By Robert Frank
After a look at the Rich-O-Meter (see it right below this post, or click here), lots of you emailed or commented on the need for rankings for wealth, rather than income. Since the Wealth Report prides itself on customer service, I went and did some data-crunching with the Federal Reserve Board’s Surveys of Consumer Finance. (Try it yourself, though be warned there are multiple links involved and it’s quite complicated.)
The numbers below show the amount of wealth required to get into various U.S. wealth percentiles. Again, these are U.S.-only numbers, since there are no reliable stats on global wealth levels and rankings. “Wealth” here is defined as total net worth, including all financial and non-financial assets, such as a primary residence — net of all outstanding debts, including mortgages. These numbers are from 2004, the latest period available.
WHERE DO YOU RANK IN WEALTH
(If you have a household net worth of X … you rank in the Y percentile):
$50,000 … 60th percentile
$93,000 … 50th percentile
$100,000 … 48th percentile
$200,000 … 34th percentile
$500,000 … 18th percentile
$750,000 … 12th percentile
$827,000 … 10th percentile
$1 million … 8th percentile
$1.4 million … 5th percentile
$6 million … 1st percentile
skeptic – that was 2004 data. When it’s all said and done, the MEDIAN person will not have benefitted from the RE bubble. A few made like bandits, and a lot of wannabes got soaked. 50th percentile is in the wannabes category, just like the stock market and 2000.
Also consider that a lot of people don’t own a home, and it’s uncommon for somebody who’s 25 to amass $93,000 in savings/investments.
The personal finance writer Scott Burns has broken down net worth by age using the 2004 Fed Survey of Consumer Finances.
http://assetbuilder.com/?p=88
How Rich are You?
The Wall Street Journal’s Wealth Report blog had an interesting post (free, I think) today about how rich is rich. Since $1 million barely buys a two-bedroom these days in Manhattan or San Francisco, being a multi-millionaire just doesn’t mean
Hard to reconcile a median of $93,000 with the rise in property prices in recent years and widespread home ownership.
What about us college students? We like to see that we fit in the 99th percentile. Show us some love!