What was / is your Net Worth at 25?

[Gondolin]

~125k on the day I turned 26. ~180k if I include SO NW.

[wing117]

Beginning of age 25 I was negative ~$8,000. That was the year I discovered this site. By the end of it, I had saved, sold off cars, paid off debts and wound up having a net worth of about $10,000. 25 was a rough year.

[Undecided]

Adjusted to current dollars, negative $168,000.

[aspiringnomad]

Didn't keep financial records back then, but remember distinctly that i was dating someone a couple years younger who was super impressed that I'd managed to save up 17k at the time (think it came up because I was wondering out loud whether I should get in on the great real estate bubble). Netting out my student loans, which were really just graduate school living and boozing expenses, and my net worth was close to 0. A lot can change in a decade - I don't necessarily feel much older, but do feel a bit wiser and a hell of a lot more financially secure now.

[erae]

At 25, I was a Peace Corps volunteer earning (and spending) US$270/month and probably had 8-12k to my name, split evenly between a Roth IRA and my savings account. Bless my young heart, I wasn't earning nearly anything in my 20's but I could stretch a dollar much farther than my current-day, high-earning, 30-something complainypants self.

[ooeei]

$35-45k.  I made the mistake of deleting my old 401k account in Mint when I rolled it over, so I lost the old data for it.  Thus I have to estimate based on the graphs, and it's not exact.

[Frugalman19]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

[TheAnonOne]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

Why would you be so negative?

Personally, I went to school for software at 18 and found a job writing software while doing school around 19. Buy a house at 21 when I finally graduated.

By 22-3 i was making low 6 figures as a senior developer when I left that to go independent as a contractor.

I had a 6ish year career by 25 and a nw around 300ish. I had student loans that I paid back myself of around 60k.

Common? No. But I personally have peers in a similar situation AND people on this forum are hardly 'typical'

A more 'apples to apples' question might be, "what nw @ 5th year of career".

Lighten up.

[J Boogie]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

I don't think it's good to assume these people didn't earn their 100k.

 There are plenty of people here who went to college on scholarship, maybe did PSEO in the senior year of school, graduated debt free or nearly when they were 21, had an internship and kept on, lived with their parents for a while, saving up for a house, and after 4 years making $50-80k had been able to save up that much.

I sure as hell didn't, I'm 30 with a ~80k net worth, and when I was 25 my NW was probably a couple hundred bucks.  But I've seen many of my less adventurous/more diligent peers go this route and I wouldn't be all that surprised if they had 100k in NW by age 25.

[Rotax]

Mine net worth was about 20k half of which was equity I had in a property. Later during the housing decline, I'm sure my net worth went way negative and then came back years later. Feels like it can definitely flow in cycles depending on where your money is held.

[lkc4863]

I'm 25 now (and single) - $37k. I had a NW of about $50 when I graduated college in 2013, saved up about $4k that first year and immediately spent it all when I lost a job a year later. For the last two years I've been earning $37k annually (I'm a writer, pay is low across the board) and saving 50% of it (discovered MMM about a month into getting that job).

It's not a huge number, but it's enough that it allowed me to quit that job a couple weeks ago and move to a new city with the confidence that I would be fine for as long as it took to find a new position. The peace of mind of being able to live off some freelancing income and savings while I look for the perfect job fit is huge! Plus, I've found that I'm very happy at an annual spend rate of less than $20k, so hoping that my income will increase and I can bump up my savings percentage.

[Frugalman19]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

Why would you be so negative?

Personally, I went to school for software at 18 and found a job writing software while doing school around 19. Buy a house at 21 when I finally graduated.

By 22-3 i was making low 6 figures as a senior developer when I left that to go independent as a contractor.

I had a 6ish year career by 25 and a nw around 300ish. I had student loans that I paid back myself of around 60k.

Common? No. But I personally have peers in a similar situation AND people on this forum are hardly 'typical'

A more 'apples to apples' question might be, "what nw @ 5th year of career".

Lighten up.

Not being negative, simply stating facts, im not at all talking negatively about those who have accumulated that NW by 25. Im actually trying to be positive to those that arent there. I am simply stating that if you are reading this and you're getting discouraged because you weren't there, dont.

