How Much Money You Should Have By Age (REAL DATA!) 

I went through a financially brutal divorce in my 50’s - had to pay alimony, put a kid through college, and pay off all debts from a family business. At the end, all retirement and savings were cleaned out by age 58. Just as you say in your video - you can, and I did - put my head down, get to work, and claw my way back. Not completely, and I’ve ended up working longer than I planned - but, I now have a pretty secure retirement and I interspersed travel so that I didn’t just feel that I was working just to get to an age where my best years were behind me. It IS possible if you put your mind to it and get creative.

😂Fame at last ! I am the Dave you referred to at the start of the video. No offence was taken Neal and I’m not in any way disparaged… keep your excellent videos coming…. Love you guys.

My friend earns £60,000 per year and she has zero savings / investments. I told her to sell her Mercedes and buy something less expensive and invest the difference into a pension. The government pension is £900 per month. I asked if she could live on £900 to which she replied my rent is £1,400 per month! Her attitude is live for today, tomorrow is not guaranteed! I explained that there is a 95% chance that she will reach retirement so she should sort out her private pension.

hi I retired 3 years ago(55) with a decent DB pension, I paid of my mortgage @48 (house now worth £400k) and saved £550K in stocks and shares ISA. It can be done if you are on a fairly decent wage, as long as you don't want the flashiest car and buy new tech every update. Before retiring I had visited 68 countries and have a passion for ancient ruins/cities. Over the last 3 years I have visited 2 new countries (Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and revisited a couple of others.

We retired early leaving Australia earlier this year. Net worth is only one part of the equation. What matters is how much of your net worth you can get to become income producing. In my opinion on the numbers I've been crunching for years the only realistic option for many to retire is to cash in their house and other assets, live in lower cost of living countries and invest the money they have in things that will give them a better return than in their home western country.

If you send your life comparing yourself to everyone you will never be happy! Create a budget, work out what you need in retirement and work towards the goal that achieves it. Easy to say and takes discipline to do....

My wife and I are 54 & 55 respectively and live in the Midwest of the US. We’re so glad to see your podcast back up and going…your informative data and accent can’t be matched! Like you said in your first podcast back from your absence…we don’t need a bunch of rehearsed and planned out choreography…just pass along your feedback straight from the camera and ad lib at leisure! We’ll keep watching as long as you’re loading video! I retired at 50 and my wife will retire at 57. We’ve always worked since our early teens and had a focused approach on always saving roughly half our income…we never veered from that approach…most assuredly quite tough those first three years, but got easier and easier as the years passed. We’ve never had a new car, new home and mostly acquired clothing and goods at second hand stores or garage sales. Now we have enough to never work again and both have guaranteed US government pensions to supplement our investments, IRAs and other passive income streams. If the young folks could just get it straight early on in their lives to set as much money back as they possibly can during their 35 working years, you’ll have yourself setup for the remaining 30-50 years…it’s not rocket science…just a little well planned discipline.

Me and my wife both retired at 55 with no debt and everything paid for we don't chase new cars and posh holidays,we dont try to keep up with the joneses, just keep it simple. We have 2 allotments and its the best thing we have done to give us fulfillment in live it gives us a purpose to grow our own food and live of the land ,one bit of advice money isn't everything , it helps but you don't want to be the richest person in the grave yard ,just enjoy what's left of your life and keep it simple

Saving for tomorrow is okay, but be gentle. You live today, so spend whatever you makes you happy. You better die happy, than rich.

Nice job Neil. Kudos to you and Sarah for doing your part to try and counter the insidious dark side of social media . I like both types of videos. Keep up the good work. There is an audience for the information you provide -both travel and financial. Keep marking the trail for.those that need it!

Love both types of video Neil. This one is really clear and helpful. Very much looking forward to more and seeing the cameos. Making me smile just thinking of them, remembering previous ones. Thank you both so much

Growing up in an ex-mining community I learnt the value of money the hard way. No silver spoon and the only thing I will ever inherit is debt. My wife does not work through choice, so we have the one income. In my early 30’s I decided that when ever I received a pay rise then I’d take half as pay and put the other half into my pension. E.g. if I got 4% one year then I’d increase my pension contribution by 2%. Now at 55 I have enough in my pension that, if I was to retire today and use the 4% rule, my net pension would be equal to my current net pay. The only thing stopping me is that I want to keep myself busy, so I’ve moved to a much less stressful job working for a charity.

