One in Five Americans Will Be Rich

Who knew being rich was so fleeting? Twenty-one percent of American adults will become rich (yearly income of $250,000 or more) for at least one full year in their lives before the age of 60, but many of them have also seen their wealth shrink to less than that amount. That percentage is twice as high as it was in 1979. The debate over rising inequality in the U.S. has become more and more prominent over the past year, as President Obama has recently called it “the defining challenge of our time,” and Bill de Blasio steamrolled his opponent on a message of addressing New York City’s own inequality issues.