According to TIME Magazine, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world.

This means that what it takes to be considered rich can be highly subjective.

On a continent-wide scale, the top three richest rulers in Africa are worth a whopping R89 billion.

In South Africa, you need to earn at least R2,2 million before tax to be considered in the top 1% of earners in the country, reports BusinessTech.

This is significantly higher than India (R1.1 million) and China (R1.43 million), but substantially lower compared to developed nations such as the USA (R6.5 million) and the UAE (R12.1 million).

However, finance researchers have traditionally used the more general term of ‘high net-worth individuals‘ (HNWIs), and the barrier for entry into that elite group is $1 million (R14.45 million).

At the end of 2018, there were 52 926 high net-worth individuals in South Africa. That’s an increase of 1 800 millionaires since the end of 2017.

Further, the group expects the number of HWNIs in the country to grow by 16% to 61,474 millionaires over the next five years – running counter to the idea that wealth is leaving the country en masse.

Which brings us to private wealth accounts, which you can only access if you have loads of cash.

Taking the above into consideration, the value to be considered a HNWI in South Africa is more or less on par with the $1 million used by researchers, in that the average ‘rich’ person who qualifies for private banking, would either have a monthly salary of R94,100 a month – or net assets worth R13 million.

The table below illustrates the monthly, and annual, salary that you need to access a private account:

Yeah, that’s way above my paygrade.

[source:businesstech]