You cannot argue that more than likely if someone has a NW of over $100,000 by age 25, they were given it, or given an amazing head start. You do realize that you are the complete exception to the norm, even by mustachian standards. 99% of students dont graduate and start out at over $100,000+, it just doesn't happen very often. I worked in the career center at my university, so I have alot of experience in this area. I can say that I never once, out of 100s of graduates saw someone start at over $100k, maybe a few graduate students, but they were all 25+.

Hence my last sentence, im not saying it doesnt happen, im saying that it is very rare.

Good for you btw, you're killing it.

[TheAnonOne]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

Why would you be so negative?

Personally, I went to school for software at 18 and found a job writing software while doing school around 19. Buy a house at 21 when I finally graduated.

By 22-3 i was making low 6 figures as a senior developer when I left that to go independent as a contractor.

I had a 6ish year career by 25 and a nw around 300ish. I had student loans that I paid back myself of around 60k.

Common? No. But I personally have peers in a similar situation AND people on this forum are hardly 'typical'

A more 'apples to apples' question might be, "what nw @ 5th year of career".

Lighten up.

Not being negative, simply stating facts, im not at all talking negatively about those who have accumulated that NW by 25. Im actually trying to be positive to those that arent there. I am simply stating that if you are reading this and you're getting discouraged because you weren't there, dont.

You cannot argue that more than likely if someone has a NW of over $100,000 by age 25, they were given it, or given an amazing head start. You do realize that you are the complete exception to the norm, even by mustachian standards. 99% of students dont graduate and start out at over $100,000+, it just doesn't happen very often. I worked in the career center at my university, so I have alot of experience in this area. I can say that I never once, out of 100s of graduates saw someone start at over $100k, maybe a few graduate students, but they were all 25+.

Hence my last sentence, im not saying it doesnt happen, im saying that it is very rare.

Good for you btw, you're killing it.

Ah, sorry for coming off as harsh. The original post seemed a bit negative but obviously unintentionally so.

FYI, I started in the 30k zone, but was only a sophomore. By the time I graduated, I had 3 years of experience and yes, over 100k income but, I didn't start at that. The overlap in my college years and career is a bit confusing from a timeline perspective.

[Frugalman19]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

I don't think it's good to assume these people didn't earn their 100k.

 There are plenty of people here who went to college on scholarship, maybe did PSEO in the senior year of school, graduated debt free or nearly when they were 21, had an internship and kept on, lived with their parents for a while, saving up for a house, and after 4 years making $50-80k had been able to save up that much.

I sure as hell didn't, I'm 30 with a ~80k net worth, and when I was 25 my NW was probably a couple hundred bucks.  But I've seen many of my less adventurous/more diligent peers go this route and I wouldn't be all that surprised if they had 100k in NW by age 25.

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

This is such a unique situation too, never in my life besides right now, would I even have anything to say about someone who I knew was 25 and knew that they have over $100k. It just because of this forum that the question presents itself. And if you werent rocking it at 25, dont get discouraged and dont feel like you were behind if you didnt have $100k. I would say if you were simply debt free at 25 you were miles ahead of the norm.

[Cathy]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

I'm surprised you've been reading this forum for at least a year, and you still believe this.

If you were born in the United States, and you wish to do so, it's generally not difficult to save $100,000 at or before age 25, especially if you are privileged enough to have had a stable partnership, as many of the respondents profess to have had. Seriously, you have 8 years between the start of age 18 and the end of age 25. You only need to save $12,500 per year to reach $100,000 by age 25. You could do that at a job that doesn't even require a formal education, especially with the assistance of a partner or partners.

The issue here is, in large part, one of choices, and sacrifices. Many people choose to live close to family even in a city without jobs, or choose to spend their money on what they consider at the time to be fun and entertainment, or choose to learn to drive and buy a car, or choose to get a degree that isn't considered valuable by the invisible hand of the free market, or choose to go to a school that is more expensive than is economically justifiable. Those are choices. They might even be good choices depending on the person's needs and desires in life. And since they might be good choices, I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with not having saved much money by age 25. I seriously have no judgment for people who haven't saved money by that age. The choices could have been, and may have been, valid. There's not necessarily anything to feel bad about.

But let's not conflate choices with actual difficulty. For the vast majority of people born in the United States, if they had wanted to have $100,000 in net worth by the end of age 25, and had made their choices accordingly, they could have done it. They just chose to make different decisions than the ones that would lead to that result. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. But let's not act like it's some impossible feat to save money by age 25. It's not.

