Charles Schwab’s annual Modern Wealth Survey tells us that a “wealthy” person has an average of $2.3M, or “twenty times the actual median net worth of US households.”
Of course, the older one becomes, the more money one needs “to be wealthy.” Take a look at the amounts one needs at each age to “be” wealthy:
- Gen Zers – $1.5M
- Millennials – $1.9M
- Gen Xers – $2.5M
- Boomers – $2.6M
In addition to defining wealth by dollar amounts, Schwab’s annual Modern Wealth Survey indicated that the majority of Americans “crave” real estate. Fifty percent of the survey respondents said they would buy a place to live if they were to get a windfall of $1M.
Millennials were the most enthusiastic about purchasing a home and 60% of those who don’t yet have but want a home are not worried about being able to buy one. Why? Because they plan on becoming wealthy in 1-10 years.
Asked if they would become wealthy in their lifetimes, 20% of Millennials said, “No,” 46% of Gen Xers said, “No,” and 64% of Boomers said, “No.”
All this talking about, thinking about and responding to a survey about wealth flies in the face of the fact that 59% of Americans say they live paycheck to paycheck.
An interesting section of this annual Modern Wealth Survey is that Schwab suggests a strategy of ignoring social media in order to become wealthy. As overspending is the largest “bad” influence on how people manage their money, this strategy flies in the face of reality as well.
The fact is that US banks are now seeing losses on credit cards outpace losses on auto and home loans “at a rate not seen in at least 10 years.” Plus, social media’s influence on overspending is only going to grow.
One example of such growing influences on overspending from social media is Instagram’s new shopping feature called Checkout. All users have to do is see what they want on Instagram and then instantly buy it directly within the Instagram app. No waiting. No having to go to another website. Just see, click and buy.
Wonder how old these Instagram buyers will be and whether or not Instagram buyers of any age will “be” wealthy.
