What is the average portfolio?

[Monterey298sc]

What is the average portfolio here on ER. Just looking to see if I am average or not. I will start.

3.8m cash , not including homes. Primary, rental and lake vacation would add up to about 900,000.

 

[Rustic23]

a poll might be a better way to get this, I'm sure there is one like it around here

 

[SecondCor521]

Average for here, or average for the US, or average for the world? Age adjusted or not?

I've seen many other threads where this info is shared. You're average to above average for here from what I recall.

Most people who are regular posters here are probably well above average for the US, and almost certainly top 1% for the world.

Older posters here have more money than younger posters because people earn and investments compound. If you're 65, you might be average for this board; if you're 35 you're very much above average, even for this board.

Occasionally people will argue about the definition. What about NPV of SS and pensions? Life insurance? Trusts? Coin collections?
Side gigs? Some include homes, some don't, depending on context.

Further, not sure why it matters. If you're happy and healthy and making progress towards your goals, then who cares if you have more or less than anyone here?

 

[yakers]

Don't see a useful base of information, too many variables; working/not working, Retired, I have a COLAd pension I need zero portfolio to survive (although portfolio makes life more fun). Others have rental property(S), and other sources of income. Now if the question is who is living off a portfolio only (not pension) it might be useful, though not sure even of that.
My portfolio is a bit under $2M, was more, darn market, travel BTD.

 

[jollystomper]

Here is a poll from 2016 that should help:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/whats-your-net-worth-81854.html

 

[old medic]

Depends on what the value of our pensions are.

 

[Luvtoride]

Depends on what the value of our pensions are.

I get a headache even reading the posts here about how to "present value" a pension. My wife and I each have one with joint survivorship.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Beware, comparison is the thief of joy! While interesting, all that matters is your individual circumstances (age, FI status, other income sources, expenses, etc). If I compared myself to this select group I'd probably feel very poor!



I am simultaneously one of the wealthiest and poorest people many of my acquaintances know. If they knew my NW, they'd likely think me "rich" but if they knew what I "earn" (my WD-even if I maxed it to a still safe rate) they'd think I was just getting by. I have no idea what they actually think and I don't care (but it would be amusing to see their guesses which I bet would be way off from reality).

 

[Luvtoride]

Beware, comparison is the thief of joy! While interesting, all that matters is your individual circumstances (age, FI status, other income sources, expenses, etc). If I compared myself to this select group I'd probably feel very poor!



I am simultaneously one of the wealthiest and poorest people many of my acquaintances know. If they knew my NW, they'd likely think me "rich" but if they knew what I "earn" (my WD-even if I maxed it to a still safe rate) they'd think I was just getting by. I have no idea what they actually think and I don't care (but it would be amusing to see their guesses which I bet would be way off from reality).

FL, well put! I've stopped thinking about/ caring what other people might think of our lifestyle and wealth. I find myself wondering why so many of my friends are still working and insist they will until at least they reach 70 (max SS?) and I feel badly for them.

 

[street]

I think a poll would be best with all your criteria you want to see where people are here with numbers. NW isn't much interest to me but that is just me.

We all have choices to what threads we want to participate in and if you don't care to read or participate in a thread then ignore them.

 

[Car-Guy]

When I read "portfolio" as stated by the OP, I think of investable money and not net worth. ex.If I had a bunch of houses that I bought to "make money" then I'd consider those as part of my portfolio, but if I only had one house to live in, I would not count it in my portfolio, but I would count it in my net worth. But that's me...

 

[COcheesehead]

Threads needs a poll.

 

[Rianne]

Portfolios change from day to day. Just like the stock market. IMO an interesting question would be what is your comfort zone for your portfolio? Like if you lost 1/2 of today's portfolio, would you be o.k.? When I fiddle with calculators I always enter numbers that scare me and see what we could spend.

 

[old medic]

I get a headache even reading the posts My wife and I each have one with joint survivorship.

We both do to... well DW is almost there. But it does create an interesting conversation.

 

[COcheesehead]

Portfolios change from day to day. Just like the stock market. IMO an interesting question would be what is your comfort zone for your portfolio? Like if you lost 1/2 of today's portfolio, would you be o.k.? When I fiddle with calculators I always enter numbers that scare me and see what we could spend.

Well that’s a fun one. I just plugged the numbers into FICalc. We could lose half our portfolio, cut spending by a third and still have a six figure retirement budget.