I liked this video format Neil as straight forward and easy to understand and follow. Looking forward to the future videos too :)

I love watching your content as it makes us feel secure with our finances at retirement. We made few blunders but we can live with it. We now focus on enjoying our travels and our well being. We have more time to guide our son, whenever we’re called for. To anyone who wants to retire early, focus on knowing how your retirement will be like and work towards it. Make sure you also live now and treat yourself from time to time but don’t overdo it. Do not spend more than you earn and make sure saving is a habit.

Showing HOW to achieve the lifestyle of travel in early retirement gives your channel more than just a pretty documentary.

Great content - thanks!

Just came across the channel. I am looking forward to looking through all the videos. Well done to both of you for being so courageous in going after your dream.

Very nice!!! I like either format. However seeing the numbers is very helpful. Have a great day 🙂

My wife is 33 and i'm 35. We have a net value of about £135k. We drive a modest car, own a house with a mortgage way below what we can afford. We invest 30% of our net monthly pay and use 15% to save for travels. Good decisions on a financial level forms the foundation of wealth in experiences.

Good content. Good to have some facts to think about

Thanks Neil, I like this content too 👍

Many thanks for the video. I'm 53 and very excited to watch you .Good luck and keep going. Give as all ideas from your experience. ❤

Good video! Thanks for ur work 👍

I retired last Sept at 63. You Median figures made me feel a lot better than the Mean figures. I am not taking holidays or anything out of the ordinary at the moment but i am not working using my pensions etc to live and not work.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Really enjoyed this video. What sticks out to me as a personal finance person is that till 60 we live in the anxiety that we won't have enough, and after our 70s worry that we won't spend it all. No wonder consumption smoothening is such a big topic in Economics! :)

REALLT useful - Thank You

Very interesting. Cheers.

These types of videos are great, I’m 54 now & brought up from a single parent benefit assisted (& part time hard working mum). She struggled to make ends meet, we mainly lived off the cheap factory rejected food back then. Mum had no financial sense, other than wanting to own her own home (3 bed terraced) & only bought what she could pay for (no credit). But this basic approach instilled itself within me. I want my money to work for me & my family. Not to line other people’s (& tax man’s) pockets. I want good financial freedom possibilities in my 50’s. I have 2 kids (19/21), both working & fortunately they have the same financial approach. No matter what they earn, they will have bright financial futures with this attitude. Will probably appreciate luxuries much more as a result. Keep up the good (basic simple approach work). You have a new follower ❤

Really appreciate your share of knowledge and experience. Thank you ❤

Very interesting thank you

Subbed. Thanks.

I left school at 15 yrs old l was in the bottom 5 all the way through school never bothered with education I started working for myself at 21 years and I definitely know I have done better than everyone in my class . Am 67 now and can honestly say I can do anything I choose buy anything I choose however I will say this the best things in life are free your health your wife and family.

Im 23 now. Have 125k saved up rn. I love simple and try not to spend my money on garbage. My goal is to have 1 million by 40 and then retire. I can then take out about 50k a year to live of and still keep my Wealth (depending on how the stockmarket moves ofcourse).

Work overseas with high exchange rate of your country and retire to the country with low cost of living

Spot on - like the white board content. Think I'm in a good position for next year at 59 to stop working or some part time work, thanks Nick

Completely agree with the doom scrolling. Im 38, so ive grown up through some of my teenage years and then twenties, but i worry for the next generations even more.

