There's so much talk about the rich and the poor and so much research about economic class, but how do we measure how rich a person is? We could ask someone how much money they make in a year but some of the richest billionaires in the world do not have high salaries, their enormous income comes from capital gains (i.e the value of their house or stocks goes up 200%) so if we measured their wealth by asking them how much money they made last year, we would underestimate their financial status. In addition, people's income can fluctuate dramatically from one year to another.
Another solution is to ask people their net worth. The problem with that is that is someone with a billion dollars in assets but two billion in debt lives like a king, but technically he has a much lower net worth than a homeless person. So obviously net worth is a flawed measure of wealth. In addition, someone with a low income could acquire a high net worth by constantly saving, but are they really more financially successful that someone who makes millions but blows it all having fun or giving to charity?
And what's more relevant? Household networth or individual networth. Should Melinda Gates be considered a financial success because she's the wife of Bill Gates, or a financial failure because she has little money of her own?
So how would you go about measuring financial success? The question is important for anyone researching economic class in America.