You’re Richer Than You Think: Try the Global Rich List Calculation

John and I have never been rich by most American standards, though we’ve gotten along fine — especially because we’ve always been careful with our money, and because we apply MOGO (Most Good) principles to our spending habits (and thus don’t buy a lot of stuff we don’t need). In fact, in recent years we’ve both chosen to work part time, and to work (at least in part) in jobs that feed our passions (his, to bird; mine, to create a humane world), and thus, don’t really feed our bank account that much. So, we’ve been whining a little bit lately about how we wish we had a bit more money, just for security.

What a perfect time for me to run across mention of the website Global Rich List and discover that we’re in the top 9% of the richest people in the world.

The site’s creators have set it up so that you can input your annual salary (in U.S or Canadian dollars, pounds, euros, or yen) and calculate your “rich list position.” Odds are that you’ll be toward the far right of the spectrum, in the richest end. They also have a little reminder about what you can do with your money, such as:

• $8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras to grow and sell fruit at their local market.
• $30 could buy you an ER DVD Boxset OR a First Aid kit for a village in Haiti.
• $73 could buy you a new mobile phone OR a new mobile health clinic to care for AIDS orphans in Uganda.
• $2400 could buy you a second generation High Definition TV OR schooling for an entire generation of school children in an Angolan village.

And, of course, they link to an organization that you can support with your donations.

When we’re in the midst of our own financial insecurities and challenges, tied to the pull of our needs and desires (that often seem like needs at the time), it can be so easy to forget that many people struggle to get by on $2 a day…or less.

Try the Global Rich List whenever you need a reminder of the fact that you’re richer than you think, and pass it on to others who might need the same.

~ Marsha

Thanks, Global Sociology Blog, for the heads up.