Damn! This short video has instantly made me feel better about our situation. I really like the median picture, it might even stop me from worrying so much! 😅 Seventeen paydays to go and hopefully be able to spend winter in Thailand and summer, ha ha in the UK. Yes, I do realise it's an expensive way to go about it but there are reasons to keep a base in the UK. It might work out but, if we don't try it you'll never know. 🤔🤭 Oh yes I have subscribed for more whiteboard adventures. 😅😅

Good video, very true about having a balance between comparing both up and down the socioecononic ladder. 2goroam travels is nice to see a walkabout in a destination (including some mundanity!) 2goroam should be presented in the best way to explain the point of the video. Whiteboard is fine, doesn't need to be flash. It just needs a clear aim, background, key message, demonstration, conclusion, next steps

you're good bro.. 💯

37 years here, immigrant, came to the UK with £2k savings in 2008 worked ever since. Now have a 300k house with 50k remaining mortgage, pensions, ISAs and all. Always had more than just 1 job. The cost is no life, just grind and save.

Me and my girlfriend saved up £100k deposit by the time I was 26 and she was 24. All while having a slightly higher than minimal wage job. It can be done but you just need to make sacrifices and think about what matters the most.

I prefer median statistics to averages. It gives you a better snapshot of real living conditions -- median home price; median salary; median taxes; median mortgage; median savings for retirement. . .

Great video, thank you. Love the reference to accredited data sources from the ONS... great to see you both making these super informative videos....

Hi Neil Genuinely appreciate this type of video and thought. I’m 58 and in that troubled zone of should I retire, how much is enough etc. Have spread sheets galore, understand my costs, budgets etc so what’s the problem right? Well, I watch/listen to very good folk like yourself and understand better ‘Mean’ & ‘Median’ NET worth and … think I’m doing ok as the mortgage has just been paid off compared to the UK £250k . However, NET worth inc your home value to me, is really only applicable if you intend to downsize. Many don’t if you like/cherish the family home. So it’s then all about pure Pension and Savings values and income from those (plus’s investments if you are lucky enough to have them!) against your plans in retirement ’v’ cost of living. I think many in the audience would appreciate thought/guidance outside of home value as this is the real day to day future living cost. Thanks for what you do to help folks like me standing on the edge so to speak 😂 👍🏻

Well Explained ! 🤓 Thank you.

The big unknown is your own heath and payment of social care late in life. You can lose all your savings paying for decent health care late in life, albeit I guess you cannot spend it on anything else. Unfortunately the health Car Insurance market collapsed some ten years ago, meanwhile I am not seeing any (UK) government being able to solve a 'fair' social care solution.

Enjoyed listening & watching your video. Thank you. Hey, what's that halo above your head? LOL.

This is very true and relevant, haha. Before I reached the $100k threshold, 37, I realised how difficult things were. It didn't take me long to reach my goal of having over $2.8 million in my retirement fund alone at the age of 56. The fact that it was so much simpler from there may be due to the fact that my CFP is trustworthy.

I'm 55 and do the can I , can't I retire thing. Thanks for the video, I now feel so much secure about my isa pension pot

I like your new board-based video, thanks

Funny but if you look back at this video, the light behind your head looks like a halo!

Wondering why I recognised your voice, Malaysia! We’ve booked for next year, I shall be following these videos now.

Loving this Neil, English/Aussie girl here, way older than you 2, but right up my alley.

Boss this video mate! Im in my early 30s and have quite a bit more than the mean 60k stated here! Im not saying this to gloat but just due to my below the poverty line up bringing I am very happy about it. Im constantly thinking about what I will be able to leave for my daughters and any grandchildren.

Bravo!

So nice to have you back! To answer your question, I guess I prefer having you discuss while out walking about. In regard to net worth, it would be helpful to know what figures are included: ie is social security included along with your savings, investments, pension and home equity? Perhaps real estate (equity) is bringing these figures up?

Retire where your money works hardest. Earn in developed country, early retire in developing one... 2k a month makes for a comfortable life in SE Asia, backed up by an emergency fund of course 😊

Can you make a video about being in your low/mid-twenties about the best and smartest way to save money and build up a saving so that by the age of 30, we are ahead.

Good content, Neil. I like the whiteboard to illustrate. To be clear, these numbers are savings or net worth? Cheers!

