Millionaires by Profession Statistics
October 20, 2011 8:35 AM Subscribe
What is the breakdown of millionaires by profession? (Statistics with sources).
I've wondered this for a while but I always run into fluff pieces with no sources. Surely there is some statistical organization that has the breakdown ie. 10% lawyers, 10% doctors, etc. beyond just speculation.
I've wondered this for a while but I always run into fluff pieces with no sources. Surely there is some statistical organization that has the breakdown ie. 10% lawyers, 10% doctors, etc. beyond just speculation.
Best answer: This chart is from Washington Post's Wonkblog. It's from this post, which I can't get to come up.
posted by General Malaise at 8:44 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by General Malaise at 8:44 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, if you amass a million dollars, the money probably comes from multiple sources (inheritance, investments, hard work, damage claims, ...) so it's hard to attribute it to profession only.
posted by wolfr at 8:44 AM on October 20, 2011
posted by wolfr at 8:44 AM on October 20, 2011
Best answer: Ps. The data comes from this paper.
posted by General Malaise at 8:45 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by General Malaise at 8:45 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
Wealthy people usually have no single profession. Wealth-building (and maintaining wealth) is all about diversity.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:08 AM on October 20, 2011
posted by KokuRyu at 9:08 AM on October 20, 2011
Depending on how you do the valuation, your $1million threshold may be too low to be useful. Would you count millionaires by total net assets or by income or what? Because if you count houses, retirement funds, cars, every scrap a family owns, you will end up with a lot more putative millionaires than other measures would show. Obviously most of those "millionaires" wouldn't think of themselves that way and probably wouldn't have much in the way of liquid capital.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:15 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Wretch729 at 9:15 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
Total Assets vs. Yearly Income is a big distinguishing point. If I remember from The Millionaire Next Door that the majority of people with a large amount of total assets were small business owners who weren't flashy and didn't spend a lot of money.
posted by mmascolino at 9:27 AM on October 20, 2011
posted by mmascolino at 9:27 AM on October 20, 2011
When you say millionaire, do you mean yearly income?
Actors, directors, singers, rock stars, authors--lots of these make millions in salary, residuals, royalties, etc.
Inheritances might count for some, but most people who have trusts get the interest, not the capital.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:36 AM on October 20, 2011
Actors, directors, singers, rock stars, authors--lots of these make millions in salary, residuals, royalties, etc.
Inheritances might count for some, but most people who have trusts get the interest, not the capital.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:36 AM on October 20, 2011
From that WaPo link:
"And the vast majority of the wealth held by the top 1 percent doesn’t come from income, but from stocks, securities, business equity and other investments. Edward Wolff, an economist at Bard College, examined the proportion of assets held by the top 1 percent in 2007, those whose minimum net worth was $8,232,000 or more."
Back in 1973, Alan Blinder wrote A Model of Inherited Wealth, which is linked in the comments on that WaPo piece. (The commenter thinks it's still gospel, which is pretty much nonsense--most of the top 1% aren't living on their inheritances, although like Paris Hilton or Sofia Coppola, those inheritances could propel them to make more money.)
posted by Ideefixe at 9:43 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
"And the vast majority of the wealth held by the top 1 percent doesn’t come from income, but from stocks, securities, business equity and other investments. Edward Wolff, an economist at Bard College, examined the proportion of assets held by the top 1 percent in 2007, those whose minimum net worth was $8,232,000 or more."
Back in 1973, Alan Blinder wrote A Model of Inherited Wealth, which is linked in the comments on that WaPo piece. (The commenter thinks it's still gospel, which is pretty much nonsense--most of the top 1% aren't living on their inheritances, although like Paris Hilton or Sofia Coppola, those inheritances could propel them to make more money.)
posted by Ideefixe at 9:43 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
General Malaise: "This chart is from Washington Post's Wonkblog. It's from this post, which I can't get to come up."
From what I recall, you can probably lump those lawyers in with the "executives / managers" pool. Turns out ownership of law firms is restricted to lawyers.
posted by pwnguin at 10:11 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
From what I recall, you can probably lump those lawyers in with the "executives / managers" pool. Turns out ownership of law firms is restricted to lawyers.
posted by pwnguin at 10:11 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by wolfr at 8:40 AM on October 20, 2011