Most Canadian millionaires self-made

[alp227]

Source: CBC News

Most of Canada's rich got that way by earning their money, rather than inheriting it, according to a study released Tuesday by BMO Harris Private Banking.

The study found 94 per cent of Canadians with more than $1 million in investable assets are self-made.

Only six per cent said they owe the majority of their wealth to inheritance.

The survey of 459 Canadian millionaires also found that 80 per cent are wealthier than their parents were and 77 per cent say they are better off today than they were before the 2008 recession.

The bank said in a release the findings suggest that Canada's entrepreneurial environment is healthy and that the Canadian system rewards drive and determination.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/19/self-made-millionaires-canada.html

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Ya hear that, Donald Trump? And yes this is the same Canada with the universal health care too!

[liberal N proud]

1. The millionaires in the US do it the Old Fashioned way

They STEAL it!

[Keith Bee]

2. THAT'S A LIE!!!!!

Those bacon-eating bastards are S-S-SOCIALISTS!!!!! Glenn Beck told me so!!! :P

[Kolesar]

3. yeah, but, that's a million *Canadian* dollars ... eom

[Chef Eric]

5. Yeah, but that's 1,037,000 U.S. dollars. nt

[riverbendviewgal]

8. That is so nice. I love it...Canada's dollar is now worth more.

right now this instant it is worth.$1.045 US. YEP.

[MedicalAdmin]

12. Which are now worth $1,045,369.02 US dollars...

Anyone who invested in any Canadian company made at least 33% in the last 5 years just in the differences in currency exchange. They really have it together up there.

[Hannah Bell]

4. i say bullshit.

[Javaman]

22. Okay...

:shrug:

[Kingofalldems]

6. No such thing as self made

[MedicalAdmin]

13. YOu're right but it seems the Canadian rich...

... generally speaking, do a much better job of paying taxes and realizing that their wealth is due to their workers than the entitled pricks who inherit wealth here. The american rich don't "remember where they came from" because they came from a place where they were handed everything.

[JHB]

7. I'd like to know how many made their fortunes off of...

...government contracts. (US and Canadian, and anywhere else for that matter)

[riverbendviewgal]

9. I would like to point out again

like it was just pointed out. We have millionaires AND one payer Health care...Health is not a profit up here, it is a right.

[karnac]

10. So does this mean the rich always get richer

Even in a "socialist" country? I'd like to see the stats between rich and poor there.

One thing for sure. The rich always have the resources to navigate through the complexities, laws and regulations of their given society. And come out ahead further than those that cant afford the best lawyer/CPA/investor.

[happyslug]

11. A person earing only minimum wage will clear almost a million dollars in their life time

If you start work at 16 and work till you turn 66 (Retirement age for people born after 1956) you would have worked 50 years. if you work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year that is 2080 hours per year. Thus over a 50 year people you would have worked 104,000 hours. At $7.15 per hour that is $743,600 dollars. That is 3/4 of a Million Dollars during your life time. If you earn just $10 an hour that comes to 1.04 Million Dollars.

My point is a Million Dollars is NOT that much any more. In the 1920s, in the 1950s and 1960s it was a significant amount of money, but not today, inflation has eaten it all away.

[applegrove]

18. Minimum wage where I live in Ontario is $10.00 an hour.

[Posteritatis]

19. A million over a working life and a million in the bank account at once are slightly different

At my current job I could easily do the former a couple times over by retirement age, but I don't really expect the latter to happen at any point in my life without Canadian currency impersonating Zimbabwe's or something.

[happyslug]

23. My mother bought her house in 1972 for $14,500, it is now assessed at over $80,000 Dollars

And that is in a neighborhood clearly in decline. My point was and is that to be a Millionaire in today's economy is NOT that difficult. In theory if all bu the poorest people in North America could, in theory by living under bridges and staving themselves, save over a Million Dollars in their lifetime. People making more then Median Income (Roughly $50,000 a year) can do it in 20 years(20 times 50,000 is 1 Million). A million Dollars today is NOT what it was when Gold was $20 an ounce (The market for gold today hit $1500 an ounce). Gold was $20 an ounce in both the US and Canada till the Great Depression (I do NOT know when Canada raised its rates, but FDR raised it to $35 an ounce in 1934, where in stayed till 1970 when Nixon broke the last connection between the price of the Dollar and Gold rather then cut defense spending and end the war in Vietnam).

