How's Your Net Worth Stack Up?

I was reading Money's list of seven net-worth killers when I saw this handy dandy net worth calculator on page one of the piece (click the link above and look to the right of "1. Ignoring your money" to see it.) Anyway, I plugged my age and annual income into the calculator and it spit out the average net worths for someone with my age and the average net worth for someone with my income. Here are my results:

• I am waaaaaaaay ahead of the net worth numbers for someone my age. Heck, my net worth went up more last month (thanks to the stock market) than the total average net worth of people in my age class. That said, I'm at the end of the age class and many of the people have several more years to catch up to me. But still. Sheesh -- these net worth numbers are looooooow.

• I have a lot more than the average net worth for my income as well, but the amount isn't nearly as big as the comparison to people in my age group. In this case, I'm probably younger than most people with my income, so I'm at a disadvantage against the whole group. Still, I'm ahead of the pack by a good margin.

So, what are your numbers? Stop by the calculators, get your results, then come back and share them with the rest of us. It will be fun to compare results!

Comments

[Dy]

You didn't tell us your numbers ;-) I'm in the super upper range for a 27 year old, but we're saddled with tons of student loans so my networth is -145K. We've been out of school for less than a year.

[cory]

I'm around 6 times of the median for my age, and about one-eighth of the median for my income. Just goes to show you that time is more important than money in this game.

[CPA1298]

At 26 my networth is about 65 times the median for my age group. However, are incomes are high, and we're about 1/4 of the networth for our income group. It's skewed, though, as our period of solid earnings only began 9 months ago.

[F2O]

34 yo
229 x the median based on age.
4.4 x the median based on income.

[Dave]

42 years old
11.6 X the median based on age
4.4 X the median based on income

[FMF]

Wow. Guess a lot of readers here are doing well versus the median. Cool.

[Kurt]

The income number is meaningless for younger people. If you earn $100K straight out of school, you likely have zero net worth, but you're being compared to people who earn $100K after 30 years of hard work and savings.

[cory]

The income number is actually meaningless for everyone, not just young people. Someone who has been saving a good chunk 6 figures for 30 years is still at a disadvantage compared to someone who has been hoarding the same income for 40 years.

[Nigel]

39 years old
12 X median based on age
1.5 X median based on income

What's not clear is whether the statistics are for an individual or for a household.

[Nigel]

39 years old
12 X median based on age
1.5 X median based on income

What's not clear is whether the statistics are for an individual or for a household.

[Eric]

37 years old
16 X median based on age
2 X median based on income

[Kevin]

Am I the only one that finds it hard to believe the median net worth is less then 50k for the 35-44 age group? With the recent housing boom, this seems dramitically deflated.

[FMF]

Kevin --

Many (maybe even most) sites, writers, planners, etc. don't count the value of a primary residence when calculating net worth. It doesn't say whether or not they do it in this example, but Money has not counted it in other articles I've read from them, so it's likely the case here too.

[broknowrchlatr]

@ Kevin - don't forget, this is median, not average. So you are not looking at someone in LA or New York. You are looking at someone in a midsized town making a midsized salary. So $50k seems pretty close. This ignores multi-millionnairs and those in a ton of debt.

26 years old
75 X median based on age
.4 X median based on income

I doubt many people under 30 have the median based on income unless you have < $50k in income or have had $74k for several years. My median based on income is greater than my income for my whole life.

[Brad]

If primary residence counts, I'm at 60x the median for my age group (I'm 27) and a little over 6x the median for my income.

If primary residence does not count, those numbers are more like 40x and 4x.

For what it's worth, I think it's crazy not to count residence in net worth. Is a person with 100k in assets that also has 150k equity in a 250k house in the same financial position as one who owns 100k in assets and rents? I think not.

[Matt]

25000 x median for age
30% of median by income

Its definitely skewed if you just started working.

[Brian D]

33 yo. Over 100 times the median for my age, but since I just crossed the income divider, I am slightly under the median for my income. I'm about $80k over the median for the income level below my current one.

[BradM]

27 yrs old
-1X for my age and way under the median income.
But within the next year, I'll be blowing past this number. If I stay on the same track, next yr I'll be up 20X for my age and making progress on the median income. As of now, I would break even, if I sold everything and payed off all my debts. That sounds tempting...

[tinyhands]

35 years old-
3x median for my age group
1.14x median for my income

Also note that these are 2005 numbers and the last 18 months have been pretty good for many of us.

[Scott]

It blows me away that, at least according to the graph, the median net worth for someone 35 to 44 years old is < $50k! This just seems too low because surely a lot of the people in this range have homes with some equity equal to that much. Maybe not though...maybe this is simply illustrative of the poor financial positon of most americans.

