# How's Your Net Worth? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/21 "2015-07-10T13:14:17Z")
Age 68, and my net worth easily surpasses the 70th percentile. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/22 "2015-07-10T13:31:59Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > Same here, without the house. Yep. Me too. Easily. And house will paid off in 10 months. The numbers seem real low, because I still plan on having to work into my mid 60’s. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/23 "2015-07-10T14:20:34Z")
How do you figure if you’re married and share all assets and liabilities? Divide by two? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/24 "2015-07-10T14:30:02Z")
According to [this calculator,](http://www.shnugi.com/networth-percentile-calculator/) my household net worth puts me in the 93rd percentile for the 45-54 age group. And I’m only 45, at the low end of the bracket; assuming continued gainful employment for the foreseeable future, I expect my percentile ranking will increase as I age within this bracket. To be fair, my household includes me and my wife. If we split our nest egg and consider ourselves as individuals, then I’m only in the 84th percentile. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/25 "2015-07-10T14:30:22Z")
The numbers seem low because so many Americans are effectively broke. The highly skew distribution of assets means that the average net worth is far, far higher than the 50th percentile net worth. Mean != median for skew distributions. Another question is whether those numbers are really per-household numbers versus per-person numbers. Also agree that folks’ SocSec benefits have a definable NPV. Whether the source material for the OP’s table includes or excludes that value makes a big difference. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/26 "2015-07-10T14:33:05Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > How do you figure if you’re married and share all assets and liabilities? Divide by two? Only if you are planning to get divorced.😃 Otherwise it’s by household. > [@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? Generally yes. But not necessarily. My wife and my net worth dropped because we took on a mortgage to buy a second home. Rather than sell our old place we decided to keep it and rent it out as a revenue-generating investment property. And both properties are in developing neighborhoods in a high-end community so they’re good investments. So longer term, it’s a better financial situation than if we just had a big wad of cash. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/27 "2015-07-10T15:24:34Z")
Ummm, don’t you need FOUR choices for each age range? Except under 35, that is. The four choices would be: 1. under the 30th percentile 2. between the 30th and 50th percentiles 3. between the 50th and 70th percentiles 4. over the 70th percentile One’s net worth will fall into one of these **intervals**. The likelihood that one’s net worth will fall exactly on one of the _boundaries_ between the intervals borders on infinitesimal. ---
**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, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/28 "2015-07-10T15:31:15Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Ummm, don’t you need FOUR choices for each age range? Except under 35, that is. > > The four choices would be: > > 1. under the 30th percentile > 2. between the 30th and 50th percentiles > 3. between the 50th and 70th percentiles > 4. over the 70th percentile > > One’s net worth will fall into one of these **intervals**. The likelihood that one’s net worth will fall exactly on one of the _boundaries_ between the intervals borders on infinitesimal. Yes, see posts #2, 12 and 13 regarding the under 30th percentile, and this from OP “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.” is another way of phrasing the other intervals. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/29 "2015-07-10T16:04:50Z")
55-64 and at least the 70th percentile. Owning a house with a small remaining mortgage plus retirement funds get me there easily. Debt is low and getting lower. I’m not going to add up all my other assets but they’re not chopped liver. I don’t know what the higher percentiles look like, but across the board the figures are not surprising. If you live in certain areas of the country you’ll be earning more, and likely to own a valuable home based on those earnings. If you’re older your debts like mortgages could largely be paid down. I included my kids remaining student loans in my debts but those are actually my kids responsibilities, so I’m even better off, but for people with sufficient income things like student loans and mortgages will represent a lot of debt that will eventually be paid off. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/30 "2015-07-10T17:43:29Z")
