Here's another post in our series on the learnings from the book the Millionaire Next Door:
The median (typical) household in America has a net worth of less than $15,000, excluding home equity. Factor out equity in motor vehicles, furniture, and such, and guess what? More often than not the household has zero financial assets, such as stocks and bonds. How long could the average American household survive economically without a monthly check from an employer? Perhaps a month or two in most cases. Even those in the top quintile are not really wealthy. Their median household net worth is less than $150,000. Excluding home equity, the median net worth for this group falls to less than $60,000. And what about senior citizens? Without Social Security benefits, almost one-half of Americans over sixty-five would live in poverty. (page 2)
Remember, this book was written in 1996, so this data is outdated. But I would wager that the meaning is still true -- net worths in America are mind-bogglingly low. I trust that with the help of this blog and our series on the Millionaire Next Door, we'll all be able to raise our net worths substantially.
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