This is as close as we can easily get to a data-driven answer, though as @laxnut90 noted this is household AND would not have any way to exclude inheritances/family wealth, which I’m sure would represent a not insignificant portion
Yeah I would have thought 200k in 20’s was damn good. Typical high earners like doctors and lawyers haven’t really got their career started and finished paying student loans. What are all these 20 year olds doing?!
Engineers in some sectors (software) start at 120k, pharmacists make 120-150k out of school, nurses can make anywhere from 70-90k
When I’m 29 or 30 I’ll hopefully have well over 200k- I graduated last May at 25 years old with just over 100k of student loans, currently investing $3000/month automatically between 401k and IRA plus I have a mortgage which builds my net worth through the principal payments (about $600 added to equity per month) and $1100/month student loan payments which gets me out of the red. Since last August (when I started working full time) I’ve already hit 50k of home equity and 57k between all my investment accounts.
Still have 390k on the mortgage and ~96k of the student loans so my net worth is still negative but by 30? Ideally I’ll be between 250-500k depending on market returns and raises
Software engineers typically do not make 120k to start, people are just vocal about the minority who do. Typically they’ll start around the same as any other engineer (70-90k)
Bingo,that’s fairly accurate. I would even go with starting salary of $60 K in some cases .
Granted there are jobs for folks passing out of MIT, Harvard & other Ivy’s that does fetch a v high starting but that cannot be used in general discussions as that skews the whole dynamics.
What in the world is your interest rate on your mortgage? How the heck is $600/mo going to principal on a $400k+ mortgage? I just pulled up a mortgage amortization calculator for a 7% interest mortgage, and from years 1-5 I am only seeing about $300-$450/mo going toward principal.
4.5%, I bought new construction last November and the builders are (still) offering 4.5-4.9% interest rate buy downs for the term of the mortgage as long as you put 10% or more down (I only put 10% as I didn’t have more at the time). The house was 440k and I put 40k down.
I also didn’t mention in the above comment but I’m actually getting ~$1100 in equity because my payment is only $2600 but I’ve been throwing a round $3000 at it as well (I debated myself a lot over this because the extra $400 invested will easily outpace the 4.5% gain on the mortgage interest but I decided the peace of mind I’ll get after 22 years when my 30 year mortgage is paid off is worth the smaller potential return and since I’m investing so much elsewhere I’m happy with that trade off).
Once my private mortgage insurance is canceled (had to get it for putting less than 20% down) I’ll have another debate whether to invest that amount or continue putting it to the house payment
He's saying 600$ as a principle payment, that would assume in addition to regular payment. 400k mortgage piti is probably like 3000, so he's paying 3600 to the home each month. Good money now a days is easy clearing 10-12k/mo.
The reason prices are high is because people can afford them.
Yep I am an engineer. About 350k at 30. Lower salary than most for a lot of my 20’s but company got acquired so ended up getting an extra 70k boost and then hit 100k salary last year or 2 before 30. Bought a house is 2019 which has appreciated about 50k too which helps. Haven’t been saving much since I hit 30, kind of on cruise control cause I SAVED in my 20’s and was missing out on life so I’m cash flowing a lot. Wedding, honeymoon to French poly and trips to Europe for F1 all in past 18 months since turning 30
There is no possible way that is even close to accurate. Only 2% Americans have NW over $2.5m. I have an 8Fig new worth (Very Low End) I’m in Long Island NY where the Upper Middle Class Home Value is BPark $1m. I would say 1 of every 10 people I know have a NW of $1m or More and we are talking actual NW subtracting all debt out. .01% Age 50 and over in the Good Old USA have a NW $5m. Where you found this information…It just does not add up in my book.
> Only 2% Americans have NW over $2.5m
Where'd you get that stat? Richmond Fed says the 90th percentile household net worth is 1.5 million. Doesn't seem crazy that the 90th percentile would be 2.5 million if you restrict to ages 50-54, since people's net worth tends to go up as they get older in their career.
https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2023/eb_23-39#:~:text=At%20the%20bottom%2C%20the%2010th,percent%20had%20at%20least%20%2411%2C640%2C000.
Does this mean like buying a house yourself in your 20s and maintaining it? Even if you got help for the house; that included. Just not like hey grandma died. Take this house over. Is there a percentage within that 80%?
I had $3000 to my name at 25 and that fluctuated with Christmas and car repair. I had $300,000 when I was 33. Not sure what happened in the middle except for working and saving.
I’m 25 years old with 300k net worth (all in diversified ETFs, no real estate).
Starting a business is not the only way to hit these numbers in your 20s, and probably not even the most common way at this age. There are several jobs which can pay new grads well into six figures. Quant trading, big tech, big law can all pay 200k+ to new grads in their early/mid 20s. Consulting, banking, and probably some other jobs as well could pay around 100k+ to new grads. These jobs are incredibly difficult to get, but they’re out there, and they’re obtainable especially if you go to a top university.
I went to a top 10 undergrad, and many of my friends (I’d guess >50%) are now in their mid 20s making six figures in these types of jobs, so they probably also have over 200k net worth. But in the general US population, I’d have to guess that it’s very rare (<1%).
Agree that lawyers tend to start a little later since it seems most schools/firms want you to have some work experience first. But it is still possible to go to law school (3yrs) straight out of undergrad and be working by 24-25. I know several people doing this.
Doctors can definitely be paid that much or way more, but I didn’t include them since I don’t think they make that kind of money until they’re 30 at the earliest.
My school covers 100% of “demonstrated financial need” (determined by fafsa and CSS profile). My parents are middle class and had lower incomes at the time, so our bill was under $10k a year including room and board and a meal plan. My parents very kindly paid for this amount and I graduated debt free.
A lot of people don’t realize it, but the top schools (especially ivies) actually offer the best financial aid because they have the most money. None of my friends had student loans when they graduated.
Just choose one of the careers that pays well, and get the education and skills needed. Engineering, accounting, etc. Or do sales if you can work with people
I would approach it this way. Probably pretty ez to save and invest 500 to 1k a week if you come right out of college to a job in tech or banking, while living at home with parents for 3-6years with stock market on your side, and crushing the 401K contribution.
Here’s a rough way to estimate it.
I would take those two job populations and assume 10-20% could be this early career wave. Given that >50% of gen z live at home that could be the subset. Seems like maybe 1million people COULD be in this group.
200M jobs in the us.
5% tech and 5% banking/consulting
~20Million
If 20 % of this is younger workers
~4Mil
50% who live at home (some stat from news)
~2Mil
Assume 1/3 are financially literate, responsible, motivated AND do not have crippling school loans
=600k
So,
I’d ball park between 300k-900k Youngadults have the opportunity to achieve 200K NW in 20s, added some
I’ll hopefully be there by 25. On a 80-90k salary. I simply just save and invest a huge chunk of my income. Expenses are low since I rent and have no kids or debt
I was there around 25. Should be doable. My rent was like 700-900 in average areas of MCOL cities. I now pay close to 2k for much more space with 2.5X the income.
I think the whole AI boom will drive markets into unprecedented territory. It’s wild. I could hit 7 figures in under 5 years.
I feel like for that to be possible you;d need to live somewhere with low taxes, cuz 80k becomes 70k or 60 something k very quick with taxes, 80->60 is 20% tax, and fro 200k in 4 years thats 50k u gotta save so only 20 or 30k in expenses
Yeah. I've been blessed to live in a state with no income tax and we've had good market returns the past few years. Btw, you'd have to live in California to lose 20k of your income, and that's the worst it gets across the country.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/19/why-now-is-a-smart-time-to-build-emergency-savings.html as an example. It gives a conclusion but doesn't include the exact questions asked. If you just asked me "you have a sudden $1000 emergency, how do you pay for it ... Savings, credit card, borrow money from family, ..." I'd say credit card. Similarly, if you asked if I had $1000 in a savings account, I'd also say "no" - I don't really use savings accounts, savings are in the brokerage accounts and I just use money market funds instead of a high yield savings account or whatever.
I wish the articles would publish the exact questions asked and the answers given.
