> Define "not at all uncommon."
> Is 5% of the population enough to earn that label?
...
> I'd venture a guess
> that no more than 5% of the US population has $100,000 or more savings.
> 5% hardly seems to merit the label "not at all uncommon".
...
> maybe someone will come along with
> hard data and show me that 18% of the US has savings of $100,000 or more and
> it really is "not at all uncommon" but I'm not holding my breath.
But you ignore the question at hand. I was discussing skilled construction workers, a decent number of whom have business ownership as their primary goal, not the population as a whole.
My logic worked in the opposite direction from yours. I started with construction company owners (only those of my acquaintance, to be sure), then considered how many had begun as workers.
This approach seems more useful, as far as this particular question goes, than starting by considering the entire population.
> Only about 15% of households have a net worth of $500,000 or more (and it's
> nearly impossible to imagine having $100,000 in savings if your net worth is
> less than $500,000)
I'm no economic mastermind, but why? If I earned a comfortable income and saved conscientiously, a ratio of 80% hardly seems unlikely.
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."