Money Magazine: "How do you stack up?"

[SteelBlue]

Thought this was interesting:

Ages 35-44

Upper Middle (households that place at the 60th to 79th percentile for income)
Median Income: $68,800
Median Net Worth $131,580
Median Financial Assets (Savings and investments): $33,570
77.5% own a home
91.6% of those homeowners have a mortgage
64% carry a credit card balance with a median balance of $3,000
The average debt burden (payments as a percentage of income) 21%

Upper (households that place at the 80th to 89.9th percentile for income)
Median Income: $105,770
Median Net Worth: $266,600
Median Financial Assets: $74,460
86.1% own a home
96.2% carry a mortgage on that home
67% carry a credit card balance with a median balance of $3,525
The average debt burden is 20%

Ages 45-54

Upper Middle
Median Income: $69,830
Median Net Worth: $188,600
Median Financial Assets: $56,200
79.3% own a home
84.7% carry a mortgage on that home
64% carry a credit cart balance of which median balance is $3,150
Average debt burden is 18%

Upper
Median Income: $105,770
Median Net Worth: $406,940
Median Financial Assets: $138,750
89.9% own a home
85.1% of them carry a mortgage
61% carry a credit card balance of which the median is $4,000
Average debt burden is also 18%

[Mormon Red Death]

Where is the 25-34 range. I would like to see where I rank...

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

Where is the 25-34 range. I would like to see where I rank...

I was wondering that myself.

This was the closest I could find, though:
http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/netwo...ome/index.html


Okay, I looked it up in the databases. This is from the Jan 2007 issue of money. They didn't do younger than 35.

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

Where is the 25-34 range. I would like to see where I rank...

Sorry, the data I have begins with the 35 yo's. I'd be interested to see the 25-34 range as well.

[SteelBlue]

I thought that one of the more interesting pieces of information was that so many carry a balance on a credit card. Sure, the mean was usually in the $3,000's but still the percentage of people carrying a balance is much higher than I'd picture, especially at the higher income levels. I thought it was odd that the Upper's carried more credit card debt (even though their debt burden as a percentage was lower) than the Middle/Upper's.

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Sorry, the data I have begins with the 35 yo's. I'd be interested to see the 25-34 range as well.

Do they calculate net worth as

Equity of House+Savings+Retirement+other assets (car etc..) - remaining balances on mortgage, credit card, School loans car loans

How do they figure pay in there?

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

Do they calculate net worth as

Equity of House+Savings+Retirement+other assets (car etc..) - remaining balances on mortgage, credit card, School loans car loans

How do they figure pay in there?

"Net worth includes all financial and nonfinancial assets (including liquid, quasi-liquid, vehicles, real estate and business interests) minus debt ( including mortgages, HELOC's, credit cards, installment loans, lines of credit and other debt)."

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Thought this was interesting:

Ages 35-44

Upper Middle (households that place at the 60th to 79th percentile for income)
Median Income: $68,800
Median Net Worth $131,580
Median Financial Assets (Savings and investments): $33,570
77.5% own a home
91.6% of those homeowners have a mortgage
64% carry a credit card balance with a median balance of $3,000
The average debt burden (payments as a percentage of income) 21%

Upper (households that place at the 80th to 89.9th percentile for income)
Median Income: $105,770
Median Net Worth: $266,600
Median Financial Assets: $74,460
86.1% own a home
96.2% carry a mortgage on that home
67% carry a credit card balance with a median balance of $3,525
The average debt burden is 20%

At the risk of being labled a "Haddow" or an "FMCoug", here are my stats:

Age: 37 (in January)
Income: Higher than "Upper Middle" but lower than "Upper" (I'm being intentionally vague here)
- Net Worth: $160K. (I just added up my assets and subtracted my debts)
- Financial Assets (savings and investments): $35K-$40K. All of it in a 401K plan.
- I own a home
- I have a mortgage on that home
- I have a credit card but carry a $0 balance
- Debt Burden: 30%. (Debt burden is relatively high right now because we just closed on a new house last week. Hopefully as my income increases over the next few years then my debt burden as a percentage of income will decrease).

Summary: I'm about as "Upper Middle" as it gets.

[jay santos]

I'm actually doing pretty good at savings and net worth for my age and income level, but I maintain a pretty high credit card level, which I usually pay off every spring with tax refund and/or company bonus.

This may sound sexist and dysfunctional, but I manage the credit card/available spending money so my wife doesn't go totally out of control. Basically if it's there, she'll spend it. So I put away a ton every month, and then she maxes out the credit cards and we have a crisis every December/January waiting for tax refund. It works.

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by jay santos

I'm actually doing pretty good at savings and net worth for my age and income level, but I maintain a pretty high credit card level, which I usually pay off every spring with tax refund and/or company bonus.

This may sound sexist and dysfunctional, but I manage the credit card/available spending money so my wife doesn't go totally out of control. Basically if it's there, she'll spend it. So I put away a ton every month, and then she maxes out the credit cards and we have a crisis every December/January waiting for tax refund. It works.

My wife controls the checking account and credit cards. I control how much I dump into my 401K. My wife spends money just like yours: "if it's there, she'll spend it". Thus, I control her spending by modifying my 401k contribution. Fortunately, my wife won't spend us negative. However, she will start to whine/complain about not having anything to wear because "you won't let me spend any money" if I clamp down too tight.