If you aren't willing to make the sacrifices necessary to save money by an early age, that's your call, but it doesn't mean it's out of reach.

[Saskatchewstachian]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

I don't think it's good to assume these people didn't earn their 100k.

 There are plenty of people here who went to college on scholarship, maybe did PSEO in the senior year of school, graduated debt free or nearly when they were 21, had an internship and kept on, lived with their parents for a while, saving up for a house, and after 4 years making $50-80k had been able to save up that much.

I sure as hell didn't, I'm 30 with a ~80k net worth, and when I was 25 my NW was probably a couple hundred bucks.  But I've seen many of my less adventurous/more diligent peers go this route and I wouldn't be all that surprised if they had 100k in NW by age 25.

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

This is such a unique situation too, never in my life besides right now, would I even have anything to say about someone who I knew was 25 and knew that they have over $100k. It just because of this forum that the question presents itself. And if you werent rocking it at 25, dont get discouraged and dont feel like you were behind if you didnt have $100k. I would say if you were simply debt free at 25 you were miles ahead of the norm.

One other thing to remember is that not all people posting will be from the USA. Post-secondary education is significantly cheaper in other countries which allows people to get into high paying professions without racking up insane amounts of student debt.
I.e. All tuition for my entire engineering degree came out to $26.6k. Couple that with working over the summer to earn a bit of money and a year off on internship to build up the bank account as well as solid tax returns each year for being a student and it was definitely possible to leave school here with no debt.

Other mention is that have a S.O. contributing to the NW is a major help. Being able to split the already low COL experienced immediately after school coupled with decent wages it's possible to see NW shoot up for a bit.

[Zikoris]

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

For the general population, sure - but for a niche group of people shooting to retire in their 30s, who skew heavily towards very high paying jobs? More likely to have earned it, I would think.

[Zoot]

NW at 25 was about -$3K.

NW today is ~$880K (including home equity).

[Frugalman19]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

I'm surprised you've been reading this forum for at least a year, and you still believe this.

If you were born in the United States, and you wish to do so, it's generally not difficult to save $100,000 at or before age 25, especially if you are privileged enough to have had a stable partnership, as many of the respondents profess to have had. Seriously, you have 8 years between the start of age 18 and the end of age 25. You only need to save $12,500 per year to reach $100,000 by age 25. You could do that at a job that doesn't even require a formal education, especially with the assistance of a partner or partners.

The issue here is, in large part, one of choices, and sacrifices. Many people choose to live close to family even in a city without jobs, or choose to spend their money on what they consider at the time to be fun and entertainment, or choose to learn to drive and buy a car, or choose to get a degree that isn't considered valuable by the invisible hand of the free market, or choose to go to a school that is more expensive than is economically justifiable. Those are choices. They might even be good choices depending on the person's needs and desires in life. And since they might be good choices, I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with not having saved much money by age 25. I seriously have no judgment for people who haven't saved money by that age. The choices could have been, and may have been, valid. There's not necessarily anything to feel bad about.

But let's not conflate choices with actual difficulty. For the vast majority of people born in the United States, if they had wanted to have $100,000 in net worth by the end of age 25, and had made their choices accordingly, they could have done it. They just chose to make different decisions than the ones that would lead to that result. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. But let's not act like it's some impossible feat to save money by age 25. It's not.

If you aren't willing to make the sacrifices necessary to save money by an early age, that's your call, but it doesn't mean it's out of reach.

Very good points, I was not considering the SO in the calculation. In a way, you are only making my point for me. All I said was, that it was totally possible, but it is very rare, which it is. Thats undeniable. I would say reading this forum for a year has made it even more apparent how rare it is.


Its not a matter of belief, its a matter of facts. If you are 25 and you have over $100,000 in the bank, odds are you inherited it, or you were given it.

[Frugalman19]

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

For the general population, sure - but for a niche group of people shooting to retire in their 30s, who skew heavily towards very high paying jobs? More likely to have earned it, I would think.

it is in fact a very rare thing indeed, for a very small niche

[Ganon91]

100k. On course to hit ~130k by 26.

