Earlier quoted context omitted.
What did you buy instead, if I may ask?
At the time stocks, now I'm selling those too and paying down the mortgage. There arent many bargains out there.
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The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
31–40 of 47 posts
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#32Consider four different people: 1. a lawyer who works 100 hours/week flirting with a heart attack and earns $480,930 2. a small business owner who sells their plumbing co after 4 decades and earns $480,930 from the sale, but never broke six figures before 3. a retiree who sits on the couch 24/7 and earns $480,930 in passive dividends 4. a professional of some kind who works 20 hours/week in a low stress job and earns…
Pray tell, what kind of low stress job lets you earn $500k/year with 20 hours/week? (Actual job, please, not "4-hour workweek" style passive investment income.)
I know a few people in category 4.
They were all owners of lifestyle businesses that had been running for a while. They either hired a full time manager to manage the business, or everything basically ran on autopilot and required less attention.
Some of them got their by working their butt off, some got there by inheriting the business and never really having to work all that hard.
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#33Is this household or individual? I only see "tax return" mentioned, so it could be a mix of both. A common Silicon Valley working couple, 10+ years into their careers are likely to be in the 1% if you roll in things like bonuses and stock/option grants. And at the same time you have people claiming to be middle class with incomes over $250K.
Social class PSA: Lower, middle, upper-middle, upper class, etc do not map (as much as news media tries) to income levels. Middle class does not identify a level of income. To identify income levels use quintiles instead. Middle class is a social class and annual income has no causal effect on social class.
Depends on the country. I know in the UK class is distinct from income. In the US it's very closely linked.
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#34Consider four different people: 1. a lawyer who works 100 hours/week flirting with a heart attack and earns $480,930 2. a small business owner who sells their plumbing co after 4 decades and earns $480,930 from the sale, but never broke six figures before 3. a retiree who sits on the couch 24/7 and earns $480,930 in passive dividends 4. a professional of some kind who works 20 hours/week in a low stress job and earns…
Pray tell, what kind of low stress job lets you earn $500k/year with 20 hours/week? (Actual job, please, not "4-hour workweek" style passive investment income.)
Radiologists? I've heard they can work remote from home working nowhere close to 40 hours a week and pull in well into six figures.
Of course one could argue making a determination if someone has cancer is not low stress.
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#35Some of it is just screwy. Like... The average tax rate for the top 2% is higher than for the top 3%. That is as it should be, if you believe in progressive taxation. It's higher again for the top 1%, and higher again for the top 0.1%. But then it's lower for the top 0.01%, and lower again for the top 0.001%. In fact, the average tax rate is lower for the top 0.001% than it is for the top 3%. In 2015.
I'm assuming it's dependent on source of income. Salary is taxed differently than long term capital gains which I assume those huge incomes are.
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Social class PSA: Lower, middle, upper-middle, upper class, etc do not map (as much as news media tries) to income levels. Middle class does not identify a level of income. To identify income levels use quintiles instead. Middle class is a social class and annual income has no causal effect on social class.
Depends on the country. I know in the UK class is distinct from income. In the US it's very closely linked.
I think how the term is used is different, as you mention, in the US and UK. I'm trying to prevent Americans from assuming social class and income brackets are linked. Most Americans just assume, likely due to class brackets being used by the media as an economic indicator, that lower, middle, etc class just correlate with one's salary; this form of usage is a misnomer and ought not be used.
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#37On a side note, you are in top 5% if you make about 200k/year. I guess most of SE in CA are top 5% earners then.
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#38Some of it is just screwy. Like... The average tax rate for the top 2% is higher than for the top 3%. That is as it should be, if you believe in progressive taxation. It's higher again for the top 1%, and higher again for the top 0.1%. But then it's lower for the top 0.01%, and lower again for the top 0.001%. In fact, the average tax rate is lower for the top 0.001% than it is for the top 3%. In 2015.
I'm assuming it's dependent on source of income. Salary is taxed differently than long term capital gains which I assume those huge incomes are.
Yeah, I'm sure that explains it, but it doesn't justify it.
Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#39Re: The top 1% of the US makes $480k or more in adjusted gross income
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm assuming it's dependent on source of income. Salary is taxed differently than long term capital gains which I assume those huge incomes are.
Yeah, I'm sure that explains it, but it doesn't justify it.
Do you see no value in tax incentives for investment?
Also, keep in mind those very top people are likely not at the top that long. As someone else pointed out, those could be people that sold their company.