Quotes About Income

The pay in the minor leagues, I think it's terrible, it's disgusting, it's exploitative.

Most arguments about income inequality are based on static analysis.

Most millionaires measure their success by their net worth, not by their realized income. For the purposes of wealth building, income doesn't matter that much. Once you're in a high-income bracket, say $100,000 or $200,000 or more, it matters less how much more you make than what you do with what you already have.

For every millionaire who owns a $1,000 suit, there are at least six owners who have annual incomes in the $50,000 to $200,000 range but who are not millionaires.

All too often high-income-producing UAWs spend countless hours studying the market—but not the stock market. They can tell you the names of the top auto dealers, but not the top investment advisors. They can tell you how to shop and spend. But they can't tell you how to invest. They know the styles, prices, and availability at various car dealers. But they know little or nothing about the various values of equity market offerings. As

Twenty years ago we began studying how people become wealthy. Initially, we did it just as you might imagine, by surveying people in so-called upscale neighborhoods across the country. In time, we discovered something odd. Many people who live in expensive homes and drive luxury cars do not actually have much wealth. Then, we discovered something even odder: Many people who have a great deal of wealth do not even live in upscale neighborhoods.

Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high.

Interestingly, self-employed people make up less than 20 percent of the workers in America but account for two-thirds of the millionaires.

Multiply your age times your realized pretax annual household income from all sources except inheritances. Divide by ten. This, less any inherited wealth, is what your net worth should be. For

Why aren't you as wealthy as you should be? It may be because of the way you operate your household. Would a business, especially a very productive one, ever hire a key employee without doing a serious background check and an in-depth interview? No! Yet most people, even those with high incomes, hire financial advisors after obtaining little or no background information about these "employment candidates." Some

Wealth is not the same as income.

There is a reason why the top 1 percent of the income producers in America pays 37 percent of the entire federal income tax bill, why the top 5 percent pays 57 percent, the top 10 percent pay 68 percent, and the top 25 percent pay 85 percent. High-income producers are the only ones who earn enough money to do so! The bottom 50 percent of the income producers contributes less than 4 percent of the total tax bill.

If you're not yet wealthy but want to be someday, never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your household's total annual realized income. Living

Interestingly, within the high-income population, I find that there is a negative correlation between one's grade point average and the amount one spends on motor vehicles. Those with the very highest grades tend to spend less on motor vehicles. This by no means suggests that people you see driving $100,000 cars all flunked out of college!

We are fastidious investors. On average, we invest nearly 20 percent of our household realized income each year. Most of us invest at least 15 percent. Seventy-nine percent of us have at least one account with a brokerage company. But we make our own investment decisions.

How many highly paid ball players have a level of wealth in this range? We believe only a tiny fraction. Why? Because most have a lavish lifestyle—and they can support such a lifestyle as long as they are earning a very high income.

If you're not yet wealthy but want to be someday, never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your household's annual realized income.

Simply stated, your net worth [augmented] should equal 10 percent of your age times your annual realized household income (0.10 × age × income = expected net worth). If your actual net worth is above this expected figure, I consider you affluent, given your age and income characteristics.

Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend. How

What is "the relationship between realized income and wealth"? (SOI Bulletin, Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, vol. 2, no. 4, Spring 1985) What does he find? That people accumulate significant wealth by minimizing their realized/taxable income and maximizing their unrealized/nontaxable income.

Why are so few people in America affluent? Even most households with six-figure annual incomes are not affluent. These people have a different orientation than does Johnny Lucas. They believe in spending tomorrow's cash today. They are debt-prone and are on earn-and-consume treadmills. To many of them, those who do not display abundant material possessions are not successful. To them, nondisplay-oriented people like Johnny Lucas are their inferiors. Johnny

Their consumer behavior had an impact on their son. They constantly sent him a message: One earns to spend. When you need to spend more, you need to earn more. L

My surveys indicate that there is a significant correlation between income and satisfaction with life. In other words, earning more money may make you somewhat happier, but spending that money (particularly on cars) won't. If we make the appropriate statistical adjustments for income differences in life satisfaction, then we find that the average satisfaction among Toyota drivers [vs BMW] is higher. p173

You know, Bob, the real patriots out there are people who earn big incomes—$100,000, $200,000, and $1 million or more a year—and spend it all. Congress should mint a new medal for this type of patriotism, Bob. It would be called the Congressional Medal of Taxation and Consumption. And as long as these patriots keep training their kids to be medal winners, we are in good shape.