Summary Findings – Net Worth Comparison USA

[audreyh1]

We would much rather have these things that $ buys than to just sit on the $.

Yeah, if you sit on it too long, someone else will spend it for you!

 

[goingtotravel]

Sick time disappears when you retire with no payout, Unused vacation is paid as a lump sum (no pension benefit) or can be used at the end of your career to increase your time of service.

Speaking as a federal employee under the current, FERS, system. You can credit sick leave towards your pension. The formula is that you earn 104 hours of sick leave each year and it takes 2087 hours of sick leave to add another year to your service (but you can add as little as one month of sick leave to your service time). That is if you even have that much because a few major illnesses or a couple of kids and you probably do not have enough sick leave to hit that number.

So over a 30 year career you may earn 3,120 hours. Let's say you have a few kids while working and spend 960 sick leave hours on maternity leave and then some more hours with you being sick, taking care of sick kids, etc. Maybe you somehow manage to save 2,087 hours. If you make $70,000 a year and retire before 62 that adds $700 before deductions to your retirement pay annually. Take 10% off for spouse survivor benefits and now you have $630 before taxes more annually (or $52.50 per month pre-tax). A nice benefit but probably not enough to make a big difference. And it doesn't allow you to retire before you are eligible it just adds $ to your retirement pay.

 

[bonvoyage]

Years ago when we were still in the early part of our accumulation phase, DW and I often talked about how we would enjoy life, buy this big house or get that fancy car if we ever became "rich". But we found that as our NW grew, our desire for these material things just sort of faded away, and by and large we continue to live the same way, living in the same 2000-sqft house that we bought when we got married; driving the same cars (20- and 15- years old); eating at the same restaurants (with coupons) and wearing the same kinds of clothes. Our only "lifestyle inflation" has been on traveling (before Covid).

I'd be lying if I said that I don't enjoy seeing/updating our NW on our spreadsheet. But while we know that we can buy all sorts of fun toys with it, we just don't have any desire to do so. We're happy with the way we live and don't need anything else money might buy us to make us happier.

Lucky Dude

Very similar story in my household - we are at the 99% percentile in terms of net worth. I worked in software development and wife in pharmaceuticals. I retired earlier this year in my fifties but my wife is still working in an executive level position.

I think that when wealth is accumulated slowly over time (thirty years in our case), the way you handle it is quite different than if the wealth was acquired in a windfall. We have generally

Our lifestyle has not changed much in the past twenty odd years. We have lived in the same 2500 sq ft house for 25 years and drive Camrys.

But we have fixed up our house to our satisfaction by progressively remodeling it a room at a time over the years. We have allowed our kids to go to any college of their choice, cost not being a factor. Little of this shows outwardly however and none of our neighbors or family suspect what our net worth is. I much prefer it like this

 

[rk911]

Very similar story in my household - we are at the 99% percentile in terms of net worth. I worked in software development and wife in pharmaceuticals. I retired earlier this year in my fifties but my wife is still working in an executive level position.

I think that when wealth is accumulated slowly over time (thirty years in our case), the way you handle it is quite different than if the wealth was acquired in a windfall. We have generally

Our lifestyle has not changed much in the past twenty odd years. We have lived in the same 2500 sq ft house for 25 years and drive Camrys.

But we have fixed up our house to our satisfaction by progressively remodeling it a room at a time over the years. We have allowed our kids to go to any college of their choice, cost not being a factor. Little of this shows outwardly however and none of our neighbors or family suspect what our net worth is. I much prefer it like this

you could be our twin brother and sister as our story is virtually identical but i think you expressed how we feel much better than i ever could.

i'm not sure what percentile we're in and really don't care. we have more than we can ever spend. we've been in the same 3BR split-level, 1600-sf home in a very middle class neighborhood since 1988 remodeling it to our comfort as cash permitted just like you...a room at a time. we're driving 17 and 10-yr old cars. we have a positive cash flow each month because of living way beneath our means. we have no debt, want for nothing material but we don't crave luxury cars or a luxury home and we've been extra generous in our giving. likewise, our neighbors likely have no clue. the only outward sign of our wealth is our 5-yr old motor home and when asked we tell the truth...we had been saving for it for nearly 30-years and paid cash.

nice to know there are others like us.

 

[luckydude]

Very similar story in my household - we are at the 99% percentile in terms of net worth. I worked in software development and wife in pharmaceuticals. I retired earlier this year in my fifties but my wife is still working in an executive level position.

I think that when wealth is accumulated slowly over time (thirty years in our case), the way you handle it is quite different than if the wealth was acquired in a windfall.

+1

Growing wealth incrementally is much more conducive to maintaining a LBYM ethos, learning how to scale up and managing growing NW carefully, and avoiding the pitfalls that can come with a large windfall. IMO, it's also much more satisfying (not to mention financially prudent) to scale up one's living standard incrementally (if one so chooses) as one's NW increases so that there's always something to look forward to if/when the next milestone is achieved.

Our lifestyle has not changed much in the past twenty odd years. We have lived in the same 2500 sq ft house for 25 years and drive Camrys.

But we have fixed up our house to our satisfaction by progressively remodeling it a room at a time over the years. We have allowed our kids to go to any college of their choice, cost not being a factor. Little of this shows outwardly however and none of our neighbors or family suspect what our net worth is. I much prefer it like this

Stealth wealth is the best kind of wealth!

Lucky Dude