Net Worth By Age In 2025 (Are You Above Average?)

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 Today we're sharing net worth by age to see exactly where you stack up.

spk_0 Whether you're new 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s, we have the data showing whether you're behind

spk_0 or ahead of the noise.

spk_0 Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money Podcast. My name is Mindy Jensen,

spk_0 and with me as always is my worthy co-host, Scott Trench.

spk_0 Thanks Mindy. You're the top 1% of Bigger Pockets Money co-hosts I've ever worked with.

spk_0 What things? Talking about net worth by age, including the percentiles there, the 10%

spk_0 tile, the 5% tile, and if you aspire to be like Mindy, the top 1% for net worth by age across

spk_0 all these different ranges here. So it's going to be a great discussion. We're going to preview

spk_0 the data with and without home equity. We're going to conjecture about how we think most people

spk_0 got into those ranges. You can tell us if you agree or not. And then we're going to discuss

spk_0 what needs to happen. Get into the top 10%, the top 5%, or the top 1%, in your 20s, 30s, 40s,

spk_0 and 50s, and 60s. And have a discussion about it. I am excited to jump in. First off, Scott,

spk_0 let's define net worth. What does net worth mean? Net worth is the total value of everything you

spk_0 own, all your assets minus the value of everything you owe your liabilities. This is distinct

spk_0 from a fire portfolio. If you've come across that term before here on Bigger Pockets Money,

spk_0 this is not just talking about the assets in a financial portfolio. This is including

spk_0 everything, which, for example, might include cash and savings accounts, investment accounts,

spk_0 like stocks, bonds, and retirement funds. We have real estate, including your primary residence.

spk_0 We have vehicles, personal property value, and business ownership stakes. And liabilities,

spk_0 of course, will be any debt whatsoever, which include mortgages, credit cards,

spk_0 student loans, car loans, personal loans, and anything else that you might owe. That's your

spk_0 net worth. We will break out the data, including and not including home equity, which is a common way

spk_0 to get a little bit more directionally accurate in understanding people's financial portfolios.

spk_0 And there's some really interesting data there. But there is no nationally syndicated database

spk_0 that just looks at what we refer to as a fire portfolio. Okay, Scott, what is your fire net worth?

spk_0 Fire portfolio is any property that you owe, any assets that you own that are specifically

spk_0 designed to be harvested to fund your future lifestyle. Typically, that's going to include

spk_0 investment accounts, like stocks, bonds, and retirement portfolios. And then the income streams

spk_0 that are associated with businesses, rental properties, or those types of things. It would exclude,

spk_0 for example, typically vehicles, personal property, and your primary residence.

spk_0 Scott, let's take a peek at net worth by age. Alrighty. So now we got a really

spk_0 complicated big time chart here. And the data is fantastic. It's based on a fed survey that

spk_0 comes out every three years. The fed is, this data is from 2022 and published in 2023.

spk_0 The next set of data is being collected now here in 2025 and will be publicly available

spk_0 towards the middle or end of 2026. So this is from a few years ago. Should be actually fairly

spk_0 accurate given the ups and downs of where things have gone over the last couple of years in the market.

spk_0 Although you might expect some of the top 1% numbers to be a little higher here in 2025 than they were

spk_0 when the data was originally collected. But it shows the breakout for net worth. And there's also a

spk_0 data set around for income for each of these age brackets and about five year increments all

spk_0 way from 18 to 80. And it's pretty cool to see the distributions here. We've got the bottomed

spk_0 quartile, the median, the 50 per 50th percentile, the 75th percentile, the 90th percentile, the 95th

spk_0 percentile, the top 5 percentile wealth, and then of course the top 1 percent or 99th percentile

spk_0 for the wealthiest Americans by age. All right. It's got this chart is a rather fascinating set of

spk_0 numbers. What are your biggest takeaways from what you see here? Yeah. Well, I think the first

spk_0 thing that jumps out is there's this narrative that everybody in America has got debt or whatever.

spk_0 And it's just not true, right? Even in the bottom 25th percentile of wealth in this country,

spk_0 we've got positive net worth all the way from 18 to 80 plus. So not until you get below the 25th

spk_0 percentile, do you begin to have the possibility of folks having negative net worths? And so people

spk_0 will say they've got debt. Lots of people say they have debt and they do have debt. But they don't

spk_0 necessarily have negative net worth. They're not net in debt across this country. And well,

spk_0 that's a big narrative out there. It's just not factually true based on the data that we have

spk_0 around net worth. So that's kind of one one fast standing point, I think is worth considering.

