# How's Your Net Worth?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 9, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674 "2015-07-09T17:51:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/1 "2015-07-09T17:51:54Z")

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How’s your net worth ranked by age and percentile? The 30th percentile means that if you have exactly this net worth, it is greater than 30% of households your age. The same is true for the 50th and 70th percentiles. Net worth is your total assets minus total liabilities.

Age Percentile: 30th 50th 70th

\<35 $0 $6682 $33477

35-44 $4058 $35000 $128430

45-54 $12175 $84542 $228708

55-64 $39057 $144200 $333750

65+ $68783 $171135 $344870

source: The Motley Fool

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**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/2 "2015-07-09T18:00:23Z")

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If you’re over age 35 and have no positive net worth, you can just reply with a post since my poll didn’t include an option for that.

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**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/3 "2015-07-09T20:10:25Z")

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Man do those numbers for 35+ seem low. (For me the straight white male.)

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/4 "2015-07-09T20:20:09Z")

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I second that. However, the numbers for 55+ are probably underestimated relative to the other age groups because you can bake in an average of more than $100K for Social Security. Whereas some of the other group will die before reaching retirement or the benefits might be drastically reduced.

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/5 "2015-07-09T20:20:53Z")

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My vote assumes my net worth includes my annuity and IRA. Does it also include the equity in the house? I never took an economics class, so what do I know?

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**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/6 "2015-07-09T20:23:14Z")

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Do those numbers include equity in a house or condo?

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**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/7 "2015-07-09T20:24:34Z")

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I included house equity and retirement. If I didn’t I would be negative.

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**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/8 "2015-07-09T20:31:41Z")

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> [@Lowdown](#):
>
> Man do those numbers for 35+ seem low. (For me the straight white male.)

Not really. A lot of people have a relatively low net worth because their largest asset is their home and the value is offset by their mortgage. A lot of people are buying homes a lot later in life these days and have a lot of student loan debt.  
FYI, for all non-financial types:  
Your net worth is = your assets - your liabilities

Assets:  
Cash  
401k or other retirement plans  
investments like stocks or bonds or mutual funds  
the market value of your home  
the resale value of your car and any other property  
Market value of any gold, jewelry or other precious metals or gems

Liabilities:  
Outstanding mortgage  
Outstanding student loans  
Credit card balances  
Any other outstanding debt  
Any other money you owe people  
Whether you can access these assets immediately (liquidity) is irrelevant. Your 401k is still yours even if you can’t cash it out right now.

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**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/9 "2015-07-09T21:52:53Z")

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Either my math is wrong, I forgot to factor something in, or I have almost 5 times more than the 70th percentile for \<35. This is good, right?

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**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/10 "2015-07-09T22:30:06Z")

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I’m shit broke right now and we’ve been living on our assets while waiting for our business to take off. My net worth is very negative. Hopefully only for a couple more months though.

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**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/11 "2015-07-09T22:39:39Z")

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> [@BlackKnight](#):
>
> Either my math is wrong, I forgot to factor something in, or I have almost 5 times more than the 70th percentile for \<35. This is good, right?

Yes, it’s quite good. Invest wisely and reap the benefits when you’re older.

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**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/12 "2015-07-09T22:45:25Z")

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When responding, I’m not sure how to answer. With 30, 50 and 70, we should really have four options for each age bracket (under 30, 30-50, 50-70, over 70).

I guess I’ll answer 50 because I know I’m higher than that, but I’m closer to 50 than to 70.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/13 "2015-07-09T22:51:07Z")

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> [@dracoi](#):
>
> When responding, I’m not sure how to answer. With 30, 50 and 70, we should really have four options for each age bracket (under 30, 30-50, 50-70, over 70).
> 
> I guess I’ll answer 50 because I know I’m higher than that, but I’m closer to 50 than to 70.

Yes, unfortunately the Straight Dope edit time limit is so brief, I wasn’t able to adjust the poll. If someone is in the “under 30” percentile, they can either vote in the 30th percentile (same as your 30-50 but make it 0-50), or they can just post their 0-30 percentile as a thread reply.

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**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/14 "2015-07-10T00:05:37Z")

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I forgot my house! Oh well.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/15 "2015-07-10T00:34:30Z")

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55 - 64, and easily in the 70th percentile.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/16 "2015-07-10T02:54:06Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> 55 - 64, and easily in the 70th percentile.

Same here, without the house.

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**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/17 "2015-07-10T03:41:55Z")

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$20 cash  
$94 checking

So I guess my net worth is $114, what percentile is that?  
I’m 53.

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**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/18 "2015-07-10T06:50:05Z")

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About five more years until my student loans are paid off, then my net worth should grow fairly well. My girlfriend is in the 70th percentile for her age group (\<35) - she received a modest inheritance and is an RN. She saves about 10K a year without even trying, so will hopefully remain up there.

She knows how lucky she is also. Most of her peers from high school have been nowhere near as fortunate. A great deal of credit goes to her parents for raising her right.

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/19 "2015-07-10T08:17:52Z")

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Two random musings:

This month was one of the few months I’ve had where my net worth went down: the market fell big enough that it more than made up for my savings.

However, I won’t complain about it because it reminds me of a guy in my first, low wage, job out of college, who complained that “you know you’re getting paid low when you make or lose more in the stock market every day than you make on the job”. Ummm, NO. It just means you have a ton of money in the stock market!

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**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/20 "2015-07-10T12:47:09Z")

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> [@Foggy](#):
>
> $20 cash  
> $94 checking
> 
> So I guess my net worth is $114, what percentile is that?  
> I’m 53.

If you own any personal possessions such as a car, don’t forget to include the value less any associated debt.

For age 53, you would be in the 0-30 percentile for age 45-54 (but can vote 30 percentile if you want to participate in my poll).

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