Bernie Sanders Is Not That Rich for Someone His Age

[zipplewrath]

152. Which isn't in conflict with the article

They acknowledge that his wealth puts him in about the top 10% of people his age. But he would probably need 5 times what he has to be in the "1%".

Calculating "wealth", especially for senior citizens is a tricky equation. Generally the calculation is just a sum of the value of assets minus the debts. As the article suggests, college educated people in their 70's often have managed to lower their debts, and increase their savings. But senior citizens also have Social Security, pensions, annuities and other forms of "guaranteed income". But these often are not listed as "wealth". But if they were, many folks in their 70's would be apparent "millionaires".

I should say though that this is quickly changing. The loss of pensions, and the huge student debt that young people are emerging from college, is going to change the basic equations that brought the Bernie Sanders of the world to where they are. Add to that an increasing economic uncertainty where people may experience significant wage loss due to major disruptions in industries, and it may become more and more difficult to age into the "retired middle class".