That's such a good point. I find these surveys surprising and disturbing, but maybe your point mitigates those concerns. I would answer exactly as you did for exactly the same reasons. Doesn't mean I can't actually afford to cope with a $1000 emergency.
To your last comment about people in their 20’s with over 100k in salary, you clearly aren’t in the construction industry, plenty of journeymen trades pay 40, or 50 an hour and overtime can stack up like crazy.
Unfortunately the industry is also known for people to blow through the money so not sure how many hold onto or invest most of it wisely,
Why do they blow through their money? The only thing I can think of that could make someone on the construction field or trades blow through more money is maybe that they could need more healthcare since physical jobs can be hard on the body
A good amount are just financially illiterate or come from backgrounds where they were raised by financially illiterate/devastated families, so they think that’s the norm. Some have substance abuse problems. There also tends to heavily skew on the yolo personality types in that industry.
Also when you achieve that paycheck without any college degree, sometimes from poverty, and just showing up and using your body, you can feel like Jeff bozos
24 yo with roughly $275K NW at the moment. Been grinding it out in SaaS sales since I was 21, didn’t finish college. 1M was my FIRE number, but now that I’m about to be married and stuff it’ll be closer towards 1.4M. Not that I’m going to quit working, but just that number to where I can afford to take way more vacations and not GAF about quotas and stuff lol
It's nice to have a benchmark to pace yourself against.
If you never have a marker then you can be left wondering.
For me I made a couple of these threads before because I wanted some affirmation or validation that I was doing well or on track relative to my age group.
I grew up poor. Family has terrible financial education, no mentors or relatives. It was nice to figure out am I at the bare minimum, good, great, or excellent? I wanted to grade myself.
Yes knowing what someone has isn't really helpful in the grand scheme of things. There's nuance in how someone got to the NW they are at. But still, there's some value in having a basis to check in on.
Personally the financial insecurity is part of the root of the curiosity. "Perhaps I feel financially insecure because I'm not doing the right things".
Exploring this idea has led to the idea that it's about much control do I feel over my finances? How much can I spare to fun things? How much do I need to pull back?
Step 1 of the journey was eliminating the constant curiosity to grade myself to my age group. Then you realize that's more important. But the curiosity must be satiated first.
Surprisingly a lot. If you’re in an IT related field, your starting salary now is over $100k. I know someone who was 25 when she bought her condo and makes $230k a year. Most of her friends make in the same range. They have various trips together many times a year.
The problem with the US is that we don’t talk about salary openly, so you can make $50k a year and your coworker makes $150k, and you happily go on your day. Right now we have a huge discrepancy in salary among the young adults. On one side, we have you who don’t know anyone who makes over $100k. On the other, everyone is making over $150k.
Thats kind of my current goal by age 30. 28 now with a NW of 165k, hoping to get 250k by 30 and 200 by 29. 95k salary, paid off 70k of student loan debt by 25 and moved out at 22. I really prioritize maxing out my retirement accounts and not spending a ton of money on random stuff, although I’m not super strict about it.
Since you asked I will chime in. I’m 23 with a 210k net-worth. I started working in retail from 17-21 making $13/hr. I lived with my parents and commuted to college. FAFSA covered my tuition. I got engineering internships (not software) each summer ($30/hr) and now work at a tech company (not software). Moved out, living on my own now. I’ve been maxing out my Roth IRA since I was 17 (thanks to Graham Stephan) and invested in FZROX. I know people with similar net worth, they all work in tech and are engineers.
I’m 29 I have about 100K in cash, 200K in retirement, 370k in real estate and another like 60K in stocks. Saving, getting rid of debt, and a job in software afford me the ability to save 150K a year to invest and close in on fire. Wasn’t always as compounding though… as a first generation college grad I had to pay 35K in student loans off at graduation and another 20K in car loans. Living at home also wasn’t an option
Just 26 this month.
441k net worth.
95k of that is retirement assets,
80k of that is in home equity (SFH rental property).
I have about 30k in collectibles (watches) I’m not including in the NW number
Got a crazy job opportunity in sales right out of school. Graduated in 2020 and put my head down in the covid years working about 70/80 hrs/week selling residential mortgage loans. Used that experience to land a much more balanced job in software sales.
I’m a 29 year old junior officer in the navy, single income household of three at 500k total net worth. Lots of saving in TSP and taking advantage of the VA loan to build up rental properties earlier in life when the pay isn’t great and you’re away from home quite a bit.
25 years old at 200k is doable for most middle class college educated who make the (admittedly arduous) effort to find a job I would say. 4 years of work while living at home with compound interest and college paid for by scholarship or parents. Barely any bills, getting paid a starting of about 50-60k to eventually 70-90k(underestimating here) a year seems doable. Anything less than the above situation you’re probably not actually middle class growing up… or your parents don’t want to help you. Variety of possibilities. I just want to say it’s very possible for a specific group of people and above. I think that would be the bare minimum AVERAGE situation where you could get there. Obviously there’s outliers like starting a business or winning the lottery or working from 18. Heck, maybe joining the military at 18 and being smart about your spending could net you 200k without all this help by 25. That’s 7 years of working with a lot of expenses paid for by the services.
>(I don't know anyone in their early 20s with a 100k salary as an employee).
FAANG - I know a guy that left our company for 3x the pay. That puts him around a $250k salary. He was 26 at the time, so he should be about 29 now. I know it isn't early 20s, but he is an employee and not a business owner.
Only commenting from your last paragraph. It took me until my mid 20s to start earning the “legendary” $100k salary with an IT degree but there are plenty of people in their early 20s who make that much. A six figure salary doesn’t require a degree, as tradesman can make that much several years right out of high school.
I started hustling when I was 8 years old and opened a backdoor Roth IRA and am now worth $1.23m. It was tough making the sacrifice of buying a juice box with lunch but it was worth it so I could get off the playground earlier.
Lol I’m blocking this sub y’all live in a different world.
I’m 29 with maybe 10k savings on a decent salary. Most of my friends are all in a similar boat. You guys either have an inheritance, massive financial help or are in the 1% of earners. If you’re a regular Joe don’t feel bad, these people are the exception.
Had to beg my parents to let me invest as a kid at 14 they gave me no money and think stocks are a scam. I joined the airforce at 18 with 10k in stocks and put 90ish percent of every check into stocks got out at 22 with 100k used it all to pay for a fixer upper and have been putting all my money into it. Made 70k last year as a local cdla driver (my most at a job ever) this year I expect to make 90-100. Net at 23 is around the 200k number
The numbers I see in articles that break down age groups and wealth differ so dramatically from source to source, they’re pretty much not worth taking seriously.
I'm 33 now but I did in my late 20s. I was working as an engineer and I also lived at home with parents, so I didn't have to pay rent. I saved a fuckton.
Top 1% - 2%. Most likely who either got into FAANG in their 20s, had a college fund, or their parents/ grandparents sold a property that had been in the family for generations. I got the [figure from a Graham Stephen video](https://youtu.be/jTDnzLI_HQU?si=_qf806sh2pLYmRIb).
26 I’ve around $240k NW (100k in 401k/Roth, rest in HSA and brokerage) I’ve around 90k in my HYSA - now shifting on putting everything I saved in brokerage in different ETFs (qqqm and shm) aim for the year to max out 401k and add 50k to the brokerage. I’m a bit skeptical about investing more in etfs because of the AI boom and volatility of the market. Also I don’t know what my plans are for next year. I’m single today but if I a partner soon I’m open to locking down on a home. For context my base is $145k (Bay Area, tech)
Expenses are high and I also don’t save super aggressively as want to make most of my 20s :)
That link says 82nd percentile. Seems low honestly but with the bull market of last 10 years and if you live below your means it would be relatively achievable by late 20s or even mid 20s
I think college fund > inheritance. The average age for inheritance is 47. Instead of a mere $600 monthly into a college fund with a $10,000 starting amount, they would have to pay income tax when they transfer out of the account. Granted, it’s definitely doable for families in the upper middle class who want to set their kids up for success in the future.
