What does it take in your city to feel "wealthy"

[Pedestrian]

Graphics as present in https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/ar...l-16174863.php

The online survey was conducted by Logica Research from February 1 to February 16, 2021, among a national sample of 1,000 Americans aged 21 to 75. Quotas were set to balance the national sample on key demographic variables. Supporting documentation for any claims or statistical information is available upon request. The margin of error for the national sample is three percentage points.

https://www.aboutschwab.com/modern-wealth-survey-2021

[TonyTone]

Why is Philly not included in this graph but it has 3 Texas cities?

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

Why is Philly not included in this graph but it has 3 Texas cities?

What is the third Texas city?

I don’t understand Southwest Florida over Philadelphia, however.

[Steely Dan]

I thought Southwest Florida was a vast and mainly uninhabited wetlands known as the Everglades?

And including Denver over Philly is a definite head-scratcher considering metro Philly is roughly 2x larger.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

Why is Philly not included in this graph but it has 3 Texas cities?

Give Chuck Schwab a call and let us know what he says . . . because no one here can tell you. I haven't read the original report (there's a link)--maybe it has other cities; I just posted the graphics from the SF Chronicle whose focus was on how San Francisco compared to a selection of other cities. I'm not sure by whom or how the selection was made.

Here's the link again if you have the patience to go through it: https://www.aboutschwab.com/modern-wealth-survey-2021

So does no one have a comment about what the graphics do say as opposed to what they don't?

PS: I'm really sorry Philadelphia's feeling are hurt.

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I thought Southwest Florida was a vast and mainly uninhabited wetlands known as the Everglades?

And including Denver over Philly is a definite head-scratcher considering metro Philly is roughly 2x larger.

Yeah, and the fact that housing is much more expensive in Denver than it is in Houston, Dallas, Phoenix Chicago South Florida and about even with Boston this list makes no sense to me.

[SIGSEGV]

I assume this may partially be for retirement planning, in which case including Southwest Florida makes sense, but some of the other places less so?

Net worth for "younger" people doesn't make too much sense in determining financial comfort since retirement plans/ home equity are still building for quite a while longer.

I'm 34, and feel fairly financially comfortable, but my net worth is well under 800k and may never reach that (unless I die--my life insurance policy is worth well more than that ).

I just estimated that combining my home equity, retirement accounts, checking/savings/investment accounts, various belongings (e.g. electronics, jewelry, furniture, camera+lenses, bicycles) and my wife's extant student debt, my net worth is around 130-150k or so. But I've only had a "real job" for the last 6 years (I was not saving much, or contributing to a retirement plan, or SS for that matter, when I was a grad student...). I guess it helps that I know that I could always make more money if I wanted to if I sold out and left academia (I get multiple recruiting emails from various quant firms every week...) or if my wife got a salaried job (she's currently trying to be a writer, but she could theoretically go back to social work and make a pittance there). I also ordinarily travel a lot on the university's dime, which makes vacations much cheaper if I can piggyback off a conference or such.


Here's a net worth by age chart from https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-age-c...united-states/ for the country, although obviously many areas are more expensive than average:

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by dktshb

Yeah, and the fact that housing is much more expensive in Denver than it is in Houston, Dallas, Phoenix Chicago South Florida and about even with Boston this list makes no sense to me.

It's not necessarily about reality. It's about how people "feel". All you are saying is that you don't feel the same way about these areas as the mean of the people who live there. And all one can respond is, "Well, OK."

What is interesting is that people in different cities feel so different about what it takes to be "wealthy" or "comfortable". As I have posted many times, I split my time between 2 areas with vastly different demographics and mean income levels but frankly I don't feel that much wealthier or poorer in one than the other. The truth is I make more money and have more money than the majority of people in either one but I drive a much older car (in the one where I even have a car), have a smaller home and probably spend less on obviously costly goods and services. Whether or not one feels "comfortable" says as much about their view of what it takes to be comfortable as it does about how much money they have or how much things cost.

