Who Should Join RG

We organize 18-35 year olds with access to wealth who are among the richest top 10% of individuals or families in the U.S.

In order to build our power, we need to be specific and clear about who our base is, which means defining “wealth.” For our purposes, you are a young person with access to wealth if you or your significant other fall roughly in the top 10% of net wealth for young people (18-35). People may find themselves in the top 10% via a high-wage job, a family business, or through intergenerational wealth. Wherever the money comes from, the rubrics below will help you position yourself and your family in the US economy. 

As has always been the case, RG’s membership and leadership are made up of people across the class spectrum. RG’s programming is centered around organizing young people with access to wealth, but this does not mean that someone who is not wealthy cannot be part of creating and leading our work. In fact, part of what makes RG’s organizing powerful is our cross-class leadership. This definition is not intended to determine whether someone can engage with RG or not. Rather, it is a clarification of who RG’s work targets and is most relevant to. Some people who don’t fit into this definition of wealthy may still find parts of RG’s programming resonant and helpful.

So let’s talk about what we mean by ‘top 10%’ or ‘access to wealth’

Net wealth is everything you own (value of property, vehicles, art, jewelry, stocks, bonds, trust funds, Certificates of Deposits, or cash) minus everything you owe (debt, loans).

You are a young person (18-35 years old) with access to wealth if you or your significant other fall roughly in the top richest 10% of net wealth for 18-35 year olds.

You meet this definition if you say YES to something in ANY of the 3 categories below:

Personal Income

  • You are making an annual income in the top 90th percentile for your state.
  • Median income for the 90th percentile of young people (18-35) nationally is $105,000
  • We know that income and cost of living varies widely across the country, so this range looks like approximately $82,000 – $248,000 (from lowest cost of living in McAllen, TX to highest cost of living in Manhattan, NY).
  • A total household income of over $143,000 per year (supporting 2 adults only), {keeping in mind the same cost of living variability}

Personal Net Financial Assets.

  • As a reminder, your net financial assets is what you own (cash, stocks, real estate, car, art, jewelry, etc) minus what you owe (debt, loans). If you are a homeowner, this includes your home equity (the current market value of your home minus the outstanding mortgage balance).

Family Net Assets

  • Your family’s net wealth is $1 million or more.
  • Your parent’s annual income is in the top 90th percentile for your state. Median income for the 90th percentile of people age 45-65 is $185,000.
  • You or your family members have a family foundation.
  • For people with family ties outside of the U.S.: Your family owns land estimated at a value of $1 million or more OR has major business interests in OR is in the ruling elite (includes having access to major political power) in your home country.

Additional info on class experiences including details and data for poor and working-class communities is available at Class Distinctions and Income Brackets. 

Definition of high net wealth

It is useful to differentiate the top 1% of the US economy for organizing purposes. The needs of this group—logistically, emotionally, and structurally—significantly differ from people with less access to wealth. For example, the need to create infrastructure to move $1M is very different from making $5k/year donations. “High Net Wealth” is used rather than “High Net Worth” because no one’s worth is, or should be, based upon their access to wealth. 

How does RG define High Net Wealth?

You meet this definition of high net wealth if you meet ANY of the criteria below:

  • You are an individual or part of a couple with direct access to $1M in liquid assets or greater. This means you either have it invested in the stock market, bonds, cash – i.e. not a house or asset, unless planning to sell said asset in the next year.
  • You anticipate inheriting at least $5M in the course of your lifetime (inheritance timelines vary greatly among individuals)
  • You are an inheritor whose family’s net wealth is $10M or greater – this definition of “family” refers specifically to family members who plan to share this wealth with you and/or whose wealth is organizable by you (e.g. parents, grandparents, etc. This may include siblings or cousins if you plan to share wealth together)

Why these numbers?

$1M liquid:

  • An accredited investor often requires $1M 
  • $1M is commonly described High Net Wealth person in the financial world
  • $1M is (approximately) what lands you in the top 1% in this country age 25-35
  • Top 1% net wealth $613K- age 25-29
  • Top 1% net wealth is $984K age 30-35

Inherit $5M:

  • Assuming someone inherits this after they age out, this will land them in the 1%- technically, the 1% is ~$13M, but rounding down to $5M most likely reflects on average what they will inherit before age 50 or so 

Family Wealth $10M:

  • If a person’s family has wealth of $10M or more, their capacity to move family money is greatly increased, even if they do not have direct control over the money 
  • Assuming not all of the wealth of $10M would go to the RGer (especially if they have sibling(s) would still place them in the 1%, even if they inherit about half of the money

For more information on the differences between class and income read up on class distinctions here.