I absolutely love using the calculators at CNNMoney.com. There are so many cool ones that I use frequently. They have one for housing prices, cost of living comparison, retirement needs, saving for college, etc. I actually just stumbled across one for the average net worth of Americans. All you have to do is enter in your age and current salary and it give you two charts. The first chart shows you the average net worth of individuals in your age group. The second chart shows you the average net worth of individuals in your income range. I’m not sure how helpful the second one would be since it compares the salary against any age. If I am making $50,000 as a 22 year old, of course someone making $50,000 as a 50 year old will have a larger net worth than me (I hope they do). Anyway, here are the averages for different age groups:
Under 25
$1,475
25-34
$8,525
35-44
$51,575
45-54
$98,350
55-64
$180,125
65 and Over
$232,000
Where do you stack up against these numbers? Personally, we are no where near the average for our age group. I mean we are not even in the same zip code. I imagine that has to do with the fact that we both used a lot of student debt to earn our degrees and we own no real estate.
Do you think these numbers reflect the recent turmoil in the stock market? The calculator did not have a certain date on it (i.e. “this chart is based on the 2000 census”). However, I hope that it takes into account the recent decline. The net worth of individuals should be much higher than these averages. You should strive to be much higher than these averages.
Woo! We’re above average for our age group! It’s not that hard when you’re in the “under 25″ group though. I don’t think they realistically reflect recent economic trends, but I do think that they are somewhat accurate of when they were put together.
These averages are depressingly low, but then, I look at myself and realize that I’m right there. The 55-64 group is surprisingly low to me. I can’t imagine trying to retire on that small of a nest egg.
@Jeff – I would call above average in that group great! Like I said, most individuals in that group have some sort of student debt. If you have a positive net worth coming out of college, you are heading in the right direction.
@Mike – I think they are depressingly low too, especially if these are numbers BEFORE the stock market crash. No wonder we have so many relying on government aid.
These numbers do seem too low, but I’m glad to see that I’m far above the average for my age range. And yes, Mike, I can’t see anyone in the 55-64 bracket retiring if their net worth is “only” $232K.
I love these kinds of calculators, I really do. That’s because I’m a PF dork!
Our income level about matches the average, but our net worth is much higher. We made lots of really great financial choices over the last few years, and we’ve been able to save a lot of money as a result. Living in our mobile home for 3 years and then selling it really made a huge difference, considering we had it paid off in just over 1 year. That, coupled with the cars we owned outright meaning no debt what-so-ever, means that we were able to put a lot of money into the bank on a single income supporting a family of 4.
After the recent drop, my 10 yr old’s college account dropped to about the net worth for my age, 45-54. That number is sad.
Hmmm, seems amazingly low! You sure your getting the right statistics?
From the comments here alone, most are above average.
So am I frankly, but I don’t want to say how much, b/c it’ll sound like I’m bragging. $8,500 for 25-34 year olds? Come on, that can’t be right.
Best, FS
Financial Samurai´s lastest post ..You’re Rejected! How I Use Rejection To Motivate Me Every Single Day
Hey dorks!… these are Median values…….Not Averages. Please stop saying Averages. Averages will be MUCH higher do to extremely high income individuals. Median values are not effected as much by high income individuals and therefore are much more accurate. So yes…the Median numbers are true and very disappointing….
Yeah I’m 24 with close to 100k networth. And I still see myself as un successful. These numbers cannot be even close
If you have ammassed that amount of net worth in your short working career, I admire you immensely.
While I am not in your age category, I am in my mid 50’s, have put kids through college ( and helped with Medical School) I have been a saver much of my life, and between pure savings, retirement savings, and home equity, ( not including personal property), my net work is north of $1.25 million, with close to $800,000 of that being savings and qualified plan savings (401k) and I feel unbelievably not ready for retirement a few years down the road… oh yeah… My only debt is about $160K of real estate mortgage debt…
It’s depressing how low these numbers are – even if you’re above average you’ll probably fall short of your retirement goals. Do you have numbers for what your networth should be for your age group?
living of dividends & Passive income´s lastest post ..Trading & Investing Strategies for the Current Environment
As someone who lives in a household making around $120k per year and owning $800k in property, I would say that I would have rather saved all of that money. I lay in my bed at night wondering what it would be like to have some money in my checking account after all the bills and taxes im currently paying off.
So these numbers include real estate holdings? If so, that’s really depressing. I don’t own a home anymore, but even at my age and income level, my $$ saved for retirement are almost 3X the number the calculator shows. I’m old and would like to retire in 3-5 years, but I still feel like I need twice as much as I currently have.
Remember, having a $200k net worth at age 60 isn’t bad if you own a $100k home outright, have a pension (public employee, or older UAW worker, etc) and live 60 miles outside of, say, Milwaukee or Cincinati. It’s another story entirely if you’re a marketing ‘professional’ with a mortgage, living in the Boston or San Fran suburbs. But what % of Americans live in subsidized housing or trailer homes? I doubt many of them have six figures in the bank.
Average numbers do seem low. However, once you input your income they seem to be more in line, so I have a hard time calling out the calculator.
I did a search about net worth and came across this article. Its from the U.S. Census Bureau. Data is a few years old, but its still interesting. How do you stack up?
http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p70-88.pdf
I recently turned 25, put myself through school (not cheap), bought my own house at 20, and still managed to grow my net worth to over 100k (not tied up in illiquid real estate).
That being said, people (of all age groups) could easily exceed these modest net worth averages by not placing so much value on materialism. Friends of mine (both old and young), have incomes in the hundreds of thousands (and some millions) per year. Yet have little, if any, saved relative to their income.
It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save. Instead of buying that thousand dollar flat-screen, make your IRA contributions; if you don’t need a $400k house, don’t buy it, the tax deduction isn’t worth the false-esteem it provides; sacrifice for the sake of others.