Great video, nice to see some real world figures. I am in my early 50s and am tentatively planning to leave my career in about 10 years, but I will still be doing a part-time job (has many benefits besides just extra financial 'pocket money'), but it is surprising the relatively low figures, if you are on the median track, or there about, in reality it is going to be very difficult to not work to generate some income, while in your 60's and 70's

Hi guys, great video. Any plans to do an annual budget update video, ie where you take into account the recent inflation spikes and cost of living increases, and the impact on your world travel plans? I believe in the past your budget was something like £35k per year sterling (or was that US$?). Has that increased for this year? Cheers Ian

Me and my other half have a combined wage of £100k+ a year, own our house, multiple cars and It’s good to have a bit of money to sit comfortably in life but me personally, unless you have goals then saving isn’t worth it. Money can be replaced, time can’t so enjoy life. But if you do save for the sake of it like my granda then get things in place for your money if you die. My granda who has no mortgage on his house anymore and 100s of thousands in savings wont make a will or assign anyone as his power of attorney. If we mention it to him he just thinks we want his money, it could go to a local charity for all we care, we just don’t want to government to get it.

Above on all the figures. Single and retired last month @56. 🤞 inflation and the government don’t ruin my retirement….😡

Comparing my net worth to others my same age is meaningless because we all have different wants, needs, and income levels while working.

That's depressing! I'am a blue collar worker, above mean but still feel poor. Everything is getting expensive these days.

I am 37 and I feel behind even though I paid off my mortgage with equity worth 130K, ISA is about 60K, SIPP is 26K and a defined benefit pension worth 11K a year at current contribution.

I refuse to allow myself to be down and out even at my lowest.

I work on the railway and it really annoyed me when the media reported on the strikes because they were using the Mean average income to show the public “these guys earn an average of £40k+ a year and they’re whinging about money” Yet the high earners wages were being counted, these people who weren’t even involved in strike action. The average wage of the strikers was about £24k which is basically minimum wage these days.

I’m amazed that the mean and medians were so different!

Not to mention that the recent bout of post-COVID inflation will knock about 30% off the buying power of the saved amounts you have given.

Incredible video! Really enjoyed, thank you.

Agree that the median is a lot more accurate if you want to compare you net worth. Also sharing it per person is useful. People can file for divorce or are (temporarily) not in a relationship. More important than comparing against other people is comparing with past self though. If you save more than you earn and try to get rid of debt you are already winning the game. #persist

I am feeling a lot better after this video. Maybe I’m too angry with government and the way society seems to be going. Thanks for the perspective.

The UK is tough. I left and have done much better. Net worth 2.5 million pound. I can retire now with 7000 K pension after tax. Work hard, make investing a priority and watch the conspicuous consumption. I’m 55 with a income of about 230000 pound a year.

It might seem obvious to many but you didn't actually make it clear that the median is the middle number WHEN ALL NUMBERS ARE PUT IN ASCENDING ORDER.

Never met anyone in their 40s even with a house let alone 44k, wow.

I started feeling like I was lagging behind in my retirement savings in my 40's, but I am retiring early into Southeast Asia for the arbitrage of location. There is hope for people that are way behind in the way of youtube channels, Amazon, Etsy, and other ways to make money by royalties. $300,000 at 4% rule is $12,000 per year, or $1,000 per month. (barely doable except in a few countries, but definitely not in America). I started a side hustle making coloring books to sell on Amazon KDP last fall, and I sell on average about 5 books per day. That's a royalty of $3.13 per book. I keep increasing the amount per day by making more books. In less than a year into it, I should be at 11 books per day, or $1047 per month in royalties. $300k can take 15-20 years to save in a 401k or Roth account, and I did it myself in that time frame, but I also built a side hustle that pays the same as an account that took 15-20 years to build. I built the hustle in 9 months.

Most peoples net worth is in property

I was always told your retirement pot should be what you need to live the life you want x 20. However that assumes your retirement pot stops compounding, which it doesn’t. Reckon 10 x Living Cost is a more realistic number.

41 with £550k personal net worth. Bought 2nd hand mobile phones, walked instead of taking the car , paid my mortgages off with massive overpayments in my 20s , never took car loans. Worked hard , took risks changing jobs and a 2nd part time role. Divorced at 25 and lost everything, had 10k to my name. It can be done !