[dude]

This same poll was done a couple years back, IIRC.  At 25, I was more or less barely solvent, with a day-t-day net worth of $500 or so.  By 32, with law school loans and credit card debt (foolishly anticipated those high first-year lawyer wages; didn't happen that way), I was about $90k in the hole.  Today, at 51, I've got a 401k balance @$600k, and a combined net worth with the wife of @$1.4mil, not including the value of a future pension revenue stream.  It's amazing what a difference 25 years can make.

[Cwadda]

I'm now 22 with a net worth of $40k. My goal is to hit $100k by age 25. I'd be ecstatic. I only have a $40k salary but I'm hoping to make it work.

[Zikoris]

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

For the general population, sure - but for a niche group of people shooting to retire in their 30s, who skew heavily towards very high paying jobs? More likely to have earned it, I would think.

it is in fact a very rare thing indeed, for a very small niche

But that small niche, people shooting for really early retirement and highly financially savvy, would include most of the people here on this forum. So given the context, I imagine most people here earned their money.

[MissPiggy]

I'm now 22 with a net worth of $40k. My goal is to hit $100k by age 25. I'd be ecstatic. I only have a $40k salary but I'm hoping to make it work.

Well done! You're doing so well so early and well on your way to FI! Keep it up :)

[TheAnonOne]

I'm now 22 with a net worth of $40k. My goal is to hit $100k by age 25. I'd be ecstatic. I only have a $40k salary but I'm hoping to make it work.

Well done! You're doing so well so early and well on your way to FI! Keep it up :)

Even if you don't increase your salary you could do it. Though, this early in your career your focus should be job hunting and getting that income up. That will ultimately be the biggest life improvement!

[HPstache]

Did not track it at 25, but if I had to make a guess I'd say about $0 net worth.  I had about $20K in student loans and about $20K in my 401K.  Now I am 30 and am over $150K... but it should be higher.

[travelawyer]

Not quite the losingest apparently, at around negative $100k, negative $215k including husband to be, both at the end of law school.  Our current net worth at 33 is $360k.

[Counting_Down]

But that small niche, people shooting for really early retirement and highly financially savvy, would include most of the people here on this forum. So given the context, I imagine most people here earned their money.

Didn't get a full ride scholarship to college out of HS.  Worked really hard in college to get scholarships, each small new one was cumulative resulting in my final 2 yrs of a 4 yr degree being fully funded.  Saved every penny of internships in a technical field.  Paid off debt from first two years before graduating, and by graduation with a bachelors had a positive NW from internships and a high paying job secured.  No inheritance in my numbers.  Am I lucky? Yes.  But it was not given to me.

People with large inheritances at that age are likely not lurking on an early retirement forum.

[Nudelkopf]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt.

I'm currently 25, so this was easy to check.  Networth = $125,000.

I graduated uni at 22 (Maths degree followed by teaching degree). Started off on about $60k per year, now on about $72k.

Shares = +$91k
Cash = +$17k
Retirement = +$38k
Student debt = -$21k
TOTAL = +$125,000

As one of those 25 year olds with over $100k, it's not that hard, IMO. Especially for people on an MMM forum!

Sure, I've made choices to get me to this point - e.g. I chose to live in a rural area which means my rent is covered by the government. I've chosen to live in a town that's small enough to not need a car.  But at the end of the day, saving $30k per year (at a minimum) is fairly easy on a teacher's wage. I've been teaching for 3 years, so with employer's super contribution $100k is not hard.  That being said, Australia doesn't have the ridiculous uni/college fees that America does.

[pedal stache]

At 25 I was still in college and spent most of each paycheck. I probably maintained a balance of 1K or so in my bank accounts. No debt or assets so for this purpose I would say NW was a solid $0.

It is really impressive to see how well some of you were doing at 25.

[Frugalman19]

But that small niche, people shooting for really early retirement and highly financially savvy, would include most of the people here on this forum. So given the context, I imagine most people here earned their money.

Didn't get a full ride scholarship to college out of HS.  Worked really hard in college to get scholarships, each small new one was cumulative resulting in my final 2 yrs of a 4 yr degree being fully funded.  Saved every penny of internships in a technical field.  Paid off debt from first two years before graduating, and by graduation with a bachelors had a positive NW from internships and a high paying job secured.  No inheritance in my numbers.  Am I lucky? Yes.  But it was not given to me.

People with large inheritances at that age are likely not lurking on an early retirement forum.

