How much net worth should you have? Since everyone’s financial goals are different, there’s no magic net worth number that you should have. For example, if you want to live a more lavish lifestyle when you retire, you need to have a higher net worth. However, if you don’t mind living a more frugal lifestyle, you don’t need nearly as much money. In this article, learn what the average net worth is by age.
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How Do You Figure Out Your Net Worth?
Regardless of your financial goals, knowing your net worth is important because it keeps you focused on building wealth. Your net worth is simply your assets (things of value) minus your liabilities (money you owe). In other words, the simple formula is:
Net Worth = (what you OWN) – (what you OWE).
You can find out your net worth quickly and easily with this Net Worth Worksheet that you can get in my Shop. Don’t be afraid of this number. It is important for you to know where you’re starting in your financial journey so you can make a plan for where you’re going.
I recommend updating this worksheet every 3 months, but at the very least, every year. This is the best way to gauge your situation and keep your finances in check.
When you update your worksheet, you will be able to see if your net worth is growing, steady, or declining. Of course to the goal is to steadily grow your net worth over time.
Net Worth By Age:
What Should My Net Worth Be At Age 30?
According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, in 2022, the average net worth of households under the age of 35 years old is $183,500 (note: a household can consist of one person). Just to give you an idea of how that compares to income, the average income of that household was $82,700.
Keep in mind, some very wealthy households skew the average net worth by age. So I think a more accurate number to look at is the median. The median net worth of the households under the age of 35 years is $39,500. The median income was $60,500.
This low number makes sense to me because when you turn 30, you might have a lot of expenses. For example, you may have:
- Just gotten married;
- Started a family;
- Purchased a house; or
- Racked up a ton of student loan debt.
A good target for your net worth by age 30 is having at least the equivalent of your annual salary. While that’s a solid starting point, it won’t be enough if your goal is financial freedom. To get there, you’ll need an above-average savings rate and a higher-than-average net worth. Achieving early financial freedom typically requires saving 25–50% of your income and building a net worth well above average for your age group.
What Should My Net Worth Be At Age 35?
According to the 2022 Federal Reserve Survey, the median net worth for households aged 35–44 is about $135,600. The median income is $85,900.
By age 35, a common benchmark is to have a net worth equal to 2x your annual salary. So, if you make $80,000 a year, your target net worth would be around $160,000.
This assumes you’ve been consistently saving and investing since your 20s. However, if you’re aiming for financial independence or an early retirement, you’ll want to exceed this target. That means living below your means, increasing your savings rate, and investing wisely to grow your wealth faster than average.
- Related Article: How I Saved $300,000 In 4 Years
I personally use Robinhood.com to invest and purchase individual stocks. This website is great because you can buy and sell stocks for free—there are no commissions or fees.
Sign up today, and you and I can get a free stock like Apple, Ford, or Sprint. With Robinhood, you also don’t need a minimum account balance, so you can get started right away.
If you are new to investing and really have no clue what stocks to choose, I would recommend using a robo-advisor. A robo-advisor is an online automated advisor. They will invest your money for you based on your specific goals using computer algorithms.
Since robo-advisors are cheaper than what you would pay a human financial advisor, it is a great low-cost option for investing.
A great option to use if you’re just getting started is Acorns. I recommend Acorns for beginners because of its round-up feature. The way it works is you link your checking accounts and credit cards to Acorns, and they will round every transaction up to the nearest dollar and invest it.
So let’s say you spent $9.17 at lunch. Acorns will round up that transaction to $10 and invest the $0.83. All your spare change starts to add up, and before you know it, you’re saving and investing. This is perfect for the person who also has trouble saving.
If you are new to investing in the stock market and want to learn more, read my article “Best Ways To Invest In The Stock Market For Beginners.”
What Should My Net Worth Be At Age 40?
By age 40, a common rule of thumb is to have saved at least 3x your annual salary. So if you earn $90,000, your target net worth should be around $270,000.
By this age, your net worth should increase because you should be earning more than in your 30s, investing more, and attacking debt.
As stated earlier, according to the 2022 Federal Reserve Survey, the median net worth for households aged 35–44 is approximately $135,600. The median income is $85,900. These numbers show that many people fall short of the recommended savings benchmarks, especially those aiming for financial independence.
If your goal is early retirement or long-term wealth, you’ll want to not only hit but surpass these targets by consistently saving, investing, and minimizing debt.
If you have any high-interest debt (debt greater than 8%), you need to get rid of it. You can use this Debt Binder, also found in my Shop, to get organized and prioritize which bills you will pay first.
Sometimes, having too many different bills coming in can certainly be overwhelming and hard to keep track of. Therefore, use my Debt Binder to help you keep track of this.
Finally, at this age, besides attacking debt, you should be focused on saving for retirement. You should be maxing out any retirement accounts you have.
Another great FREE tool is Empower’s Retirement Planning Calculator. You should definitely use this tool to map out your financial future. Simply link all your retirement accounts to Empower so you can see all your accounts in one place and track your progress.
If you sign up today and link at least one of your investment accounts (with a balance of more than $1,000), you’ll get $50.
What Should My Net Worth Be At Age 50?
By age 50, financial experts often recommend having at least 5–6 times your annual salary saved. That means if you earn $100,000 per year, your target net worth should be in the range of $500,000 to $600,000.
By this age, your net worth should increase because you’re likely earning the most money you have ever earned. You also should have paid down a considerable amount of debt by now.
According to the 2022 Federal Reserve Survey, the median net worth for households aged 45–54 is $247,200. The median income is $91,900. This wide gap shows that many people are behind—but also that there’s room to catch up.