spk_0 The other one I think is is the vast differences between the the wealthiest Americans and those in

spk_0 the bottom 25th or 50th percentile. But it's many, many, many, many, many times the amount of wealth,

spk_0 65 times the amount of wealth in the 1824 year old range, 70, 80 times as much wealth in the 25th

spk_0 percentile. And it, you know, really escalates from there. So it's it's a pretty dramatic spread

spk_0 in terms of wealth across these percentiles. And then what I think is really interesting is the top

spk_0 10 percentile is, and we're going to focus on that a lot today in the discussion. This makes perfect

spk_0 sense to me. There's nothing about the numbers in this column that conflict with what we've learned

spk_0 here on bigger pockets money with the ability for ordinary Americans middle class, two middle class

spk_0 income earners, for example, to be able to accumulate these numbers over the course of a lifetime,

spk_0 as long as they don't make any big mistakes. And they follow the basics of personal finance,

spk_0 saving 15 to 20% of their income. That's a really fascinating takeaway from this. To get into the,

spk_0 you know, top 95th percentile, something's got to go right here beyond that. There's probably got to

spk_0 be some high income, so a little bit of luck. Some really good investing. And then for the top 1%

spk_0 multiple things I've got to go really well, right? You're probably talking about big business

spk_0 wins or elite income sustain for a very long period of time coupled with low spending. I do also

spk_0 want to observe that there's a big jump here in the 45 to kind of 65 range. We go from 8 million to

spk_0 22 million. That probably has to do with the fact that this is around the age that Americans

spk_0 begin to really inherit wealth at larger scale. So I imagine that this is that's having an impact

spk_0 on the big jump in this particular point in time, because we don't see that same bump in

spk_0 incomes around this time. Income growth is more around this, this kind of like 35 to 50 year old

spk_0 range. But the net worth jump here, I think, has probably got something to do with with

spk_0 generational wealth transfer. I think that's a really great point, Scott. To recap what you said

spk_0 at the beginning, 75% of Americans have a positive net worth. Right. Every age bracket. That's

spk_0 fascinating. Much higher percentage have positive net worth just at the 18 year old range, 1824

spk_0 year old range, even in that category, more than 75% of them have positive net worth, at least 88

spk_0 months to their name. I mean, I feel like much, but it's a lot better than some people. Again,

spk_0 going back and highlighting a couple of interesting numbers, if you're 30 to 34, you are in the median

spk_0 for your age group with $88,000 in net worth. You're in the top 10% with 538,000, the top 5% with

spk_0 $800,000 and the top 1% with $2.6 million. At age 50, and I won't go through all the other

spk_0 in between, you're going to be in the 50th percentile with $266,000, the 90th percentile with 2.5

spk_0 million, the 95th percentile with 4.4, and the top 1% with $13 million. And what I think is so

spk_0 interesting about those numbers is I think that the top 10% stands out as being very achievable,

spk_0 even on middle class incomes, as long as we're saving 20% or so of that income over a very

spk_0 long period of time and doing all the right things with our money, not making any big mistakes,

spk_0 getting distracted with consumer debt, and just investing consistently and aggressively in

spk_0 retirement accounts, for example. But to get into the top 5 or 1%, we have to layer in some type

spk_0 of bonus here, which is probably going to be a much higher income, upper middle class, or even a

spk_0 lead income, and then to get the top 1%, we're going to have to probably be dipping into the world

spk_0 of business or being world class professional paid, and it's absolutely top 1% for a long period of

spk_0 time in a very lucrative field. Yeah, I agree Scott. This is very achievable. The median absolutely

spk_0 achievable, the 75th percentile achievable, the 90th percentile at age 50, having $2.5 million

spk_0 to be in the 90th percentile, the top 10% of net worth by age, including your home equity. I

spk_0 think that's absolutely doable. And the 4.4 million getting into the top 5%, that is going to take

spk_0 some unfair advantages, but I don't think it's not achievable by any means. What do you need to do

spk_0 to be in the top 1% to 10% in your 20s? We'll be breaking it down after a quick ad break.

