The Millionaire next door

The Millionaire next door

Twenty years ago we began studying how people become wealthy. 1)Initially 1, we did it just as you might imagine: by surveying people in so-called up-scale neighbourhoods across the country. In time, we discovered something odd: Many people who live in expensive homes and drive 2)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 up-scale neighbourhoods.

What is so 3)profound about these discoveries? Just this: Most people have it all wrong about wealth in America. 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 4)accumulate, not what you spend. How do you become wealthy? Here, too, most people have it wrong. It is seldom luck or 5)inheritance or advanced degrees or even intelligence that enables people to amass 2 fortunes. Wealth is more often the result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance 3, planning, and most of all, self-discipline.

Ask the average American to define the term "Wealthy", most would give the same definition found in Webster's. "Wealthy" to them refers to people who have an 6)abundance of material 7)possessions. We define "wealthy" differently. In this program we define the 8)threshold level of being wealthy as having a net worth of a million dollars or more. Based on this definition, only 3.5 million or 3.5% of the 100 million households in America, are considered wealthy. About 95% of millionaires in America have a net worth of between one million and ten million dollars. Much of the discussion in this program centers on this 9)segment of the population. Why focus on this group? Because this level of wealth can be attained 4 in one generation. It can be attained by many Americans. 

Another way of defining whether or not a person, household or family is wealthy, is based on one's expected level of net worth. A person's income and age are strong 10)determinants of how much that person should be worth. In other words, the higher one's income, the higher one's net worth is expected to be, assuming one is working and not retired 5. Similarly, the longer one is 11)generating income, the more likely one will accumulate more and more wealth. So higher-income people who are older should have accumulated more wealth than lower-income producers who are younger. For most people in America with annual realized incomes of $50,000 or more, and for most people 25 to 65 years of age, there is a 12)corresponding expected level of wealth. Those who are significantly above this level can be considered wealthy in relation to others in their income-slash-age 13)cohort.

Whatever your age, whatever your income, how much should you be worth right now? Here's a simple rule of thumb for 14)computing your expected net worth: 15)Multiply your age times your realized 16)pretax annual 17)household income from all sources except inheritances; divide by ten. This, less any inherited wealth, is what your net worth should be. For example, if Mr. Anthony O. Duncan is 41 years old, makes $143,000 a year, and has investments that return another $12,000, he would multiply $155,000 by 41. That equals $6,355,000. Dividing by 10, his net worth should be $635,500. Given your age and income, how does your net worth match up? 

Where do you stand along the wealth 18)continuum? If you're in the top 19)quartile for wealth accumulation, you are a P.A.W. or 20)Prodigious 6 Accumulator of Wealth. If you are in the bottom quartile, you are a U.A.W. or Under-Accumulator of Wealth. Are you a P.A.W., a U.A.W., or just an A.A.W. - Average Accumulator of Wealth? 

隔壁家的百万富翁

20年前，我们开始研究人们的致富秘诀。我们最初的做法估计你也知道，就是调查全国各地住在所谓“高级住宅区”里的人。时过不久，我们就发现了些怪事：许多住在高级住宅区里、开着豪华小车的人实际上并不富有。随后，我们又发现了更奇怪的事∶许多富豪并不住在高级住宅区里。

这些发现到底有什么深远意义呢？那就是：许多美国人对财富的理解完全错了。财富与收入不同。如果你每年的收入很高，却把它花得精光，那你并没有富起来。你只是过着高水准的生活罢了。财富是指你的累积，花销掉的不算是财富。怎么样才能富起来呢？这点上，大多数人又理解错了。让人积累起财富的不是靠运气、遗产、高学历和智力。财富更多靠的是勤奋工作、持之以恒和计划，其中，最重要的是要自律。

让寻常的美国人来给“财富”下定义，大部分人会给出《韦氏词典》里的解释，“财富”对于他们来说，是指拥有大量的物质财产。我们对“财富”则另有定论。在调查中，我们将“财富”的门槛定为拥有100万美元以上的净财产。在美国，合乎这个标准的只有350万户，也就是说在一亿户人家里只有3.5%的比率可算得上是“富有”的。美国的百万富翁中大约有95%的人拥有的净财产介于100万到1000万美元之间。我们的调查主要针对这一人群进行调查。为什么要以这一人群为重点呢？因为这个标准的财富可由一代人来实现。许多美国人都能做得到。

鉴定一个人、一户人家、一个家庭是否富有的另一种办法，是看他们有望挣多少净财产。一个人的收入与年龄是决定一个人身家几何的重要因素。换句话，假设某人一直工作而不退休，那么他的收入越高的话，他的净财产就会越高。同样地，一个人创造收入的时间越长，他就有可能积攒下更多财富。因此，高收入年龄较长的人应比低收入年纪较轻的人富有。对于许多实际年收入在5万美元以上、年龄在25岁到65岁之间的美国人，可望拥有与此水平相当的财富。那些财富收入远远高出这个标准的人相对于他们那一个年龄收入层来说，就可视为“富有”。

如果不算年龄，不算收入，怎么判断你目前的身家是多少呢？用一个简单的公式，一下就能算出你能大概挣到多少财产：用你的年龄乘以全家一年各种渠道所得的税前收入，不包括遗产，然后除以10。不包括继承来的任何财产在内，就得出你应有的净财产值。举个例子：安东尼·都肯先生，41岁，年收入是143000美元，另有投资收益12000美元，那么他要用155000乘以41得出6355000美元，用6355000除以10，他的净资产值应为635500美元。按你的年龄及收入，你的净财产应该等于多少呢？

在财富各类集合中，你究竟处于哪个位置？如果在财富累积的四分位数中，你位于顶端，那你就是巨富（PAW）；如是位于底部，你就是财富欠积累（UAW）。你是巨富呢还是欠积累，或者是中等积累（AAW）？

注释:

1) initially [i5niFEli] adv. 最早

2) luxury [5lQkFEri] a. 奢华的

3) profound [prE5faund] a. 深刻的

4) accumulate [E5kju:mjuleit] v. 积聚

5) inheritance [in5heritEns] n. 遗产，遗传

6) abundance [E5bQndEns] n. 丰富

7) possessions [pE5zeFEnz] n. 财产

8) threshold [5WreFhEuld] n. 门槛，界限

9) segment [5se^mEnt] n. 段，节

10) determinant [di5tE:minEnt] n. 决定因素

11) generate [5dVenE7reit] v. 产生

12) corresponding [7kCris5pCndiN] a. 相应的

13) cohort [5kEuhC:t] n. 一群

14) compute 7 [kEm5pju:t] v. 计算，处理

15) multiply [5mQltiplai] v. 乘

16) pretax [5pri:tAks] a. 扣除税前的

17) household [5haushEuld] n. 家庭

18) continuum [kEn5tinjuEm] n. 闭联集

19) quartile [5kwC:tail] n. 统计学的四分位数

20) prodigious [prE5didVEs] a. 巨大的