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But if you start from nothing and eventually become one of the top 10% you probably had at least one lucky event that put you on the move. Wouldn't you agree? Just one lucky, and maybe hoped for but unexpectedly lucky break.
Maybe, but the key is luck alone isn't enough. That's why so many people who win the lottery go back to being broke. It takes more than a lucky break to get and keep wealth. A lot more.
Getting wiped out in the savings and loan fiasco is not bad luck , it was a bad investment plan ...it was a bad choice and poor decision.
Diversified broad based funds and indexes are not risky at all ..they are volatile but over the long haul volatility means little as things smooth out .... anyone who got wiped out was speculating in junk bonds or speculating in buying just bank stocks .. that is speculating on the outcome of an individual company .
Had they made the decision to invest in a proper diversified plan they would have grown far more money.
So yes , while those who fail many times financially call it bad luck ,it is really poor choices and bad decisions that were clearly made.
The problem is many who have had this so called bad luck never see it as they really had a poor plan .... it was bad investor behavior that really did them in , not the savings and loan fiasco ...they did not invest , they speculated in one particular industry or stock type and lost.
A diversified portfolio would not even remember the event happened as it grew more and more money over time
Agreed. Just to use the Savings and Loan fiasco as an example....
A $10,000 investment in a pretty boring, but diversified mutual fund (60% bonds, 40% stocks), Vanguard Wellesley Income, at the beginning of 1987, would now be worth $142,990.
$10,000 invested in Vanguard's S&P 500 index fund at the same time would now be worth $224,995.
By the way, there's no point in arguing with the rich. They insist they are rich because of their fabulous intelligence whereas they insist the poor are poor because of their stupidity and laziness.
There's a corollary that goes along with that which you conveniently skipped. It goes like this:
By the way, there's no point in arguing with the poor. They insist they are poor because of external circumstances beyond their control whereas they insist the rich are rich because of inheritance or other advantages that no one else had and that no one who's born poor can become wealthy through working hard, working smart, and being smart with their money (living below their means, etc.).
Agreed. Just to use the Savings and Loan fiasco as an example....
A $10,000 investment in a pretty boring, but diversified mutual fund (60% bonds, 40% stocks), Vanguard Wellesley Income, at the beginning of 1987, would now be worth $142,990.
$10,000 invested in Vanguard's S&P 500 index fund at the same time would now be worth $224,995.
Both of those funds were well established and had been around for more than a decade in 1987.
Those with no investing knowledge or those anti investing are chock full of the wiped out stories ...most are made up or rumors and the rest relate to poor investor behavior and not investing at all but speculating or bailing out
To answer the OP's question, yes the rich get most of the gains.
Here are the facts. The top 10% own 84% of the stocks.
So a 10%er has $84 in stocks on average to $1.77 in stocks that a bottom 90%er has. That's because those bottom 90%ers are splitting a tiny sliver, just 16% of the market.
So if a bottom 90%er has $17,777.00 in a retirement stock account, imagine that a top 10%er would have $840,000.00.
I would not say it's a highly stable situation, but it's today's America.
^^This goes back to people on watching what already supports their own POV. We have a real problem with that in America.
No, I've watched them before.
They have an agenda backed by donors. It is not a free exchange of ideas.
First you have to ask what they want with society. Too many people assume liberals, libertarians, conservatives, communists, and the rest think the same, or even sub-groups within each.
Working for a better society means different things to different people.
To answer the OP's question, yes the rich get most of the gains.
Here are the facts. The top 10% own 84% of the stocks.
So a 10%er has $84 in stocks on average to $1.77 in stocks that a bottom 90%er has. That's because those bottom 90%ers are splitting a tiny sliver, just 16% of the market.
I would not say it's a highly stable situation, but it's today's America.
Indeed, the business journals are preparing us for trillionares if we want the economy to keep growing.
While national GDP has been decelerating at a consistent rate from cycle to cycle, the same cannot be said for corporate revenue. That's what people forget when they say America has a stagnant economy.
Why should wages for them same job pay anymore then just some Inflation adjustments?...they shouldn’t . In fact many jobs value is worth less like switchboard operator ...income growth comes from moving up the ladder , not doing the same job function thinking the job will magically be worth more
Heh...
Some of the products we sell are to accommodate businesses who wish to keep their existing phone systems. A lot of times this does involve keeping an employee in the role of... switchboard operator. If the salary stagnated, what motivation would the business ever have to finally purchase a solution that includes an auto-attendant?
Plenty .... a phone system does not have to have fica paid ,get benefits , call in sick and likely cost a whole lot less over time ....I can go on and on.
Plus phone systems have replaced so many in that slot there are likely an over supply that can fill that job keeping a lid on wages .....
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