[Fertionbratte]

Im sure we've all had times when we were fascinated by extreme affluence. Whenever I hear a story about Gates or Buffet donating a couple of million to some charity, I always wonder: What percentage of your entire wealth do you actually give to philanthropy?
Recently, there was an article on Carlos Slim Helu, who had become the worlds second richest man mostly through telecommunications based in Mexico. He also owned 13% of MCI but sold it to Verizon.
One of my main goals is to own property. My family had never owned property and always lived under a landlord paying rent. But the world holds limitless possibilites. Currently there are 9 million millionaires and 1000 billionaires on Earth. Now 1 billion dollars is equal to 1000 million dollars.

According to this chart, most of America lives within the Working Class and the Lower Middle Class.


Percent of households with six figure incomes and individuals with incomes in the top 10%, exceeding $77,500.


This graph shows the income of the given percentiles from 1967 to 2003, in 2003 dollars.


With variations in the use of different reference groups come various definitions of the term affluent. Comparisons regarding affluence in the United States are often, but not always, conducted using the "Average Joe/Jane" as a reference group. While the economic fortunes of nearly all Americans, 99.9%, are dwarfed and seem nearly non-existent when compared to those on in the top 0.1%, the median household and personal income levels do serve as one of the most common reference points. (Notice the huge gap between 60k and 100k+)


Breakdowns of individuals and households with incomes exceeding $60,000


The wide income discrepancies within the top 1.5% of households.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_figure_income
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_upper_class

Mexico's Slim Bumps Buffett as World's 2nd-Richest, Forbes Says

By Emily Brown
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu displaced U.S. investor Warren Buffett as the world's second-richest man in March after almost doubling his personal fortune in 14 months, according to the Forbes magazine Web site.
As of yesterday, Slim, 67, is worth $53.1 billion, compared with Buffett's $52.4 billion; Buffett had held the position for seven years, the magazine said. Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates is first, at $56 billion, and has been for 13 years, Forbes said.
Slim gained $23 billion as the Mexican stock market jumped 49 percent in 2006, Forbes said. Slim's Carso Global Telecom SA, which controls Mexico's Telmex telephone utility, has gained 15 percent over two months. His biggest holding, wireless provider America Movil SA, rose 4 percent after talks on buying a stake in Olimpia SpA, which controls Telecom Italia SpA, Forbes said.
Slim recently dismissed his U.S. peers' charitable donations as ``going around like Santa Claus,'' Forbes said. Buffett has pledged to donate 10 million Class B shares, valued at $30.7 billion, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest charitable contribution in history, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=a6QT4Ej3a2k8

To be continued