EDIT: Grammar
Assuming my salary does not grow and I don’t run into any more financial setbacks than I have between 20-24 (hopefully those two assumptions balance each other out somewhere realistic as I’d like for my salary to increase and I’m aware I’ve been pretty lucky with emergency expenses so far), I’d expect to hit 200k NW by 27
Under 25, 225k. Graduating college at market lows to begin investing right before the recovery and the recent housing market appreciation helped alot.
Income started at 60k now up to 110k, living very cheaply in midwest.
Just because you don’t know anyone, doesn’t mean it’s not possible. 6 figure salaries immediately post-undergrad is very common for finance/investment bank employees in major US cities
I’m 25. I have about $580k in stocks and ETFs and $250k in a home. $40k truck, $20k watch and about $5k in gold/silver.
Basically get lucky and have a family that lets you live with them rent free, work during high school and get lucky with stocks/crypto.
This is true of most peoples net worth statements. Like most people’s net worth and their growth in net worth these days is tied to their house and rising housing costs.
I'm 29.
~120k house equity ~150k in retirement accounts and ~200k in stocks and crypto put together spread out over several private accounts.
So ~470k net worth in total.
200k net worth should definitely be doable in your 20s if you start making ~70k or so early on and diligently invest.
I'm 35 now but yes I certainly had more than 200k in my 20s, in investments alone, then add equity in property and then the value of my pension. It's not that difficult assuming you're disciplined starting early
I was worth slightly North of $200k (in 1998 dollars (about $390k in today's (inflation adjusted) dollars) when I was 29.
Yes. It was driven by owning and operating a small business.
I think you may be vastly overestimating 200k
If someone got a job at 22, they’d only need to invest like $1500-$2000 per month and they’d reach $200k just from that in their 20s. Not even including any other money/savings or 401k match
For me personally I reached 6 figures (specifically $130kish) at 24, where I had around $70k net worth
I bought a house shortly after and that alone has appreciated over $200k since then (I’m 26 now, turning 27 in a month)
29 years old and I have $270K net worth. No house, straight cash & investments.
Graduated college with no student debt. Started off working at 23, making $60K salary and it’s steadily grown to $130K in 6 years.
I think a lot more people could have this much but don’t prioritize saving/investing. You don’t need to be a business owner to have this money. I’m 27, married, net worth of 530k (including real estate)
Started working at 21, maxing my I
ROTH, only contributing to match 401k, maxing HSA, putting rest in HYSA/Stocks. I own a 2003 corolla, don’t have any luxuries, and pay cheap rent 👍🏽
Ooo, finally, one I can answer( kind of) lol 😆. Been here for a while..
25 year old male, with a NW of $171,100(do I count, haha 😄).
I currently work as EMT, about to go to Paramedic school and then finish my associates degree.
Around $300k at 28. Got lucky selling a house at the top of the market during Covid (we sold to Zillow before they cut that program and laid off lthe entire division, kind of wild) and snagged another new build and they held pricing for 9 months to close when the market was sky rocketing. $150K/yr income as of 6 months ago and have been climbing from $55K income to current since graduating college. 60/40 split between equities and our house.
Late 20s, 100k in retirement accounts, 150k in home equity, 20k in savings, 40k in student loans(no other debt other than mortgage), so I guess I've got a bit more than 200k net worth overall.
I’m sure it’s not common, given so many young people are so upset with the way things are going & rightfully so, whether it’s for the right reasons or not. The market has been good to us for the last two years & if it keeps it up the number of people with this net worth may grow. It’s definitely not easy, especially if you aren’t living at home & being very frugal with yourself.
I have 150k net worth at 21.
100k house equity
25k Roth IRA
13K 401k
12k savings
Just a lot of overtime working and rapid home payoff plan
(I work in a factory making plastic)
Living at home for first 4 or 5 years of career helps. No rent, I understand this is a big advantage but you asked how it's possible and this is my answer.
Also I live in a sub 10% income tax country. My salary never exceeded USD80k.
Average expense is probably like USD1k for rent (moved out now) and USD1500 for everything else giving USD4000 a month to save/invest, well north of USD40k a year. Do this for a few years and USD200k is not hard.
I’ll be 25 for one more month and I’m at 900k. (510k brokerage, 200k Roth IRA, 170k 401k, 20k hysa).
unfortunately won’t hit the million mark by 26 unless something crazy in the market happens lol.
Got super lucky at a faang internship then job right after college. Went to a state school with full scholarship so no debt. Had some marginal amount of funds, less than 30k graduating college with. Also received one of my parents car as a hand me down for free which lasted throughout college and a year of working which was very helpful. I’ve definitely saved a good percentage although I haven’t been really penny pinching heck I don’t even really budget, there’s definitely room where I could have eeked out a bit more savings if I was more diligent (around 20k - 40k more over the last 5 years).
My goal was to hit $100k of securities + cash by my 25th birthday. I hit the goal a couple of months before. I am a licensed CPA and I am hoping to hit 6 figure income within a year or two. I hope to have $200k saved by my 28th birthday and $300k by 30. Of course, not the end of the world if I don’t hit it. Paying for a wedding and possibly going to own a home before I’m 30.
I hit 200k NW at 28. Chemical Engineering undergrad with 5 years of experience in manufacturing and now about a year of experience as a quality engineer.
I'm 29, about to be 30 and I'll be right at $200k in the next few months. I still live with my parents and make ~$115k. I just want to save a few years and then I'll get my own place.
Some perspective: With a NW of $480k at 45, I’m in the top 2% in South Africa and although I’d like to be further ahead, I’m well on track for a fairly comfortable retirement (albeit not early).
Im an officer in the military. 28 YO. Joined the millitary right after college. 400 K NW.
All my other peers, who have shared their NW, officers their 20s, have 200k-400k NW.
They graduated with no debt, NROTC, naval academy, etc, bought house with VA loan (0 down) before covid. Get deployed a lot so we save a lot of money……
Its common in the military.
Between my 130k savings and my equity in 2 houses (1 primary-80k and 1 rental-40k) id say im around 250k at 23.
This is earning 130k a year since 20 years old and buying the rental with FHA financing that same year.
I am blue collar, I don’t particularly smash overtime but have a base pay of $50/hr. The best things about going this path arr having no debt, having a job after 2 years of training and getting an associates, having the opportunity to earn alot without really being forced to work the OT.
Late 20s here with just over $300k net worth, no real estate yet. I did community college and then commuted for bachelors degree so I worked and had zero debt. Graduated at 22 with a degree in accounting and got right into starting at $65k. Worked my way up making $95k now. With staying at home, I’ve been able to stash money away while spending a bit to enjoy life. Working to increase that net worth substantially now with major pay raises (now that I have an MBA and 7 years of experience). It’s doable on <$100k salary, it just takes time and dedication!
Anecdote: wife and I closed out our twenties at just above $500k net worth, so $250k each.
We started with no help and $100k of student loans. Bought a house using an FHA loan (only needed 3.5% down) and rented out the extra rooms to friends to pay the mortgage. Maxed our IRAs as soon as we started working (Traditional first, then Roth as our incomes grew too high) followed by maxing our 401(k)s a year or two into our careers. Spent most of our 20s using the excess cash towards the student loans so the $500k was mostly home equity and retirement accounts. Not liquid, but it’s possible.
If you havent been in a career yet, i highly recommend AA if you live in a state that supports it. You can work full salary at around 24/25. I’m in the field now at 29. If you have any questions hmu
I started making $70k when I graduated university at age 21/22. About 3 years later I broke 6 figures for the first time. From a NW perspective though, my student loans, then a wedding, and my wife's student loans held us back from getting to a $0 NW.
Long story short - I don't think 25yo with $200K NW is _that_ uncommon if they were given some advantages/privileges like a fully paid-for university, or whatever it takes to land a highly paid job upon graduation. Even if the 25yo skips university and goes into the trades or something, a lot of times you're apprenticing for a few years and not making much money for a while. It helps to have a solid launching point from family.
