shalab Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 When we looked at the general economic situation sometime back, nearly 80% said their situation was better. Some conjecture was that the board contains mostly high networth individuals - let us do a poll to see where we stack up. cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbmd Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Some conjecture was that the board contains mostly high networth individuals ------ I would think that there are very few janitors and busboys reading this board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twacowfca Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Some conjecture was that the board contains mostly high networth individuals ------ I would think that there are very few janitors and busboys reading this board. Wealth in general is distributed according to a Pareto curve. ( the rich get richer ) It would be astonishing if this were not the case with members of this board. Interestingly, all of the regularly posting board members might appear to be relatively poor if some of the observers of this board were polled. Academic standing as measured by the number of peer review papers published or cited also follows a Pareto curve for exactly the same reason. Beyond a certain threshold, that reason has very little to do with inherited wealth in either situation. Most readers of peer review journals are not Nobel Prize winners, and it would be surprising if most readers and posters on the board were not of relatively modest means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biaggio Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 I would think that there are very few janitors and busboys reading this board. For those janitors and busboys, we all started as janitors or busboys at some point. If you re reading stufff like on this board you won t be a janitor or busboy for long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uccmal Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 I would think that there are very few janitors and busboys reading this board. For those janitors and busboys, we all started as janitors or busboys at some point. If you re reading stufff like on this board you won t be a janitor or busboy for long. Indeed, I have done many lower end jobs earlier on - It all helps with the investing skill believe if or not... Window washer, roofer, janitor, busboy, gas jockey (We serve), construction, hazardous waste clean up, tree pruner, labourer at a transfer station. Never worked in finance, accounting, taxes, or investing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest longinvestor Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Some conjecture was that the board contains mostly high networth individuals ------I would think that there are very few janitors and busboys reading this board. Like another poster has already said, all learning for me happened in the real world of minimum or low wage jobs. At least the lessons worth learning. I've come across some of the wisest people in those jobs. Never worked in acctg, finance etc. Also, started as an immigrant with negative net worth of about $20k 23 years ago. This along with some speculative losses by following the crowd helps more than anything else in not putting my money into stupid ideas. I think that one of the most important lessons is to not read the wrong stuff of which there is plenty in the world. Why msg boards like this one draws me like bees to honey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie71 Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Let's see, I sold Fuller Brush, worked in a feed store, mowed yards, shoveled cow manure, milked cows (by hand), construction, proof read (at a print shop), sold Christmas trees, worked as a janitor in a dorm and did taxes part time for a CPA. All of these helped me in investing as they all help me spot the BS factor. All were prior to getting out of college and most were two jobs at a time and got a BS in 3 years and MS in 4 along with a working wife and 4 kids. THESE ARE NOT LOW END JOBS BUT TRAINNING!! We made sure our kids worked while in college, but not as much as we (SWMBO & myself) did. They have all thanked us for it and are doing well. I know many others who worked much more than we did, but it was our generation and very few student loan programs. Bookie P.S. Read the "Millionaire Next Door", you might be surprised at the janitors, etc who are wealthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftcoast Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 <250 K (27.7%) between 250K and 1mil (36.1%) between 1mil and 2mil (22.9%) between 2 and 5 mil (10.8%) >5 million (2.4%) Those are pretty desirable demographics, Sanjeev. You could charge a lot more for ad space on this website! :) Of course, they're mostly cheapskates, but you don't have to tell advertisers that. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpioncapital Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 this question is an exercise in valuation. Do the voters consider their house as part of their net worth? Do the voters consider the potential market value of a private business which may or may not be sold and whose value is more subjective than a stock quote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynamicPerception Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 I included my primary residence and 10 years worth of my pension on top of bank and investment accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnp20 Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 It would be also interesting to see age break down.....I suspect younger folks are still in the early part of capital accumlation mode so its probably resonable to expect younger crowd towards lower brackets and older crowd towards higher brackets. A 65 year old might have a 40 year head start on a 25 year old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 networth = total assets - total liabilities. so it should include your house too. bit if you're married, like do you consider you own 50% of your house or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twacowfca Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Shouldn't members include the present value of future savings from earnings? Also, those with kids the discounted future worth of all those baby Einsteins? