"Grow up, get a good education, get a good job, work hard and you'll be successful" doesn't work anymore
The IRS's web site has a tremondous amount of statistics on individual incomes for. Here are the number of individual returns for the top income levels for 1993 thru 1995, the latest year statistics are available.
| Income Level | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 - $200,000 | 3,107,998 | 3,404,731 | 4,074,752 |
| $200,000 - $500,000 | 786,038 | 890,280 | 1,007,136 |
| $500,000 - $1,000,000 | 140,803 | 149,283 | 178,374 |
| > $1,000,000 | 66,485 | 69,935 | 86,998 |
| Total Tax Returns filed | 114,501,819 | 115,943,131 | 118,218,327 |
When you are shown "the plan," distributors normally show a diamond as making just over $100,000. As you can see from these IRS statistics, 3.58% (1993) to 4.5% (1995) are making incomes that meet or exceed what a diamond is shown to be making.
Compare that to the statistics in Amway's Business Review (SA4400).
For those interested here is how you find the above information:
Now lets look at retirment incomes.
The Social Security Administration's web site provides, among other things, statistics in every way imaginable about incomes of people 55 and older. Here are the statistics of Total Family Income (all sources) for people 65 and older from 1995, the last year statistics are currently available.
| > 100,000 | 4.6% | |
| 75,000 | - 99,999 | 4.0% |
| 50,000 | - 74,999 | 11.6% |
| 25,000 | - 49,999 | 26.8% |
| < 25,000 | 53.0% |
I've heard many distributors make the claim that statistics from the Social Security Security Administration show that only 2 to 5 people out of a hundred can retire with financial dignity. Obviously, the first question to answer is "What does retiring with financial dignity" mean? If you up the standard high enough then I'm sure you can find a high enough income where this number is true.
If you add up the percentages above, you'll find that nearly half of the population, age 65 and older, retire with as much or more income as generated by a Direct Distributor, and of course, the retirees don't have the business expenditures that a DD has, nor do they have to attend all the meetings that distributors attend.
And isn't it incredible that 4.6% of those people, (you know -- the ones that followed the system that doesn't work anymore), retire with incomes that equals or exceeds the income shown for a Diamond when the plan is showed! And remember, there are only "hundreds" of qualified diamonds -- not thousands!
There are many articles about the future of retirement incomes and Social Security. A lot of it is doom and gloom type reporting and since a distributor's goal is to get you involved in the "business" they will only tell you the things they want to tell you. At the Social Security Administration's web site, the Commissioner of Social Security addresses the future of Social Security.
If nothing is done, the trust fund will start drawing on reserves in the year 2019 and by the year 2029 the reserves will be exhausted and the money that would have been collected that year would fund about 75% of the benefits.
I repeat, this is only if nothing is done. I have never under-estimated the density of a politicians brain, but even they are talking about changes that will preserve the trust fund.
Am I trying to tell you that the vast majority of people are not going to find themselves in trouble when they contemplate retirement? Of course not. People are clearly not saving enough money towards their own retirement. But let me ask you this....if you can't afford to put $200 to $300 a month away in a saving's account where at least you are guaranteed some interest income...can you afford to "invest" $200 to $300 a month on the 8/10 of 1% chance of qualifying as a Direct Distributor? Think about it!
I would encourage everyone interested to research the issue at the SSA's web site or at any of the financial magazines web sites and find out how it will affect them personally and PLAN....PLAN....PLAN!
For those interested in checking out the income statistics I used at the SSA's web-site, here is how you find them:
www.irs.ustreas.gov
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