As part of this week's series of articles on household income and wealth in the United States, we are taking an in-depth look at the richest 0.9% of Americans, how they got that way given that 90%+ didn't inherit any of their wealth, and how you can use those same traits to increase your own net worth.  Put in an easy step-by-step format, you'll definitely want to print each step and read it on your lunch break or the next chance you have to take a moment for yourself.

Imagine you own a stock that hasn't increased in value in several years; it's a terrible investment, right?  The reality is not so simple.  Research has shown that more than 99% of real, inflation-adjusted wealth is the result of reinvested dividends in boring, profitable companies.  That means that when you look at a stock chart, you are literally seeing a meaningless squiggly line on a piece of graph paper.  The result is that new investors (and sometimes even experienced investors) draw wrong conclusions and bypass great potential investments because they are looking at the wrong data.  To understand why this is the case, and more importantly why it should matter to you, read Don't Join the Capital Gains Cult - Why You Should Focus on Dividends and Total Return - Not Capital Gains.

I decided to expand on yesterday's article about class in the United States and go further into the breakdown of household income.  We're going to look at the demographic drivers that make some households wealthier than others.  We'll look at the top 5% of earners in detail (the richest 5% of Americans, for instance, consists of married couples, both of whom worked, and earned a combined $157,176.  They own their own home and are overwhelmingly Caucasian).

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Have you ever wondered what is considered wealthy? How about where you and your family fall in total household income? Today, we're going to be looking at the research of Leonard Beeghley and examining class levels in the United States. By finding out where you are in the spectrum of household income and class, you can better determine if your inability to invest really is due to a lack of income or whether you don't have a handle on your finances when compared to your neighbors.  You'll also learn the purpose of investing, and the three most common ways to make money.

Go ahead - you know you want to find out where you fall in the economic spectrum compared to your neighbors, friends, and family.