Congrats FT! I forgot to mention having read that!

I’m not really sure that’s the case. Lots of lurking variables here.

My income doubled from age 22 to age 27. The first years post-degree tend to be very growth-heavy, plus I know some people who didn’t get their degree until 26 or 27, so they’re definitely not helping the average.

We’re on a 15-year boom for the housing market, so some of those housing numbers are likely quite inflated. I’m 27, make 75k and I can’t justify the cost of a new home. I have lots of friends my age and very few of them have mortgages b/c they’re simply too expensive. There was a time many years ago when an engineering or teaching-level job and a couple of years experience was enough salary to justify the cost of a home (especially as a couple). That’s simply not true any more. (there was a previous post about the median income vs. median home price, it wasn’t pretty)

I also seriously question that 50% of the 25 year olds are receiving pensions. That number is much likely closer to 25%

We also live in a generation where people are not fixed on retiring at 65. If you’re not racing to wealth at 65 (or 55) just so you can retire, then you’re not as worried about socking away tons of income. I know tons of people living the “vagabond” existence with lots of travel and working in different countries (even with kids). I just don’t think that building up a massive net worth and then retiring to the beach is really the way our 27-year olds view the world.

Simply showing me the median values does me no good unless I’m the median earner (be definition only 1 person is the median earner).

What if I earn 50% less income than my neighbour of the same age and we have the same net worth? Shouldn’t your “expected” net worth take your income into consideration?

This concept is one of the central points in Thomas Stanley’s “The Millionaire Next Door”. You will be wealthy if you consistently save more than you spend, which is largely dependent on your lifestyle, and your income. The formula he uses for expected net worth is basically Age*Income divided by 10. That’s a good starting point but it does not account for the rapid growth in earning power many young people experience. I read this book in my early 20’s and was discouraged after calculating my own wealth estimate.

This is a very loaded question and I think much more than a survey is needed to answer it properly.

Poorest 20% – below $1300

Next Poorest 20% – $1300 – $9400

Middle 20% – $9400 – $34,000

High Middle 20% – $34,000 – $89,000

Highest 20% – More than $89,000

Based on these numbers I fall into the high middle category for my age group….but will have to do alot of saving to catch up to the average for the 35 – 44 age group….

Neat article….

Obviously keeping up with the Jonses for the sake of it is unhealthy, but striving to grow net worth and checking up on your country’s averages is great. Most people who strive to keep up with the Jonses materially, won’t be reading MoneySense, and could be lagging behind in net worth anyway by taking on too much debt and consuming too much.

DAvid

Congrats on the mention, but I’m with guinness here, they’re a little behind the times. I mean take the very question:

“What should my net worth be for my age?”

I could not, in good conscience actually print an answer that amounts to “here’s the average, feel free to compare”. This is a horrible answer.

The answer to this question is very personal. This question is analogous to “what do I plan to do with my life?”.

Providing an answer to this question is tantamount to providing life advice. This is a bad question, any answer to this question is consequently misguided. There is no “where should I be?”, only “where am I” and “will I accomplish the lifestyle I seek with this money”.

I wonder the % of people holding pensions under 35. I suspect its shockingly low.

IMHO, setting goals is one thing, but you need to get both spouses to agree to what they want out of life. My financials are a little behind where I’d like to be, but I took some time out of the earning game when I went back to school.

Sadly taxation also factors. Our tax system punishes a family like mine where one spouse earns a lot more than the other spouse (75-25 split). So even though we earn as much as the Jonses’ we have a higher tax burden and less money to invest than a couple with a more even income split between spouses.

They didn’t do under-35s then, eh. Well, my husband is older than 35; our mortgage is a hell of a lot higher than that, but my RRSP balance is higher too and I’ve only lived here three years. So I guess we’re doing okay.

48% of under-44s having a pension is really surprisingly high to me.