not use 9% as your expected investment return. The numbers touted over the past decade & a half are mostly an artifact of the post WWII period. Furthermore, consider the demographic issue of boomers retiring. These boomers are forced sellers, in other words returns will be muted for the foreseeable future because of the larger class of people who will sell equities in order to fund their retirements…

I disagree.

If you include tricks that most working class doesn't have the ability to pull off effectively, I believe that the returns will likely continue at that rate, and so does my financial advisor. Stuff like tax harvesting, margin borrowing, offsetting dividends with margin interest, carrying forward capital losses indefinitely, etc.

The simple fact that the majority of the population can't do these things means you get some premium over "regular" investments like mutual funds, CDs, and cash.

That said, it's perfectly fine for us to disagree on this, but no need to be rude (or down vote :P) since really none of us will know who wins this debate for 30 years :)

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