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Age should be included in this... can we add another poll? I am willing to bet that the average age is in the early to mid 30s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 early to mid 30s with ~40% of 1 millions+? now, I feel poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFHWatcher Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 networth = total assets - total liabilities. so it should include your house too. bit if you're married, like do you consider you own 50% of your house or what? If you're married, you will likely be counting 50% or less of everything someday...plus some sort of monthly payment. lol On a more serious note, net worth is fairly straightforward. It is your portion of total assets minus your portion of total liabilities. If you own a house with your spouse but each have your own investment portfolio,pensions, etc., that is not considered part of matrimonial assets than you would only include amounts that are rightfully yours. Assuming a domestic contract/pre-nup. $500,000 house - Owned 50/50. ($100,000) mortgage - 50/50 $250,000 investment portfolio - His $300,000 investment portfolio - hers ($100,000) margin/investment loan - His His Net Worth House $500,000 / 2 = $250,000 Mortgage ($100,000) / 2 = ($50,000) Investment Portfolio = $250,000 Margin Loan = ($100,000) His Net Worth = $350,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest longinvestor Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 fascinating thread so far! Here are a couple of other things that interest me, 1) What was the networth 5, 10, 20 years ago (mine 60% of today, 20% of today, Zero) 2) Age now (50-60) 3) When did you start with value investing and networth CAGR since then. (8 years ago, 11%) I believe if we can keep this discussion thread going for the next decade and do the same poll then, we as a group will be one for the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest broxburnboy Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 networth = total assets - total liabilities. so it should include your house too. bit if you're married, like do you consider you own 50% of your house or what? There is a reason that equity in personal real estate is not considered part of net worth.... because if the price is carried on your balance sheet at "market" value..the value is notional.... not realized. The day the home is sold (after deducting all carrying costs and ALL PIT payments) at a profit, the cash so generated can be added to your net worth. You may be surprised to notice that very few homes in very few markets actually end up with a profit. This is because personal homes are a liability... they generate monthly expenses and impair your monthly cash flow (which is the real measure of wealth, not notional net worth). One million dollars notionally stuck in a personal home generates huge monthly expenses. One million dollars invested at 12% generates ~ 10,000/ month. Let's assume that scenario B pays 2000.00/month for rental expenses. Who will be wealthier in a year? in a decade? Who will be a "victim" of the sudden mass realization that notional home equity is illusory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 networth = total assets - total liabilities. so it should include your house too. bit if you're married, like do you consider you own 50% of your house or what? There is a reason that equity in personal real estate is not considered part of net worth.... because if the price is carried on your balance sheet at "market" value..the value is notional.... not realized. The day the home is sold (after deducting all carrying costs and ALL PIT payments) at a profit, the cash so generated can be added to your net worth. You may be surprised to notice that very few homes in very few markets actually end up with a profit. This is because personal homes are a liability... they generate monthly expenses and impair your monthly cash flow (which is the real measure of wealth, not notional net worth). One million dollars notionally stuck in a personal home generates huge monthly expenses. One million dollars invested at 12% generates ~ 10,000/ month. Let's assume that scenario B pays 2000.00/month for rental expenses. Who will be wealthier in a year? in a decade? Who will be a "victim" of the sudden mass realization that notional home equity is illusory. nice discussion. it seems like we need a more comprehensive anonymous financial status poll to cover all these different opinion. Age, ROR, After-tax income, # of child, expense, networth... we are too analytical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uccmal Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 nice discussion. it seems like we need a more comprehensive anonymous financial status poll to cover all these different opinion. Age, ROR, After-tax income, # of child, expense, networth... we are too analytical. No sheeet... I suppose the best measure of investing besides results is: Are you having fun doing it? To that I would answer and unequivocal yes, even though there are of course times of drudgery. Much more fun than my higher paying day jobs have ever been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharperDingaan Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Keep in mind that NW is not really representative: Give an idiot 1M, & you still have an idiot. The guy who saved 100K the hard way is actually the wealthier. The real metric is investment maturity. SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAllen Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 5 years ago my NW was 2% of what it is now. ;D ( I haven't done a 50 bagger in 50 years, more like low 20% p.a) Partially from investment results and from reinvesting those results and fees earned from family members/partners for making them 20%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dowfin1 Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 some updated net worth figures. http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2009/articles/scf/default.htm#t4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiessman Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 key success factor manage your expenses with a microscope manage your investments with a telescope it's really not all that more complicated than that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alekbaylee Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Net worth in US or Canadian $? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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