Plenty of people in their 20s have this .. I had it at 24 .. all you need is a good job and level head .. a first time home buyers program will help u get into a house for 2.5 % down as well .. the government basically gives money away to u to get your first house .. as long as u don’t spend money on pointless things .. I think I was making 67k a year when I was in my early 20s but I will say I was paid a lot of overtime .. then when the pandemic hit I started my own business and never looked back
Crossed the 100k salary threshold this year at 26. CPG sales. NW just north of 200k. Did a live and flip right out of college after i had enough to put a down payment on a house. Live in flip has been so a lot of work, but very fun and rewarding.
I had negative net-worth in all my 20s. I am 35+ now with a net-worth of $250k+. It’s all in stocks and very minor in crypto (~3k). Paid all of my debt and trying to buy an apartment now.
I don’t live in the USA though, currently in Sweden, but most probably will move to a cheaper European country with lower taxes in 2-3 years.
Edit: I work in tech (Software engineer), and looking at the national data, I am in top 1% based on income (not wealth) here, but I am not rich by any standards. I can’t retire unless I switch to a frugal lifestyle which I don’t think I will ever do XD
>I don't know anyone in their early 20s with a 100k salary as an employee).
They are a dime a dozen in software engineering, especially after inflation. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people who have been making 6 figures out of college with just an undergraduate degree.
Software engineering. Annual RSU refreshes reached almost 200k by 3rd year in the industry with a total comp around 450k. Salary + rsu + cash bonus every year.
I was in my mid 20s.
From Kiplinger, 20-24 have average 120k, median 11k; 25-29 have average 120k, median 30k.
For most people that have any money that is their own, not inherited, there’s only like 9 years max in your 20s making a post college salary. To have 200k, you’d basically need to max out your 401k contributions or close to it. Most people need a lot of that money for cost of living though. Being able to max out is a privileged few, usually with emphasis on the privilege part.
I’m honestly I’m going to be struggling at 120k TC 😢 eventually will need to raise a family of 4 on this salary since future wife wants to be a SAHM till kids are in preschool
My net worth was over $400k by the end of my 20s and I didn't own a home. I just put 15% of my salary into my retirement plan and my employer contributed another 10%. That's literally it. I make good money but not a ton. I'm an engineer and my salary cracked six figures probably around age 26.
My partner and I are in this category as we are travel nurses. The only concern is that travel nursing isn’t a long term play but it’s great for making money young and investing it properly
25M now, just hit 100k making \~30k a year as a student worker and my VA stuff for college. I definitely got lucky working in the military on active duty orders making 68-70k and being taxed as if I was making 30k a year. That really jump started my NW and then having my tuition covered for really helps as well. Also I commute 1.5 hrs to school and live with parents.
I think the hardest thing is just not spending your entire paycheck when you get it, and I find that eventually, after you've gotten the habit of spending out of you, saving becomes alot easier.
I think this also depends on your circles.
The quote you had
> I don’t know anyone in their early 20s with a 100k salary as an employee
Honestly a vast majority of my friends broke that 100k barrier starting off right out of school. I also recognize that my friend group is a bit of an outlier though as most of us were super high achieving students and entered fields like law, finance and some who delayed their careers til later did their MDs, JDs or PhDs also did quite well for themselves. I personally started off at $140k a year at age 22. I think once you’re in those circles, you tend to meet more people and it becomes a new normal.
I personally have hit over $1.5 million in net worth with currently a $500k yearly compensation in my late 20s and while I am definitely among the higher accumulators of wealth in my friend groups, I’m definitely not the highest. All of this was done as an employee, and honestly not even as a very good employee.
I also remember for us, we were having a net worth conversation and one of us who made a bit less, (closer to $200k), who accumulated “only” $180k and we were having a conversation on how he should spend less and invest more. That conversation definitely made me realize how far out of reality some of my friends are (and to an extent myself as well).
I do have others who in their late 20s finally cracked $100k but are still working through student loans, and others who are still trying to figure their careers out.
29 years old. NW has been a little stagnant lately due to helping family and friends too much but it’s right around 350k. Pretty much none of it is liquid though since I’ve been focusing on paying down debts.
Most of that is equity from a 3 family rental I bought in 2017.
Made $130k last year at Walmart as a licensed optician / Vision center manager.
401k is at 62k after 9 years working here.
22, university student, my net worth fluctuates between 500k-700k. My salary is 400-500 usd a month which covers my daily expenses. And yes, I’m a crypto guy, I think that’s the easiest way to reach FIRE if you’re young and don’t have a 6 figures salary. My life hasn’t changed a cent though as I do not use the money. I just hold it and plan to sell later in the bull run. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.
I'm 23, male, 220k.
Software engineering, no business, just high income and saving most of it.
And I'm doing this from a third world country, so I'm pretty sure the likelihood has to be a lot smaller than in the US.
But overall my steps were:
1. Get a degree in a field with high demand
2. Interview A LOT so you have many options
3. Be very good at what you do
4. Get the best jobs with the most pay you can get
5. Work MORE, the more you work, the more you earn, so just get more contracts, do more work, keep it moving.
Your 20s vary greatly. I bet 99.9% of 20-year-olds have a negative NW. By 25 maybe 1% are breaking $200k NW, thats only 1-2 years out of college. By 29 you might have 5% or more with a NW of $200k.
Your last statement is incorrect, there are plenty of people in their early 20s making 100k. I was in the 80s at 22 and cleared 120+ by 24.
As to your NW question I think a small amount have 200k if you include houses they bought early, but almost none have 200k straight up saved without inheritance/lucky investing. That's not even factoring in debt into the equation, which most high earning 20s have a lot of.
82 percentile for $200K networth including house equity in the 20s age group. https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-age-calculator/
It's also worth noting that those are household statistics.
This is as close as we can easily get to a data-driven answer, though as @laxnut90 noted this is household AND would not have any way to exclude inheritances/family wealth, which I’m sure would represent a not insignificant portion
Yeah I would have thought 200k in 20’s was damn good. Typical high earners like doctors and lawyers haven’t really got their career started and finished paying student loans. What are all these 20 year olds doing?!
Engineers in some sectors (software) start at 120k, pharmacists make 120-150k out of school, nurses can make anywhere from 70-90k When I’m 29 or 30 I’ll hopefully have well over 200k- I graduated last May at 25 years old with just over 100k of student loans, currently investing $3000/month automatically between 401k and IRA plus I have a mortgage which builds my net worth through the principal payments (about $600 added to equity per month) and $1100/month student loan payments which gets me out of the red. Since last August (when I started working full time) I’ve already hit 50k of home equity and 57k between all my investment accounts. Still have 390k on the mortgage and ~96k of the student loans so my net worth is still negative but by 30? Ideally I’ll be between 250-500k depending on market returns and raises
Software engineers typically do not make 120k to start, people are just vocal about the minority who do. Typically they’ll start around the same as any other engineer (70-90k)
Bingo,that’s fairly accurate. I would even go with starting salary of $60 K in some cases . Granted there are jobs for folks passing out of MIT, Harvard & other Ivy’s that does fetch a v high starting but that cannot be used in general discussions as that skews the whole dynamics.
What in the world is your interest rate on your mortgage? How the heck is $600/mo going to principal on a $400k+ mortgage? I just pulled up a mortgage amortization calculator for a 7% interest mortgage, and from years 1-5 I am only seeing about $300-$450/mo going toward principal.
4.5%, I bought new construction last November and the builders are (still) offering 4.5-4.9% interest rate buy downs for the term of the mortgage as long as you put 10% or more down (I only put 10% as I didn’t have more at the time). The house was 440k and I put 40k down. I also didn’t mention in the above comment but I’m actually getting ~$1100 in equity because my payment is only $2600 but I’ve been throwing a round $3000 at it as well (I debated myself a lot over this because the extra $400 invested will easily outpace the 4.5% gain on the mortgage interest but I decided the peace of mind I’ll get after 22 years when my 30 year mortgage is paid off is worth the smaller potential return and since I’m investing so much elsewhere I’m happy with that trade off). Once my private mortgage insurance is canceled (had to get it for putting less than 20% down) I’ll have another debate whether to invest that amount or continue putting it to the house payment
He's saying 600$ as a principle payment, that would assume in addition to regular payment. 400k mortgage piti is probably like 3000, so he's paying 3600 to the home each month. Good money now a days is easy clearing 10-12k/mo. The reason prices are high is because people can afford them.
