MONEY COMMENT
You're Far Richer Than You Think

By Cliff D'Arcy
February 27, 2004

I was stunned to read in this morning's Independent that J K Rowling, the writer of the fabulously successful Harry Potter tales, is a dollar billionaire.

According to Fortune magazine, Ms Rowling is worth an estimated $1bn (£541m), making her the 552nd-richest person in the world. However, this fact goes a long way towards explaining Ms Rowling's wealth: her five books, which have been translated into sixty languages, sold 250m copies during 2003 alone!

Until 1997, when her first book was published, Ms Rowling was a single mother living in a two-bedroom flat in Edinburgh. With two further books and more Harry Potter films on the way, Fortune estimates that her wealth could eventually hit $10bn. Wow - does anyone know a good publisher?!!!

Okay, this is the stuff of dreams for all but a lucky (or hard-working) few. However, you are richer than you think. Allow me to demonstrate...

Click on this link, which will take you to Channel4's Rich-o-meter. Enter your annual income (gross salary, state benefits and all other income) then click on the radio button next to the Union flag. This will reveal where you appear in the ranking of UK earners. (Note that this list - which is driven by income, not asset wealth - includes children as well as adults, which distorts the results to some extent).

For example, someone earning £25,000 a year, often quoted as the 'average' salary in the UK, appears in the top 15% of UK earners. This person earns less than 8.5m people, but more than 49.3m, making him/her a higher earner than six out of seven people in the UK.

Someone earning £40,000 a year, which would only be considered a 'comfortable' salary in London and parts of the South East, is actually in the top 4% of UK earners. Only 2.3m people earn more than this person, with 55.6m people earning less than this fortunate individual.

Now, repeat the exercise, but compare your earnings with everyone else in the world. The £25k-a-year earner is in the top 3% of earners on a world scale, with 5.8bn people earning less than this person, and only 164m higher earners on Earth.

Earning £40k a year puts you in the top 1% of world earners; you earn more than 5.9bn people, with only 53m higher earners.

So, next time you're grumbling about how much you earn and how much you're paying in tax, stop and think for a minute. Just by virtue of living in the UK, you are one of the world's wealthiest people. After all, around a billion people worldwide get by on less than $1 a day. Be grateful - and enjoy what you have!

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