I don’t know about everyone else but the median net worth figures are what scares me, or rather should scare observers. If you’ve got those median numbers saved you’re either not retiring until your 70’s or you’re retiring in poverty.

Love you're videos , I'm not been nosey but I am working towards FIRE also and I would love to know how much you guys got to,to make it happen it's OK everyone saying how much the average is but until you know someone in same boat has done it , I would feel less nervous about pushing the button.

I love your vids on finance! I’m single and in my early 50’s and constantly worrying about retirement. Am looking at moving abroad to a cheaper country.

Just because you have reached the Median level for your age doesn't mean you're on track for retirement. 125K saved in your 60's isn't going to last long enough for many peoples 15-30 year retirement.

At 30 i had 0...i woke up at my 30th birthday, with no money, no career and and still studying. Gosh, it was a dreadful feeling, then i said to myself " what am i doing?? It's time to wake up and grow up ""😅 And now, after 17 years of grinding, i can finally feel that i have actually accomplished something. So, the answer for me was to take responsibility for my life and do my absolutely best at all times 😊

I'm a 22 year old Thai researching about investing and I was kinda surprised when you mentioned my country's currency, considering how weak it is 😂

The economy is grappling with uncertainties, global fluctuations, and pandemic aftermath, causing instability. Rising inflation, sluggish growth, and trade disruptions need urgent attention from all sectors to restore stability and stimulate growth.

I'm 37. I only have just over £10 in savings, however I work for my council and am investing in their private pension scheme, do have a grand in cash for emergencies. I really wish I learned about finances in my 20s because I could have easily had triple this by now.

I am 34, i saved up and bought my first house when i was 22. By the time i was 27 i had 5 houses. I then also put money into S&S ISA, a SIPP, gold, and a few other things. At 34 my net worth is around £1.2 million. I spent most my 20s working 80+ hours a week. It was a small price to pay the be able to enjoy my 30s now just have a family etc. I still work hard but i have a reasonable work life balance.

Just a quick question if you can clarify that is all the figures you show in your video are they incomes before tax or after tax? Thank you.

In my mid 30s have 50k in stocks and investments 10k behind the mean but before i hit 40 i should be well over that, i live a frugal life, i dont need much to be happy at all, you may see how i dress and be like he looks broke but thats ok i dont need to flash.

Seems I am doing ok. £192k equity in my house + £25k savings + £15k in private pension = £232k at age 39. Hoping to retire by 50 at the latest. I don't even have a decent paying job, I've just always been a saver since my early 20's and also an investor in risky assets.

The “Why don’t you?” gang , 6 weeks holidays memories

Great video. I must say you shouldn't really take comfort in sitting in the median, those numbers are hardly enough to live comfortably on.

Left an orphanage at 16 and worked every day since, no work, no food on the table. Now 55 years old, I am taxed to the hilt, any spare cash I have goes on surviving from a month to month basis. I scrimped and saved to buy my own home, all a could afford as a single person was a leashold that the freeholder (stinking Newham Council) slapped a £30,000.00 bill on me. Leaving me with more debt. So now just waiting on retirement where when I can't go to the loo myself they will take the home I scrimped and saved for....................................................lovely country this!!!!!!!!

It would be interesting to see what happens if you remove the extremes at both ends e.g. exclude the top and bottom 5%

It is going to be difficult for retirees and pensioners where inflated cost of gas, electricity, food etc is out of control through no fault of theirs but due to bad government policy, unless they can return to work. Mass emigration of retirees from broken western countries to lower cost of living countries looks very likely.

Hi Neil! Thanks for posting this. Puts everything into perspective! I earn 25k at 27yo and thought I was desperately behind. With a smudge over 15k in savings for a deposit and about the same again in a workplace pension pot it turns out I am doing rather well. All very encouraging!

Happy I’ve seen these figures. I earn a fairly good wage and in my 30’s. I’ve already got £60,000 in my company pension and 13k in stocks. Have 20% each month going in my pension with the company contributions.