Poll: Fat FIRE

[firewhen]

Not sure if I have seen this, how high net worth gets at the upper reaches here. For anonymity purposes, vote without leaving a comment if you prefer. For simplicity, lets not worry about the value of pensions, but only the value of what your estate would be (investable assets, house, etc.). I will include 2 lower rungs so everyone can participate, but I am most curious about the higher end and how far that goes.

 

[Fishingmn]

Are you asking people to vote on their own net worth or what level should be considered Fat Fire?

 

[firewhen]

Their own net worth

I am impressed there is a $25M+ vote. Never saw anyone discuss that kind of wealth on here.

 

[mrfeh]

Poll options really need to be more granular. Most will fall between 1 and 10, and that's a large range.

 

[firewhen]

I put the lower options for completeness. But am really mostly interested in how many eight figure, or even nine figure, net worths there are here.

 

[Midpack]

Poll options really need to be more granular. Most will fall between 1 and 10, and that's a large range.

+1.

 

[Aerides]

I agree, but there are already 18 votes in the 1-10 category, so if I change it now I have no way to split them and the results would be forever skewed...

 

[audreyh1]

I am impressed there is a $25M+ vote. Never saw anyone discuss that kind of wealth on here.

Why would they?

 

[audreyh1]

I put the lower options for completeness. But am really mostly interested in how many eight figure, or even nine figure, net worths there are here.

And you think you’ll get complete answers? Or even honest answers?

 

[Golden sunsets]

I am impressed there is a $25M+ vote. Never saw anyone discuss that kind of wealth on here.

What makes you think that was a legitimate response?

 

[jollystomper]

I put the lower options for completeness. But am really mostly interested in how many eight figure, or even nine figure, net worths there are here.

And you would trust the results? Interesting.

I could not see anyone honestly at that level wanting to reveal it on this forum, for various reasons not much different from real life.

 

[firewhen]

And you would trust the results? Interesting.

I could not see anyone honestly at that level wanting to reveal it on this forum, for various reasons not much different from real life.

I guess, though this is all anonymous.

 

[RxMan]

I’d be curious to see another poll of current net worth with several more lower tiers including multiple tiers below $1 million. For what you’re looking to find out this poll works and if these are honest answers there are some very high net worth individuals that participated.

 

[street]

LOL!
That poll really has nothing of value for who we are or who we are talking to each day. If wanted to know 8 figure wealth then that could of been accomplished differently.

So, if someone here has been retired for 10 years took their pension in a lump 10 years ago and have had it invested in stock or real estate that doesn't count in your poll. Not sure your poll was or is an true results worth taking the poll.

The poll needs to be broke down in 5M increments or less to get an overall view. A total net worth or just portfolio assets only.

I'm not trying to belittle you but the poll you started is just not giving a good view of the wealth here in my opinion.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Someone answered >$100 million.

I'm surprised they are in this forum, since a lot of us discuss DIY, LBYM, etc. And there are a lot of discussions regarding how to stay under the ACA cliff (excluding 2021 and 2022). Anyone with that kind of funds would find many of the discussions rather boring.

 

[Yeueudh]

What makes you think that was a legitimate response?

What makes you think it’s not. Selling a company as a co-founder is all there is to it.

 

[Golden sunsets]

What makes you think it’s not. Selling a company as a co-founder is all there is to it.

Because I think it's far more likely that people would punk the OP, for setting up a silly poll where 99% of the responders fit into one category than honestly report that much NW on a public forum. Or are you the guy with more than 100m+?

 

[Car-Guy]

Someone answered >$100 million.

Maybe it was Gates or Bezos? Even after their divorce settlements.

LOL!
That poll really has nothing of value for who we are or who we are talking to each day.

+1

 

[audreyh1]

Someone answered >$100 million.

I'm surprised they are in this forum, since a lot of us discuss DIY, LBYM, etc. And there are a lot of discussions regarding how to stay under the ACA cliff (excluding 2021 and 2022). Anyone with that kind of funds would find many of the discussions rather boring.

You assume it’s true?

 

[Koogie]

It's really not that unbelievable. One of the posters here used to have a signature line that said: "I'm not rich, I'm a poor guy with money. There's a difference"

Meaning of course that people can become rich for a variety of reasons that won't impact who they are as people or change their base behaviour.

I know for a fact that a poster who used to frequent this forum years ago had a net worth well into the eight figures for instance. He still found value in this forum.

 

[Car-Guy]

One thing that sticks out to me with this poll (albeit it limited voting so far) is only one person has voted under a million, yet I read frequently about folks here with a NW well under a million. I'm sure there are good reasons why, just seems odd.


I also think NW polls like this are very misleading, especially if you don't count/consider things like pensions/SS, etc... Of course YOMV....


Example, let's say two people, the same age, each have a NW worth of 500k on the day before they retire. One person selects the lump sum retirement package of 1m and the other takes the annuity option estimated to be worth a million in normal payout.... The day after they retire the person that took the lump sum can now claim to have a NW of 1.5m and the person that took the annuity can still only claim he has 500k... From my POV, they are both millionaires.

 

[RetMD21]

I think it's an interesting poll. There are some people here who are quite well off.

You could do more granularity in the 1-10 million range but I am not sure what that would tell you since pensions and social security matter.

Has there been a poll about what withdrawal rate folks would need from their portfolio to cover basic expenses? That seems to me to be a better measure of potential fatness. Some retired military folks have posted who have saved a lot but spending is entirely covered by pensions.

 

[REWahoo]

One thing that sticks out to me with this poll (albeit it limited voting so far) is only one person has voted under a million, yet I read frequently about folks here with a NW well under a million. I'm sure there are good reasons why, just seems odd.

Not odd at all, considering the OP has posted twice that they have little interest in hearing from "the poor folks" on the forum with less than $10M

 

[TheWizard]

A net worth poll is fine, but when we're talking Fat FIRE, I think it's more about income in retirement for many of us.
An income of $200,000 per year from pensions, annuities, SS and tax-deferred withdrawals (RMDs or similar) equates to a few million in assets, for instance...

 

[Sojourner]

Net worth--excluding pensions, etc--basically your future estate

For simplicity, lets not worry about the value of pensions, but only the value of what your estate would be (investable assets, house, etc.).

Based on the OP's wording of the poll and the initial post (which I bolded above), the poll question itself is confusing. Are we talking about our current net worth, or what we expect our "future estate" "would be"?

I will include 2 lower rungs so everyone can participate, but I am most curious about the higher end and how far that goes.

LOL... The two "lower rungs" cover roughly 99% of ALL households in the U.S. Only 9 people here on the forum have voted in the $10+ million categories, and I can only think of one or two active forum members who have posted about having $15+ million NWs in recent years.

Let's say the final numbers turn out to be 85% in the lower rungs, 12% in the middle rungs, and 3% in the stratospheric rungs ($50+ million). So what? Not sure what the OP is trying to elucidate with this poll.