Per capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms. It is a measure of the amount of money that each person earns in that country, of the yearly income generated by the country.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a basic measure of a country's overall economic output. It is a market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country within a year. It is often positively correlated to the standard of living.
GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports - imports)
*Income per capita in 2009 (USD) vs number of billionaires
- Luxembourg - 94k, nil
- Norway - 76.7k, 4 billionaires
- Qatar - 76k, nil
- Switzerland - 66k, 11 billionaires
- Denmark - 55.9k, nil
- Ireland - 51.1k, 6 billionaires
- Netherlands - 47k, 5 billionaires
- U.A.E - 46.6k, 4 billionaires
- US - 46.4k, 403 billionaires
- Finland - 45.9k, nil
- Austria - 45k, 4 billionaires
- Sweden - 43.1k, 10 billionaires
- Belgium - 43k, nil
- France - 42.1k, 12 billionaires
- Australia - 42k, 11 billionaires
- Japan - 39.6k, 22 billionaires
- Germany - 39.4k, 53 billionaires
- Canada - 39.2k, 24 billionaires
- Iceland - 36.9k, nil
- Brunei - 36.7k, nil
- UK - 35.7k, 29 billionaires
- Italy - 35k, 13 billionaires
- Singapore - 34.3k, 4 billionaires
- Kuwait - 32.5k, 1 billionaire
- Spain - 31.1k, 13 billionaires
- Greece - 30.3k, 2 billionaires
- Cyprus - 30.2k, nil
- Israel - 29.7k, 10 billionaires
- Hong Kong - 29.6k, 25 billionaires
- New Zealand - 25.4k, 3 billionaires
- Slovenia - 24.6k, nil
- Bahrain - 24.4k, nil
- Bahamas - 21.7k, nil
- Portugal - 20.7k, 2 billionaires
- Oman - 18.7k, nil
- Malta - 18.5k, nil
- Trinidad & Tobago - 17.6k, nil
- South Korea - 16.5k, 11 billionaires
- Slovakia - 16.3k, nil
- Taiwan - 15.4k, 18 billionaires
- Saudi Arabia - 14.9k, 10 billionaires
- Croatia - 13.9k, nil
- Antigua & Barbuda - 13.9k, nil
- Estonia - 13.5k, nil
- Barbados - 13k, nil
- Hungary - 12.4k, nil
- Venezuela - 12.4k, 2 billionaires
- Poland - 11.1k, 4 billionaires
- Lithuania - 10.8k, nil
- Latvia - 10.7k, nil
- Saint Kitts & Nevis - 10.1k, nil
- Libya - 9.6k, nil
- Uruguay - 9.4k, nil
- Russia - 8.9k, 62 billionaires
- Chile - 8.9k, 4 billionaires
- Equatorial Guinea - 8.8k, nil
- Lebanon - 8.5k, 4 billionaires
- Turkey - 8.4k, 28 billionaires
- Mexico - 8k, nil
- Brazil - 7.7k, 18 billionaires
- Seychelles - 7.7k, nil
- Argentina - 7.5k, 1 billionaire
- Romania - 7.5k, 3 billionaires
- Malaysia - 7.5k, 9 billionaires
- Gabon - 7.4k, nil
- Mauritius - 7.1k, nil
- Panama - 7.1k, nil
- Kazakhstan - 6.9k, 5 billionaires
- Grenada - 6.6k, nil
- Costa Rica - 6.4k, nil
*Rough estimates taken from IMF and Forbes magazine
Why do I suddenly compile all these data?
- Well, with all the buzz around income per capita nowadays, I just thought that this will be a useful info.
- To give a general idea on what is it all about.
- A comparison on the number of billionaires vs the income per capita, you could now know how much the average masses are getting minus the contribution of billionaires in that country.
- Where your country is standing against your neighbours.
- Correct our impressions of the countries that we previously had, eg. mine would be Kazakhstan-Borat impression. The close comparison is to Malaysia with a slight difference in income per capita and the number of billionaires. Hmm, I wonder if Kazakhstan have twin towers? Or if Malaysia have stupid people like this?
Pics: Luxembourg, Norway, Borat-Kazakhstan
Have read this book. Though the summary listed here is taken from somewhere else which I couldn't help but resonating with it. Here goes:
1. Live moderately
2. Focus on income opportunities.
3. Financial independence more important than ego.
4. Parents didn't support them financially.
5. Children are sufficient in managing themselves.
6. Efficient in targetting opportunities.
7. Enjoy their work.
1. Live moderately
See, it's resonating with what I've written so far. There's a saying, "Don't wear a hat bigger than your head, it'll cover your eyes and you won't see where you're going." What I mean is live within your means. Want to just add my favourite quote, "Money is for earning money, not for splurging." Only by living moderately, one can have additional savings. If not you're only living from paycheck to paycheck which I do not need to explain much = DANGEROUS!