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spk_0 Let's jump back in. Okay, when we exclude home equity, we have a very similar story for the

spk_0 most part. Every single category and up to the bottom 25th percentile still has a positive

spk_0 net worth in this country as a 2022 when this data was collected. And we just see a slight variation

spk_0 in a lot of these numbers, right? The percentage of wealth in one's home is not really the story

spk_0 of American wealth. It doesn't really change it in any way very much, but it is interesting to see

spk_0 the data without them. And we actually have a better visualization of this right here where we can

spk_0 talk about the percentage of one's wealth that is in their home across these categories. And we see

spk_0 that as a rule, the lower the percentile that you are in. So if you're in the 25th percentile

spk_0 you might have as much as half or three quarters of your wealth in your home equity in this

spk_0 situation, whereas the top 1% have less than 15% of their wealth in their home equity. The 95th

spk_0 percentile is in this kind of 15 to 25% range. The 90th percentile is typically in this 25 to 30

spk_0 percent range. The 75th percentile is in this 35 to 45 percent range. And the 50th percentile is

spk_0 in the 50 to 70 percent range. So the less net worth you have, typically the more of that as a

spk_0 percentage is in your home. So this reinforces everything that we've talked about for many years

spk_0 here on bigger pockets money. Housing is an expense. It is generally speaking a liability for the

spk_0 ordinary American the way that it is typically purchased. And the less housing your primary

spk_0 residence is as a percentage of your wealth, the higher the correlation with a elite level of net

spk_0 worth. Yeah, this is a really fun chart as well. In some instances it would caution you to

spk_0 not put all of your eggs in one home equity basket. That's right. Yeah. And I think what the story

spk_0 that's really being told up to about the 50th percentile is many Americans simply do not

spk_0 accumulate much wealth outside of the four savings account, which is really the home equity,

spk_0 right? When you make the mortgage payment every single month for 20 years, you're building equity

spk_0 in there. But it's not really until you get to the 75th or 90th percentile that you really see the

spk_0 separation from folks who are intentionally building wealth every single month for years outside

spk_0 of that home equity. And I really really thoughtful about that approach. And that separation just

spk_0 compounds the older people get is what the data appears to be suggesting here. One other interesting

spk_0 thing, this is a representation of American wealth with home equity in the next slide here is

spk_0 without that home equity. And what we see here is that wealth typically peaks in the 65 to 69

spk_0 percent range. That makes perfect sense to me for a lot of folks is that's when people will stop

spk_0 working and begin to retire. Maybe they're beginning to give away more assets. Maybe they're

spk_0 beginning to generational wealth transfers. That makes perfect sense to me. That's when most net

spk_0 worth begins to peak earnings. I believe peak just a few years before that for most people

spk_0 as well. That's kind of an interesting little tidbit there. Of course, that's the same with and

spk_0 home equity here. Should we get into the good stuff of how to get into these top desisals, Mindy?

spk_0 Yes, Scott. Let's jump into how you get to this massive net worth starting in your 20s.

spk_0 Let's be clear. We are conjecturing here, right? We don't have hard data on how all of these people

spk_0 accumulated all of this wealth. We really only have income data and net worth data. And then of

spk_0 course, we're supplementing that with the hundreds, the 10,000 hours between us easily, maybe 20,000

spk_0 hours between us that we've spent Mindy, you and I studying personal finance, early retirement,

spk_0 and other wealth building strategies, the hundreds of interviews. But this is what we're conjecturing

spk_0 here based on what we've seen over this time. We'll start with your 20s. I think that to get

spk_0 into the top 1 to 10% begin the snowball and hopefully stay there for the duration of your life,

spk_0 you really just have to do a couple of basic things right in your 20s. One is just be disciplined

spk_0 through high school and college work a little bit in the summers or after school, save a little

spk_0 bit, invest and don't accumulate debt. Don't accumulate a ton of college debt when you go to

spk_0 university, pick a school that is affordable for you. If you're lucky enough to have a paid for,

spk_0 that's great too. But don't graduate with a ton of college with a ton of debt and graduate with

spk_0 a marketable degree. Keep your expenses low and max out your retirement accounts, check all the

spk_0 boxes and maybe do a side hustle or two, especially in high school or college to supplement that

spk_0 income. And I think that a lot of people can get into this top 10% range by simply not making any

spk_0 mistakes and following that very basic playbook in their 20s. I think all four of those ideas

spk_0 got are absolutely doable by anybody. I will caveat that the graduate from college with a marketable

spk_0 degree college is not for everybody. So of course you can go and get a trade that is very marketable

spk_0 as well. There's absolutely all four of these are doable by anybody. Absolutely, right? To get

spk_0 into top 5%, something else has got to go right here, right? It's a little harder to generate

spk_0 $400,000 in wealth coming out of your 20s. If you don't have at least a pretty high income here,

spk_0 if you don't start pretty early and maybe if you don't have some kind of side hustle. So I'm throwing

spk_0 in that the folks that get into the top 5% are either going to be these much higher earners who have

spk_0 really invested in that particularly marketable degrees and have really thrown themselves into their

spk_0 career in a hardcore way. Maybe some folks who are beginning to start to build a small business,

spk_0 we've talked to a couple of entrepreneurs in their 20s who have been able to do that. And then I

spk_0 think house hacking is a huge cheat code. You can buy a house hack in your 2324 maybe two or three.