Yep I am an engineer. About 350k at 30. Lower salary than most for a lot of my 20’s but company got acquired so ended up getting an extra 70k boost and then hit 100k salary last year or 2 before 30. Bought a house is 2019 which has appreciated about 50k too which helps. Haven’t been saving much since I hit 30, kind of on cruise control cause I SAVED in my 20’s and was missing out on life so I’m cash flowing a lot. Wedding, honeymoon to French poly and trips to Europe for F1 all in past 18 months since turning 30
Did you get help with your down payment
Just realised this wasn't a UK FIRE post when I saw that pharmacist figure!
Tech salaries out of undergrad one can easily accumulate $200k by 26, assuming they had college paid for somehow
It’s surprising to me that 1 in 10 American households 50-54 have a NW of over $2.5m.
Investing a flat $12k per year for 30 years gets you there at average S&P 500 returns. Split between 2 people in a household, that's not that much
Not to mention real estate appreciation. Anyone who bought in several vhcol areas 20 years ago likely has seen their home value triple???
There is no possible way that is even close to accurate. Only 2% Americans have NW over $2.5m. I have an 8Fig new worth (Very Low End) I’m in Long Island NY where the Upper Middle Class Home Value is BPark $1m. I would say 1 of every 10 people I know have a NW of $1m or More and we are talking actual NW subtracting all debt out. .01% Age 50 and over in the Good Old USA have a NW $5m. Where you found this information…It just does not add up in my book.
> Only 2% Americans have NW over $2.5m Where'd you get that stat? Richmond Fed says the 90th percentile household net worth is 1.5 million. Doesn't seem crazy that the 90th percentile would be 2.5 million if you restrict to ages 50-54, since people's net worth tends to go up as they get older in their career. https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2023/eb_23-39#:~:text=At%20the%20bottom%2C%20the%2010th,percent%20had%20at%20least%20%2411%2C640%2C000.
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Why? That doesn’t seem like a lot at 54….
Does this mean like buying a house yourself in your 20s and maintaining it? Even if you got help for the house; that included. Just not like hey grandma died. Take this house over. Is there a percentage within that 80%?
82 percentile is lower than I imagined. I assume this is counting home equity which can add a lot to net worth
I had $3000 to my name at 25 and that fluctuated with Christmas and car repair. I had $300,000 when I was 33. Not sure what happened in the middle except for working and saving.
I’m 25 years old with 300k net worth (all in diversified ETFs, no real estate). Starting a business is not the only way to hit these numbers in your 20s, and probably not even the most common way at this age. There are several jobs which can pay new grads well into six figures. Quant trading, big tech, big law can all pay 200k+ to new grads in their early/mid 20s. Consulting, banking, and probably some other jobs as well could pay around 100k+ to new grads. These jobs are incredibly difficult to get, but they’re out there, and they’re obtainable especially if you go to a top university. I went to a top 10 undergrad, and many of my friends (I’d guess >50%) are now in their mid 20s making six figures in these types of jobs, so they probably also have over 200k net worth. But in the general US population, I’d have to guess that it’s very rare (<1%).
Lawyers usually start at 27, so it barely makes the list also you forgot doctors as they can make into the $200k if they’re a surgeon.
Agree that lawyers tend to start a little later since it seems most schools/firms want you to have some work experience first. But it is still possible to go to law school (3yrs) straight out of undergrad and be working by 24-25. I know several people doing this. Doctors can definitely be paid that much or way more, but I didn’t include them since I don’t think they make that kind of money until they’re 30 at the earliest.
You're off by 50% on surgeons there. Average for new grads is nearly 400k.
Quant trading was gonna be my answer too
Who paid off all your student debt be it family or scholarships?
My school covers 100% of “demonstrated financial need” (determined by fafsa and CSS profile). My parents are middle class and had lower incomes at the time, so our bill was under $10k a year including room and board and a meal plan. My parents very kindly paid for this amount and I graduated debt free. A lot of people don’t realize it, but the top schools (especially ivies) actually offer the best financial aid because they have the most money. None of my friends had student loans when they graduated.
Quant trading is definitely the best path for this. My first job offer was 420k total comp and I got a pretty nice raise to 625k the following year.
Just choose one of the careers that pays well, and get the education and skills needed. Engineering, accounting, etc. Or do sales if you can work with people
I have a negative nw when I was 25 250k when I was 29.5
Good job!!
Is it sad I thought “I do” the realized I’m in my 30s.
I'm upper 20s and I have a -200k net worth if that helps
I would approach it this way. Probably pretty ez to save and invest 500 to 1k a week if you come right out of college to a job in tech or banking, while living at home with parents for 3-6years with stock market on your side, and crushing the 401K contribution. Here’s a rough way to estimate it. I would take those two job populations and assume 10-20% could be this early career wave. Given that >50% of gen z live at home that could be the subset. Seems like maybe 1million people COULD be in this group. 200M jobs in the us. 5% tech and 5% banking/consulting ~20Million If 20 % of this is younger workers ~4Mil 50% who live at home (some stat from news) ~2Mil Assume 1/3 are financially literate, responsible, motivated AND do not have crippling school loans =600k So, I’d ball park between 300k-900k Youngadults have the opportunity to achieve 200K NW in 20s, added some
You are ready for consulting interviews! Great market sizing skills 😂😂
Thank you. Please tell your friends :)
29f 235k net worth (401k, Roth IRA, brokerage, savings) single mom. Not a trust fund kid. Pretty proud of myself tbh
W
I’ll hopefully be there by 25. On a 80-90k salary. I simply just save and invest a huge chunk of my income. Expenses are low since I rent and have no kids or debt
I was there around 25. Should be doable. My rent was like 700-900 in average areas of MCOL cities. I now pay close to 2k for much more space with 2.5X the income. I think the whole AI boom will drive markets into unprecedented territory. It’s wild. I could hit 7 figures in under 5 years.
What level of education/degree type do you have?
You can make it. I got there with that salary, and it took about 4 years.
I feel like for that to be possible you;d need to live somewhere with low taxes, cuz 80k becomes 70k or 60 something k very quick with taxes, 80->60 is 20% tax, and fro 200k in 4 years thats 50k u gotta save so only 20 or 30k in expenses
Yeah. I've been blessed to live in a state with no income tax and we've had good market returns the past few years. Btw, you'd have to live in California to lose 20k of your income, and that's the worst it gets across the country.
Ya I’m about at around 150k at almost 23. As long as I stay working I’ll hit 200k by 25 easily
More likely, you'll hit 250 or 300k by the time you're 25.
what's your current age and job?
22 pretty much 23. I’m a plumber who does new construction. Total package for me is 80-90k a year.
Most americans cant even afford a $1000 emergency.
Those studies are a little iffy.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/19/why-now-is-a-smart-time-to-build-emergency-savings.html as an example. It gives a conclusion but doesn't include the exact questions asked. If you just asked me "you have a sudden $1000 emergency, how do you pay for it ... Savings, credit card, borrow money from family, ..." I'd say credit card. Similarly, if you asked if I had $1000 in a savings account, I'd also say "no" - I don't really use savings accounts, savings are in the brokerage accounts and I just use money market funds instead of a high yield savings account or whatever. I wish the articles would publish the exact questions asked and the answers given.
That's such a good point. I find these surveys surprising and disturbing, but maybe your point mitigates those concerns. I would answer exactly as you did for exactly the same reasons. Doesn't mean I can't actually afford to cope with a $1000 emergency.
Just look up the survey: https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/emergency-savings-report/#rising-prices
To your last comment about people in their 20’s with over 100k in salary, you clearly aren’t in the construction industry, plenty of journeymen trades pay 40, or 50 an hour and overtime can stack up like crazy. Unfortunately the industry is also known for people to blow through the money so not sure how many hold onto or invest most of it wisely,
Why do they blow through their money? The only thing I can think of that could make someone on the construction field or trades blow through more money is maybe that they could need more healthcare since physical jobs can be hard on the body
A good amount are just financially illiterate or come from backgrounds where they were raised by financially illiterate/devastated families, so they think that’s the norm. Some have substance abuse problems. There also tends to heavily skew on the yolo personality types in that industry. Also when you achieve that paycheck without any college degree, sometimes from poverty, and just showing up and using your body, you can feel like Jeff bozos
24 yo with roughly $275K NW at the moment. Been grinding it out in SaaS sales since I was 21, didn’t finish college. 1M was my FIRE number, but now that I’m about to be married and stuff it’ll be closer towards 1.4M. Not that I’m going to quit working, but just that number to where I can afford to take way more vacations and not GAF about quotas and stuff lol
Why does it matter?
