Comments on: What Should Your Net Worth Be At 30?

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What order do you invest in retirement accounts? - myinvestingblog.com — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:36:46 +0000

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By: Hazzard

Hazzard — Wed, 30 May 2007 13:03:58 +0000

With the very limited knowledge I have of your situation (but judging by your name) I would say that the single biggest financial decision you can make is to increase your income. I’m not sure how you would do this because I don’t know your situation but I would guess that it would come via more training, a job change in to some sort of apprenticeship in another field etc.

By: Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage — Wed, 30 May 2007 06:09:00 +0000

Dear Hazzard:

What financial decisions could I possibly make that would make my net worth larger over time?

Don’t eat? Live under a bridge?

By: Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage — Thu, 24 May 2007 22:13:17 +0000

My net worth is negative, why would I want to make a negative number larger?

By: Hazzard

Hazzard — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:50:08 +0000

Knowledge of your net worth is a heck of a good first step. Just think of the percentage of people that have no idea what their net worth is.

Now all you have to do is try to make financial decisions that make the number larger over time.

By: boomie

boomie — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:47:08 +0000

Thanks for the info. It’s nice knowing I’ve saved enough, but for the wrong age. If I were 38, I’d be on target. Problem is I’m 50+.
Oh well.
As you said, better a little than nothing.

By: Hazzard

Hazzard — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:54:47 +0000

That’s a very good point, although I would argue if we could just get people to start saving towards a million, they’d be in a lot better shape. With the national savings rate so low, any amount of saving is better than not saving at all.

I’m personally planning with future dollar values in mind.

By: S/100/30

S/100/30 — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:26:14 +0000

Let’s just assume that you want to be able to draw $50,000 per year once you retire.

In today’s dollars, or in 2039 dollars?

By: Hazzard

Hazzard — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:24:30 +0000

I completely agree Sixpack. If people can “check in” on themselves at 30 they have tons of time to make any course corrections. Then, once they do make course corrections, I think they’ll blow their goals out of the water, much like it sounds you are doing!

By: sixpack

sixpack — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:12:48 +0000

I looked at quicken to see where I was at 30, and we were about $59,000. In hindsight, that was just 4 years ago and it looks like we’re on a way to being millionaires in no time.

I think setting the goal at 30 is a great benchmark. It gives a young person a short term goal to shoot for. And at the same time, it instills a sense of urgency early on about retirement. Something that you can’t easily make up beyond those early years.