spk_0 I mean, you should be able to easily get into these even if you don't have the elite income

spk_0 on the side there. Right, because that $400,000 is including your home equity. Yeah, all these

spk_0 numbers that we're talking about are the ones that include home equity. But getting up to the top

spk_0 1% Scott, the 600,000 to 2.1 million in your 20s, having that as your net worth even with your

spk_0 house hack, even with your home equity, you're going to need to be pulling some some other

spk_0 levers, some big levers here. And by the way, we're going to presume that you're not going to inherit

spk_0 Mary Rich, get lucky or win and gambling or any of those types of crazy things. This is how

spk_0 somebody without one of these cheat codes can potentially get into these categories. And if you

spk_0 are going to be all about elite income and super high upside bets that pay off pretty quickly

spk_0 on a relative standpoint. So you can get in this level if you go into big law, for example,

spk_0 you can get in this level if you go to investment banking or join one of the big consulting firms

spk_0 and really crush it in your 20s. And those types of very high income lucrative careers.

spk_0 You can get there with entrepreneurship. Perhaps if you go through one of these Y combinator

spk_0 exercises and have a good valuation on a business, you can get there by joining a business that

spk_0 begins to take off. This is what I did in my 20s. You can get there by, you know, maybe if you

spk_0 have pretty high income, like a, like just in the bubble of that top 1%, which by the way is like

spk_0 170 grand in your 20s. So you can't really get to this this level unless you're making that for

spk_0 most of your 20s and maybe serial house hacking or live in flipping in that category. And you're

spk_0 going to get into the low end of the top 1%. By the way, we sometimes social ranges for these. So

spk_0 the top 1% of 600 grand for a young person, their younger portion of 20s, 1824. And the top 1%

spk_0 for wealth for someone in their older 20s is going to be about 2.1 million. That's 25 to 29.

spk_0 Well, let's look at your 30s, Scott. What do you think you need to do to be in the top 10%

spk_0 in your 30s? So I'm going to encourage you to start strategically job hopping. I've said it

spk_0 before and I'll say it again, the retention budget is not nearly as high for a company as their

spk_0 new acquisition budget. So simply moving companies is going to get you a significantly higher income

spk_0 than if you stay at the same company for 10 years. Continuing to develop your skills, you not only

spk_0 want to job hop, but you want to make a lot of companies want to hire you, not just one person who's

spk_0 like, I guess you'll be okay. Lifestyle creep and avoiding lifestyle creep is going to be a huge

spk_0 factor in your 30s as well as geographic arbitrage. If you can make the same money in a far lower

spk_0 cost of living area or slightly less money in a far lower cost of living area, that's going to be

spk_0 a net win for you. To be in the top 10% for your early 30s, 30 to 34, you need $538,000 in personal

spk_0 net worth, including your home equity. And to be in the top 10% by your late 30s, 35 to 39,

spk_0 you need about $864,000. And what I think is stands out about those numbers is if you just do

spk_0 the basics, you show up to a career that has reasonable long-term potential, you save 20% of your

spk_0 income, you take advantage of tax advantage retirement accounts, you do what Mindy just said and you

spk_0 actually make sure you understand your market value and you're either demanding that raise or

spk_0 being willing to switch jobs to get those promotions and raises. And you're not moving the

spk_0 goalpost, you're not continually spending all that you earn, I think that this is very achievable

spk_0 for the typical listener of the bigger pockets money podcast, the typical listener household,

spk_0 or the bigger pockets money podcast. I think it's, I think it's, don't make any mistakes and just

spk_0 keep investing, just keep buying over that time period and think you can get there. When you start

spk_0 thinking about the top 5%, which is 800 grand for somebody between ages of 30 and 34, or 1.4 million

spk_0 for somebody between the ages of 35 and 39, now something else has to be layered in

spk_0 besides the basics of continuing to progress your financial situation and paying attention for,

spk_0 you know, you can't just pay attention for 10 years, something else has got to go reasonably well

spk_0 to get in that top 5%. What do you think Mindy? Yep, you're making calculated career risks or moves,

