How Much Is Your Net Worth?

[Mot Wakorb]

txshurricane: Before you edited your post, you had a comment about people being worried about things that don't matter. I'm relatively sure that the baby boomers had the exact same thing to say about kids in the 60's and 70's. They're turning out pretty okay these days.

[Ink Asylum]

I thought this was going to be a thread about how much we pay for internet.

[Panthera]

Apparently I'm worth about a million indian rupees.

[bean]

I had cancer last year and lost everything. My net worth is about -$30K right now. This is unpaid student loans ($15K), unpaid medical ($10K - had insurance but copay was 20% for major procedures), a credit card I couldn't pay on ($2K), and a small remaining balance on my car ($2K).

Honestly, this isn't all that bad if I could find a good job, but I spent forever looking for one and took a low paying one that said they were a "meritocracy" that gave several raises very quickly based on completion of projects. Once I got in, I found out that everyone there hated it and half my department left within the first 3 weeks I was there (not an exaggeration. . . I was training people on a job I'd had for 3 weeks and was the 2nd in seniority programmer). I worked a ton of unpaid overtime and got a large, complex project complete, so I decided to ask for a raise. A week later they fired me for being on the internet during company time - even though it was my break and it is a coding job where everyone spends their breaks on the internet at their desk. Unemployment denied my claim and now I'm scrambling to not have to move home.

It's a really fucked up economy for young people. . . I guess I'm glad to hear it is better for people who are more established at their jobs.

[Handmade.Mercury]

Originally Posted by resikel

Hmmm...weird. One would assume net worth.

I think what he was getting at was your usage of "not enough" seemed like there was some kind of goal you were working towards or some bar that you wanted to meet. Then the X-Wing ownership comment leads me to believe that to him, 60k is more than "enough", and that he'd be very happy to have that amount of net worth.

Don't take my word for it, though. I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth.

[Bandango]

I ain't worth shit.

[Stmfuller]

Originally Posted by bean

I had cancer last year and lost everything. My net worth is about -$30K right now. This is unpaid student loans ($15K), unpaid medical ($10K - had insurance but copay was 20% for major procedures), a credit card I couldn't pay on ($2K), and a small remaining balance on my car ($2K).

I'm right about here money-wise. But ours (my wife and I) is mostly student loan debts.
The issue with your health is horrible, IMO 10k worth of debt is exactly what's wrong with our country in regard to health insurance(assuming you're an american citizen, apologies if not).

Honestly, this isn't all that bad if I could find a good job, but I spent forever looking for one and took a low paying one that said they were a "meritocracy" that gave several raises very quickly based on completion of projects. Once I got in, I found out that everyone there hated it and half my department left within the first 3 weeks I was there (not an exaggeration. . . I was training people on a job I'd had for 3 weeks and was the 2nd in seniority programmer).

it's the horrible existance our generation lives in. Even shitty jobs require a college degree now. Price of schooling goes up, number of jobs requiring post-high school education goes up, but the pay stays the same. It literally takes money out of our pockets.

I worked a ton of unpaid overtime and got a large, complex project complete, so I decided to ask for a raise. A week later they fired me for being on the internet during company time - even though it was my break and it is a coding job where everyone spends their breaks on the internet at their desk. Unemployment denied my claim and now I'm scrambling to not have to move home.

Yeah, that's a pretty common response now, it's work your job and don't you dare ask for anything else otherwise you'll find out how worthless we feel you are.
That being said, I will not take another job that:
doesn't pay overtime (if the money is really good, I might forgo this one).
isn't paid hourly (if the money is really good, I might forgo this one)
Offer a clear path for promotion/raise (I've been jerked around on this front too much).
Give prior notice of desire to terminate employment (no company would give me notice, I feel that I can afford them the same).

[Handmade.Mercury]

Yeah, I believe my net worth is also around the -30k mark. But then again, I am still an enrolled college student living with my mom.

[txshurricane]

Originally Posted by Mot Wakorb

txshurricane: Before you edited your post, you had a comment about people being worried about things that don't matter. I'm relatively sure that the baby boomers had the exact same thing to say about kids in the 60's and 70's. They're turning out pretty okay these days.

Yeah, I realized how nose-up that sounded, so I deleted it.

But if you want to discuss it, I'm okay with that. In the interest of keeping the topic: I disagree that kids from the 60's and 70's are turning out "okay" these days. The graphic in the OP is pretty clear about that.


And since I'm disagreeing...

