You Need 1,450% Income Growth to Join the 1%

New research shows that rich Americans are not only making more money than you, they’re also making it faster than you. A lot faster.

“Average earnings growth over the life cycle varies strongly with the level of lifetime earnings: The median individual by lifetime earnings experiences an earnings growth of 38 percent from ages 25 to 55, whereas for individuals in the 95th percentile, this figure is 230 percent,” according to a paper published in January by the National Bureau of Economic Research, written by four authors, including one from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “For those in the 99th percentile, this figure is almost 1,500 percent.”