spk_0 especially in your early 30s, if you're not married, if you don't have kids, if you have very low

spk_0 cost of living, or even just like a lower cost of living, you can take these risks,

spk_0 God, I'm going to use you as an example, moving from a company that wasn't your jam to a startup,

spk_0 where you believed in the company you thought they had exponential growth opportunities,

spk_0 and you decided to take that risk or that bet. It paid off for you very well, but if it hadn't

spk_0 you could then hop to another company, try that risk again. Starting to build a real estate portfolio,

spk_0 gosh, God, this is looking a lot like you. Continuing on from when we said in your 20s,

spk_0 you are house hacking, you are starting to create wealth in that way. Now you're continuing to create

spk_0 real estate wealth. Side hustle that is adjacent to your current career. So we're not talking about

spk_0 driving for Uber or doing those smaller dollar side hustles. We're talking about consulting

spk_0 and starting a business, like a side business that is adjacent to the job that you're doing right now.

spk_0 I think that once we get into the top 1%, which is 2.6 million for 30 to 34 year olds and 4.7

spk_0 million for 35 to 39 year olds, that's when big moves have to go right. You're talking about

spk_0 business. You're talking about you just got promoted to managing director and your investment

spk_0 banking career or partner and you're consulting or big law career. You're talking about owning a small

spk_0 business, you're having multiple income streams, your serial entrepreneur, you have a very sophisticated

spk_0 tax optimization structure, maybe you're a real estate professional. This is where you are really

spk_0 more of the entrepreneur or the elite income owner. You've been at the top of the pack in your

spk_0 profession for a decade or more and that's really beginning to compound into just massive,

spk_0 massive income generation. And on top of that income generation, you're actually conserving

spk_0 a good bit of that and investing it for the future. So a lot of things that go right to be in

spk_0 that top 1%, and even highly skilled people who give it their best may not be able to get into that

spk_0 level. Something also has to go right alongside those efforts and the very strategic moves.

spk_0 And I think these moves that you're making in your 30s are compounding on the moves that you

spk_0 were making in your 20s. So you are still having a good savings rate. You're having a fairly close

spk_0 eye on your expenses and you are continuing to max out your retirement accounts and investing

spk_0 continuously. And I think that's the theme here, right? Because we're going to go to the next

spk_0 slide here in our 40s. And we see that the number for the top 10% jumps to 1.18 million.

spk_0 And that seems like an absurd number, right? If you're if you have a hundred grand and you're 40,

spk_0 you're going to feel like I'm way behind. But if you are 33 and have $538,000 because you just

spk_0 did all the things you talked about in the 20s, then that will compound easily. If historical

spk_0 returns continuing anything close to what they've been doing over the very long period of time,

spk_0 to this number of 1.18 million in your early 40s, 40 to 44, right? So it's just about continuing

spk_0 that trajectory, continuing to make no mistakes. This middle class couple that has accumulated,

spk_0 individual or couple that's accumulated half a million bucks by age 33,

spk_0 well, they may actually doing better by the time they're in their early 40s. If they just keep

spk_0 stay and invested and keep adding to the pile by saving 10, 20% of their income. So it's really just

spk_0 about continuity over your 20s and 30s to get into this top 10% in your 40s at this point.

spk_0 The difference between the top 10%, which is 1.18 to 1.42 million and the top 5%, 1.9 million to

spk_0 2.79 million. There's not that much difference between these two. You are continuing to save and

spk_0 invest consistently. You are maxing out your retirement accounts and taking advantage of all of

spk_0 these options that you have to put money away for retirement, reduce your taxable income,

spk_0 4, 15 or 20 years. You are continuing to not take on consumer debt. You're not keeping up with the

spk_0 Joneses. You are not buying the latest and greatest of all the things. I think it's when you move

spk_0 into the top 1% that these dials need to be turned up and cranked up. The top 1%, we're talking about

spk_0 7.84 million up to 8.7 million dollars. Building a business, investing in real estate again for 20 years.

spk_0 Elite income for $500,000 a year for a decade or more while still not spending all of that money.

spk_0 And while continuing to invest in these aggressive assets, even joining a startup or one of the

spk_0 that used to be a startup and is now just a really great company. The Feng companies come to mind

spk_0 an established startup now. What is that called? Scott. I talk about joining a startup for Feng. I

spk_0 know you are an early employee or an executive or reasonably hyped the ranks at a Facebook,

spk_0 at a Google, at a Nvidia. That's the kind of level here. To get to $7.8 million in net worth,

spk_0 reasonably self-made, not inheriting wealth from somebody in your early 40s, there's a business

spk_0 outcome that has transpired here. Or you've gotten very, very lucky. But for the most part,

spk_0 this is going to be sustained elite levels of production, a little bit of luck or a business

spk_0 outcome that is going to drive you here. You can get there with real estate if you're continuing to

spk_0 do it over and over and over again for 20 plus years, maintaining a reasonable high level of leverage.

