I saw 2 really cool tables from the Tax Foundation’s Tax Policy Blog that to put it simply…inspired me. Both provide an statistical evidence of what I have intrinsically thought was correct, and where I should go.
Statistics of Income Sources of 2008 Tax Returns
The first Table provides an insight as to what sources of income makes up a certain group’s Adjusted Gross Income. I took out a few columns from the original table, since they don’t apply to me (i.e. Pension, IRA distributions, etc.).
| AGI Group | Salaries Wages | Taxable Interest | Cap Gains Dividends | Biz Income |
| All Returns | 66.31% | 3.04% | 12.99% | 7.95% |
| 1-5k | 87.27% | 4.62% | 4.53% | 4.46% |
| 5-10k | 75.45% | 2.97% | 3.02% | 10.41% |
| 10-15k | 71.21% | 3.21% | 2.39% | 9.76% |
| 15-20k | 76.89% | 2.69% | 2.28% | 5.18% |
| 20-25k | 81.07% | 2.21% | 1.92% | 3.24% |
| 25-30k | 81.73% | 1.83% | 1.81% | 3.01% |
| 30-40k | 81.86% | 1.91% | 1.68% | 2.63% |
| 40-50k | 80.41% | 1.81% | 2.01% | 2.78% |
| 50-75k | 77.47% | 2.10% | 2.80% | 2.69% |
| 75-100k | 76.45% | 2.16% | 3.58% | 3.48% |
| 100-200k | 73.17% | 2.32% | 6.22% | 5.91% |
| 200-500k | 59.62% | 3.25% | 13.87% | 15.22% |
| 500k-1m | 47.27% | 3.77% | 22.89% | 21.62% |
| 1-1.5m | 38.90% | 4.42% | 28.38% | 24.48% |
| 1.5-2m | 35.13% | 4.55% | 32.03% | 24.85% |
| 2-5m | 31.75% | 4.80% | 37.24% | 23.08% |
| 5-10m | 26.75% | 5.23% | 46.37% | 18.98% |
| 10m+ | 16.02% | 6.47% | 62.33% | 12.57% |
I hope you see what I am seeing! As the Adjusted Gross Income increases, the wage column decreases. As people’s income (and I assume wealth but as I stated in the past even if you are making a Million, but are spending a Million = No Wealth) increases they also seem to be diversifying their income streams. This seems to click around the $200K mark.
Lesson for My Journey: Start Diversifying your Income Streams Early.
Income Sources by Age
The second table represents the different income streams by age, rather than source as above. Again, I took some of the columns off the original table.
| Age Group | Salaries Wages | Taxable Interest | Cap Gains Dividends | Biz Income |
| All Returns | 66.31% | 3.04% | 12.99% | 7.95% |
| Under 18 | 55.05% | 5.19% | 30.27% | 3.95% |
| 18-34 | 91.75% | 0.62% | 2.75% | 3.45% |
| 35-44 | 80.44% | 1.52% | 8.25% | 7.76% |
| 45-54 | 74.10% | 2.03% | 11.32% | 9.69% |
| 55-64 | 59.10% | 3.41% | 15.74% | 9.97% |
| 65+ | 17.21% | 8.80% | 29.09% | 7.47% |
As a person gets older the reliance on Salary as the overwhelming majority contributor to total income, seems to diminish.
Lesson for My Journey: Start Diversifying your Income Streams Early.
Evan
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[...] goal should be to increase your income streams if you want to reach extreme Wealth. The 2008 Income Source Statistics by Age and Income proves my point further. Lets just take a look at the last couple [...]