Putting the 1 Percent into Perspective

Read an article in the Globe that paints a pretty clear picture of who the richest 1% are. In order to join this elite club an individual has to make more than $230,000 a year. Sounds like a lot, but it’s still lower than what’s needed in the United States which is $380,000. Before we criticize these greedy pigs let’s take a look at some key points from the study.

  • Over half of them work more than 50 hours a week (o.O)
  • 58% of them have at least a bachelor’s degree. But only 19% of the entire adult population are university graduates.
  • Only 10% of these top earners work in the financial/insurance industry, despite getting the most heat from the public.
  • Only 17% of them are women
Most of us in the general population work around 35 to 45 hours a week. If you work more than 50 hours, you are in the top 20% of the hardest working folks in Canada.  A $230,000 salary translates into less than $150,000 of take-home pay here in BC. Sure that’s still a lot, but if I lived in a dual income household where my partner made as much as I do right now, then our combined after tax income would equal more than half of $150,000. So if a top 1% earner spends $100 on dinner, then we would spend maybe $50 or $60. Instead of buying a million dollar house we can only afford a $500,000 house. The quality of life for a top 1% earner and that of the average family’s isn’t that huge of a difference. Not even the 1% can have it all lol. I’m sure some of them lied, cheated, or didn’t work their way legitimately to the top.  But I believe many are diligent, hard working people and deserve what they get paid.

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Random Useless Facts: Ok, not so useless today. Here are some innovative ideas to try out if you spend a lot of time cooking or being around food. Found this on 9gag.com awhile ago.

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Modest Money
08/17/2012 7:02 am

lol I bet the 1 percenters don’t use any of those tricks. Whoever thought up that stuff is pretty damn innovative though…definitely smarter than me. At least I can say I’m in the top 20% hardest working Canadians. That is if you can count sitting on my ass in front of a computer as hard work.

Liquid
Admin
08/19/2012 2:57 am
Reply to  Modest Money

You and me both. I think this club of sitting on ass in front of computer working 50 hours a week will become a big trend in the future. We are the pioneers lol.

Rob
Rob
08/17/2012 12:33 pm

Just love the random useless facts, please keep it up!!!!!

PS am a wee bit jealous, you youngins seem to come up with the coolest blog names, Liquid Independence and the Great Escape. The dividend trader by extension, while correct just seems soooooo baby boomerish :):):) Yes I’m an old fart baby boomer can you tell:):)):):)

Liquid
Admin
08/19/2012 3:06 am
Reply to  Rob

Dividend trader is pretty cool too. It might be good to sound baby boomerish because it will speak to a larger audience with similar values to yourself. This year alone the official Merriam Webster dictionary added a bunch of new words to the English language including f-bomb, bucket list, man cave, sexting, and added an additional meaning to the previously existing word, Underwater. The English language is changing all the time and it’s hard to keep up. I’m sure by the time I’m close to retirement there will be even more hip words to describe things 🙂

Mike
Mike
08/18/2012 12:23 pm

Some of those pics are actually quite useful! Wow!

Liquid
Admin
08/19/2012 3:09 am
Reply to  Mike

I’ve been using the straw through can tab trick for years now. I knew I couldn’t be the only person who has figured that one out.

Steve@The Loonie Bin
Steve@The Loonie Bin
08/18/2012 3:12 pm

I just finished watching a documentary on winning the lottery and I never want to be that wealthy. More money brings out more problems with life.

I’ll have to try the wooden spoon trick, would have never thought of it.

Liquid
Admin
08/19/2012 3:13 am

If I ever win the lottery I will make sure to tell nobody about it. All my friends will probably think there’s something wrong with me because I’ll have the biggest grin on my face. The problem then is trying to act normal. The wooden spoon trick works brilliantly, especially when I tend to be absent minded sometimes.

mevrocket
09/21/2012 3:54 am
Reply to  Liquid

How does that wooden spoon thing work? Seriously??