spk_0 We do some real estate investors in that category, especially if they're raising capital or managing

spk_0 money in those areas. But you got to do something different to get to this level here. This is not

spk_0 just due to the basics, right? This is some really serious bets have paid off that are giving you a

spk_0 very disproportionate outcome. We have only hit the top 5% of this episode. We'll be back with more

spk_0 right after a short break. When I evaluate debt funds, I look for things like first position loans,

spk_0 personal guarantees, deep experience by the fund operator, low fund leverage, fast liquidity,

spk_0 and consistent returns. These are some of the reasons why I'm excited to partner with Pine Financial

spk_0 Group. Their fund six offers investors exposure to real estate credit, largely for construction and

spk_0 rehab, largely here in Colorado, with loans originated by an experienced originator with over $1

spk_0 billion in origination volume. 75% of their borrowers have been repeat customers over 17 years.

spk_0 They offer investors an 8% preferred return paid monthly in a 70-30 LP GP split of everything

spk_0 over 10% paid annually. The lockup period is nine months with liquidity available within 90 days

spk_0 after that nine month commitment. The fund is open to accredited investors only. The fund's minimum

spk_0 investment is typically $100,000, but Pine Financial is able to reduce that minimum for some

spk_0 investors and have agreed to do so for bigger pockets money listeners to a minimum of $25,000.

spk_0 Full disclosure, I am personally invested in this fund through my self-directed IRA,

spk_0 and of course, Pine Financial is sponsoring this message and our podcast. If you'd like to invest

spk_0 or check out their perspectives, go to biggerpocketsmoney.com slash pine today. That's biggerpocketsmoney.com

spk_0 slash P-I-N-E. Please note that returns are not guaranteed and may vary based on fund performance.

spk_0 I'll be honest. My end of your planning makes a toddler's playroom look organized. I've got

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spk_0 Thanks for sticking with us. Yes, I'm going to correct you on one thing, Scott. You said luck,

spk_0 and I don't think there's luck involved in here. What is that? Luck is when preparation meets

spk_0 opportunity or luck is when hard work meets opportunity. I think that if you're doing this top 1%

spk_0 net worth by your 40s, it's because you have been working hard on these. You have been taking

spk_0 bets that have paid out. These are going to be strategic bets. These aren't just, hey, I think this

spk_0 new currency is going to go through the roof. You're doing things you are doing on purpose.

spk_0 Yeah, there's always that one guy that mined Bitcoin in college, and now he's a petroleum

spk_0 air. But that's not the guy that we're talking about here. We're talking about people who are making

spk_0 educated bets on things that they truly believe in. Awesome. Let's move to 50s.

spk_0 What kind of money are we talking about in our 50s and the top 10% is 2.56 million to 2.67 million.

spk_0 So not a huge spread there, but still 2.5 million dollars to make it into your top 10% of all

spk_0 net worth in age 50s is great. And again, you're doing a lot of the same things that you've been doing.

spk_0 You're saving and investing consistently. You are living on 80% or less of your take home pay,

spk_0 and you are following a consistent investment playbook in a reasonably aggressive portfolio.

spk_0 I think to have 2.5 million dollars by the time you're in your 50s, you're not investing in

spk_0 safe investments. You're doing a little bit of risky investing. And by risky, I mean high risk

spk_0 kind reward investing, not gambling. I think what's interesting here, Mindy, is if we go back and

spk_0 look at like the like let's say 30 to 34 year olds had 538,000 in the top 10%. That doubled almost

spk_0 exactly a little bit more than tiny bit more than doubled, but for the top 10% in their 40s.

spk_0 But then it almost multiplied by a good chunk more than that, right? Almost like almost 2.5,

spk_0 maybe like 2.3 times as much here in their 50s. And I think it's happening here is it's the same

spk_0 concept we described, right? To be in the top 10% in your 50s, you're continuing to just do all

spk_0 the basics right. It's just that 25 years of compounding is going great. This is the millionaire

spk_0 next door, right? They've just spent less than they've earned, taken advantage of retirement accounts,

spk_0 worked a middle class, or maybe higher salary for that time, and just continued to crank it out.

