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72k for a single person is NOT "upper income" at all in the OP's article.
When I hear the term "upper class" it is true wealth...and most physicians/lawyers wouldn't even make the cut in my book.
Upper class is when you do not need to put in your time to earn a time-sensitive wage (even lawyers and doctors, in general, have to put in hours to make money. A very very highly paid hourly worker though of course...). You have sources of income that is much more dependent on business acumen and the financial markets rather than a labor-based wage.
When you are making money while you're sleeping and you can easily take 1 month off on a exotic vacation and come back to your business without a slight worry of your finances...then you're likely upper class, IMO.
When you have power and access to the higher tiers of society and you get your calls returned, and when you can have "your people" call "their people" these are also signs of being in the upper class.
Not buying these categories....I would quadruple or more the break point to call oneself "Upper Class" and then double that if you're in the Bay area or NYC.
Rank Name Net Worth Origin of Wealth
1 Walton family $130 billion Wal-Mart
2 Koch family $82 billion diversified
3 Mars family $78 billion candy
4 Cargill-MacMillan family $49 billion Cargill Inc.
5 Cox family $41 billion media
6 S.C. Johnson family $30 billion cleaning products
7 Pritzker family $29 billion hotels, investments
8 (Edward) Johnson family $28.5 billion money management
9 Hearst family $28 billion Hearst Corp.
10 Duncan family $21.5 billion pipelines
11 Newhouse family $18.5 billion magazines, cable TV
12 Lauder family $17.9 billion Estee Lauder
13 Dorrance family $17.1 billion Campbell Soup Co.
14 Ziff family $14.4 billion publishing
15 Du Pont family $14.3 billion DuPont (chemicals)
16 Hunt family $13.7 billion oil
16 Goldman family $13.7 billion real estate
18 Busch family $13.4 billion Anheuser-Busch
19 Sackler family $13 billion pain medicines
20 Brown family $12.3 billion liquor
21 Marshall family $12 billion diversified
22 Mellon family $11.5 billion banking
23 Butt family $11 billion supermarkets
23 Rockefeller family $11 billion oil
25 Gallo family $10.7 billion wine, liquor
You can’t buy your way onto that list. That is upper class.
I bet you can.
There are quite a few self-made first generation mega wealthy, Jeff Bezos is worth 100 million and Larry Ellison 65 million they can buy their way onto any list they want.
There are quite a few self-made first generation mega wealthy, Jeff Bezos is worth 100 million and Larry Ellison 65 million they can buy their way onto any list they want.
I think you meant billion. Ellison had enough to buy an island in Hawaii.
How come families like Gates, Bezos, Buffet, etc. aren't on that list?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang
I bet you can.
There are quite a few self-made first generation mega wealthy, Jeff Bezos is worth 100 million and Larry Ellison 65 million they can buy their way onto any list they want.
The list is “old money” transgenerational wealth. Old money typically (privately) looks down upon new money.
You can’t buy your way onto that list. That is upper class.
There's always another level. The really rich and powerful people never get their names on the Forbes 400 list or in the media.
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