Originally Posted by Stmfuller

it's the horrible existance our generation lives in. Even shitty jobs require a college degree now.

I disagree. There are plenty of opportunities out there for people who want them bad enough.

Originally Posted by Stmfuller

Price of schooling goes up, number of jobs requiring post-high school education goes up, but the pay stays the same. It literally takes money out of our pockets.

What takes money out of our pockets is the copious amounts of apologies that the government manifests through cash grants to people who don't deserve them.

[Handmade.Mercury]

Perhaps your net worth isn't the only thing that measure whether you turned out "okay" or not.

[Karak]

I guess I am doing well as we almost own our home and have a good savings/retirement setup since I was 25 and she had hers since she was 21. I think maybe around 220k last time we checked. But with the wife quitting and her schooling, it is eating into savings a bit. I can't wait till that is over with.

[txshurricane]

Originally Posted by Handmade.Mercury

Perhaps your net worth isn't the only thing that measure whether you turned out "okay" or not.

Let's not go there. It gets even worse.

[Vanthar]

Approximately -180k and will be -300k before I even get a chance to pay the interest.

[Khrymsyn]

How much of that is pure economy situation, I have to wonder?

35 and unders didn't have much time to put stuff into savings, stocks, etc, a few did buy homes, but then the market crashed and housing market dropped like a brick, wiping out what there was, including what little equity would have been able to be put into a house that's now likely underwater.
65 and olders got to ride the market and housing bubbles to make profits off of what they've put away, and while the market and housing markets crashed, they crashed back to points that were quite possibly still higher than the original investment points, as well as less likely to wind up going under on a mortgage for a house they've got equity in.

Because of that, I'm not really sure this stat shows anything indicitive of the people, but the situation.

(for the record, I'm 37 and I think in the negative, and that's with being very concious about credit card usage and such... it has more to do with my house being worth 50% of what I bought it for and not owning it long enough for equity to balance it out =/ )

[Reverant]

My wife and I are both 25 and I think we're at -$140k. She's still got one year left on her pharmacy doctorate, though, and that loan contributes about 60% to our debt. Our mortgage constitutes the other chunk.

I remember in junior high my mom said she was considering giving me an allowance because she'd just finished paying off her student loans from nursing school. She was about 42 back then.

[muddi900]

Originally Posted by txshurricane

I disagree. There are plenty of opportunities out there for people who want them bad enough.

[txshurricane]

Originally Posted by Khrymsyn

How much of that is pure economy situation, I have to wonder?

It can't be much, if the average net worth of a "65 and older" in 2009 was $50K above what it was in 1894. Take into account population growth and inflation, and the number gets even more impressive.

[torrefaction]

Its massively naive to not recognize the differences in markets between the 2 ages. I have so many friends who are successful and tried to do the "right" things and got fucked. My ex-girlfriend got her masters degree in education, and could not get a job in her career to save her life, even after moving to what seemed like a better market (layoffs started right after we got here ). I know I could've done better but I'm not doing bad. I have all of 4k in car loans and a few medical debts but I've got a bit more than 1984 figure.

The only reason I'm even okay in that regard is I chose NOT to buy a house. Growing up info Florida I made a decision to rent instead as when it came time to purchase I recognized the market was fucked. I've also had to pay for a cross country move and take care of my ex.

The rub is I've done better by being a high school drop out and renting than so many friends who went to.college and purchased their homes. That's a pretty harsh reality to come up in. By all means, I should be fucked and they should not. I just zigged when the world sagged and it worked out well for me. I lost a ton of my 401k in the 2008 market crash as well.

[Ravenlock]

I'm pretty stupidly lucky, in most respects. 31 years old, no student debt, no car debt, minimal (<$5K) credit card debt, in the $50-$100K range in savings.

But I also have about $150K in mortgage left to pay off on the townhouse my wife and I own, her job pays a LOT (several times) more than mine, and she and I are going through a pretty serious "figuring things out" period, so the whole situation feels a bit precarious.

Not that I couldn't make it on my own, at one point I was earning >$50K / year and I'm sure I could again, but it would take some lifestyle changes and I certainly wouldn't keep the townhouse. And I put the $17K inheritance from my grandmother into the townhouse mortgage already, so walking away from that would sting.

But in the end, we don't get to keep any of it. I can eat, I have shelter, I have spending money. I'm way better off than a whole lot of people. If things get worse, I got to have it easy for a pretty long time.

[Vermillion]

Everyone's value system is pretty messed up. You measure things in chicks. Right now I'm sitting at 2 chicks at the same time.