Meet Tom Cruz. Overnight TikTok famous for sharing the way he and his friends rank each other, based upon their income. Not only do they rank each other, but what seemed to catch many people's eyes was some of the nicknames floating around, associated with earning potential. In particular, Cruz has a friend that he calls "Broke Bobby" because he only makes $125,000 as an accountant.
The spreadsheet breaks down and ranks friends based upon their annual salary, how much paid time off they earn, vacation budgets, relationship status, "whether they're willing to travel to '3rd World Destinations'" and whether they're "degenerate gamblers". The incomes range from $125k to $5 mil annually.
Cruz is a real-estate investor with 380+ rental properties and is a self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur".
The "Broke Bobby" video went viral and gained 2.5 million views in less than 24 hours. Cruz has put out additional videos, including another wiht the "bottom 10 income earners" in his friend group, whom are self-dubbed the "Welfare 10".
The videos have been criticized for being out of touch, especially given how (according to census data) "Broke Bobby" makes 2x the 2019 real median earnings for full-time working men ($57,456). The median household income in 2019 was $68,703.
Cruz claims he doesn't care about his friends' incomes, rather the information is simply "helpful in planning outings". He also says that it's "all joke about each other's income" and that the information is self-contributed.