You open a banking app, see a number, and a thought creeps in: is that good? If you have ever asked yourself what should my networth be, you are in good company, and the honest answer is that it depends on your age, income, location and goals. There are useful rules of thumb, though, and they are worth knowing before you compare yourself to anyone.
Net worth is simply what you own minus what you owe. Add up cash, investments, retirement accounts, the value of your home and car, then subtract mortgages, student loans, credit cards and other debts. That is the whole formula.
Start by working out where you stand
Before comparing, get an accurate number. Sit down with a spreadsheet or notes app and list:
- Assets: checking and savings, brokerage accounts, 401(k) or IRA balances, home equity, business ownership, anything you could sell.
- Liabilities: mortgage balance, auto loans, student debt, credit card balances, personal loans.
Don’t guess at your home’s value from a wish. Use a recent comparable sale or a conservative online estimate. Many people find their figure is lower or higher than they expected, and both surprises are useful.
The multiplier rule some planners use
One well-known shortcut comes from the book The Millionaire Next Door: multiply your age by your annual pre-tax income, then divide by ten. The result is a rough target for a typical accumulator of wealth. A 40-year-old earning $80,000 would get about $320,000. It’s crude, and it ignores things like inheritances and cost of living, but it gives you a starting point.
Another common reference is the retirement savings guideline popularized by large fund providers such as Fidelity: about one times your salary saved by 30, three times by 40, six times by 50, eight times by 60, and ten times by around 67. Those figures apply to retirement savings specifically, not total net worth, but they show how fast the target should grow in your peak earning years.
What typical Americans actually have
The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances is the standard source. In the 2022 survey, released in 2023, the median net worth for US households was roughly $190,000, while the average was far higher, above $1 million, because a small number of very wealthy households pull the average up. By age, medians rise through middle age and peak around retirement. Households under 35 had a median in the neighborhood of $40,000, while those in their late fifties and sixties were in the several-hundred-thousand range. Treat these as approximate, and note that survey results are updated every few years.
The gap between median and average is a reminder that the median tells you more about where a typical household sits.
Why a benchmark can mislead you
Comparing your number to a chart can be useful or demoralizing. Some reasons it falls short:
- Student debt. A new graduate may have a negative net worth and be on a perfectly healthy path.
- Home prices. In expensive cities, a modest home carries a large mortgage, which drags the figure down even when the owner is doing fine.
- Career stage. A doctor or lawyer often starts deep in the red and then climbs sharply.
- Different goals. Someone planning to retire at 50 needs a much larger number than someone planning to work until 70.
So What Should My Networth Be If I’m Starting Late?
If you are in your forties or fifties with little saved, the question of what should my networth be can feel crushing. Try not to let it. Catch-up rules help: after age 50, US retirement accounts allow extra annual contributions, and a few years of aggressive saving can close a surprising amount of ground. Delaying retirement by even two or three years also shortens the period you need to fund. Make a plan with real numbers and review it yearly.
A better question than the benchmark
Rather than asking whether you match an average, ask these instead:
- Is my net worth growing year over year?
- Do I have an emergency fund covering three to six months of essentials?
- Am I saving enough in tax-advantaged accounts to get any employer match?
- Is high-interest debt shrinking?
Direction matters more than position. Someone at $20,000 and rising steadily is often in better shape than someone at $200,000 who is borrowing to keep up.
Practical ways to move the number
You have only a few levers, and they are all fairly boring. Earn more, spend less than you earn, pay off expensive debt, and invest the difference in diversified, low-cost options over a long period. Automating contributions helps because it removes the monthly decision. If your income is irregular, set a percentage rather than a fixed dollar amount.
Check your net worth every few months, not every day. Markets swing, and watching daily changes tends to cause stress rather than better decisions.
Where this leaves you
There isn’t one correct figure. Use the multiplier rule or the salary-multiple guidelines as rough guardrails, compare yourself to age medians with some skepticism, and focus on whether your trajectory is healthy. If you’re behind, the best time to start changing that is now, and if you’re ahead, keep the habits that got you there. This is general information, not financial advice. For personal planning, consider speaking with a qualified financial professional.
