8. Gandhi Gave Up A Job That Would Now Put Him In The Top 5% Of Wage Earners In India In Order To Join Congress
During his time in South Africa in the late-19th and early-20th Century Gandhi worked as a lawyer - and was extremely well off. Earning a salary of around £10,000 ($15,000) a year - close to £250,000 ($350,000) nowadays - if Gandhi lived in India in the modern day, he would be in the top 5% of earners in the country. He would almost certainly have been in the top 1% of earners in his country back in the early-1900s. Despite this, Gandhi gave up his job and moved home to the subcontinent - forgoing almost all earthly possessions and attempting to win independence for India. He joined the Indian National Congress upon his return, and assumed leadership of the organisation in 1921.