I would argue otherwise. Whether you inherited money or not, this wouldn't have an impact of whether you thought early retirement was a goal. Im sure there are many people on this forum who inherited some wealth, whether that is $30k or $500k. Actually i know there are alot of people on this forum who inherited money because ive read their posts. I was speaking of those that may have had a decent college account or maybe even help from family members with a down payment or whatever.

The intent of my original post was targeted at those who are seeking early retirement and did not have help shouldn't be discouraged by those of their age group with more net worth.

[Frugalman19]

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

For the general population, sure - but for a niche group of people shooting to retire in their 30s, who skew heavily towards very high paying jobs? More likely to have earned it, I would think.

it is in fact a very rare thing indeed, for a very small niche

But that small niche, people shooting for really early retirement and highly financially savvy, would include most of the people here on this forum. So given the context, I imagine most people here earned their money.

There are plenty of threads on this forum from members who inherited money or had family help them through college. The forum is also full of lurkers who are looking to get into a better place financially and have no intention of retiring early, they just want to learn about better financial practices. I can tell you everyone ive met in the real world who follow this forum dont plan on retiring early they just want to be in a better place financially in the future.

That is who my initial post was intended for. The die hard MMM followers are an extrememly niche community, but they are not the only people who peruse this forum.   

[TheAnonOne]

Can we get this back on topic?

Some people got some free money, most didn't. Move on.

NW@25: $330k

[Jon_Snow]

NW at 25?...negligible - I was basically a paycheck to paycheck creature.  FIRE'd at 42 with what I realize now is considerable padding.

It was quite the 17 years. :)

[bryan995]

NW @ 25 was ~$50k.
Wife and I were making ~$100k/year and spending most of it living month-to-month.

I was starting graduate school and my wife was just starting an MB.

5 years later and it sure is nice to be done with that phase of our lives.

[Hotstreak]

I don't have records from that time period, but it was somewhere around negative 10k.  I probably had 1k cash, 1k in the 401k, an old beat up car with a loan on it, and a student loan for around 10-15k.  I was making 30-35k/year and living by myself.

[ck25]

Husband just turned 26 and I'll be there this month. NW is $340k. We had lots of help paying for school, completed internships (7 between the two of us), some gifts from family. I've been working full time for 3.5 years and he has been for 1.5 years; our combined base pay is $200k/year, close to $225k/year after other incentives. But the dread of continuing on this way brought us to MMM and pushes us to hit 60-70% savings rate...

[minority_finance_mo]

Turning 24 next month. Current assets are ~80K - probably will net out around $90K by my 24th birthday. Hoping to be around 160K by my 25th.

[fordman302]

At 25 I was about negative $135K, a year out of college, bought my first house, had two car loans and small student debt loan.   Now, 15 years later the wife and I have two kids and a NW of about $1.5M

[Goldielocks]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

I don't think it's good to assume these people didn't earn their 100k.

 There are plenty of people here who went to college on scholarship, maybe did PSEO in the senior year of school, graduated debt free or nearly when they were 21, had an internship and kept on, lived with their parents for a while, saving up for a house, and after 4 years making $50-80k had been able to save up that much.

I sure as hell didn't, I'm 30 with a ~80k net worth, and when I was 25 my NW was probably a couple hundred bucks.  But I've seen many of my less adventurous/more diligent peers go this route and I wouldn't be all that surprised if they had 100k in NW by age 25.

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

This is such a unique situation too, never in my life besides right now, would I even have anything to say about someone who I knew was 25 and knew that they have over $100k. It just because of this forum that the question presents itself. And if you werent rocking it at 25, dont get discouraged and dont feel like you were behind if you didnt have $100k. I would say if you were simply debt free at 25 you were miles ahead of the norm.

Ok, your tone trolled me into responding...  I had to ask DH to be certain.

at age 25, we had:

Investments $10-$14k
House (Condo) equity $50k+
Two cars (6 yr old econbox and 8 year old acura)

That was in 1997, so in today's dollars, it was nearly $100k....!  NOTE -- that is for DH and I combined.

Background
I graduated at age 22, started full time for $38k/yr... but supported DH for a year until he graduated and got an entry level tech support job at age 23 at $20k/yr.

Parental contribution:
-- One car (the econobox) had been purchased for me by my parents, and we had been gifted about $25k, in wedding gifts, which paid for the event and half our condo down payment a year later, allowing us to avoid PMI.   I paid for my university myself and DH took a 2 year diploma which was cheaper.


