Many of us dream of retiring wealthy. But how much is enough to be considered wealthy? And if you’re not there yet, is it possible to still retire in the top percentile of Americans?
To be considered wealthy at age 65 or older, you need a household net worth of $3.2 million, according to finance expert Geoffrey Schmidt, CPA, who used data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to determine the household net worth needed at age 65 or older to determine the various percentiles of wealth in the U.S.
Schmidt argues that household net worth is more appropriate than individual net worth for this analysis, because household status is usually set by age 65. At this level of wealth, he says, you can worry less about day-to-day financial planning and start thinking about wealth planning.
Here’s how to figure out where you fall on the ladder — and how you can pull yourself up a couple rungs, too.
Breaking down wealth demographics
According to the SCF report, it takes a net worth of $16.7 million or more for those over 65 to be considered super wealthy. People at this level “engage in just about anything they want to engage in,” says Schmidt. These are people who travel extensively, pursue esoteric interests and own expensive assets like wineries. But that represents just the top one percent of American retirees. Here’s how all the other categories are broken down, including the associated net worth for each category:- Super wealthy (99th percentile): $16.7 million
- Wealthy (95th percentile): $3.2 million
- Well off (90th percentile): $1.9 million
- Middle class (50th percentile): $281,000
- Poor (20th percentile): $10,000
- Insolvent (less than the 20th percentile): $0