George Kamel - What Your Net Worth Should Be By Age

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Is your net worth flex-worthy . . . or just an average number? In this episode, find out what yournet worth should be by what age, how you stack up, and how to keep moving in the right direction. Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video Best Investment Accounts For 2025. • 💰 Find out your earning potential with the Investment Calculator. • 💸 Find out your net worth with the Net Worth Calculator. • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Connect With Our Sponsors: • 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • 💸 Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road. • 📱 Get $5 off Tello's Unlimited Plan and enjoy great nationwide coverage for only $20 at Tello. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hot off the presses, we've got updated stats from Empower on the average net worth by age group. And it's time to see how you stack up. That's right. Today we're going to look through the numbers and you'll find out where your net worth should be compared to everyone else. Because for some reason, we're obsessed with comparisons in today's culture, aren't we? It has a point. And by the way, if you're wondering this net worth situation, what does that mean? It's simply a measure of what you own minus what you owe.

It's the value of your assets, things like your home and retirement accounts, minus your liabilities like debt and your children. Kidding, kind of. Plus, I'll be grading every age group according to the Camel Financial Scoring System, also known as the KFSS TM. The scoring system is simple. If you get an A, it means you're above average, according to the stats. If you get a B, you are average. And if you get a C, you're below average. And don't get too excited if you're sitting right at average, because being average just means being normal, and normal in America sucks. You should be aiming a whole lot higher than that. All right, let's start with the average net worth for folks in their 20s, which comes out to 113 grand.

And honestly, that's not too bad. It gets a B. And here's the caveat. Averages include the crazy low numbers and the crazy high numbers, which can skew the results. So the median is a much more reliable number since it's simply the number

right in the middle of the data if it were listed from smallest to largest. That means it doesn't get bloated by mega millionaires. You know, the TikTokers who eat a dozen raw eggs and grind out a few hundred deadlifts in the morning while you're still mouth breathing and deep REM. You calling me out, Hefe? So what is the median net worth for folks in their 20s?

It goes way down to $7,600. So yeah, we're dropping that grade down to a C. You know you're in trouble when a new pair of Apple AirPods Max would put a serious dent in your net worth. Now, I get that our youthful friends in their 20s are just starting out in life. They're usually not making a ton of money, and a lot of them are trapped in student loan debt. But that shouldn't be an excuse for a crappy grade. It should be motivation to get to work. You've got your best years ahead of you for compound growth to do its thing.

So, Gen Z, listen to me. Get out of debt and start investing ASAP. So where do I think your net worth should be as a 20-something? If we're aiming high, I'm going to say between $200 and $250,000. That would be an A in my book. And yes, my standards might be high, but it's only because I want what's best for you. This is a solid goal to shoot for as you enter into your 30s. And by the way, if you don't know what your exact net worth is, it's really easy to figure out.

We created a free net worth calculator. I'll drop a link below if you want to go figure it out so that you can actually compare your numbers to the averages. All right, up next, we've got my friends in the 30s. on millennial folks how we look at out there. Average net worth for the 30-year-olds, $317,000. That gets a B. But the median net worth is way lower at a little over $35,000, which is 1,000% AC, and that's being generous.

You're not as broke as you used to be, but your 30s can still be tough. It's when a lot of folks start to have kids, they take on more responsibilities at work, and they realize that their dream of getting a book deal to write a Y-A vampire romance series may not have been that realistic. A lot of competition out there.

But we've got to do better. Okay, 35,000 isn't even enough to buy matching Birkins for your family to afford. Birken stocks, sure. Burkens? No. You're not embarrassing that is? Do not have the matching Birkins? It's 4,000.

For a bag? It's not a bag. It's a burkin. For real, though, your 30s may be the best time of your life to prioritize saving, since you're probably making a lot more money than you were in your 20s, and you've still got a few decades to go before retirement. That means compound growth still has plenty of time to work its magic. So to get an A on the KFSS, someone in their 30s would need a net worth between $400,000 and $500,000.

That's more than enough to keep you on pace for a warm and cozy retirement. Which brings us to the folks in their 40s. A time of life when you buy a motorcycle, maybe even buy a Mazda Mayata, if it's a real intense midlife crisis, you start taking skydiving lessons, you get a DM from an old high school friend recruiting you to become an independent consultant for Arbonne so you can start selling paraflavored energy fizz, ginseng, fizz sticks. No thanks, Susan. I'm not paying $275 per fizzstick.

Why can't I just buy it at Costco? What proprietary? That's not FDA approved. Get that out of here, Susan. So how are the numbers looking for my friends in their 40s? Well, the average net worth around $791,000, which would be a B. And the median is closer to $125,000, which is definitely a C. And this number gets depressing.

When you remember that net worth doesn't just include what you have in your retirement accounts, it also includes equity in your home and your cars. because the typical 40-year-old owns a home and at least one car, so it's more than slightly concerning that their median net worth only hits 125,000, which includes the equity in their home. That means they either have A, a lot of debt, B, almost nothing in retirement, C, almost no equity in their home, or more likely D, all of the above. Our Ramsey Millionaire study found that the average millionaire hits that status at 49 years old,

which means you should be getting super close to a seven-figure net worth in your 40s. So to anyone in their 40s, you get an A if your net worth is between 900, $100,000 and a million bucks before you hit your 50th birthday. Now, before we move on to the fine folks in their 50s, let's talk about something that did not exist when those Gen Xers were born, which is cell phones. Specifically, I want to tell you about the best way to save money on your cell phone bill, and that's by switching to Tello, one of the sponsors of today's video.