Honestly,  although I was very fortunate to receive any money whatsoever from family, it was not that far off from people whose parents pay for most of their college tuition.

It IS possible to accumulate net worth as a couple by age 25, but it depends on working a steady job at good pay for at least 2 years and no student loan, accommodation pricing reasonable (we moved away from our downtown life and friends to save money) and no car loan debt.

AND, we eroded (did not build) it greatly with our first fancy pants car purchase, and then in the baby / toddler years when we did not think early retirement was a possibility and we still liked our jobs.

[Freedom Invested]

Husband and I are pretty new to the mustachian way of life and are working hard to save and pay off our small debts. We were curious to where we stand compared to others here our same age. Or others who are FIRE now and where they were at in there mid 20's. I am 24 and DH is 25. We have a Net Worth of $130K. DH works as a Mechanical Engineer making $56,000 a year and a crop farmer making anywhere between $1K - $20K depending on the year. I work part time making ~$20K a year. 

Thanks!

You're doing better than we were at your age, so feel good about that. We were in graduate school and and in debt at that time, so negative net worth.

It'll only get better since you're starting off with good financial knowledge so early. Better than us at that time! The real trick is to not worry too much about what others make/have. If I compared myself to billionaires I would be pretty unhappy.

Mustachians know that happiness is not measured in billions. It's about enough to buy freedom which is 500k-2mil net worth based on my rough estimate of what I have seen on the forums. Maybe more depending on what kind of financial freedom you are trying to buy.

[RedwoodDreams]

-$36000 and a broken down couch...

Fast forward 30 years and we just reached millionaire status, thanks largely to CA real estate prices and auto pilot 401k savings over the years.

Wow, if I'd been mustachian from the beginning I'd have 2-3x as much!

[ender]

Its not a matter of belief, its a matter of facts. If you are 25 and you have over $100,000 in the bank, odds are you inherited it, or you were given it.

I expect an overwhelming majority of this forum would have met or blown past that criteria, if they could go back to when they were 15 knowing what they know now.

My net worth within a few days of my 25th birthday appears to have been $41,906.74, according to my tracking. Had I been even remotely as financially aware when I was 15 as I am now it would trivially have been $100k.


The reason it's hard to hit $100k by 25 is that most of us here woke up about the ideas of FIRE too close or way after we were 25. So perhaps this supports your claim that it is either inherited or given the money, but it is not difficult if someone is aware and pursuing FIRE very much prior to that.

[Khan]

At 25, I had just completed 6 years of naval enlistment and gotten employed in my first(and currently only so far) post-military job, my networth was fluctuating with a midpoint of around 95k that year(2012). It was not a mustachian year for me though.

Probably broke down something like this
~12k in a CD that expired in August
5.5k ROTH IRA CD
~80k taxable stock account
5 or 10k in ROTH stock account
(some amount in TSP)
(started filling up 401k that year, but not with intent)

I didn't inherit anything, though about 10k of my worth was inflated due to one time gifts from family at 18.
I regret not knowing how important viewing the tax implications of my choices are. Also, had direct, nonpassive control of too much of my money.

[Jankle NSS]

NW at 25 was 110k. Happened to marry my wife that year who had a NW of 120k, not including her home equity.

So OUR cash NW when I was 25...232k. No inheritances so far in life other than both of our parents paying for college and leaving there with no debt, which was an incredible advantage.

I haven't read all the posts, but it seems like people are thinking it's impossible to get to 100k before 25 w/o inheritance??? Here's my story

I saved all birthday money(From age 4 on) and high school job money growing up. Age 14-16 worked construction for a local sign company during summers and breaks @ 7 an hour. Worked as a cashier from 16-18 @ 10 an hour, saved everything. Dad did buy me a 3k truck that lasted me until college. Graduated HS with about 35k. Worked all through college, but wasn't able to save much until I was a SR making about 1500 a month. Had to buy a truck though which took 10k of my stache. Graduated College at 22 with about 50k from my investments appreciating. Made 65k as an accountant after college, saved aggressively. Changed jobs at 23 for happiness making 44k, and saved aggressively then too.

Wife and I are planning to retire in 2026 as of now!