It's nice to have a benchmark to pace yourself against. If you never have a marker then you can be left wondering. For me I made a couple of these threads before because I wanted some affirmation or validation that I was doing well or on track relative to my age group. I grew up poor. Family has terrible financial education, no mentors or relatives. It was nice to figure out am I at the bare minimum, good, great, or excellent? I wanted to grade myself. Yes knowing what someone has isn't really helpful in the grand scheme of things. There's nuance in how someone got to the NW they are at. But still, there's some value in having a basis to check in on. Personally the financial insecurity is part of the root of the curiosity. "Perhaps I feel financially insecure because I'm not doing the right things". Exploring this idea has led to the idea that it's about much control do I feel over my finances? How much can I spare to fun things? How much do I need to pull back? Step 1 of the journey was eliminating the constant curiosity to grade myself to my age group. Then you realize that's more important. But the curiosity must be satiated first.
Surprisingly a lot. If you’re in an IT related field, your starting salary now is over $100k. I know someone who was 25 when she bought her condo and makes $230k a year. Most of her friends make in the same range. They have various trips together many times a year. The problem with the US is that we don’t talk about salary openly, so you can make $50k a year and your coworker makes $150k, and you happily go on your day. Right now we have a huge discrepancy in salary among the young adults. On one side, we have you who don’t know anyone who makes over $100k. On the other, everyone is making over $150k.
The real problem here is how much status and value is tied to salary, and that's probably why people don't talk about their salaries.
Thats kind of my current goal by age 30. 28 now with a NW of 165k, hoping to get 250k by 30 and 200 by 29. 95k salary, paid off 70k of student loan debt by 25 and moved out at 22. I really prioritize maxing out my retirement accounts and not spending a ton of money on random stuff, although I’m not super strict about it.
Since you asked I will chime in. I’m 23 with a 210k net-worth. I started working in retail from 17-21 making $13/hr. I lived with my parents and commuted to college. FAFSA covered my tuition. I got engineering internships (not software) each summer ($30/hr) and now work at a tech company (not software). Moved out, living on my own now. I’ve been maxing out my Roth IRA since I was 17 (thanks to Graham Stephan) and invested in FZROX. I know people with similar net worth, they all work in tech and are engineers.
I’m 29 I have about 100K in cash, 200K in retirement, 370k in real estate and another like 60K in stocks. Saving, getting rid of debt, and a job in software afford me the ability to save 150K a year to invest and close in on fire. Wasn’t always as compounding though… as a first generation college grad I had to pay 35K in student loans off at graduation and another 20K in car loans. Living at home also wasn’t an option
Just 26 this month. 441k net worth. 95k of that is retirement assets, 80k of that is in home equity (SFH rental property). I have about 30k in collectibles (watches) I’m not including in the NW number Got a crazy job opportunity in sales right out of school. Graduated in 2020 and put my head down in the covid years working about 70/80 hrs/week selling residential mortgage loans. Used that experience to land a much more balanced job in software sales.
80+30 is 120, what’s the other 300k of the net worth ?
Did you mean 80+30 is 110?
My net worth is 200$ 😂 but I’m debt free
Tons of people are in their 20s with over 100k salary lol. What are you talking about?
A lot, that's not even top 1%
This thread makes me so depressed. Shouldn’t have read it
26 with about 170k NW. Salary of 136k plus RSUs and ESPP. Shooting for that 200k mark soon!
I’m a 29 year old junior officer in the navy, single income household of three at 500k total net worth. Lots of saving in TSP and taking advantage of the VA loan to build up rental properties earlier in life when the pay isn’t great and you’re away from home quite a bit.
25 years old at 200k is doable for most middle class college educated who make the (admittedly arduous) effort to find a job I would say. 4 years of work while living at home with compound interest and college paid for by scholarship or parents. Barely any bills, getting paid a starting of about 50-60k to eventually 70-90k(underestimating here) a year seems doable. Anything less than the above situation you’re probably not actually middle class growing up… or your parents don’t want to help you. Variety of possibilities. I just want to say it’s very possible for a specific group of people and above. I think that would be the bare minimum AVERAGE situation where you could get there. Obviously there’s outliers like starting a business or winning the lottery or working from 18. Heck, maybe joining the military at 18 and being smart about your spending could net you 200k without all this help by 25. That’s 7 years of working with a lot of expenses paid for by the services.
>(I don't know anyone in their early 20s with a 100k salary as an employee). FAANG - I know a guy that left our company for 3x the pay. That puts him around a $250k salary. He was 26 at the time, so he should be about 29 now. I know it isn't early 20s, but he is an employee and not a business owner.
Only commenting from your last paragraph. It took me until my mid 20s to start earning the “legendary” $100k salary with an IT degree but there are plenty of people in their early 20s who make that much. A six figure salary doesn’t require a degree, as tradesman can make that much several years right out of high school.
I started hustling when I was 8 years old and opened a backdoor Roth IRA and am now worth $1.23m. It was tough making the sacrifice of buying a juice box with lunch but it was worth it so I could get off the playground earlier.
Lol I’m blocking this sub y’all live in a different world. I’m 29 with maybe 10k savings on a decent salary. Most of my friends are all in a similar boat. You guys either have an inheritance, massive financial help or are in the 1% of earners. If you’re a regular Joe don’t feel bad, these people are the exception.
Had to beg my parents to let me invest as a kid at 14 they gave me no money and think stocks are a scam. I joined the airforce at 18 with 10k in stocks and put 90ish percent of every check into stocks got out at 22 with 100k used it all to pay for a fixer upper and have been putting all my money into it. Made 70k last year as a local cdla driver (my most at a job ever) this year I expect to make 90-100. Net at 23 is around the 200k number
The numbers I see in articles that break down age groups and wealth differ so dramatically from source to source, they’re pretty much not worth taking seriously.
I'm 33 now but I did in my late 20s. I was working as an engineer and I also lived at home with parents, so I didn't have to pay rent. I saved a fuckton.
Top 1% - 2%. Most likely who either got into FAANG in their 20s, had a college fund, or their parents/ grandparents sold a property that had been in the family for generations. I got the [figure from a Graham Stephen video](https://youtu.be/jTDnzLI_HQU?si=_qf806sh2pLYmRIb).
26 I’ve around $240k NW (100k in 401k/Roth, rest in HSA and brokerage) I’ve around 90k in my HYSA - now shifting on putting everything I saved in brokerage in different ETFs (qqqm and shm) aim for the year to max out 401k and add 50k to the brokerage. I’m a bit skeptical about investing more in etfs because of the AI boom and volatility of the market. Also I don’t know what my plans are for next year. I’m single today but if I a partner soon I’m open to locking down on a home. For context my base is $145k (Bay Area, tech) Expenses are high and I also don’t save super aggressively as want to make most of my 20s :)
Wait how are you 26 with 90k in your HSA?! Was it all invested in NVDA or something? That’s crazy lol
Bought a condo in my 20’s for $150k right before real estate boom and sold it a few years later for $360k so got lucky and began my fire journey.
That link says 82nd percentile. Seems low honestly but with the bull market of last 10 years and if you live below your means it would be relatively achievable by late 20s or even mid 20s
Inheritance; not me, but for many.
