Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
Why would you doubt that anyone on this board would be in the top 10%? To be in the top 10% of income earners, you just need to have a household income of around $150,000. That's easily obtainable by an educated double income family, assuming their education is in a marketable skill. After all, this is an income that 1 out of 10 enjoys; that's a lot of people. Median income for physicians (non-specialists) is comfortably above this number; median income for lawyers is slightly below; I know that there are some of both here.
By contrast, to be in the top 1%, you need an annual income of just over $500,000. Much harder to reach through traditional salaried jobs, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few people on MR made that much.
I'm not sure why you think that what you study has no impact on whether you can join the top 1%; there are no guarantees, of course, but there are ways to increase your chances significantly. Median income for specialist physicians is $360,000, for example.
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The important issue isn't earned income, it's wealth. The top 1% would be the highest income earners without raising a finger. In fact a large number of them are. If you're born into a billion dollar trust fund it really doesn't matter what you decide to work at, or whether you decide to work at all. Same concept with the top 10%, being in the top 10% of income earners is a far, far cry from being in the top 10% of wealth owners. If you're interested it might pay you dividends (non-cash and not tax deductible) to read the referenced article.