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Networth of board members


shalab
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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!

 

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Some conjecture was that the board contains mostly high networth individuals

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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.

 

 

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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.

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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. 

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Guest longinvestor

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.

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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. 

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<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.  ;)

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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.

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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

 

 

 

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Guest longinvestor

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.

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Guest broxburnboy

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.

 

 

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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.

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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. 

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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%. 

 

 

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