Here Are Americans' Financial Assets by Age. How Do You Compare?

What do your financial assets look like?

Here Are Americans' Financial Assets by Age. How Do You Compare?

Meta: Americans' financial assets change over time. Find out how your assets stack up.

Promo: What do your financial assets look like?

Key Points

Your net worth is an important number when it comes to your financial picture. It is the difference between everything you own and everything you owe. To calculate it, you subtract all of your liabilities from your assets. It represents how much you are worth, and is a single snapshot in time. Your net worth will change over the course of your life. Here is a breakdown of Americans' net worth by age.

Financial assets by age

Based on a survey by Personal Capital, here is the average amount of financial assets by age. Assets typically go up over time as people reach their peak earning years. Financial assets usually peak right before retirement.

• 20s: $80,043
• 30s: $272,852
• 40s: $591,385
• 50s: $964,545
• 60s: $1,052,269
• 70s: $956,433

Financial assets breakdown

An asset is something you own that has financial value. The most common assets are cash, certificates of deposit (CDs), bonds, mutual funds, stocks, real estate, and personal property. Financial assets are cash, or items that can be converted into cash.

Personal Capital collected anonymous information from its users and broke it down by age and asset class. They did not include real estate, commodities, and personal property in these calculations, since those assets have an inherent value due to their physical attributes.

Those in their 20s are just starting their careers and have the least amount of assets. Financial assets typically grow the most during your 40s and 50s, when people reach their peak earning years. As kids get older, those in their 60s spend down the education savings plans but have the highest amount in investments and retirement assets. For many people, assets peak in their 60s, at a time when they have had time to save, invest, and take advantage of compound interest. Americans' net worth often goes down in their 70s, as people begin to spend down their savings and investments.

Retirement assets make up close to 50% of assets across all age groups. According to the largest-ever survey of millionaires, the key to financial success in general, and becoming a millionaire in particular, is taking advantage of a workplace retirement account. Eight out of 10 millionaires surveyed invested in their workplace 401(k), 403(b), or equivalent company retirement plan. In addition to their company investment plans, three out of four also invested in their brokerage accounts, Roth IRA, or a traditional IRA.