How Does Your Net Worth Stack Up?
Flexo is another blogger who tracks personal finance news and regularly shares his progress in personal wealth building. I was led by Flexo's Consumerism Commentary to this helpful article on net worth stackup from CNN Money.
The article, based on December 2003 data from Claritas Market Audit Survey, provides some good data points for everyone to digest:
In General
- 31% of households have a net worth below $25,000
- 11% have a negative net worth
- Median net worth for all U.S. households: $100,894
- 11% have a net worth of $500,000 or more
Median Net Worth By Age
| Age | Median Net Worth |
| Under 25 | $ 900 |
| 25-34 | $ 15,000 |
| 35-44 | $ 94,250 |
| 45-54 | $ 163,334 |
| 55-64 | $ 217,475 |
| 65+ | $ 199,458 |
Median Net Worth By Income
| Income | Median Net Worth |
| Under $25k | $ 12,500 |
| $25k - $49,999 | $ 75,000 |
| $50k - $74,999 | $ 168,450 |
| $75k - $99,999 | $ 240,204 |
| $100k - $124,999 | $ 323,650 |
| $125k - $149,999 | $ 377,700 |
| $150k - $199,999 | $ 452,286 |
| $200k - $249,999 | $ 536,158 |
| $250k + | $ 762,479 |
How does I stack up? My net worth is ten times higher than the median of my age group, but only half of my income group. That is to be epected because I am still very early in my career and wealth building.
Also from the article, excluding primary residence, there are 10.5 million households possess a net worth over $500,000. If my journey is on track, I should be able to join them in a dozen years. :-)
CNN Money's Jeanne Sahadi provided an interesting reading on tipping. Read it and get a refresh course on how to be a better waiter or waitress. Read
Lucky me, Seattle is named as the most overpriced city by Forbes. The research, which rank 150 cities on job growth, income growth, cost of living and house affordability, concludes the following 10 cities as the most overpriced ones: Read
USA Today has a featured report on urban traffic congestion. It is not very much a personal finance topic, but commute is certain a consideration in buying a home. Read
USA Today quoted a recent InsiderFlyer research on frequent flier miles redemption availability. Contrary to common perception that such awards are difficult to get, InsiderFlyer found out that free economy-class seats are available 73% of the time, and business-class seats 54% of the time. Read
Ten years is a big time span, enough to create substantial net worth. My family's net worth is *only* double the Median Net Worth By Age value, but we're at the very bottom of one of the age categories.
