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Dont for one second think that if you only have a large income, you are rich. Earning potential is not earnings, and wealth/richness is accrued earnings. You'd be amazed at how much wealth that some people have isn't being produced by production, its their assets going up in value. They don't realize that value yearly.

Look at wealth in global real estate for a touchstone.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and...

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I'm responding to the parent, who states "earners" which means income, not wealth. I may agree that someone with 300k may lose 40% to taxes, then they spend 1/3 of what's remaining on expensive housing, another few hundred on student loans and a new car payment-- suffice to say, life can be very expensive for those in SV or SF or NYC.

But still, having 300k coming in pre-tax earnings puts you in the top 0.2% of earners globally, not 5%, which was the original point in question.

Why do I stress this point? Because we need to realize we're not just the top 5% here on this forum. Globally speaking, we range from well-off to EXTREMELY well off, and we should have the humility to post the proper stats about ourselves.

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