Choosing a lucrative profession with government enforced barriers to competition (e.g., law, medicine, accounting) or government subsidies (e.g., finance) is a good first step. Add being bright, personable, driven and lucky.Wagnerjb wrote:The "actionable insight" is to choose a very challenging profession (law, medicine, possibly MBA) that has a high barrier to entry in that it takes a certain amount of intelligence, dedication and money to get into and through those graduate schools. You have to do very well in your education in order to get hired by the top firms. Once you get into the top firms, you have to succeed in a very demanding environment. If you make it to the top levels of your profession (maybe partner in a law or accounting firm, maybe Vice President of a large company), you are likely to have earnings that classify you in the top several percent.SeattleCPA wrote: For an "actionable insight" that applies to younger forum members wrestling with educational and career choices, for example, the fact the IRS's top one percent statistics show that big chunks of the one percent club own a small business (maybe 22%?) or own a slice of a professional services firm (again maybe 22%?) or own a farm (nearly 11%) seem pretty relevant. (Heck maybe that info even tips the scales for recent posters asking about getting an MBA!)
YesWagnerjb wrote:Being a Boglehead and being smart about your investments won't get you there. Being a very frugal person won't get you there. You need the "offense" to score a lot of points (high earnings) as well as the "defense" to prevent yourself from spending it all.
Resentfulness seems to arise from seeing those who do very badly at their chosen career (e.g., those in finance who nearly bankrupted their companies and did grave damage to the world economy) receive massive payments.Wagnerjb wrote:You can be extremely intelligent, dedicated and hardworking but if you choose a profession that the economy doesn't have a high value for (more supply than demand), you won't earn 1% wages. For many people, it is more important to be happy and thoroughly enjoy their work....and that is perfectly fine. Those people aren't jealous or resentful of the top 1% since they made the decision to work in a certain profession for which there is less demand.
The economy often changes its mind about which profession to value.
Agreed again. Many people see rich small business owners but don't see all the failed small businesses.Wagnerjb wrote:I don't think the small business track is any more likely to pay off. There are an awful lot of small business failures (or those that generate a modest income - and long hours - for the owner). A lot of accountants won't ever be a partner at Price Waterhouse, and a lot of small business people won't make the top 1% either.