Making Financial Headlines · Page 2
Top Tenth Gains $800,000, Discovers Owning Assets Can Be Profitable
· New York time
The median net worth of the wealthiest 10% of Americans is $800,000 higher than it was three years ago, MarketWatch reports. The top tenth is pulling ahead of everyone else, giving the phrase money makes money another very expensive exhibit. Median net worth is the middle value for the group, not the amount gained by every wealthy household. The figure nevertheless captures a substantial increase at the top. Net worth adds up what a household owns and subtracts what it owes, so it describes a financial position rather than a single year's paycheck. That makes the comparison particularly striking for households whose resources are tied up in everyday expenses rather than accumulated assets. A rising balance sheet can widen the distance between those who already own valuable things and those trying to save enough to acquire them. There is no need to imagine that every rich household made the same investments to see the broader contrast. The top tenth's middle household is far better off than its counterpart was three years earlier. For everyone else, the familiar instruction to build wealth still comes with the small preliminary task of finding something left over to build it with. The brochure says compounding. The entry fee says otherwise.
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