Interesting article. Here are some thoughts – in no particular order:
– They extrapolated the data from estate tax returns and applied it to the living. But I would imagine estate tax returns are skewed to the older age bracket… people who have already accumulated their wealth… vs younger people who have smaller retirement accounts and bigger mortgages.
– Real Estate lead the list of assets. This can include a primary residence. If you bought before the bubble, in CA, and dilligently paid off the mortgage, that’s a BIG chunk of your networth… But you can’t spend it while you live there. Many folks work to pay off their home before retirement. (Even though Piggs might mock them. LOL)
– The other asset that stood out was retirement accounts. Hopefully people have LARGE retirement accounts by the time they retire… that may not make them wealthy – it takes a pretty big retirement account to support enough retirement income if you use a withdrawal rate of 4%.
I wonder how many of these 1% are just frugal people who did the responsible thing of saving for retirement, paying down their debt… living in the same house for years…. Not rich, just responsible.
I’m not in the 1% by these calcs… but hope to be someday soon (in a few years) by maxing my 401k, paying off my house. I hope to retire, and coincidentally that magic $2M is close to what I have calculated. I don’t want to be in the 1% – just financially secure and unworried by debt or lack of income streams.