If we take a Million Dollar today at $1500 an ounce of gold that equals 666.66 ounces of gold, or just 13,333.33 in pre-1934 US Dollars, or $23,333.33 in 1934-1970 US Dollars. My father in the 1970 was making less then $20,000, and he told me at that time he believed that about $20,000 was about the minimum someone could live on and keep a house and own a car and maintain a family. In effect what my father was earning in 1970 as a letter Carrier for the US Post Office (after the Postal Strike of 1970) is roughly what these Millionaire assets are today. The Inflation of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000 till today has been that bad.

[Posteritatis]

25. I don't think "I could get a million if I never spent a cent of my income" is a useful benchmark

Obviously I could reach a million there, aside from starving to death while homeless in the meantime. "I can earn a sum total of $1 million over my lifetime" and "I have $1 million sitting in my savings account right now" aren't even vaguely similar, and conflating them misses a lot of points.

[mainer]

14. My dad the cook ended up a millionaire

He never spent anything, never went anywhere, just worked 12-hour days for most of his life.

Of course, he needed almost every penny of that fortune to pay for his own care after he got Alzheimer's.

[Travelman]

15. This is kind of interesting

I was curious how this stacked up against the US, so I went looking and managed to google up http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/millionairenextdoor.htm">this. It's from '97, so I don't know if these numbers are still current, but I was kinda surprised at what these guys say (and I'm just assuming that they're being accurate here; I haven't the slightest clue who these authors are).

Most of America's millionaires are first-generation rich. How is it possible for people from modest backgrounds to become millionaires in one generation? Why is it that so many people with similar socioeconomic backgrounds never accumulate even modest amounts of wealth?

Most people who become millionaires have confidence in their own abilities. They do not spend time worrying about whether or not their parents were wealthy. They do not believe that one must be born wealthy. Conversely, people of modest backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy produce millionaires are predetermined to remain non-affluent. Have you always thought that most millionaires are born with silver spoons in their mouths? If so, consider the following facts that our research uncovered about American millionaires:

* Only 19 percent receive any income or wealth of any kind from a trust fund or an estate.

* Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth.

* More than half never received as much as $1 in inheritance.

* Fewer than 25 percent ever received "an act of kindness" of $10,000 or more from their parents, grandparents, or other relatives.

* Ninety-one percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 of the ownership of a family business.

* Nearly half never received any college tuition from their parents or other relatives.

* Fewer than 10 percent believe they will ever receive an inheritance in the future.

According to these guys, about 80% of millionaires in the US are first-generation, rather than having gotten some giant inheritance. That really surprised me.

[mainer]

16. I've heard those same figures

I don't think Buffett or Soros got their billions through inheritance.

Most of the millionaires I know are self-made and extremely savvy with a buck. You can become a millionaire either by earning a lot -- or earning just a little but saving everything.

[melm00se]

20. the book

"The Millionaire Next Door" is a must read.

it is a survey of American millionaires and traits that helped them get to where they are.

[Fool Count]

17. Sure, if they say so it must be true.

[Remmah2]

21. The US should work on a way to tax Canadian millionaires!

It's not like they can vote against us.

[happyslug]

24. Who care about the Millionaire, the real money is held by Billionaire

As stated above by me, a Million Dollars today, in term of gold, is only $23,333.33 in 1970 Dollars. Even in 1970 $23,333.33 dollars was NOT that much (yes, I remember ads for brand new VW Beatles at less then $2000 at that time, but that also reflects how much inflation we have had since 1970).

The real money is in the hands of the Billionaires, by definition Billionaires are 1000 times richer then Millionaires. If you take the $23,333.33 and times it by 1000, you get 23,333,330.00 (i.e $23 million Dollars). Thus today's billionaire have at least $23 million in 1970 Dollars. I suspect most of that is inheritance OR revenue from assets their inherited. People who have jut over $1 million dollar in assets generally has that money tied up in housing or business (And could NOT cash it is that easily or quickly without a substantial lost in value).

Keep money is prospective, the top 400 richest people in American are Billionaire or near Billionaires, not people with just a million dollars in assets and these Billionaire or near Billionaires are the people we have to tax as while as watch.