How Rich Are You?
It has been reported that when John D. Rockefeller was asked by a reporter “How much is enough?” he responded, “Just a little bit more”.
Although he was one of the most financially successful businesspeople in America, his response resonates with most of us. Regardless of the riches we have accumulated, we all know others in our circles that we feel have accumulated more and we would like to have more.
As Canadians, most of us live very sheltered, comfortable lives. In annual surveys, Canada consistently ranks in the top five countries in the world to live. In 2019, Canada was ranked third, behind only Switzerland and Japan (1). For most of us, our daily routines rarely take us out of pleasant surroundings. If we leave our country, it’s typically for the tropics or another equally luxurious country. I think our isolation keeps us from seeing how most people in the world actually live and therefore leaves us with an inaccurate sense of reality.
I do, however, want to encourage all of us to recognize how incredibly blessed we are to live in the abundance we have and with the many opportunities available to us.
I think perspective brings colour to our life and also a great deal of wisdom. With Thanksgiving approaching, I have been thinking about how much we have been blessed as Canadians. It’s ridiculous to think of all the luxuries we have. Things like HDTV, high speed internet, automatic garage door openers, smartphones, climate control homes, GPS, shopping malls within minutes with everything we could ever want. We are the most affluent generation to ever live on the earth. Those of us in the developed world enjoy a lifestyle far beyond our global neighbours.
To help my perspective, I did a little research. Here are some startling realities:
- The median annual household income (half the households are above; half are below this income) in Ontario is $74,287 (2)
- The median annual household income worldwide is $9,733 (3)
- The median per capita incomes in the top 10 countries are 50Xmore than that of the median per capita incomes in the 10 poorest countries
- Nearly half the world lives on less than $5.50 per day(4)
A great tool to give us a personal perspective of our riches is the Global Rich List. We can enter our annual income and/or net worth and see where we rank in the world. I encourage you to take five minutes and see where you rank. For starters:
- $100,000 annual income ranks in the top 0.11%of the world’s population!
- $1,000,000 net worth ranks in the top 1%of the world’s population!
This is not meant to create a sense of guilt. We had no more control over where we were born than those born in underdeveloped countries.
I do, however, want to encourage all of us to recognize how incredibly blessed we are to live in the abundance we have and with the many opportunities available to us.
One of those opportunities is to share from our extreme wealth. I recommend this Thanksgiving we all find a worthy charity that assists those living in poverty and make a meaningful donation from a thankful heart.
It’s a tremendous privilege for the Trinity team to serve our clients, our network of professionals. We are thankful for your confidence in us and your friendship. Our desire is this Thanksgiving weekend will be a wonderful time of celebration of how incredibly blessed we really are. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you,
The Trinity team.
- *(1) Worldpopulationreview.com Aug 18/19
- (2) 2016 Census Highlights: Factsheet 7
- (3) Gallup Dec 2013
- (4) org