About
For those of you who are familiar with the Occupy Wall Street movement, I am NOT in the 99%. I am fortunate enough to be part of the 1% of income earners in America.
You are reading the writings of self-made, mid-thirties, professional man whose family recently crossed the $1 million dollar threshold in terms of net worth. I should also mention that my wife and I are highly-paid professionals. The purpose of this blog is to teach you the techniques that I used to reach this goal in a short period of time.
My wife (31 32 years old) and I (34 35 years old) live in Southern New Jersey with our two sons in our house which will hopefully be paid off in a few short years (Purchased in 2009). We were both raised by financially savvy parents who thankfully taught us some of the ins and outs of personal finance at an early age. We have been very lucky and blessed over the years. We are not very materialistic by nature, but do enjoy a good life. I see money as a tool that is used to provide for our needs, our future, and the fun stuff in between.
More details on my personal story can be found here.
I am by no means a finance professional, but will provide helpful hints and tips to make your assets grow. I will also incorporate my political (conservative) and religious beliefs (Christian) into the conversation to put my financial decisions into context.
To keep your interest, I’ll update our monthly budget as it changes at the beginning of every month. I’ll also use real numbers as often as possible in all of my posts because I appreciate transparency and sharing the actual figures helps me stay on top of my goals. If you’d like to see more, feel free to follow us via Twitter and Facebook
I have no financial certifications, but I have an abundance of opinions. I hope you do too since a blog is only as fun as the commenters! Honestly, I love to see your opinions and questions, so please comment when the mood strikes!
Thanks again for visiting. I hope you enjoy the site!
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Median net wealth at the 5% level is just about $2M, from a graph at Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MedianNetWorth2007.png
I wish you well as your worth increases with your excellent income.
Curious to see a year end look at how the income was budgeted through the year. I see many people with $250K+ incomes not saving as well as you are, and somehow just burning through their incomes, living just above their means.
I’ll post my net worth monthly moving forward so we can track the progress..thanks for commenting!
Wow! What a refreshing blog. A blog that celebrates success and hard work. What a concept! Keep up the good work!
Investor Junkie recently posted..Unleash the Power Within Review
I just stumbled onto your blog today. I agree w/ Investor Junkie — this blog is refreshing as it celebrates true financial savvy and pride in hard work. I’d love to be in the 1% but it probably won’t happen. That said, I’m working my way up as much as possible. I’m sure I won’t agree with all of your conservative commentary
but I’m already very engaged with your blog. Thanks for sharing!
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Finally, a new twist on PF blogging I’m actually interested in.
My story growing up was I did NOT have PF-savvy parents, so I wasted a lot of time and money until I graduated college.
Do you ever post your salaries anywhere?
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It seems the public has many views on what it is like to be in the 1 percent, probably because the ones that make the news are more like the 0.01 percenters.
But, your story strikes me as the story of a normal 1 percenter. You grew up where you were not majorly disadvantaged and had parent who instilled good values. You chose a good field in school (possibly by luck like I did), landed a good job, and married well.
I am going to be a d1ck here, but how does this story make you feel that you have some sort of advice to give to help people get into the 1%?
Here is the take home advice I see so far:
- Chose a degree that can make decent money
Without your degree and chosen field, you would not be in the 1%. What if in school you chose nursing or music because that was your calling? You could work incredibly hard in both fields and never be 1%, or even close for that matter. Hard work is not required to get to the 1% (people are in the 1% with little work). Plus, success in one field does not mean you can do it in any field.
- Marry a wife that has a plan for a career that makes a lot of money
Without your wife’s added salary, you would not be in the 1% this soon (if ever). Plus, if you OR your wife loses your job, then you will be out of the 1% (yes, you will keep your net worth and since you said you live just on your salary, then your net worth would not decrease).
- Live modestly compared to other 1 percenters and invest/save the rest of the money
To be in the 1% you have to be earning $340,000+ / year. Let say half that is your salary and close to the amount you said your family lives on. Is it really that hard to live on $170,000 / year? Can you even claim to not be materialistic and spend $170,000 a year unless you live in a ridiculously overpriced area where most of your money HAS to go to housing? You know what kind of house and car I could own in my state if I could spend $170,000 and invest $170,000 a year? I could live well on half of $170,000, have a wife that doesn’t work, have kids, and invest the other half.
- Investments take a long time to get you to the 1%.