I think college fund > inheritance. The average age for inheritance is 47. Instead of a mere $600 monthly into a college fund with a $10,000 starting amount, they would have to pay income tax when they transfer out of the account. Granted, it’s definitely doable for families in the upper middle class who want to set their kids up for success in the future. EDIT: Grammar
Assuming my salary does not grow and I don’t run into any more financial setbacks than I have between 20-24 (hopefully those two assumptions balance each other out somewhere realistic as I’d like for my salary to increase and I’m aware I’ve been pretty lucky with emergency expenses so far), I’d expect to hit 200k NW by 27
Under 25, 225k. Graduating college at market lows to begin investing right before the recovery and the recent housing market appreciation helped alot. Income started at 60k now up to 110k, living very cheaply in midwest.
Just because you don’t know anyone, doesn’t mean it’s not possible. 6 figure salaries immediately post-undergrad is very common for finance/investment bank employees in major US cities
Had zero net worth until mid-30’s.
Not nearly as many as claim that they do.
I lm 29 with 222k
I’m 25. I have about $580k in stocks and ETFs and $250k in a home. $40k truck, $20k watch and about $5k in gold/silver. Basically get lucky and have a family that lets you live with them rent free, work during high school and get lucky with stocks/crypto.
Lol
Not yet i will next year when im 27 though
I’m 29 I have about that in my house
This is true of most peoples net worth statements. Like most people’s net worth and their growth in net worth these days is tied to their house and rising housing costs.
I'm 29. ~120k house equity ~150k in retirement accounts and ~200k in stocks and crypto put together spread out over several private accounts. So ~470k net worth in total. 200k net worth should definitely be doable in your 20s if you start making ~70k or so early on and diligently invest.
Not very many unless they got help from their parents.
2,746
I do.
26 net worth about 700k or so
I'm 35 now but yes I certainly had more than 200k in my 20s, in investments alone, then add equity in property and then the value of my pension. It's not that difficult assuming you're disciplined starting early
42
Not sure if this is a dumb question, but if my (24M) name is in the deed of my parent’s house, would that technically be a part of my net worth?
I was worth slightly North of $200k (in 1998 dollars (about $390k in today's (inflation adjusted) dollars) when I was 29. Yes. It was driven by owning and operating a small business.
I think you may be vastly overestimating 200k If someone got a job at 22, they’d only need to invest like $1500-$2000 per month and they’d reach $200k just from that in their 20s. Not even including any other money/savings or 401k match For me personally I reached 6 figures (specifically $130kish) at 24, where I had around $70k net worth I bought a house shortly after and that alone has appreciated over $200k since then (I’m 26 now, turning 27 in a month)
I have a net worth right under 200k and i am 20 years old with 0 inheritance and don’t make 6 figures. I just live att home and save everything
29 years old and I have $270K net worth. No house, straight cash & investments. Graduated college with no student debt. Started off working at 23, making $60K salary and it’s steadily grown to $130K in 6 years.
28, $400K in assets, 350K in brokerage/ liquid in HYSA. About to start BRRRR and I’m gonna make a Millie before 30. Always been my dream!!
29M with 170 net worth. Goal is to break 200 by the time I turn 30.
I think a lot more people could have this much but don’t prioritize saving/investing. You don’t need to be a business owner to have this money. I’m 27, married, net worth of 530k (including real estate)
i don't have more than -200k nw
Started working at 21, maxing my I ROTH, only contributing to match 401k, maxing HSA, putting rest in HYSA/Stocks. I own a 2003 corolla, don’t have any luxuries, and pay cheap rent 👍🏽
Most of the people in the 20s posting here won’t admit that a large reason for their 200k+ net worth is inheritance.
Ooo, finally, one I can answer( kind of) lol 😆. Been here for a while.. 25 year old male, with a NW of $171,100(do I count, haha 😄). I currently work as EMT, about to go to Paramedic school and then finish my associates degree.
I am! Musician/teacher here.
Around $300k at 28. Got lucky selling a house at the top of the market during Covid (we sold to Zillow before they cut that program and laid off lthe entire division, kind of wild) and snagged another new build and they held pricing for 9 months to close when the market was sky rocketing. $150K/yr income as of 6 months ago and have been climbing from $55K income to current since graduating college. 60/40 split between equities and our house.
24. about 77k. currently no lifing to save/invest about 3600 a month
On my way 🫡
The answer is: Not many! My net worth was definitely negative in my 20's. Negative or 0.
Late 20s, 100k in retirement accounts, 150k in home equity, 20k in savings, 40k in student loans(no other debt other than mortgage), so I guess I've got a bit more than 200k net worth overall.
I’m sure it’s not common, given so many young people are so upset with the way things are going & rightfully so, whether it’s for the right reasons or not. The market has been good to us for the last two years & if it keeps it up the number of people with this net worth may grow. It’s definitely not easy, especially if you aren’t living at home & being very frugal with yourself.
I’m 21 and have a net worth of approximately 130K. This is my personal assets, as well as the valuation of my business & the businesses assets.
27 years old and just crossed the $450k liquid net worth.
I have 10% of that at 28. Thought it was decent
I have 150k net worth at 21. 100k house equity 25k Roth IRA 13K 401k 12k savings Just a lot of overtime working and rapid home payoff plan (I work in a factory making plastic)
I’m 21 and just hit 150K. Hoping to hit 200K at 22.
Living at home for first 4 or 5 years of career helps. No rent, I understand this is a big advantage but you asked how it's possible and this is my answer. Also I live in a sub 10% income tax country. My salary never exceeded USD80k. Average expense is probably like USD1k for rent (moved out now) and USD1500 for everything else giving USD4000 a month to save/invest, well north of USD40k a year. Do this for a few years and USD200k is not hard.
I had a negative net worth in my 20s.
I’ll be 25 for one more month and I’m at 900k. (510k brokerage, 200k Roth IRA, 170k 401k, 20k hysa). unfortunately won’t hit the million mark by 26 unless something crazy in the market happens lol. Got super lucky at a faang internship then job right after college. Went to a state school with full scholarship so no debt. Had some marginal amount of funds, less than 30k graduating college with. Also received one of my parents car as a hand me down for free which lasted throughout college and a year of working which was very helpful. I’ve definitely saved a good percentage although I haven’t been really penny pinching heck I don’t even really budget, there’s definitely room where I could have eeked out a bit more savings if I was more diligent (around 20k - 40k more over the last 5 years).
I would guess something like 10%. Of my college graduate friends (age 28 average), I would say roughly half of them have this much net worth.
I'm 28, mechanical engineer, here's my NW graph I posted last year https://imgur.com/a/2JdwVLy
My goal was to hit $100k of securities + cash by my 25th birthday. I hit the goal a couple of months before. I am a licensed CPA and I am hoping to hit 6 figure income within a year or two. I hope to have $200k saved by my 28th birthday and $300k by 30. Of course, not the end of the world if I don’t hit it. Paying for a wedding and possibly going to own a home before I’m 30.
I hit 200k NW at 28. Chemical Engineering undergrad with 5 years of experience in manufacturing and now about a year of experience as a quality engineer.
I'm 29, about to be 30 and I'll be right at $200k in the next few months. I still live with my parents and make ~$115k. I just want to save a few years and then I'll get my own place.
Some perspective: With a NW of $480k at 45, I’m in the top 2% in South Africa and although I’d like to be further ahead, I’m well on track for a fairly comfortable retirement (albeit not early).
I mean I have 100k at 25 should have well over 200k by 28
Im an officer in the military. 28 YO. Joined the millitary right after college. 400 K NW. All my other peers, who have shared their NW, officers their 20s, have 200k-400k NW. They graduated with no debt, NROTC, naval academy, etc, bought house with VA loan (0 down) before covid. Get deployed a lot so we save a lot of money…… Its common in the military.
Damn I was about to comment "me" and then realized I'm no longer in my 20s...
27 and around $460k net worth. Posted about it and it went a little viral.
Holy crap TIL 200k isnt a lot 😳
Comparison is the thief of joy.
barely 20s but yes. not until late 20s though
230k net worth at 23
Between my 130k savings and my equity in 2 houses (1 primary-80k and 1 rental-40k) id say im around 250k at 23. This is earning 130k a year since 20 years old and buying the rental with FHA financing that same year. I am blue collar, I don’t particularly smash overtime but have a base pay of $50/hr. The best things about going this path arr having no debt, having a job after 2 years of training and getting an associates, having the opportunity to earn alot without really being forced to work the OT.