Liquid
Admin
09/23/2012 2:50 am
Reply to  mevrocket

I’m not sure. Maybe the spoon takes some of the heat away from the bubbles which keeps them from building up higher. Wish I would have paid more attention in chemistry class lol.

Shilpan
08/18/2012 7:10 pm

I agree with you that a married couple can easily beat a single 1% earner not only in income, but also in savings due to shared cost of living. In western world, it really doesn’t make much difference if you are in top 1% vs top 20% as far as the quality of life. You can definitely squirrel away much more if you make more.

Liquid
Admin
08/19/2012 3:41 am
Reply to  Shilpan

For sure. Dual income for the win. I’ve seen in a study that if you make more than $60K USD a year then you are already in the top 1% of the richest people in the world, including all the countries. Living in the western world sure gives us a nice advantage.

Liquid
Admin
08/19/2012 2:54 am

Almost 200 views. I remember how excited I was when I got my first 200 visitor over a year ago.

Drop that Debt
08/19/2012 6:31 am

haha ! I like the cookbook holder.

Liquid
Admin
08/20/2012 9:18 am
Reply to  Drop that Debt

Me too. I sometimes also just bring my netbook into the kitchen.

Michelle
08/20/2012 6:11 am

I love all of these interesting facts!

Liquid
Admin
08/20/2012 9:19 am
Reply to  Michelle

Thanks M :0)

Mo' Money Mo' Houses (@momoneymohouses)

Love all of these! Especially the fork and oreo one. Gonna have to try that one soon. 🙂

Liquid
Admin
08/21/2012 11:37 pm

Eating Oreos. Like a ma’am!

Harry Campbell (@PFPro1)
08/20/2012 9:46 pm

Haha these are great! I already do the pizza trick but that’s because I have an obsession with eating hot things really hot and drinking cold things really cold, so I’ll have to try the frozen grape trick!

Liquid
Admin
08/21/2012 11:38 pm

I’m okay with cold things. But I’m really sensitive to hot things. I believe my body temperature is 1 degree below the average human’s for some reason.

agentfang
agentfang
08/20/2012 10:04 pm

That’s why there’s a lot of wannabe athletes and celebrities! Now that’s living the high life! Beats the 9-5 for sure and having fun at it! Popularity is key to attract wealth and success.

Liquid
Admin
08/21/2012 11:43 pm
Reply to  agentfang

They say no publicity is bad publicity. One thing I’ve learned from celebrities is that eyeballs equal success. The more people are interested to watch you the more money you’ll make from sponsors, advertisers, etc..

MyMoneyDesign.com
MyMoneyDesign.com
08/23/2012 8:55 am

Yup … still not in the 1% club in the US or Canada. Guess I’ll have to use some of those tips and keep working at it! I had no idea that Dorittos burn.

Liquid
Admin
08/25/2012 11:13 pm

Me neither. My goal is to reach 10% first. Then try for 5%, then 2%. The high you go the harder it gets.

theoutliermodel
theoutliermodel
08/28/2012 10:07 pm

The bagel holder made me go, “Woahhhhhh…” Now you got me looking for old plastic CD holders!

As for the 1%, I think you get what you give. If you’re willing to work that hard, then you deserve the money. Personally, I don’t want to work that hard. I’ve worked with a lot of combination PhD/medical doctors in particular who make gobs of money (and marry people who make gobs of money) and then spend all of their time working while the nanny takes care of the kids and the grandparents enjoy the fancy giant house that they bought. My old boss was one of these people and he was always so busy that he’d have meetings with me while walking from one office to another, drinking his coffee and eating a sandwich at the same time, because he didn’t have time to sit down for ten minutes :S

Liquid
Admin
08/29/2012 12:23 am

I wouldn’t want such a busy life either. Your old boss sounds so hardcore. back in school I didn’t even think about these things because everyone felt more or less equal. But once I entered the workforce there seems to be a different set of expectations and socioeconomic levels altogether. Yeah the bagel holder is a good one.

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