Your investments are a bonus; not your primary entry into the 1%. You could be giving great investment adivce here, but it did not get you to the 1%. Yes, you have 2 rental properties, but that is an added bonus. Plus, it is something you can afford because of your high salary. This fact is key. You got to the 1% because of your salaries, not your savvy investments. The investments you are making are allowed because you both have a high salary. For you to take a risky investment for $30,000 is a magnitudes smaller risk than for someone that makes $75,000 to take the same investment, and I say $75,000 because that is still a top 25% earner in this country, and which should be called upper class.
There are plenty of people in this country that are very smart, very talented, and very hard workers, but will never get to the 1%, not through any fault of their own other than they did not work hard in the “right” field and did not marry “well”.
I’m not even sure where to begin. I think everyone has a story to tell. What makes a person who comes out of debt feel they have something to share? There are a lot of people who’ve done that. What makes a person with a rags to riches story feel they have something to share? There are a lot people who’ve done it.
The bottom line is that you have not read my story, and/or, missed the point of the blog. As stated in the mission, the point of the blog is not to make everyone a 1 percenter. That is a mathematical impossibility. It is to provide people my story of how I got here. Regardless, I’ll address your points
- Chose a degree that can make decent money
This is not my story. I went to school for pharmacy, but never practiced the trade. I was a sales rep and climbed the perverbial corporate ladder going into jobs that don’t require a pharmacy degree. I now make more than twice what an average pharmacist makes. I got here through working smart and working hard…not because of the degree itself
- Marry a wife that has a plan for a career that makes a lot of money
Fact 1: My wife works part time. Fact 2: My wife doesn’t need to make 6 figures for us to be in the 1%. So although you are correct that we would fall out of the 1% if my wife didn’t work part-time, she could drive a bus and we’d still be in the 1%
- Live modestly compared to other 1 percenters and invest/save the rest of the money
This is true, but not easy. As people’s incomes increase, so do their spending. Bigger homes, nicer cars, better vacations, etc. We have managed to stay grounded and not increase our spending…not an easy task. Ask any professional athlete.
- Investments take a long time to get you to the 1%
I purchased my SECOND rental while my wife was still in school and I hadn’t even broken 6 figures. Its called appropriate risk taking, so a 30k investment for someone making $75k may make sense if you’re able to mitigate the investment risk. In that example, how is spending $30k for a $150k rental so risky?
So, you really don’t need to marry “well” or work in the “right” field, or even work “hard”. You marry the woman you love, have some ambition, a little brains, mitigate risk, and work “smart”. This is probably why you’re still in the 99%.
If I had married a woman just for her income, it would likely not last long. Instead I married my wife because I couldn’t stand the thought of not living the rest of my life with her. The fact that she has a good income is just icing on the cake.
Marrying someone who will support you and your goals is going to have a far more positive effect on net worth, not to mention general happiness, than just marrying someone who makes a boatload of money.
One of the lines in our wedding vows was “I promise to support you in all your goals”, we omitted the one about “I promise to make lots of money”.
David recently posted..What’s Your Net Worth
Who says to marry a woman for her income?
Are you even the 1%? Just because you have a million dollars in your investments, retirement accounts and so on…doesn’t make you comparable to people who have millions and millions of dollars…and MAKE millions every year. That’s what comes to mind when I think of the 1%.
The whole premise of this blog seems kind of arrogant. You just want to boast about what you have and how great you are at accumulating wealth. Tacky.
I define being in the 1% of income earners in America as just that…and I am that. When you think of the 1%, how about thinking logically?
Okay, so you make over 300k a year.
Congratulations, I guess. I’m actually NOT envious of you. Money can’t buy a personality, real friends, or happiness.
I personally just want enough to be comfortable and happy. Anything extra I would try to give to other people to help them. But that’s just me.
The entire theme of this blog is just…gross, honestly. You’re not going to help anyone make hundreds of thousands a year, you’re just going to make yourself look like an asshole.
You sound pretty envious…and angry. You must be an occupy wall street proponent.
“I’m actually NOT envious of you.”
Hmm. I thought rich people knew how to read.
C,
The arrogance and obliviousness to the message being sent in the articles and posts keeps me coming back. There is something entertaining about it, especially when most of the comments are positive about the blog, but then you see they are other PF bloggers just trying to get some link juice.
I was recently listening to a discussion about reality television. The main idea centered on “We don’t mind watching rich people act like idiots, but we don’t like watching poor, unfortunate people do stupid things (Hoarders, Intervention).” This webpage entertains me similarly to watching rich people do stupid things. If he was better at writing, then I would consider this page to be some sort of poorly conceived shtick.
case in point: your latest post isn’t offering anyone advice, it’s just you saying, “I have a pool guy. I have a housekeeper. I eat out every day. I send my kids to an expensive summer camp. I hire someone to mow my lawn.”
