Income vs Net Worth?

Curiosity was killing my cat, so I decided to google this yesterday. I clicked on the first link and the bold caption I see:

“Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator”

The article is about determining your middle class status by measuring income in relation to the cost of living in your area. And I thought, is income the best measure of your middle class status? What about net worth? Because net worth determines how you weather emergencies. And in retirement, it’s your net worth you’re going to be using, not so much your employment income.

In the US, the focus is mostly on income to measure your socioeconomic status, but net worth is rarely brought up.

1. United States tax policy is mostly focused on income.
2. How banks determine individual debt issuance is mostly based on income, especially in the early years of someone's life.
3. The Obama and Trump Administrations have defined middle class wealth with income, not net worth. source.
4. And everyday family kitchen talk is mostly about income/spending.

Encouraging society to measure their wealth in income rather than net worth, leads people to focus more on spending/debt/income in the present and less on savings/investment/net worth in the future. Whether it's an individual not having a proper nest egg or a nation not investing in its long term infrastructure, the society is not focused on long-term capital growth.

Focusing on net worth can change people's attitudes about the future.

1. People will focus more on long term savings/investment and not short term spending/debt.
2. Society will build wealth faster than using it.
3. People will be more inclined to limit debt to long term growth projects rather than short term impulses.
4. Wealth inequality would be less severe.
5. And, people will use that extra money to buy STEEM and write fun posts on steemit because they're happier :)

Stay frosty people. Thanks for reading.