spk_0 But I think what also is different is these people are probably, is all includes home equity.

spk_0 These people they've probably been in their home for a long period of time now. And what that means

spk_0 is that all the additional dollars being earned or bigger chunk of the additional dollars

spk_0 being earned between their 40s and their 50s can now go towards investments, right? All those

spk_0 little raises that stack up little bonuses or whatever over the years, they can all go towards

spk_0 investments. And they're not going into the early, the purchase of that home or disproportionately

spk_0 to the home equity, like they were maybe in the 30s and 40s. And that's why you're seeing a slightly

spk_0 larger increase in net worth proportional to the 20s versus 30s or the 30s versus 40s.

spk_0 So I think that's probably what's going on here. But again, it's very achievable for this

spk_0 middle class household that is consistent over a working career to be able to do this. And there,

spk_0 you just can't make any big mistakes or have any of these big setbacks and you got to be consistent

spk_0 following a reasonable playbook here. To get in the top 5% where we got 4.4 to 6 million,

spk_0 moving into this kind of fat fire, chubby fire area. Now it's the same concept. The same people who

spk_0 are in that category in the 40s are likely to be in their 50s as long as they continue it.

spk_0 But you just have to layer in that next little bit of, right? There's probably an upper middle class

spk_0 salary or more. I'd speculate that the folks in this category have now by now, when their 50s had

spk_0 a couple of really outlier years. They're not consistently earning 350k a year, but I bet you

spk_0 that the majority of these folks have had one year, one to two years where they have earned in that

spk_0 350k plus or that top 1% for a better get a top 1% income for at least one of those years.

spk_0 And I think that they've also just done all the basics right for the majority of that time.

spk_0 But I don't think that these people necessarily need to have sold a business or been entrepreneurial

spk_0 or had some outlier, outlier crazy thing happen with with Fang stock in order to get this category.

spk_0 I think this is approachable for a good number of people who are talented and capable in earning

spk_0 that upper middle class salary, but are not necessarily crazy lucky or have that that entrepreneurial

spk_0 crazy preparation meets opportunity going into the top 1% 13.2 million to 15.3 million.

spk_0 This is when your preparation has truly met your opportunity or your hard work has truly met

spk_0 your opportunity. You have built a business that has turned into a very valuable business and you

spk_0 are selling it or it's generating a lot of income that you are then turning into other investments.

spk_0 You've invested in real estate for 30 plus years and you are regularly refinancing and

spk_0 sustaining your leverage. You have that elite level of income. You're a doctor, lawyer, tech,

spk_0 executive, 500,000 plus, including not spending 500,000 plus per year. So you're you're living a

spk_0 nice lifestyle, but you are socking away a large percentage of that income. And you're investing

spk_0 in aggressive investments. You have to be truly elite or have had an outcome and event

spk_0 propel you at some point in your life and then your wealth has compounded from there

spk_0 in order to get into this range without inheriting your wealth. And by the way, again, I do think

spk_0 that there is inheritance is a beginning to start to be a player here in these wealth numbers

spk_0 that we're looking at here. 13.2 million dollars for someone in their early 50s, 15 million dollars

spk_0 for someone in their later 50s. Those are staggering numbers. And this is around the age when people

spk_0 do begin to inherit wealth. So I wouldn't be surprised if this is beginning to pad these numbers

spk_0 in a more meaningful way. Few people inherit wealth in their 20s or 30s these days, this kind of wealth.

spk_0 And more of that is being inherited by people in their 50s and 60s.

spk_0 Yeah, I think that's a really good point. I think that that might even be more of a factor than

spk_0 we're considering in that the upper ends of that top 1%. Okay, Scott, let's look at the 60s.

spk_0 Yeah, so same thing here. This is around time when people start to retire. So I'm not surprised

spk_0 to see that we didn't see the top 10% double from their 50s to their 60s. This is when people are

spk_0 starting to probably transition to more draw down style portfolios. But again, I think that this

spk_0 outcome of 2.9 to 3 million depending on your early late 60s is not that far out of reach for a

spk_0 middle class family who has just been responsible over the course of a career and has sucked away 20%

spk_0 of their middle or up with middle class income for the duration of a career have maintained a

spk_0 professional financial plan on playbook. And I've just invested intelligently throughout adulthood.

