All Activity

I was specifically discussing a member of the "mass affluent" the top 2-20%. this particular person would be a 90th percentile or top 10% or so american, but wasn't necessarily in high earning career. many teachers or nurses or accountants or generic corporate workers or police officer or firefighters (they'd have a bigger pension) or what have you would fall into this category IF they're responsible, stay married, are able to work long careers etc. these people are globally wealthy, but just look "normal" or "middle class" my grandpa died with $5 million @ 95 and was just a boring middle manager at AT&T from flyover who saved some decent percentage of his income...by no means a member of the "ruling class" or elite...but privileged enough to go to flagship state universtiy after WWII and have a job...he didn't buy his first house until in his 40's and my dad got his own bedroom in high school. I was not discussing the median. I'm discussing the petite millionaires of USA which are quite numerous and from all over the country....that's my point. it's a caricature to say only top 0.1% or 1% has any wealth in USA. in several states, abut 10% have $1mm liquid (excluding houses)

WRB reported last night, combined ratio is 90%. Stock is flat today after some volatility. https://seekingalpha.com/pr/20588598-w-r-berkley-corporation-reports-second-quarter-2026-results

Sure, but there's a reason the US median wealth is so much lower than similar countries and when compared to US average wealth. It's because the bottom end is so much poorer and voluminous, it brings down the median.

Fantasy example... The median retirement savings for a U.S. household (and it counts 2 people if family of husband and wife) aged 65 to 74 is $200,000, according to the latest ⁠Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) The median net worth for Americans aged 65–74 is $410,000. (include house, savings etc...)

i don't really agree here. The wealth of the US extends well beyond the top 1% (you need like $12 million to be top 1%). the US has a big population of mass affluent in the top 1.01%-25% too. pretty much anyone with a decent job can accumulate wealth (not like $12 million but like $1mm and a house and social security) that is really really globally competitive if not the most wealthy in the world. Dollar is king. the top 0.1% and top 1% are obviously far wealthier than some 65 year old with a paid off house, $1mm in IRA and $2-$3K/month of social security, but that 65 year old on a global basis is fabulously wealthy. his life certainly not glamourous or "lavish" but it's "wealthy"

+1 The main issue is that folks in rich countries have choices. People in poor countries do not.

Make sure you leave out the most important detail @Sinbius - women on welfare can't be married lest they lose plenty of payments. Particularly a problem in the black community, that before the Lyndon Johnson administration, had a 70% "father in the home" stat. Today, after the implementation of Welfare payment - 25%. The incentive is to NOT be married if you are in poverty. Hence, much of the black community has imploded.

The reality is that if you are poor, your quality of life will still be a lot better in a NA/Europe, than it would be almost everywhere else in the world; migration occurs for a reason. Thereafter, it's just comparing one sh1tehole to another ; nobody wants to be in either of them. The 'American Dream' isn't just the opportunity to bootstrap; it's also the greater social mobility, and diminished class rigidity vs other parts of the world (UK, India, etc.). Rapidly diminishing as the rich get richer, class divisions become more rigid, and AI takes away many of the time-tested bootstrap 'rungs' of earlier times. Deaths in WWI and WWII greatly thinned out the class ranks, the Titanic removing many in a single sinking; that culling, creating new opportunity, that 80 years on ... is largely done. Today, for many in the middle class, the more practical solution is to work in one place, and retire in another ..... the move to NYC in your late 20's, leave in your mid 30's. SD

This is par for the course in the industry just saying. UPS and FedEx have both implemented positions for this insurance benefit. They all work in warehouses through storms and they all piss in Gatorade bottles. When I made 80k/yr working at UPS full time while finishing school I pissed in many Gatorade bottles and also Ohio corn fields. Always made sure to carry a roll of TP as well (advice of the senior drivers). Not always easy to find a bathroom when your out in the middle of nowhere and making a 20-30min deviation off route to get to a bathroom does little to improve your day as you're only going home once your truck is empty. Honestly, had some memerable pisses looking over a corn field with an Ohio sunset . I also drove 10mph for an entire day driving through snow, sleet, and rain getting absolutely soaked and frozen to the bone many many times all so customer A could get their Pottery Barn kids bunk bed on time. Some jobs are tough. I'll hate on Bezos as much as the next guy....but he also started in his warehouse and used a skid as a desk for many years before he became successful. But to our earlier corporatocracy point, some things at the upper levels are certainly out of line with the bottom feeders.

The disparity between mean and median makes the point here. The US isn't a rich country - but it's top 1% of citizens certainly are the richest. Or to tell a story: Bezos is filthy rich because millions of warehouse employees are forced to work thru hurricanes and tornadoes, his delivery drivers have to urinate in gatorade bottles, they're labeled contractors to avoid paying for healthcare and insurance, etc. etc.

BRK.B lower please. I have some by now a bit stingy orders with expiry mid September, if volatity permits. [Oil and all that going on.]

isn't there an argument to value it against enterprise value given risks? Think that is what the market has done.

Comcast looks like 4 times cf but broadband is melting.

Most of these people are women...are you saying the problem is women? (...just seeing if you fall for it...joking... )

@Sinbius I should have been more clear. I think this section was insightful - as we have tons of people, who have opportunity, but choose NOT to work because of INCENTIVES and therefore DO NOT build significant wealth. We see it in our big cities - living in Chicago I have seen it for years. IF the government will give me the basic things, I have plenty to eat, healthcare and a place to live - why work.

That's a very bad take. ChatGDP answered 48% to the question "what percentage of Americans work full time?" because it was looking at the entire U.S. population rather than just active workers... The real answer is about 82% of all employed workers in the United States work full time...The remaining 18% work part time..

@John HjorthAnd don't ask me about Danish politics, cause I could not tell you a thing!

We do it because you are a great member here John!

John, if you ask me, you suffer more from the TDS displayed daily on this site and particularly in this thread. Just saying....

Thank you, Mike [ @cubsfan ] and @73 Reds, It's very educational to read your posts, for me personally. I learn a lot from them. I obviously suffer from home bias as Northern European citizen.

This is a very good take.

These models, Trump got the Benito Mussolini dance perfected, are not complicated. They work; they manipulate; they empower; they entertain; his is endlessly one stop shopping for all knowledge about all things. Watch Trumpers gather to tell you this is the norm. It is!

John, US politics has always been dirty. This has been the Democratic playbook since Trump announced his first candidacy; why is it only now more risky or problematic when Republicans use the same strategy? It is an issue when folks start believing that what is good for me is not good for thee. In fact that is what led to the rise of Trump.

John - respectfully - every American election is dirty and nasty. How much dirtier can one party get than trying to put the leading Republican in jail for 350 years? Within weeks of Trump announcing his run for President - 5 lawsuits were launched against Trump. 7 states tried to pass laws barring Trump from being on their states ballots. Jack Smith, the henchman for Merrick Garland, US Attorney general - spied on 20 senators and hundreds of supposed Trump aids/friends. Did your Danish journalist acknowledge even ONE of those historical acts??? Much of Trump winning this past election is BECAUSE Americans could see this wholesale campaign to JAIL their Republican choice from being President.

Yeah, you can invest in US companies from anywhere now. The whole world does if that tells you anything.