2. Focus on income opportunities
Now you've got money. So what next? Find more money. And while maintaining your expenses, you'll have more savings. Don't need a rocket scientist to figure this out.
3. Financial independence more important than ego
I've also mentioned this before in my previous posting. Why do we care about what people think if we're driving a small car for example, living in a small house or eating at cheap foodstalls. Do we recognise Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Carlos when they we're poor? The world won't recognise you now, so why bother? The most important thinkg here is personal networth and well-being.
4. Parents didn't support them financially
I couldn't agree more with this statement. I always abhor people born with silver spoon. Of course there're some who're really talented & capable but to startup from scratch, these silver spoonies would never ever understand. You can say anything you like about how judgmental I am but this is still how I perceive it. Let me give you an example, Mr A is given $1M by his parent to start his own business at the age of 22 right after graduation from some prestigious university which only the rich can afford. Compare it to a poor Mr B whom his parents had no money but to send him to a college to get a diploma instead & started working for people upon graduation. The question is who, if given both have the same mindset, would make another million faster? So, to all the spoonies out there, if you're blessed, make sure you make the best out of it and contribute back to society because not everyone is as lucky as you. Don't be a snobbish bitch.
5. Children are sufficient in managing themselves
Totally agree with it as well. Because if you save up everything for your children, you'll end up spoiling them and making them into a snobbish bitch. I always believe in "teaching them how to fish instead of giving them the fish". Yes, as a parent we're to provide the fundamentals and hopefully they'll be equipped to face the world when they venture into adulthood.
6. Efficient in targetting opportunities
Now, when you already have savings, and have addtional income opportunity, what do you do with the extra cash? This is the key. Find ways to make your money work for you eg. invest or go into business. That's where the Microsofts, Berkshire Hathaways, Ikeas, etc started.
7. Enjoy their work
One final opinion, if you don't enjoy finding more money, then why bother earning money? Migrate to a forest reserve and party all day long and all night long.
"Life is like a snowball, find a wet one and a really long hill" -Warren Buffet-
My conviction is to help the needy. Thus the investment king caught my attention not too long ago especially with this catchy phrase that I like so much. Here I'm going to state clearly that I'm no self-proclaimed investment guru nor I'm nearly as successful as Warren Buffet. The thing I like in life is that you can find wisdom in almost any place or even from the least peculiar person. Maybe when I'm successful, this might become a hot topic where everybody wants a piece of the "wisdom" or I might have continued to be a nobody and this article might have gone unnoticed or even I might be a failure whereby this article will also be a hot topic because people would make a mockery out of it.
Anyway I couldn't care less and since I like this phrase so much, I just wanted to share my understanding. Let's dissect it.
"Life is like a snowball"
From this phrase, I feel like I know him a little better. His life is all about investment. Why do I say that? I get the clue from the 2nd half but let's put it at that for the moment. Let's argue a bit, if his life is about enjoying himself, he would've put something like "Carpe Diem!" or "life is short, enjoy while you can".
Now, why snowball? We have all watched cartoon that a small snowball will get larger and larger when it's rolled down a hill right? So it's a secret on how his investment can get larger.
"Find a wet one and a really long hill"
Ok, the 2nd part will explain most of my previous theories. Like I said earlier, his life is all about investing. Because he believes in long term. The "really long hill" represents the time he wants or need, not a "short life, live while you can" kind of attitude. Why a "wet one"? Because a snowball can become bigger as it rolls down a hill right? A wet one can get bigger! "A really long hill"? It can get even bigger!!
In summary, he believes in the concept of compounding and long term. So he might also believe in delayed-gratification as well because most "long term thinkers" believes in it. Prove it? Ok, logically thinking could you consistently save money to buy a bungalow in a few months time? No, because it's long term. Can you have a consistent positive investment portfolio if you're always using up the dividends or interests you get from your investments? Still not convinced? I couldn't care less either.
In addition, I've read it somewhere that he makes about 20% per annum consistently from his investments and if you compound it for 40 years, irregardless of any amount of money you start with, anybody could become rich. Don't believe me? Try it out on your excel sheet, if your startup capital is $1,000 it would be $1.2M after 40 years, if it's $10,000 it would be $12M, if it's $100,000, it would be $122M and so forth.
The moral of the story, start young, be frugal & start practising delayed-gratification.