If you’re in your 50s and behind on savings, this is the time to prioritize maximizing retirement contributions, cutting unnecessary expenses, and focusing on high-impact financial decisions to get back on track.
As you get closer and closer to retirement age, you want to make sure you’re increasing your passive income. Consider investing in things that produce income, like dividend-paying stocks or real estate.
If you’re like me and want to retire before your 50s and 60s, you need to start investing as early as possible.
What Should My Net Worth Be At Age 60?
By age 60, you should be nearing retirement or already planning your exit from the workforce. A general guideline is to have 8–10 times your annual salary saved by this age. So, if your income is $100,000, a target net worth of $800,000 to $1 million is a solid benchmark.
Your net worth should be the most it’s ever been, thanks to compound interest and appreciation of all your investments. You should be focused on paying off your mortgage or downsizing to a more affordable house. At this stage in your life, you really don’t want to have any debt.
According to the 2022 Federal Reserve Survey, the median net worth for households aged 55–64 is $364,500. The median income is $81,900. The median shows that many people fall short of ideal retirement readiness. The decrease in income also shows that people are starting to transition out of their peak earning years—making it even more important to have a strong financial foundation in place.
At this stage, your ability to earn may decline, so your focus should shift to preserving your wealth, minimizing debt, and ensuring your retirement savings can support your lifestyle. This also means adjusting your investment strategy—your asset allocation should begin to lean toward less risky investments. For example, you may want to gradually shift a portion of your portfolio from stocks to bonds to reduce volatility and protect your nest egg.
If you’re not where you want to be yet, it’s not too late—but now is the time to carefully assess your retirement plan, reduce debt, and make the most of catch-up contributions to retirement accounts.
How to Build Wealth?
So you might have read those numbers and feel like you’re behind the wealth curve for your age. Don’t worry! I’m going to give you some tips on how you can build your wealth to make sure your net worth is on track for your age.
Have A Budget That WORKS
Before trying to achieve any of your other financial goals, it is crucial that you have a functioning budget first. Creating a budget can help you feel more in control of your finances and let you save money for your financial goals. If you want to improve your finances, the first thing you need to do is know where your money is going.
You can use this FREE Budget Binder to help you if you’re just getting started.
I personally use this Budget Template every month to track my spending. It’s the system I’m currently using for my budget, and it has helped me save over 50% of my income every month.
You can read more about how I use my budget templates in my article “How I Use My Monthly and Yearly Household Budget Spreadsheet.”
Pay Down Debt FAST
Paying down debt is one of the most important steps you can take to build wealth and increase your net worth. High-interest debt—especially from credit cards—can keep you stuck in a cycle where you’re constantly paying interest instead of building savings or investing. Every dollar you use to pay down debt is essentially a guaranteed return on your money.
Start by listing all your debts along with their balances, minimum payments, and interest rates. Then choose a repayment strategy—like the debt snowball (starting with the smallest balance) or the debt avalanche (starting with the highest interest rate). The key is to stay consistent and track your progress so you stay motivated.
- Related Article: Debt Snowball Vs. Debt Avalanche: Which Method is Best?
To make this easier, check out my Debt Payoff Spreadsheet. It helps you organize your debts, pick a strategy, calculate your debt-free date, and keep everything in one place.
If you prefer a printable option to visually track your progress, I also offer a Debt Payoff Tracker. It’s great for staying motivated by seeing how far you’ve come—especially if you’re a visual person who loves checking things off!
Whether you use a spreadsheet or a tracker (or both!), the goal is the same: reduce your debt burden so you can start putting more money toward building real wealth.
Invest
Investing is the key to building wealth. If you want to learn more about how to grow your net worth and passive income by investing, you can read my article “Best Ways To Start Investing For Beginners: Investing 101.”
As I stated earlier, investing is one of the reasons why I was able to attain financial freedom at such a young age. I made some good investments that were able to increase my wealth by 6 figures over a few years.
The key to investing successfully, however, is to make sure you educate yourself before you start investing. This will help you make more informed decisions and reduce your risk. You’re taking the right first step by reading my blog.
I also recommend you sign up for my FREE Resource Library. There you can find a ton of information. I have included some of my favorite books, podcasts, and other FREE resources to help you increase your financial education.
Manage Your Finances Regularly
I recommend you manage your finances in one place to get a clear, accurate picture of your financial health. Personally, I use Empower to track all my accounts—bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investments—in one easy-to-use dashboard. Empower is a FREE online platform, and I highly recommend taking advantage of it.
Before I started using Empower, I used to log in to six or more different websites just to check my balances. It was time-consuming, and honestly, I wasn’t reviewing everything as often as I should have. Now, with everything in one place, I can quickly see where my money is going, whether I’m on track with my goals, and spot any unusual spending right away.
Regular check-ins—whether it’s weekly, biweekly, or monthly—help you stay in control of your finances. You can see if your spending aligns with your budget, catch issues early, and make adjustments before small problems become big ones. Managing your money regularly is one of the simplest habits that leads to long-term financial success.
Summary
Don’t feel bad if your net worth by age is less than the numbers in this article. You now know what you need to do to get there. Make sure you:
- Have a budget,
- Pay down debt,
- Invest, and
- Manage your finances regularly.
Also, keep in mind that you may not need as much money in retirement as recommended. For example, you may plan to live a frugal lifestyle where your monthly expenses are extremely low. If your needs and expenses are fairly low, you do not need to have millions and millions of dollars saved for retirement. So keep the lifestyle you plan to live in retirement in mind when determining if you’re behind the curve.
If you want to remember this article, pin it to your favorite Pinterest board.