Hmm, a lot of rich folks on this board. Anyone want to post a list of addresses? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/31 "2015-07-10T18:00:11Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Hmm, a lot of rich folks on this board. Anyone want to post a list of addresses? 😛 Says the doctor… ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/32 "2015-07-11T10:33:38Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > According to [this calculator,](http://www.shnugi.com/networth-percentile-calculator/) my household net worth puts me in the 93rd percentile for the 45-54 age group. The calculator puts me a little shy of 90th percentile for my age group (55-65). I wasn’t sure about the poll, so answered 70th for my age bracket. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/33 "2015-07-11T10:47:13Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > 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. > [@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). > [@GreenElf](#): > > Yes, unfortunately the Straight Dope edit time limit is so brief, I wasn’t able to adjust the poll. One option, for future reference, is to ask a mod to close the thread, and open up a new one doing it right. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/34 "2015-07-11T12:58:22Z")
55-64 age group. I answered 50%, more or less confirmed by **Machine Elf** ’s link. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/35 "2015-07-11T13:09:06Z")
Mine’s great, if we’re measuring in shoes… I marked 30th percentile, but I could quickly bring that up to the 50th if I sold my percocets instead of taking them as directed… ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/36 "2015-07-11T15:08:20Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > According to [this calculator,](http://www.shnugi.com/networth-percentile-calculator/) my household net worth puts me in the 93rd percentile for the 45-54 age group. And I’m only 45, at the low end of the bracket; assuming continued gainful employment for the foreseeable future, I expect my percentile ranking will increase as I age within this bracket. > > To be fair, my household includes me and my wife. If we split our nest egg and consider ourselves as individuals, then I’m only in the 84th percentile. That calculator seems to based unrealistic data for the 20-30 year old group: 10% -$20,600 25% -$1,480 50% $8,300 75% $32,000 90% $100,050 I’m really struggling to figure out how 10% of my age group have managed to get a $100,000 net worth. Now, that’s certainly not completely out of reach for those who had minimal student loan debt, got high paying job right out of college, starting saving for retirement right away, and now have a decent bit of equity in a home. Some of my friends who are engineers and programmers conceivably are doing this well (though I don’t know the details of their finances). However I can’t imagine even 10% of this age group being that successful. I can’t quite square that with what I know about high rates of unemployment, underemployment, still living with parents, and low homeowner rates. I suspect there is a large disconnect between “households” and “individuals” in this population. I see the data age is more specifically for the “head of household”. Maybe it’s just excluding a large proportion of 20-30 year old individuals who are members of a household with an older “head of household”. E.g. college students (even living away from home), anyone living with their parents, anyone with an older and more successful spouse. Possibly even excluding anyone living as a financially-independent roommate? Then there’s the fact that a large proportion of successful individuals are marrying each other. Anyways, that’s a long winded response of saying that I’m in my late 20s, in the 50-70% range according to the OP’s grouping, but I thought I would have been somewhat better than that… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/37 "2015-07-11T15:17:02Z")
These numbers seem low to me. There has to be major regional fluctuation as most middle age home owners in my region will qualify for the 70% between home value & 401ks. Figure home value as approx sale value - remaining mortgage. Then add 401k and other savings and investments and the $228,708 is fairly low. But salaries, home prices and cost of living are all very high in this region so that drives up the figures. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/38 "2015-07-11T15:21:41Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > One option, for future reference, is to ask a mod to close the thread, and open up a new one doing it right. That would be a first from what I’ve seen of Straight Dope polls. :dubious: Most Dopers seem to be in the top 70% anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/39 "2015-07-11T16:30:56Z")
The calculator only says I’m above 90%, either for my age or the range. Not enough data in their sample, I bet. I’m above 70% (55-64) for my house only and without my house. Way over. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674/40 "2015-07-11T18:12:48Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > According to [this calculator,](http://www.shnugi.com/networth-percentile-calculator/) my household net worth puts me in the 93rd percentile for the 45-54 age group. And I’m only 45, at the low end of the bracket; assuming continued gainful employment for the foreseeable future, I expect my percentile ranking will increase as I age within this bracket. > > To be fair, my household includes me and my wife. If we split our nest egg and consider ourselves as individuals, then I’m only in the 84th percentile. Using the calculator found by Machine Elf, Ms Hook and myself are in the 84th percentile for those 66 - 68. This is probably low as I didn’t try to make any NPV calculations for my SS or her retirement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-your-net-worth/724674.md?page=3)