Summary Findings – Net Worth Comparison USA

[volfan]

I think the term "pension millionaire" is pretty spot on. My Aunt retired at age 58 with almost no savings but a 80% Cola'd pension and healthcare. I never asked but I would guess her pension is somewhere around $75K now plus she gets maybe another $30K from SS. That lets her live a very comfortable life despite never saving any money before retirement. She has saved some now because she doesn't know what to do with so much income at her age. $75K/yr for 30 years is over $2M. That is a lot of money. More than most people can save in a career(this site does not represent most people). I think pension millionaire is a pretty accurate term

I know you say she didn’t save anything, but in my state we do contribute 9% to the pension fund, with no say over how they invest it. So yes, even if I hadn’t saved anything else, I am forced to save that 9%.
Several years ago they let the voters decide it could go into the market. Right before the crash and then they made many poor decisions trying to gain it back quickly.

I taught for over 30 years and my pension is about 24k with a 1% yearly increase that can be taken away at any time (back before 2013 it was Cola’d and now 1% but no more than $500 increase). So all state employees with pensions are not “making bank”.

 

[SunnyOne]

Maybe I'm cynical, but I rarely feel good about my net worth based on what others have or do not have. I feel better or worse when I look at the costs of various spend categories for the lifestyle I want...so in that vein, I don't feel so wealthy....when I add up housing costs, taxes, autos, etc. Considering I'm in the top 2-3% (from the original post), it seems my money should go farther. That's all.

 

[eytonxav]

I just realized being retired, I will not make 1% unless I win the lottery.

 

[Markola]

I just realized being retired, I will not make 1% unless I win the lottery.

+1. One thing I’ll have to get used to psychologically is seeing the liquid net worth spend down over time from its peak right now, having FIREd last month at 54. The calculators project 85-97% portfolio success for 40 years but we have to get to full SS, Medicare and no mortgage before the balance starts ticking back up again at about age 70. I’m used to seeing it grow steadily! I guess that’s the “retirement portfolio smile” shape others speak of .

I’ll get used to the trade off, because this not working stuff is actually everything it’s cracked up to be. [emoji898][emoji898]

 

[Car-Guy]

I just realized being retired, I will not make 1% unless I win the lottery.

Same here... I'm about half way between 1 and 2% on this "low balled" chart but that last .5% is not going to happen, especially now that I'm retired... Even if it did happen, it would not change my lifestyle at all... Now if I could more than quadruple my current net worth, I may do some things different... Maybe...

 

[HawaiiShrimp]

From my POV, "as a retiree", I consider 2m as cautiously comfortable.. 10+m as reasonably well off, 25+m as borderline wealthy and 50m as FU money. But that's me...

I completely agree with your assessment. With $10m NW, I'm still not comfortable buying a high end house. Unless I reach $30M or more in NW, I can't say I'm wealthy. Living comfortably, yes, but definitely not luxurious or anything like that.

This is why $30M is my goal.

 

[HawaiiShrimp]

To a guy with 5 grand NW a guy with half a mill is wealthy.

When you have 5 mill it takes half a billion.

That's very true too.

 

[rk911]

wealthy...rich...well off...all are subjective depending on the desired style of living.

us? we still live waaaay beneath our means and have a very comfy life not wanting for anything material. we live in a middle class neighborhood in a 60-yr old 3BR split level home we have remodeled to suit us over the last couple of decades and drive 10 and 17-yr old vehicles. zero interest in a larger home, high-end vehicles or intl travel. all of our domestic travel is in our motorhome. if family, friends and neighbors knew our NW they would be shocked and most definitely think of us as wealthy. whatever floats your boat.

 

[aleabo]

As a person working in Data Analytics field I'd advise to take any research and statistics data with grain of salt. Big grain of salt. I know quality of the data used (in many cases it pure garbage) and level of the people who call themselves Data scientist.
Just think - millions of people working in high tech - 6 figures salaries, stock options, etc. Those people NW millions. Doctors, lawyers, business owners - don't believe that only 5% of population have NW more than 1M. The only caveat here that if family has 1M individual will have 500K..

 

[Midpack]

Another source...

 

[HI Bill]

...millions of people working in high tech - 6 figures salaries, stock options, etc. Those people NW millions. Doctors, lawyers, business owners - don't believe that only 5% of population have NW more than 1M.

I know a lot of people who make six-figures. One is still working at age 69 because he has debt and two houses to maintain. Another is doctor who receives a full pension from working for the Navy, and had to take on a new job in his late 50s to be able to afford private school for his daughter, his $2.5M house, and his wife. Most people don't LBYMs, they spend up to and beyond their income, regardless of whether they make $50K, $80K, $120K, $250K. Once you get much past $250K, I can't comment.

Most of them have serious debt, and probably have a negative net worth. Check out the White Coat Investor web site. This is run by a doctor who is trying to help doctors with high salaries increase their net worth, rather than spending more than they make.