How does THAT help anyone?
This blog isn’t just about advice. Its also about education on finance issues.
It’s about telling people how you hire someone to scrub shit out of your toilet, apparently.
What the hell? You aren’t educating someone by rattling off a list of your servants.
Nice site to learn about one of the nation’s 1%. In your case, you are 1% in income, and still need to build up net worth to get to top 1% in wealth. I think you are just at top 17% for net worth. But I’m sure you’ll get there soon with your disciplined approach.
What scares me is even being in the 1%, one still can’t be considered financially secure. If for some reason the industry you are working for suddenly collapses, or your company goes bankrupt, you are still vulnerable. Have you thought about what would happen if you both lose your jobs tomorrow and can’t find another job? How long will you last without your work income?
Our nation is screwed with the coming economic collapse if even the 1% can only survive 5 years.
Though it is important to prepare for the worst, the scenario you outlined is very highly unlikely. I work in an industry that has been around and adapted over a long period of time and work for a global company with annual revenues at around $60 billion. That said, we are not immune to restructuring and downsizing.
We are currently living off one income so if I lost my job, we can live off my wife’s salary quite comfortably and vice versa.
The chances of both of use losing jobs at the same time is very highly unlikely, but if it happened, we have a significant emergency fund to last us almost a year (enough time to find new jobs I hope).
$6 Million Gets You Into 1% at 40, but Not at 60 – Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-million-gets-1-40-154917921.html
“The price of being a One Percenter might seem like a simple number. For income, it’s around $380,000 a year. For wealth, it’s a total net worth of
- $8.4 million.
There are also big differences in wealth cut-offs depending on age.
- For people in their 40s, it takes a total net worth of $5.8 million to get into the one percent.
- For people in their 50s, it takes nearly $10 million. For people in their 60s, it takes around $11.6 million.
So I guess I’m wondering how are you guys faring regarding the changed criteria. In the About section you defined your income according to the 2009 Income levels for 1% = solid rock bottom of the recession
Now that the market has recovered and the 1% is $380,000 with a net worth around $6,000,000…where does this put the writers of the http://www.iam1percent.com?
Should it be http://www.iam3percent.com?
Just wondering.
Show me data of the net worth of someone in their 30′s as a one percenter and I can answer your question.
Either way, I defined my 1 percent as the top 1 percent of income, not net worth. As you outlined above, that is the very reason I didn’t use net worth. The data doesn’t always exist and is subject to age.
So lets ignore the Net Worth of the 1% of the US population, since the data is relatively scant.
How about income? Surely we do not think that the 1% INCOME threshold will stay static. In the CNBC aricle Robert Frank highlights the data from the Federal Reserve, first highlighted by Scott Burns of the Statesman Journal.
By those numbers the current 1% of income earners make $380,000. Does that mean that the writers of this blog are no longer in the 1%?
Were they there for a flicker of time in a midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression? What about now?
I understand the desire to be part of the wealthy club. For that period of time in 2009 I too was in the 1% … for a short time. No more.
Looks like you barely made it in 2009 and that’s too bad. Upward AND downward mobility is “real”.
We far exceed the current 1% threshold…
The traditional American ethic is to work hard, choose the right high paying profession, marry the right spouse (with the high paying profession), and then save A LOT and invest in a reasonable manner (passive investing)…
Then you too can join the wealthy club of 1%.
What most people don’t realize is that this 1% is a moving target.
And she is risin’!
Everybody got hit by the bear market in 2008, they are better than ever now. And the membership in the club has shrunk…and she’s gettin’ smaller.
Are you mathematically challenged? By definition, the 1% can’t lose membership (unless the US population decreases). The 1% will always equal the 1% of income earners. Do the math.
I really hate to be the realist around these parts but it pains me to see people living in fantasyland, driving fancy cars and having expensive mortgages and calling themselves wealthy.
I am sorry to be the one to break it but
- Unless a household is making $380,000 / year they are NOT 1%
- Because of outsized market returns 1980-2000 and massive deregulation and gambling by financial sector – we probably not even see an 8% return over the next decade or two.
So plan accordingly and get real.
You’re predicting the future and you call yourself a realist? LOL!
Regarding my income, its way above 2008 levels, way above 2009, and way above the $380k you reference, so we’ll be in the 1% of income earners for quite some time.
Thank you for clarifying. If your household in fact makes over $380k/yr, then by the income standards – congratulations — you’re in the club. If it’s much higher, you’ll be able to accumulate even more.
You are wealthy.
