We can’t control what others do and we can’t stop misfortune from striking. But we can control our own actions. Those who are financially prudent will most likely enjoy success, even if events don’t always go their way.
Are you wealthy? All it takes is a net worth of 🔸🔸🔸
While refocusing their priorities, Americans have also revised their perspectives on what it takes to be wealthy. Schwab’s survey reveals Americans believe it takes an average $1.9 million in personal net worth to be considered “wealthy” in 2021. While that’s still more than double the actual average net worth of U.S. households1, it’s $700,000 below the bar set for wealth in Schwab’s 2020 survey, which was fielded before the pandemic outbreak.
Survey respondents also lowered the bar for what it takes to achieve “financial happiness” and to be “financially comfortable” in 2021:
When I was young and just graduated from high school in 1974, my friends and I were convinced that if you had $1 million you were rich. Today it would take over $6 million to buy what $1 million could purchase in 1974. So, we are all poorer today because of inflation.
Interesting. I wonder whether those numbers reflect nominal or real dollars. That is, if we are talking about “real” purchasing power, the decline from $934 (in 2020 dollars) to $624 (in today’s dollars) is actually a decline from $1+MM (in purchasing power) to $624 today.
Richard, this is also a symptom of “vox populi” scientific results found on the Web. Ask a simple question and get a simple answer. The right answer, of course, takes a lot of personal reflection of how long I think I’ll live, how much I will need to spend each year, and my risk tolerance. And I’ll consider myself wealthy as long as I have my wife by my side.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
When I was young and just graduated from high school in 1974, my friends and I were convinced that if you had $1 million you were rich. Today it would take over $6 million to buy what $1 million could purchase in 1974. So, we are all poorer today because of inflation.
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Interesting. I wonder whether those numbers reflect nominal or real dollars. That is, if we are talking about “real” purchasing power, the decline from $934 (in 2020 dollars) to $624 (in today’s dollars) is actually a decline from $1+MM (in purchasing power) to $624 today.
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Richard, this is also a symptom of “vox populi” scientific results found on the Web. Ask a simple question and get a simple answer. The right answer, of course, takes a lot of personal reflection of how long I think I’ll live, how much I will need to spend each year, and my risk tolerance. And I’ll consider myself wealthy as long as I have my wife by my side.
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That’s what a market decline does for the attitudes toward accumulating wealth. It suddenly shrinks and therefore a smaller amount is needed.
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