 

[gerntz]

As a person working in Data Analytics field I'd advise to take any research and statistics data with grain of salt. Big grain of salt. I know quality of the data used (in many cases it pure garbage) and level of the people who call themselves Data scientist.
Just think - millions of people working in high tech - 6 figures salaries, stock options, etc. Those people NW millions. Doctors, lawyers, business owners - don't believe that only 5% of population have NW more than 1M. The only caveat here that if family has 1M individual will have 500K..

5% is like 16-17M people.

 

[gerntz]

Another source...

Thanks. Can't tell if this is individuals, couples, households.

 

[USGrant1962]

Thanks. Can't tell if this is individuals, couples, households.

Virtually all net worth data is household.

 

[6miths]

I know a lot of people who make six-figures. One is still working at age 69 because he has debt and two houses to maintain. Another is doctor who receives a full pension from working for the Navy, and had to take on a new job in his late 50s to be able to afford private school for his daughter, his $2.5M house, and his wife. Most people don't LBYMs, they spend up to and beyond their income, regardless of whether they make $50K, $80K, $120K, $250K. Once you get much past $250K, I can't comment.

Most of them have serious debt, and probably have a negative net worth. Check out the White Coat Investor web site. This is run by a doctor who is trying to help doctors with high salaries increase their net worth, rather than spending more than they make.

I was going to make a similar comment. Most doctors don't start earning until in their 30s, start out with large debt, and once getting a paycheque start piling on more debt to keep up with the 'image'. Not saying that doctors don't have the ability to become millionaires pretty easily, just that many don't. Big hat, no cattle, or also from 'The Millionaire Next Door', doctors tend to be under-accumulators of wealth.

 

[6miths]

Another source...

Why hasn't the NW of the top 1% increased from 2017 to 2020. The S&P is up by 74% over this time. Unless they used the nadir in March to suggest that 'even the top 1% is struggling'.

 

[HenryD]

Why hasn't the NW of the top 1% increased from 2017 to 2020. The S&P is up by 74% over this time. Unless the used the nadir in March to suggest that 'even the top 1% is struggling'.

More disturbingly, how am I not in the top 10% yet?

 

[teetee]

Why hasn't the NW of the top 1% increased from 2017 to 2020. The S&P is up by 74% over this time. Unless the used the nadir in March to suggest that 'even the top 1% is struggling'. [emoji23]

May be that is what 'CPI adjusted' above the chart mean. But I would not think inflation rate got overestimated so much that those 1%, even after retirement, have not advanced their NW. Perhaps it was the fiscal year data so the number was produced in July where the annual growth of stock was in the red from covid?

I will be happy to reach my individual milestone in a couple of years if all stars line up. Then I will work more on liking my job/career than focusing on saving.

 

[Car-Guy]

Another source...

A few observations.


This chart is consistent with a lot of others I've seen, so not surprising to me and seems to be reasonable.

The average doesn't mean much (IMO) since it's skewed so much by the top 10%.

And while I'm well into the top 10%, there's a big wealth difference between someone at 90% and someone at 99%. And a much, much bigger difference between someone at 99% and 99.99%. The upper end of that 99% (e.g. 99.95+%) would be life altering for most. Again, IMO...

 

[6miths]

A few observations.


This chart is consistent with a lot of others I've seen, so not surprising to me and seems to be reasonable.

The average doesn't mean much (IMO) since it's skewed so much by the top 10%.

And while I'm well into the top 10%, there's a big wealth difference between someone at 90% and someone at 99%. And a much, much bigger difference between someone at 99% and 99.99 percent. The upper end of that 99% (99.95+%) would be life altering for most. Again, IMO...

You don't think that an 11 million dollar net worth would be 'life altering' for most! The cut off for 99.9 is 43 million! For 99.95 it must be somewhere around 100 million. So yes, life-altering!

I believe this is the data source for the graphic. https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-net-worth-percentiles/

 

[aleabo]

While it nice to think that I in the top 2% I hardly can believe it. No luxury cars, expensive houses, 5 stars hotels. iPhone 6 and 12 years old TV...

 

[Car-Guy]

You don't think that an 11 million dollar net worth would be 'life altering' for most!

I guess it's relative... True, for most it would be life altering, since most are well below the 90% mark on the chart. But certainly not for me.... Even an extra 5 or 10 million isn't going to change my lifestyle very much.... Now 50 to 100+.. But again, that's me...


I'm still thinking about the UHNWI thread which is well into the top 1%. https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...ividual-uhnwi-here-what-do-you-do-106473.html

 

[Dtail]

While it nice to think that I in the top 2% I hardly can believe it. No luxury cars, expensive houses, 5 stars hotels. iPhone 6 and 12 years old TV...

The average contributor to this site is in the top 10% NW, but typically continues to live an LBYM lifestyle, despite often stating that they need to spend more.
Thus the "feeling" of not living a top 10% lifestyle.

 

[Nemo2]

If I can save just a wee bit more, we can make it into the bottom 1%.

 

[foxfirev5]

Got enough. I'm good. Never mind the rest.