[...]... Household Income in 19 98 Dollars 18 53 $15 0,000 15 % $ 9,000 4.4 78.2 19 03 $ 211 ,4 71 18% $11 ,4 31 5.6 10 0.0 19 53 $2 21, 498 10 % $22,280 16 .4 294.0 19 98 $790,558 19 % $ 41, 810 10 0.0 17 92 .1 Consumer Price Index; 19 98 = 10 0 Consumer Price Index; 19 13 = 10 0 15 $576 5 .1 1903 Prices $24 $2.50 $42 .14 $1, 000 $20 $1 $4,464 $50,000– $10 0,000 $950,000– $1, 140,000 Metropolitan Opera orchestra ticket $240 $2 ,16 0 14 .9 19 53 Prices... compression, income disparities began to widen again, beginning sometime between 19 74 and 19 80 and reaching a new extreme at the end of the twentieth century, similar to their zenith at its beginning The top 5 percent of households gained in income, 14 Rich in America What Does It Mean to Be Rich in America? In its early days, America was a relatively egalitarian society Compared to the situation in other... countries, wealth was more equally distributed and wage gaps between different groups were smaller However, beginning in the nineteenth century, wealth and income inequality began to rise; from 17 74 to 18 60, the share of total assets held by the richest 1 percent rose from approximately 13 percent to 30 percent Between the Civil War and World War I, the wealth gaps remained wide and, in fact, may have increased... of the top 1 percent, the Great Depression and World War II produced what economists have called the “great compression” of wages and incomes Both wealthy and average households saw a huge decline in income during the depression However, although incomes later recovered, the share of total assets held by the richest 1 percent declined considerably, from 18 percent in 19 03 to 10 percent in 19 53 Incomes... Trust to catch on In the mid- to late 18 00s, most affluent Americans held their assets in local real estate or business ventures Cash holdings were not abundant, and there was little opportunity to invest in stocks, because few business were publicly held But U.S Trust managed to flourish by offering personal banking, including commercial and personal loans, and by purchasing mortgages and other investments... Nevertheless, the income of the richest 1 percent and the average income of the general population both increased substantially between 18 53 and 19 03 (see Table I.3) At the same time, the cost-of-living increased dramatically for the affluent (see Table I.4) TABLE I.3 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF WEALTH (18 53 19 98) Year Average Income of Top 1% in 19 98 Dollars Percentage of Household Income Earned by Top 1% Average... O T 73% FINANCIAL WORRIES OF THE AFFLUENT N O T 76% FIGURE I .1 Can't maintain income level 48% 47% 36% Need to support adult children 40% 39% Lower Social living Security standard in will run retirement out 43% 42% 44% 20 01 (n = 15 1) 2002 (n = 15 0) Introduction 13 Finally, after many years of being pressured to enroll in the program, he absolutely promised to call his human resources office And he did... become wealthy So you can forget the notion that investing alone will make you a fortune Although some people are able to do this, few do it well, and even fewer have become rich from it The real purpose of investing is to help you protect your- 8 Rich in America self and your wealth against inflation, and to take the assets you possess and preserve them All those books that say you can make millions in. .. immeasurably, and cycles that used to last years now appear to come and go in a relatively short time The reliable and tax-efficient buy -and- hold strategy employed by many, including U.S Trust, must now be augmented with a more active asset allocation (Buy and hold means that you buy a stock, hold onto it for years, and sell it at a much higher price By buying and holding, you enjoy the increase in value and in. .. their time skiing in Aspen, buying diamonds in fancy jewelry stores, or sitting around heart-shaped pools eating caviar and drinking champagne Instead, a very large percentage of the people surveyed are working hard, if not harder, than most other Americans and have no intention of stopping just because they have already earned a great deal of money Certainly, they enjoy some luxuries, and they give . y0 w1 h0" alt=""