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Okay, let's see how our friends in their 50s are doing. Average net worth, $1.4 million, which, again, is a B since it's the average. in net worth for those in their 50s, $288,000, which would be a C. Now, here's what I will say. Once you turn 50, it does become socially acceptable to run into a friend in public and say, man, security must have been light at the door, huh? But having a net worth of less than $300,000, it's not funny. It's not funny at all. Because when you get to that age where you watch TV standing five feet from the screen, remote in hand, your mortgage should be on its last leg,

and your retirement nest egg should be growing very quickly. So to get an A in my book in your 50s, you'd need a net worth between $1.75 and $2 million before you hit your 60th birthday. And finally, let's check up on the 60s crowd. This is when most folks leave their cubicle for the last time, hang up their cleats, and head straight for retirement. So ideally by this point, you have a paid for house, a paid for a car, and at least a million bucks in your retirement accounts. At least. And hopefully, you have enough money to rent a convertible and drive up the Pacific Coast Highway with the wind in your hair, or whatever's left of it. Rude.

So do the numbers line up with those goals? Let's take a look. Average net worth for people in their 60s, $1.7 million. The median net worth, $439,000. We need to get serious for a second, because that median number is scary low. You're not mad. I'm just disappointed.

Oh, come on. Everyone knows that's worse. You see, the typical couple will need over $400,000 in retirement just to cover medical expenses, which means a $439,000 total net worth doesn't leave nearly enough margin to pay for other crucial expenses like food, transportation, and housing. So if those numbers are sad,

what does an A look like on the Camel Financial Scoring System scale? Well, you'll need a net worth between $2.5 and $4 million in your 60s. Now, that number may seem unrealistic to some of you. Maybe to some of you, it feels like $4 million's not even going to be enough because the buying power of a dollar

by the time I'm... Hey, just relax, just break. Thanks. I needed that. So let me prove to you that it is realistic, number one, to have $2.5 to $4 million by the time you're in your 60s. 60s using our investment calculator, which is totally free on our website. Anyone can go use it. Here we go.

At age 25 to 65, let's say you start with zero in retirement. How much will you contribute monthly? Let's say you do 500 bucks. Let's see where that gets us from 25 to 65. 500 bucks. That's reasonable. And let's say a 10% rate of return, which is the average for the S&P 500 over the last several decades. Calculating $3.1 million. Now, I think we can all agree, six grand a year for the rest of your life, not that much money. For the average salary, let's say, you know, $60,000, you should be doing $750 a month if you make $60,000. And that's if you make $60,000 for your whole life, never make another dime. Never get a raise. You would have $4.7 million from $25 to $65.

Now, you're going, well, George, must be nice to be 25. I'm 35. Okay, let's see what that turns out to be. From 35 to 65, if you invest the same amount, you have $1.7 million. Not great, but hopefully we can do better on the investment side, and we make more money over time. to where we can invest a thousand a month, right? Let's say you're making 80 grand, you take 15% of that, about a thousand bucks a month going into there. Now we're talking 2.2 million. We're a lot closer, and that's with 30 years of consistent investing. Now let's go into our 40s

and see how this number really starts to shrink because we lose the power of compound growth over time. We'd have $759,000. Do you see the power of investing early? And by the time we're 45, we're probably making more money. We might have to catch up on contributions. So what if we could invest 1250 a month and work till we're 67 because we're behind. Now we're talking. We're at 1.2 million. So that's with 22 years of a working career left ahead of you. You can do this. And when you get to your 50s, it's going to become a whole lot harder from 55 to 67. You'd have $345,000. Now if we up our investment to, let's say, 1750 a month, 483. Let's say we work till we're 70 because we got a late start, zero dollars in retirement by 55, which we can all agree is awful. It's still

leave you with 725 grand. That's not nothing. No, I don't know what the power of a dollar will be when I'm in my 60s, but I do know this. More money equals less problems in retirement. So, aim high and invest for the future for the long term. Now, I've got good news for you. You have the power to change course and set yourself up for a great retirement, even if you're already climbing up in age. So it may be too late to get an A on the KFSS, but it's never too late to improve your situation and retire with dignity. But there's three things you need to do to start heading in the right direction. Number one, you've got to get out of debt. Since net worth is what you own minus what you owe, a good place to start is getting yourself to the point where you don't owe anything.

The liabilities column is vastly empty because you've paid off all of your debt, including your home eventually. Number two, become a homeowner. 68% of millionaires own a paid-for home, and that's not too surprising. It's a large part of your net worth, and once you get into the door in the housing market, it really helps you build equity and lets you build wealth over time. Buying a home is a great way to build wealth because real estate almost always goes up in value, and paying off your mortgage forces you to save money each month as you build equity. It is not a waste. Plus, once you've paid off your mortgage,

you will have removed your biggest monthly expense, your mortgage payment, and that'll save you a lot of stress in retirement and also free up a whole bunch of money to now invest more. Now, I'm not saying drop everything and go by home right the second. You need to make sure you're financially prepared, which means you're debt-free with an emergency fund, and you have a solid down payment.

Now, last but not least, what you need to do, start investing. As soon as possible, once you have that foundation of debt freedom and the emergency fund, begin investing 15% of your income each month into retirement accounts that are tax advantaged. At the end of the day, net worth is not your self-worth, so don't feel too bad if you didn't get the grade you wanted. Net worth is just math, and thankfully, life is more than math, and you can live a great life regardless of the net worth you built. But it is a healthy scoreboard for how wealth building is going for you, much better than a stupid credit score. And you're always

in the driver's seat when it comes to your money. But keep in mind, your investments won't add up to much if you don't know where to put your money. And that's why I'm made this video going over the best investment accounts for 2025. So keep watching or click the link in the description to go check it out. And if you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like and subscribe. It means a lot. Hey, that's it for this video. We'll see you next time.