How your net worth stacks up
My net worth has always remained a mystery for me, but I’ve just assumed it’s somewhere between my IQ score and my weight in pounds. Right around the one-hundred-mind-your-own-business mark, give or take a few decimal points. But if you’re too curious to give yourself proper credit for your work without comparing it to that of others, well whoop-de-freaking-do. Now you can.
Thanks to Will Lipovsky of First Quarter Finance, there exists a succinct list of means to compare your net worth to your neighbor’s. His number one go-to calculator can be found on Shnugi, a laughably named finance site that uses Federal Reserve data.
If you were hoping to learn a bit about the rankings of your foreign counterparts, you’ll be a bit disappointed; because the data was collected from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances in 2013, it’s strictly talking about us U.S. of A. folk.
How it all works
The way it works is pretty self explanatory, but I’ll give you a rundown just in case you get overwhelmed. All you need to do is type your own net worth (no one’s looking over your shoulder, so you don’t have to inflate it) and your age (there’s still no one looking over your shoulder, so you don’t have to deflate it). Then, click a button or two and it’ll give you your percentile ranking in your age group.
I’ve got to be honest, as I’m writing this article, I’m finding myself wondering a bit about where I stand compared to my classmates. However, at the same time, I realize that the whole point of your net worth is to estimate your personal finance.
When I was little, my mother would measure my brothers and me against a wall every year on our birthdays. It became a sort of competition, where we were all trying to outgrow each other despite the age differences. If this sounds anything like you, give this calculator a try. You might be surprised at how you stack up.
