I saw this post in the Great Debate “How is any luxury spending ethical?” and someone has somehow calculated that the average American owns $182,000 worth of possessions. No cite of course.
Is this for real? How is this number calculated? Is depreciation taken into account?
Because here I sit, looking over some of the stuff in my apartment and I question whether I own even a quarter of that.
I understand that this number must be inflated by home owners versus renters so naturally it would seem very high, but it still doesn’t look right.
No cite, but I think that’s it. The most common home value around densely covered regions is about $80,000 - $140,000. Factor that in with 1 car, maybe 2. A boat, motorcycle, etc… and it adds up pretty quickly. I would think a lot of the value you see in that $182,000 figure is owned to banks due to loans.
I’m not surprised by that number. I’m a poor college student, and I had to put a value on all my posessions last year for renters insurance. I think I was up to 15 or 20K. It adds up quick.
That number seems too high. Here is a link to an Adobe Acrobat-format (i.e., PDF) report from the US Census Bureau discussing the changes in net worth from 1998 to 2000. Here is a relevant sentence:
And of course that’s for a whole household, not just an individual.
I don’t this net worth number necessarily contradicts the previous total “possessions” number. The total possessions number does not appear to account for liabilities. If you own a house, that can be at least $100K right there, but if you account for the mortgage, your equity (which is part of one’s net worth) can drop to $10K. So you have to distinguish between net worth and possessions. Keep in mind that we are a nation of debtors. But I have no idea if the $182K that’s been mentioned is right or not.
You’re right that makes a lot of sense, but now you’re dealing with two people or $364,000 worth of possessions. Now your house, two cars and a boat looks paltry compared to the “average” and a house, two cars and a boat is decidely above average.
But again, that goes back to my OP. Is that 15K in retail value? Then is it retail value today or retail value when you bought it?
I was the one who posted that figure. Here is the site where I found it. Obviously, the math is not too rigorous but I figured it was good enough for rhetorical purposes. You’ll also note I cited the figure incorrectly - $182,000 is the figure for the average American household not individual. Ironically, it would have supported my argument better if I had quoted it correctly.
Your link said “average USA household net worth is $182,381 as per the census,” but the one I found on the U.S. Census Bureau website was only $55,000. They can’t both be correct.
Are we talking about the ‘average American’ or the ‘American average’? When you calculate the mean for any group, you have to take into account the obscenely rich as well as the destitute. $182,000 barely covers the rolling stock for many wealthy people. When one considers art collections, million-dollar+ houses, etc., the figure of $182,000 doesn’t seem at all surprising.
Sorry. The link I quoted referred to the median net worth of $55,000, while Little Nemo’s cite said the average net worth was $182,000. So both numbers could be correct.
