Elon Musk is expected to become the world’s first trillionaire by 2027, according to a recent report by Informa Connect Academy. Among the world’s billionaires, Musk is the closest to the 13-figure mark, and his wealth continues to grow.
At the beginning of 2020, Musk’s net worth Approximately US$28.5 billion,according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He was worth about $167 billion at the end of that year, and his net worth as of September was about $265 billion, according to the index.
The biggest driver of Musk’s wealth is Tesla The stock has risen during the Covid-19 pandemic. In January 2020, Tesla stock price hovered around $30 per share.
“If you look at the list of the richest people in America, whether we’re talking about Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, the reason people become super rich is they started a company and grew that company,” American Enterprise Institute. “The reason companies continue to grow is to make valuable things that people want,” Pessokoukis added.
Wealthier people typically invest a larger portion of their assets in in stock market, while middle-income households tend to tie more of their wealth to real estate.
The richest 1% of Americans own nearly 50% All U.S. stocks, while The bottom 50% of Americans own about 1% of stocksthrough mid-2024, according to the Federal Reserve.
About 58% of families own stocks By 2022, directly or indirectly through passive investments such as retirement accounts.
“Wealth inequality is Much is driven by the prices of different types of assets“One of the factors that contributes to rising wealth inequality in terms of wealth concentration is the stock market,” said John Sabelhouse, a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
There is also debate about the role of taxes in creating wealth inequality. While some, including Pethokoukis, see the huge pay package as a reward for building a successful company, others like Sabelhaus say loopholes in the tax system create an uneven playing field.
“Especially over the past quarter century, changes in tax policy have made it harder to tax the wealthy,” Sabelhouse said. “There are more exceptions, there are more evasions. Methods of paying taxes.”
Many Americans earn their income primarily by exchanging their time and skills for a paycheck, which is taxed based on personal income. On the surface, it’s not so clear what the super-rich earn.
“If we think of income as a person’s increase in spending power over time, then you and I have salaries. Those salaries measure how much we can spend,” Sabelhouse said. “Musk…has a huge compensation package. But even that package only a small portion shows up as taxable income because most of it is bonuses and other easily tax-avoidable payments.”
watch video Read above to learn more about how the rich are getting richer and what that means for the U.S. economy.
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