Poll: Net worth of people in their 40's

[Cadence]

I know most people would consider anyone in their 50's who is retiring to be an ER, but this board has a number of people in their 40's or younger seriously considering ER. Let's hear it from the folks in their 40's.

 

[Jane_Doe]

Re: Net worth of people in their 40's

Cadence -

I can answer this on both ends of the scale -- you need may wish to change your question to exclude one's personal residence, but some of us are heavily invested in Real Estate, so it should be allowed to count on the poll, yes? It is your poll, so you decide. I just thought you may want to re-word it. Otherwise, I'd say good poll question.

Jane

 

[Stuart]

Re: Net worth of people in their 40's

Equity in a personal residence can throw the poll off. While many people will sell the house with all the equity in it, the cost of the replacement house, while it may be smaller, may not be significantly cheaper.

Either way it is interesting to see where people are at.

 

[LOL!]

Re: Net worth of people in their 40's

Our house ain't worth much, so our answer is the same whether we include it or not.

 

[Jane_Doe]

Re: Net worth of people in their 40's

Cadence -

Thanks for changing the wording!

Jane

 

[Cadence]

Just ran across an amusing Net Worth site. Other than their homes, most of these people have almost nothing.

http://www.networthiq.com

 

[audreyh1]

So I take it that if you are in your 40s and already ER'd you shouldn't participate in the net worth poll?

Audrey

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Not to start this discussion again, but my residence is part of my net worth, and every formal definition of the term 'net worth' includes the residence.

That I would have to replace it if sold for something of similar cost isnt necessarily true. I can move to another part of the country and buy a house for less than 1/4th the cost, or rent.

I also paid my house off to act as part of the "bond" component of my portfolio...

 

[Martha]

Not including the house does not reflect the substantial value of a paid off mortgage.

 

[LOL!]

Not including the house does not reflect the substantial value of a paid off mortgage.

My apologies for bringing this up, but if the house is worth only $40,000 then I would not assume that to be "substantial".

In other news, this early retirement message board should be overflowing with advertisements. Just look at the demographics of the visitors of this site. About 60% of them are young millionaires interested in finances and investing. There should be 20 or 30 ads a day for variable annuities, insurance, best stock deals now, forex trading, and what not splashed all over these pages. Who runs this web site anyways?

 

[Martha]

My apologies for bringing this up, but if the house is worth only $40,000 then I would not assume that to be "substantial".

True enough! You must live in one of those "straight line" states CFB was talking about.

In other news, this early retirement message board should be overflowing with advertisements. Just look at the demographics of the visitors of this site. About 60% of them are young millionaires interested in finances and investing. There should be 20 or 30 ads a day for variable annuities, insurance, best stock deals now, forex trading, and what not splashed all over these pages. Who runs this web site anyways?

Well we do some cleanup, but I guess we have been pretty lucky not getting overrun with spam. The Google ads that Dory allowed at least are unobtrusive.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Funny, when this topic came up I went looking for the ads and couldnt find them...all I saw was an "ads by google"...then I noticed some short links next to that, but they arent particularly eye catching or interesting..."retire when...retire early...retire young...retire at 55...to retire". Sort of weak.

 

[Cadence]

I'm really impressed. The numbers are higher than I expected. I should have made the top bracket higher. I should have known I wasn't dealing with people anwhere near the average. Congrats!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i haven't been 50 for more than a few days and i'm already being excluded. getting old sucks.

 

[Goonie]

I'll be 49 for 2 more months, with net worth of ~1.2M (+/- a couple bucks) not counting residence.

though I officially FIRE at 50, I'll still be 49 when I walk out the door for the LAST time!!

 

[Texas Proud]

I'm really impressed. The numbers are higher than I expected. I should have made the top bracket higher. I should have known I wasn't dealing with people anwhere near the average. Congrats!

I agree.... higher than I had thought it would be.... I am doing well, but am shocked at the people doing better...

But, I am sure some are like CFB who made a mint when working (if I remember one of his posts...)... I am above average, but have never wanted to be a working slave for the money and gave up lots of chances to get ahead and get more money.. hence, I am behind some here, but am on my schedule of 55... which BTW I chose when I was 17...

 

[Gumby]

Could be that some people count the present value of a pension, which might be substantial.

 

[firewhen]

We never made anywhere the kind of money as CFB, but for us it was 2 things:

LBYM (what we spent has little relationship to what we make). I could get a big bonus tomorrow (never happened and never will), but we would not change our spending because of it.

Being just old enough to have some money invested in the mid 90's to enjoy some of the bull market. I can still remember when the Dow was at 4000 in 1994. Will people in their 20's see this same tripling (i.e. Dow 36,000 in 12 years)?

 

[Texas Proud]

Wow... I thought it would be more of a bell.... or a pyramid from the bottom to the top.... but it looks like a double hump...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm not gonna say it...


I'd suspect if the poll were extended in even increments up to about $6M you'd see a bump in the 1-2M range and then a fairly flat dropping tail. By limiting to $2M+, you're artificially making the second hump.

You're probably also seeing two different groups bunched together...first its the LBYMers and current savers nearing ER (a big constituency here) that are lumping in the $1-1.25M range, then you have the tech stock millionaires who sold their holdings or their little company for $1.5-4M.

 

[SecondCor521]

I'm 37 now, so I didn't vote, but since NW growth is probably exponential, I could see a big difference between those who are 41 and those who are 49, and this poll has no way to distinguish. I think the differences would be particularly acute among FIRE-minded individuals.

2Cor521

 

[dm]

I knew paying off the house was wrong. My net worth would look higher in the poll if I could just convince the wife to move on the boat.

 

[HFWR]

Didn't answer cause I'm 50+, but I had $226,000 in my 401k on my last day as a forty-something...

 

[bssc]

I could increase my net worthy by taking out an HELOC and buying stocks with the procedes.

 

[Gone4Good]

Will people in their 20's see this same tripling (i.e. Dow 36,000 in 12 years)?

In all likelihood yes.

3x in 12 years is just about 9.5% per year . . . somewhat south of the long-run average equity return.

Here's hoping for average equity returns!