spk_0 I think that at this point, there's probably a good number of people who have paid off that primary

spk_0 residence in there, which is which is helping that out and making life a lot simpler and easier

spk_0 to plan for from a cash flow perspective. I don't think this is a ridiculously special outcome

spk_0 that would be unattainable to the average listener here on bigger pockets money in today's

spk_0 America to have this this this equivalent outcome without having to do really anything creative

spk_0 or really earn a particularly large income over the course of a career. Absolutely agree. And that's

spk_0 just being consistently investing over the course of your adulthood will get you this top 10%

spk_0 net worth very easily. Top 5% we see a pretty big jump we're going from 2.9 to 3 in the top 10%

spk_0 all the way up to 6.3 to 6.8 in the top 5%. Again, you're saving and investing consistently over 30 or

spk_0 40 years. You are maxing out your retirement accounts and taking advantage of all the tax

spk_0 advantage opportunities you have by reducing your taxable income instead of paying Uncle Sam

spk_0 you're paying yourself. I think that's great. You probably had a couple of really high income

spk_0 years but not like a sustained 300,000 a year plus career. You've just probably maxed that out

spk_0 under the end. The top 1% I think that this 17.8 million to 22 million in the top 1% of net worth

spk_0 is coming in with your idea of inheriting some of this. But you could also very easily have had

spk_0 a small business that just went bonkers. You're an overnight success in just 20 short years or 40

spk_0 short years by starting this business in your 20s. You are now starting to see the exponential

spk_0 results of having a good a well-run business. Yeah, I mean, this is somebody you had an enormous

spk_0 business outcome or truly remarkable career. I think executive of a company you've heard of or

spk_0 professional athlete or big time author or has built a business owned a business for a very

spk_0 long period of time that produced a very high level of income. Everybody who didn't inherit

spk_0 wealth into the 18 to 22 million dollar range probably had an extraordinary career and had a

spk_0 very sophisticated approach to managing their money across a lifetime. And that's why they're in

spk_0 that that position there. You're not going to get here by earning a middle class or upper middle

spk_0 class salary and sucking away your money and index funds most likely. Something went right at

spk_0 some time in your life or maybe multiple times in your life that drastically accelerated your wealth

spk_0 and you've got a very, very largest state. I would surmise that in their 60s a lot of people in the

spk_0 fire community will find themselves in this top 5% number just because the nature of how conservative

spk_0 4% role planning is for example. And I think that we'll see a small chunk of them make it into

spk_0 this top 1% but those are the ones who really have the business or entrepreneurial edge attached

spk_0 that either that or those who have invested in aggressive high risk high reward opportunities.

spk_0 So I mean, this is a vast amount of wealth at this point that really gives you a lot of options.

spk_0 You can do almost anything anything you could dream of with with 20 million bucks short of buy and

spk_0 Brad Pitt's house or whatever. You know, in Malibu, whatever. This is an incredible outcome.

spk_0 And congratulations to the 1%, which is quite a large number of people in their 60s who have

spk_0 built a 17 plus million dollar personal net worth. I agree with your assessment that most people

spk_0 will find themselves in the top 10 to top 5% of net worth. Yeah, most people who listen to bigger

spk_0 pockets money and are actively taking a proactive approach to managing their finances across a lifetime.

spk_0 I think that this is a very achievable goal if you start in your 20s or 30s, just doing the very

spk_0 basics right. I think you got to layer in some kind of winning card in order to get in the top what

spk_0 5% and then you got to have a really powerful outcome at some point in your life if you ever want

spk_0 to break into the top 1% in these age ranges. Yes, I meant to say bear pockets money listeners.

spk_0 Well, just a quick note. For those curious, again, we talked about this earlier, but the data is

spk_0 based on a Fed survey via dqyDJ.com. There are 131 million households in the United States as of that

spk_0 2022 survey. And then these charts were constructed by this person here. Thank you very much.

spk_0 And we appreciate your work. If you have any questions or want to talk about this further, we always

spk_0 invite you to join us here on YouTube in the comments section or join our Facebook group at

spk_0 bigger pockets money. It's type in bigger pockets money and you'll find the Facebook group there.

spk_0 We'd love to have you join the community. So tell us how you stack up and what you're doing to get

spk_0 into the top 1% top 5% or top 10% and tell us if you disagree or have other hypotheses about how folks

spk_0 made it into these categories. Thank you so much for listening and joining us today.

spk_0 All right, Scott. This was super fun, but we should hop out of here. Let's do it.

spk_0 That wraps up this episode of the bigger pockets money podcast. He is Scott Trench. I am Mindy Jensen saying

spk_0 God a dash cash.

Net Worth By Age In 2025 (Are You Above Average?)

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