Net Worth by Age Comparison

Net worth by age benchmarks help you gauge financial progress compared to peers and retirement readiness goals. While every situation is individual, widely-used rules of thumb provide useful milestones.

Net worth formula: Net Worth = Total Assets − Total Liabilities

Where:

• Assets: cash, savings, investments (401k, IRA, brokerage), real estate equity, vehicle value, other valuable property
• Liabilities: mortgage balance, car loans, student loans, credit card debt, personal loans, any other debts owed

Age-based benchmark rules:

Fidelity Rule (most cited):

• Age 30: 1× your annual salary
• Age 40: 3× your annual salary
• Age 50: 6× your annual salary
• Age 60: 8× your annual salary
• Age 67 (retirement): 10× your annual salary

Worth knowing before you measure yourself against that ladder: those are retirement savings milestones, not net worth. Fidelity is counting what sits in a 401(k) and an IRA, not a house or a car. Net worth is the wider number, so most people clear the Fidelity rungs on net worth well before they clear them on savings alone.

A simpler years-worked rule: Benchmark Net Worth = Annual Salary × (Age − 22) ÷ 10

This one treats 22 as the start of a working life and credits you a tenth of a year’s salary for every year since. It is much gentler than the Fidelity ladder. At 50 it asks for 2.8× salary where Fidelity asks 6×, so read it as a floor rather than a target.

Thomas Stanley’s Wealth Formula (The Millionaire Next Door): Expected Net Worth = Age × Gross Annual Income ÷ 10

Where gross annual income includes salary + business income + investment income.

What each variable means:

• Salary multiplier: assumes saving 15% of income throughout career with average market returns
• Home equity: Fidelity’s benchmarks exclude primary residence; Stanley’s formula includes it
• Defined benefit pension: if you have one, multiply the annual payout by 20–25 and add to net worth

Reference: median vs. average US net worth by age (Federal Reserve 2022):

• Under 35: Median $39K / Average $183K
• 35-44: Median $136K / Average $549K
• 45-54: Median $247K / Average $976K
• 55-64: Median $365K / Average $1.57M
• 65-74: Median $410K / Average $1.79M
• 75 and over: Median $336K / Average $1.62M

Look at how far the averages sit above the medians. That gap is not noise, it is a handful of very wealthy households dragging the mean upward in every band. The median is the number to compare yourself against. Notice too that the medians fall after 74, because retirement spends down what the working years built.

Worked example: Age: 45. Annual salary: $85,000. Assets: $312,000 (401k: $200k, home equity: $80k, savings: $32k). Liabilities: $145,000 (mortgage remaining: $120k, car loan: $25k).

• Net Worth = $312,000 − $145,000 = $167,000
• Fidelity benchmark at 45 (between 40 and 50): 3–6× salary = $255,000–$510,000
• Stanley formula: 45 × $85,000 ÷ 10 = $382,500

At $167,000 this person is behind benchmark, but knowing the gap is the first step to closing it.