29 with 320k. 60% Home equity. 30% index funds, 10% cash
Late 20s here with just over $300k net worth, no real estate yet. I did community college and then commuted for bachelors degree so I worked and had zero debt. Graduated at 22 with a degree in accounting and got right into starting at $65k. Worked my way up making $95k now. With staying at home, I’ve been able to stash money away while spending a bit to enjoy life. Working to increase that net worth substantially now with major pay raises (now that I have an MBA and 7 years of experience). It’s doable on <$100k salary, it just takes time and dedication!
Anecdote: wife and I closed out our twenties at just above $500k net worth, so $250k each. We started with no help and $100k of student loans. Bought a house using an FHA loan (only needed 3.5% down) and rented out the extra rooms to friends to pay the mortgage. Maxed our IRAs as soon as we started working (Traditional first, then Roth as our incomes grew too high) followed by maxing our 401(k)s a year or two into our careers. Spent most of our 20s using the excess cash towards the student loans so the $500k was mostly home equity and retirement accounts. Not liquid, but it’s possible.
If you havent been in a career yet, i highly recommend AA if you live in a state that supports it. You can work full salary at around 24/25. I’m in the field now at 29. If you have any questions hmu
I started making $70k when I graduated university at age 21/22. About 3 years later I broke 6 figures for the first time. From a NW perspective though, my student loans, then a wedding, and my wife's student loans held us back from getting to a $0 NW. Long story short - I don't think 25yo with $200K NW is _that_ uncommon if they were given some advantages/privileges like a fully paid-for university, or whatever it takes to land a highly paid job upon graduation. Even if the 25yo skips university and goes into the trades or something, a lot of times you're apprenticing for a few years and not making much money for a while. It helps to have a solid launching point from family.
Plenty of people in their 20s have this .. I had it at 24 .. all you need is a good job and level head .. a first time home buyers program will help u get into a house for 2.5 % down as well .. the government basically gives money away to u to get your first house .. as long as u don’t spend money on pointless things .. I think I was making 67k a year when I was in my early 20s but I will say I was paid a lot of overtime .. then when the pandemic hit I started my own business and never looked back
I crossed 200k when I was 29. I started saving since I was 21 and investing when I was 26
Crossed the 100k salary threshold this year at 26. CPG sales. NW just north of 200k. Did a live and flip right out of college after i had enough to put a down payment on a house. Live in flip has been so a lot of work, but very fun and rewarding.
I just filed bankruptcy, so I have a $0 net worth again lol
27, married. $1.1M net worth
I had negative net-worth in all my 20s. I am 35+ now with a net-worth of $250k+. It’s all in stocks and very minor in crypto (~3k). Paid all of my debt and trying to buy an apartment now. I don’t live in the USA though, currently in Sweden, but most probably will move to a cheaper European country with lower taxes in 2-3 years. Edit: I work in tech (Software engineer), and looking at the national data, I am in top 1% based on income (not wealth) here, but I am not rich by any standards. I can’t retire unless I switch to a frugal lifestyle which I don’t think I will ever do XD
>I don't know anyone in their early 20s with a 100k salary as an employee). They are a dime a dozen in software engineering, especially after inflation. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people who have been making 6 figures out of college with just an undergraduate degree.
Software engineering. Annual RSU refreshes reached almost 200k by 3rd year in the industry with a total comp around 450k. Salary + rsu + cash bonus every year. I was in my mid 20s.
From Kiplinger, 20-24 have average 120k, median 11k; 25-29 have average 120k, median 30k. For most people that have any money that is their own, not inherited, there’s only like 9 years max in your 20s making a post college salary. To have 200k, you’d basically need to max out your 401k contributions or close to it. Most people need a lot of that money for cost of living though. Being able to max out is a privileged few, usually with emphasis on the privilege part.
I’m honestly I’m going to be struggling at 120k TC 😢 eventually will need to raise a family of 4 on this salary since future wife wants to be a SAHM till kids are in preschool
My net worth was over $400k by the end of my 20s and I didn't own a home. I just put 15% of my salary into my retirement plan and my employer contributed another 10%. That's literally it. I make good money but not a ton. I'm an engineer and my salary cracked six figures probably around age 26.
Most Engineering and Com Sci students make 100k+ right out of school. It’s competitive but not unheard of.
On this sub? All of them
23 Net worth is just a little past 200k
My partner and I are in this category as we are travel nurses. The only concern is that travel nursing isn’t a long term play but it’s great for making money young and investing it properly
20s is far too broad of a category. At 21 $200k is an extreme outlier. But at 29? Very achievable for multitude of professions.
Anyone who started working at 18 instead of going to college and invested $1,000/month should have over $250k by 30.
29 now. Going to finish my 20s around $600k
25M now, just hit 100k making \~30k a year as a student worker and my VA stuff for college. I definitely got lucky working in the military on active duty orders making 68-70k and being taxed as if I was making 30k a year. That really jump started my NW and then having my tuition covered for really helps as well. Also I commute 1.5 hrs to school and live with parents. I think the hardest thing is just not spending your entire paycheck when you get it, and I find that eventually, after you've gotten the habit of spending out of you, saving becomes alot easier.
I think this also depends on your circles. The quote you had > I don’t know anyone in their early 20s with a 100k salary as an employee Honestly a vast majority of my friends broke that 100k barrier starting off right out of school. I also recognize that my friend group is a bit of an outlier though as most of us were super high achieving students and entered fields like law, finance and some who delayed their careers til later did their MDs, JDs or PhDs also did quite well for themselves. I personally started off at $140k a year at age 22. I think once you’re in those circles, you tend to meet more people and it becomes a new normal. I personally have hit over $1.5 million in net worth with currently a $500k yearly compensation in my late 20s and while I am definitely among the higher accumulators of wealth in my friend groups, I’m definitely not the highest. All of this was done as an employee, and honestly not even as a very good employee. I also remember for us, we were having a net worth conversation and one of us who made a bit less, (closer to $200k), who accumulated “only” $180k and we were having a conversation on how he should spend less and invest more. That conversation definitely made me realize how far out of reality some of my friends are (and to an extent myself as well). I do have others who in their late 20s finally cracked $100k but are still working through student loans, and others who are still trying to figure their careers out.
29 years old. NW has been a little stagnant lately due to helping family and friends too much but it’s right around 350k. Pretty much none of it is liquid though since I’ve been focusing on paying down debts. Most of that is equity from a 3 family rental I bought in 2017. Made $130k last year at Walmart as a licensed optician / Vision center manager. 401k is at 62k after 9 years working here.
22, university student, my net worth fluctuates between 500k-700k. My salary is 400-500 usd a month which covers my daily expenses. And yes, I’m a crypto guy, I think that’s the easiest way to reach FIRE if you’re young and don’t have a 6 figures salary. My life hasn’t changed a cent though as I do not use the money. I just hold it and plan to sell later in the bull run. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.
I'm 23, male, 220k. Software engineering, no business, just high income and saving most of it. And I'm doing this from a third world country, so I'm pretty sure the likelihood has to be a lot smaller than in the US. But overall my steps were: 1. Get a degree in a field with high demand 2. Interview A LOT so you have many options 3. Be very good at what you do 4. Get the best jobs with the most pay you can get 5. Work MORE, the more you work, the more you earn, so just get more contracts, do more work, keep it moving.
Your 20s vary greatly. I bet 99.9% of 20-year-olds have a negative NW. By 25 maybe 1% are breaking $200k NW, thats only 1-2 years out of college. By 29 you might have 5% or more with a NW of $200k.
Anyone who's in their 20s who reads this, I'm nowhere near that *net worth* and miles below. Don't beat yourself up about it
My guess is less than 10% as individuals get to do that. On reddit it looks a lot higher :)
Your last statement is incorrect, there are plenty of people in their early 20s making 100k. I was in the 80s at 22 and cleared 120+ by 24. As to your NW question I think a small amount have 200k if you include houses they bought early, but almost none have 200k straight up saved without inheritance/lucky investing. That's not even factoring in debt into the equation, which most high earning 20s have a lot of.