You are correct. You have a lot of money.
If your household income is
- [According to Yahoo! Finance] greater than $380k/yr
OR
- [According to Wall Street Journal] greater than $506k/yr
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/10/19/what-percent-are-you/
“An annual salary above $506,000 puts you in the top 1%”
Congratulations on having “look how much money I have” blog.
I just finished Steve Siebold’s “How Rich People Think.” Many of the comments I see on your blog serve as a stark reminder that the biggest difference between the 1% and the 99% has nothing to do with money. A poor mindset and defeatist thinking is what keeps most of us down.
You have a very high beta portfolio, i.e., it is highly susceptible to a bear market in stocks. It’s not only your stock portfolio that is vulnerable, but your real estate, as the ridiculously inflated real estate prices in your vicinity are also dependent on the stock market remaining overpriced.
I doubt you will ever reach the top 1% of wealth, as most of your net worth will likely be wiped out by the next bear market.
And by the way, my net worth is also over $1 million, but it is in assets that are not highly correlated with the stock market. I also have almost no debt, so I’m not vulnerable there either.
You are making a lot of assumptions and are going against conventional wisdom. Sure, we are heavily allocated in stocks, but we are young, can tolerate risk, and have time to ride waves in the market. So yes, we may get wiped out in the next bear market, as people did in 2008, but as you know, the market is at 2007 highs so markets do come back from the brink.
Secondly, outside of 2008, there is absolutely no correlation between real estate and stocks. And the only reason for that was because of the mortgage backed securities that were traded on the market (and insured)
I don’t know how old you are or what your assets are in, but it seems that you have them in a safe vehicle, which means little or no growth. If you are young, its a safe strategy, but not the best or the most wise (that’s not me, that’s finance opinion). If you’re older, it makes sense.
A very refreshing blog.
I was rasied in a household where money was an evil thing never to be mentioned. I have spent most of my adult years in the 75% area and slowly (recently) worked my way up to the 20%. I am hoping to get to the 1% level before I die.
Question: What determines whether someone is in the top 1% (or not).
Question: Is there somewhere (or somehow) to calculate our percent level based on current net worth? For example, if my net worth is $500K, what percent level am I?
Keep up the posts. You encourage others to strive to be better people.
One percenters can be defined by income or net worth. Most of what you hear in the media refers to 1 percent of income earners because those advocating more taxes are advocating taxes on income, not on worth accumulated.
I’m not sure how to determine what percent you’re in in terms of net worth, but I wouldn’t harp too much on finding out. Just focus on growing your assets and you’re sure to be a 1 percenter in no time!
While updating our net worth, I stumbled upon your blog in looking for drivers of wealth. We started blogging nearly seven years ago and are inching our way up to the Million mark for our net worth. Clearly there are similarities and differences between our stories, but it is great to have another blogger out there for inspiration!
Cheers,
Miel
Miel recently posted..Sixteen Year Old Makes More Money Than You
Thanks for your post! I added your blog to the blogroll and to my reader:) Looking forward to tracking your success and glad to see folks of a similar demographic!
iam1percent recently posted..How are you perceived at work?
I don’t want to get into USA bashing but I have worked with so many americans and this mindset is so much less prevalent elsewhere. I live in Sweden which has arguably the highest standard of living in the World – if you don’t count the Beverley hillbillies next door in Norway. The gap between high earners and low earners is much smaller here but there are people, for sure, who have big bucks. You just wouldn’t know it. You simply couldn’t tell. Its seen as a little socially vulgar to flaunt wealth and that is my problem with the USA, and this blog to a degree. If you have done well financially that is great. It must be great. I gave up a well paid job in IT because, for me, there is more to life than money. Most people, clearly, are in the 99%, and globally most westerners are in the top 10%. I think if we judge ourselves by our monetary value, and insist that others do the same, then it leads to a whole heap of dissatisfaction and misery on one side and the weight of envy on the other. It just seems wrong that people are being forced to think that their lives are in vein if they dont succeed in monetary terms. There are so many other ways to be satisfied and enriched.
You are not a 1%er. Your net worth would have to be $8.4 mil to be considered such.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/measuring-the-top-1-by-wealth-not-income/
One percent can be measured by wealth or income. Income is a more reliable measure, wealth is not.
I believe you made it quite clear that you are using the income instead of wealth since it is in your second sentence.
“I am fortunate enough to be part of the 1% of ***income****earners in America.”
Guess they didn’t read before posting.
Congratulations on crossing the $1 mil point. Keep up the great posts and looking forward to having you visit my blog. Take care and happy blogging
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