 

[Midpack]

Here is a poll from 2016 that should help:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/whats-your-net-worth-81854.html

For those who don’t like links. The mean/median may have increased some since 2016.

 

[COcheesehead]

For those who don’t like links. The mean/median may have increased some since 2016.

Our portfolio has more than doubled since 2016 and that’s still with taking out 3.5 years of expenses.

 

[marko]

Portfolio size alone is only half of the equation. Are you 40 or 70? Is it earning 2% or 9%? Are you including real estate income? How does a pension figure into one's portfolio?

IMO, one's portfolio size is less important than what income is derived. (After all, most of us, in the end, want to know how much money we will have to live on; the value of where it is generated is only somewhat connected.)

 

[Car-Guy]

Portfolio size alone is only half of the equation. Are you 40 or 70? Is it earning 2% or 9%? Are you including real estate income? How does a pension figure into one's portfolio?

Good point.... I often consider my age and general health when thinking of my NW and future financial needs. I certainly don't need as much now to live like I want as I did when I retired or even through my 60's. Honestly, I would have been a little concerned to have retired with just a couple of million over a decade ago, but now, I'd be fine with that. Spend rate has dropped dramatically in the past few years and I expect that trend to continue.

 

[OldShooter]

When I read "portfolio" as stated by the OP, I think of investable money and not net worth. ...

Portfolio size alone is only half of the equation. Are you 40 or 70? Is it earning 2% or 9%? Are you including real estate income? How does a pension figure into one's portfolio? ...

Yes, and not yet mentioned is tax status. $3M in a tIRA is probably closer to $2M spendable money. It feels really good to look at a big number and it's easy to forget that a big chunk of it is money that's invested for Uncle Sam.

Sorry, @Monterey298sc, I think comparisons will be meaningless given the hidden differences between people's answers.

 

[Sojourner]

I think median is always a better yardstick than average, since even a small percentage of ultra-high NW folks can drive up the average substantially. I'd guess the median around here is somewhere in the $1.5-2 million range, but—like someone else said above—comparisons are the thief of joy. Love that quote.

 

[street]

Yes, and not yet mentioned is tax status. $3M in a tIRA is probably closer to $2M spendable money. It feels really good to look at a big number and it's easy to forget that a big chunk of it is money that's invested for Uncle Sam.

Sorry, @Monterey298sc, I think comparisons will be meaningless given the hidden differences between people's answers.

True, but at any given day/hour you still are worth X# of dollars even with a tIRA. Each year even with RMD payment you still have X#$ worth till taxes are taken the next year and so forth.

I could be looking at it wrong just like many other views I have had here.

Where a person stacks up with others is at the present time and everything changes from hour to hour. Not sure you can predict taxes on anything in the future to be accurate in any way you want in trying to compare.

Very good point though to bring up OldShooter.

 

[Aerides]

Even a poll is meaningless. It's all relative to where you live, and your personal COL.

You could be living large in 1 zip code on 1.2M if you didn't care to travel much or had no expensive hobbies, or you could be almost lean fired in another on 3M.

Home upkeep and taxes, health insurance, can all vastly impact your budget and therefore the amount you need and want to retire comfortably.

So 2, 7 or 14million, eh, it's not a contest.

 

[OldShooter]

True, but at any given day/hour you still are worth X# of dollars even with a tIRA. ... Not sure you can predict taxes on anything in the future to be accurate in any way you want in trying to compare. ...

Well, inside the face value of a tIRA is a significant future obligation to the government. Not unlike valuing a house net of the mortgage owed. Agreed the exact amount of the future obligation cannot be known exactly, but IMO that is not a reason to pretend that it doesn't exist.

 

[Car-Guy]

Yes, and not yet mentioned is tax status. $3M in a tIRA is probably closer to $2M spendable money. It feels really good to look at a big number and it's easy to forget that a big chunk of it is money that's invested for Uncle Sam.

Sorry, @Monterey298sc, I think comparisons will be meaningless given the hidden differences between people's answers.

Well, inside the face value of a tIRA is a significant future obligation to the government. Not unlike valuing a house net of the mortgage owed. Agreed the exact amount of the future obligation cannot be known exactly, but IMO that is not a reason to pretend that it doesn't exist.

All true but in the $3m tIRA example, you can get the tax obligation down pretty low if you only take out RMD's rather than taking your money out 1/2m yearly chunks, as an example.