[cami]

I think that is a rather silly tool for anyone who's on the end of the ranges. If I change my annual salary by a dollar, the median networth value changes by over 19K. Perhaps if they came up with something more graduated (smaller ranges), it might be a bit more useful.

[Arthaey Angosii]

You can also check out NetworthIQ.com for self-reported networth information. The site shows comparisons by age and income (as well as other things, like education). The sampling of NetworthIQ is probably going to have more financially savvy people, so keep that in mind.

[Chris]

27
14x median for age
1.5x median for income

Not sure how valid these numbers are, I'd imagine not very.

[My New Choice]

Like Brian, I just recently received a raise that bumped me up into the next income group and that puts me a little low. For age group, I am right at 100x the median and with the higher income I am 0.6x the median.

[The Happy Rock]

Thanks for that link.

28 :
62 x median
.6 x income.

[F2O]

I think the reason some people shy away from including housing in their net worth is to avoid the illusion of being wealthy. Many people in my area are "house rich", with almost no other savings or investments.
Personaly, I calculate it both with and without. The one with the home is true net worth, while the other gives be a better idea of liquidity and overall investment performance.
All that being said, the 229 x I submitted above includes the equity in my home. However, I use a very conservative number to value the property to avoid tricking myself into thinking I am more secure than the reality.

[LM]

56 years old
2.42 x median based on age
24.6 x median based on income

[Karla (threadbndr)]

51 yrs old

2.9 x median based on age
15 x median based on income

Both without house. Like F2O above, I calc my networth twice - once with and once without the primary residence.

Boggles the mind - I don't consider that I'm doing all that well. I'm certainly NOT using this as an excuse to stop saving or to run up the CCs!

[LM]

As I posted above:

56 years old
2.42 x based on age
24.6 based on income (a bit skewed since my regular job is low pay!)

According to "The Millionaire Next Door" net worth formula (age x income / 10), my NW is 3.14 x MND estimated net worth.

Includes my modest (paid off) condo which represents 16% of my NW.

No car loan (drive a '97), no credit card debt. The peace of mind alone is worth doing without things.

remember that net worth is assets minus liabilities, so don't forget to subtract out your mortgage, credit cards, school debt and the like from you calculations.

My net worth is close to $1M and I'm 37 years old.

[Big Cheese]

In my opinion the calculator gives information that is too imprecise. I am 33, and if I factor in my residence:

I'm 250 x age median
0.75 x income median (independent of age I suppose)

Doesn't mean much as we are all going to be feeling a big financial pinch as inflation & taxes rise in the coming decades.

-Big Cheese

[Nik]

23 Years Old

100X Net Worth for my AGE
2X Net Worth for my Income-

I don't know how this is actually measured accurately though-

[JD]

If anyone actually believes those numbers on that site are accurate you're kidding yourself, those are waaaay lower than reality.

[Geo]

Net worth is calculated as Assets less Liabilities. Assets includes the net realizable value of your home. Net realizable value is the market value of the home less selling expenses less any potential tax liability. For most people, there is no tax liability on the sale of their home. But say you own a second home; your net worth calculation should include the market value of the vacation home less selling expenses less your deferred tax liability. And there is also a deferred tax liability on your stock portfolio as well which technically should offset the market value of the portfolio.

Who would calculate net worth this way? Accountants assisting clients particularly those doing estate planning or applying for bank loans or SBA loans to start businesses. However,on a practical level, most of us would just include the market value of our home less the related mortgage and the same for any second home. But --- your future tax liability is a real liability although deferred.

I would argue that you should always include the value of your home given that it has a readily determinable market value which is subject to market fluctuations (just adjust up or down). It just happens to be a long-term asset on the balance sheet. And this is no different than someone who buys a stock who holds it indefinitedly. Values can easily be determined in both cases and one day the net realizable value will be recognized when sold. It becomes less clear for items such as jewelry unless such jewelry is collectible or unique in some way or is supported by an appraisal.

[Anonymous]

33 years old.
30x net worth for my age group
0.6x net worth for my income

I just got promoted this past year with a $10k raise, so I hope to start gaining on my income group quickly.

[Big Cheese]

Now that I'm 35 I recalculated... now I am 35X my age group and 2X my income level. Doubled my net worth over the past two years so have been pretty fortunate.

-BC

[Lary]

37 years old, net worth 570k, no outstanding loans, not even a car payment.

[F]

26 years old, 20x age median, 40% of income median.
A combined age X income reference would make more sense, IMO.