Recently I’ve begun to worry about whether I’ve saved enough (probably but I can always save more!) and whether I’ve accumulated enough to retire later at this age. It’s a minor obsession of mine to see how others in a similar situation are doing just so I can gauge how I’m doing myself. That of course puts me into dangerous territory where I may be completely satisfied with just being average rather than doing the best I can. Some folks are even worse than average given their station in life due to a variety of personal situations. Everyone understands that. But I think it’s important to do these check up once in a while just to see how you’re doing generally.
So where am I? I’m just about average. I suppose it could be worse. It’s good to know that at least I’m not behind my peers. I always have the nagging feeling I should save more but it’s just so hard with all of the expenses of ordinary life. It does take true discipline to be able to consistently sock away as much as you can. I do admire those few folks who can do it and strive to do better myself. But I suppose being average is not a bad place to start from. There are worse places to begin for sure!
Have you done a check up of where you stand financially? If not, just do a Google search and get a rough idea. It’ll get you started on thinking about your finances at the least. If you’re lazy, here’s a very general formula to get you started:
NET WORTH = [ (Your average income over the past 10 years) – ($15,000 + $5,000 for each person in your household) ] x Your Age / 8
So for example, if you’re age 35 and your last 10 years of income averages to $75,000, your net worth should be in the neighborhood of $262,500 if you’re single. (That’s $75,000 minus $15,000 times 35 divided by 8). If you’re a family of 4 in the same situation, your net worth would be less: $196,875.