[bzzzt]

At 25 (2009), I was about to be unemployed or underemployed for 12 of the next 18 months and still living with my parents. My net worth was a race car (that I would never sell), a $5000 car trailer, a $8000 van, a $500 daily beater, about $5000 cash, and a bunch of parts/tools.

Pretty horrible compared to a lot of Mustachians, but not bad compared to friends with $30k-60k in student loans.

[Metric Mouse]

Its not a matter of belief, its a matter of facts. If you are 25 and you have over $100,000 in the bank, odds are you inherited it, or you were given it.

I expect an overwhelming majority of this forum would have met or blown past that criteria, if they could go back to when they were 15 knowing what they know now.

Which is why it's important to share the Mustachian philosophy!  So much can be accomplished if one starts early.

[arebelspy]

This "net worth at 30" poll may interest you:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/what-was-your-net-worth-at-30-years-old/

The choices were somewhat poor, capping out quite low, but it has almost 1200 votes as of this writing, so it should give you an idea of people's NW at 30.  Plus 4 pages of responses for more granular data.

We were at approximately $0 NW at age 25*.  1MM+ and FIRE'd at 30.


*Deceptively low though, due to underwater properties dragging it down to 0, we had positive assets as well at that point, and then when those properties that were dragging it down came back in value, NW shot up.

[Frugalman19]

I know alot of people that have their shit together by 25. But, I will say the vast majority of people that say they had $100,000 plus by the age of 25 I would assume inherited a shitload, or they were able to keep their college fund their parents gave them.

Not saying there are not exceptions, im just saying, if you are 25 and you feel like youre doing something wrong because some of these people have hundreds of thousands, remember, they probably were given it or they are lying.

Not saying that there aren't a few out there. But they are very rare.

I don't think it's good to assume these people didn't earn their 100k.

 There are plenty of people here who went to college on scholarship, maybe did PSEO in the senior year of school, graduated debt free or nearly when they were 21, had an internship and kept on, lived with their parents for a while, saving up for a house, and after 4 years making $50-80k had been able to save up that much.

I sure as hell didn't, I'm 30 with a ~80k net worth, and when I was 25 my NW was probably a couple hundred bucks.  But I've seen many of my less adventurous/more diligent peers go this route and I wouldn't be all that surprised if they had 100k in NW by age 25.

Im a realist, who works in finance. If someone is 25 and has over $100,000 they more than likely were given it, without a doubt. I dont begrudge those who were given wealth either, I just understand that the odds are that they did not earn that money. If they did, then they are killing it, and I wish I had some of their insight when I was in my early 20s.

This is such a unique situation too, never in my life besides right now, would I even have anything to say about someone who I knew was 25 and knew that they have over $100k. It just because of this forum that the question presents itself. And if you werent rocking it at 25, dont get discouraged and dont feel like you were behind if you didnt have $100k. I would say if you were simply debt free at 25 you were miles ahead of the norm.

Ok, your tone trolled me into responding...  I had to ask DH to be certain.

at age 25, we had:

Investments $10-$14k
House (Condo) equity $50k+
Two cars (6 yr old econbox and 8 year old acura)

That was in 1997, so in today's dollars, it was nearly $100k....!  NOTE -- that is for DH and I combined.

Background
I graduated at age 22, started full time for $38k/yr... but supported DH for a year until he graduated and got an entry level tech support job at age 23 at $20k/yr.

Parental contribution:
-- One car (the econobox) had been purchased for me by my parents, and we had been gifted about $25k, in wedding gifts, which paid for the event and half our condo down payment a year later, allowing us to avoid PMI.   I paid for my university myself and DH took a 2 year diploma which was cheaper.


Honestly,  although I was very fortunate to receive any money whatsoever from family, it was not that far off from people whose parents pay for most of their college tuition.

It IS possible to accumulate net worth as a couple by age 25, but it depends on working a steady job at good pay for at least 2 years and no student loan, accommodation pricing reasonable (we moved away from our downtown life and friends to save money) and no car loan debt.

AND, we eroded (did not build) it greatly with our first fancy pants car purchase, and then in the baby / toddler years when we did not think early retirement was a possibility and we still liked our jobs.

You are a perfect example that proves my point, thanks you for your response. You and your husband had help, and still worked your asses off. You both are a great example of what a couple can do together. Imagine what the net worth at 25 would have been without that help. This isnt a bad thing, it is just life for most Americans who are trying to build a life in their 20's.