Sidebar: Today I noticed 2 vehicles in my condo's garage--a flat black low-slung Porsche that must have cost well over $100K and a new-appearing large Mercedes SUV (certainly not one of the "bargain models"). When I see such things I always wonder why people felt the need to own them: Do they have so much money they feel "comfortable" indulging their desire to have such toys (in which case I wonder why they don't live in the penthouse of a newer building) or are they scrimping to lease them (in which case I wonder why). Is this what they require to feel "comfortable" and/or "wealthy"? On the vehicular front, I'm also seeing a growing number of Mercedes G-Class (starting price $130K) around town now that "everybody" has a Range Rover. I guess boxy styling, stiff springs and 12 cylinders is what "comfort" is all about.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I'm also seeing a growing number of Mercedes G-Class (starting price $130K) around town now that "everybody" has a Range Rover. I guess boxy styling, stiff springs and 12 cylinders is what "comfort" is all about.

A G-Class is the ultimate nouveau riche flex.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Here's a net worth by age chart from https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-age-c...united-states/ for the country, although obviously many areas are more expensive than average:

damn, the MASSIVE discrepancy between average and median net worth figures clearly shows just how top-loaded our society is.

not that it's a shocking surprise or anything, but the stark and drastic difference is yet another reminder of how imbalanced things are.

[harryc]

In Oak Park ( Ill. ) we measure wealth by number of kids, anything over 2 and you are "wealthy"

[BigDipper 80]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I thought Southwest Florida was a vast and mainly uninhabited wetlands known as the Everglades?

Southwest Florida usually refers to Naples and Fort Myers.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Wow, the MASSIVE discrepancy between average and median net worth figures clearly shows just just how top-loaded our society is.

yeah the average is higher than the 75th percentile (except for 25-29 year olds... perhaps they are more egalitarian).

[iheartthed]

The takeaway for me is that, for as much noise as we make about cost of living, "wealthy" doesn't really vary that much between metros.

[10023]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The takeaway for me is that, for as much noise as we make about cost of living, "wealthy" doesn't really vary that much between metros.

That’s an odd conclusion to draw from a graph where San Francisco is at almost 2x the level of assets as Phoenix.

[Crawford]

Wealth, as a measure of whether one is "wealthy" seems more appropriate for older cohorts, with income more appropriate for younger cohorts. And life stage really matters.

I had a negative net worth for much of my 20's, but had very high income for that age cohort. Now I have a comfortable net worth, and less of an outlier income for age, and feel less "wealthy" due to mid-life responsibilities, even though I'm objectively "wealthier" than before.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 10023

That’s an odd conclusion to draw from a graph where San Francisco is at almost 2x the level of assets as Phoenix.

Median home price in Phoenix is $350k vs $1.5M in San Francisco. So the feeling of "wealthy" varies less between the two cities than does the median home price.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Wealth, as a measure of whether one is "wealthy" seems more appropriate for older cohorts, with income more appropriate for younger cohorts. And life stage really matters.

yeah, unless you're born into money or have some fat inheritance fall into your lap, income is the name of the game for younger families.

my wife and i are blessed with the safety net of having a very solid net worth for our age range, at least according to the chart SIGSEGV posted.

but with my wife leaving her 6-figure job last year to start her own consulting business, and then me getting covid laid-off 3 months later only to scrape by on side-gigs ever since, we are so cash-poor at the moment that i sure as hell don't feel "wealthy" (hah!), or even just regular old "comfortable", especially with the burden of two young children to house, clothe, feed, insure, and educate.

yes, we are no doubt extremely lucky to have assets that we could divest of should shit truly hit the fan for us, financially-speaking, but at this immediate moment, income generation is a billion times more important to us than having assets that are intended to quietly build a comfortable retirement nest-egg over the coming decades.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Wealth, as a measure of whether one is "wealthy" seems more appropriate for older cohorts, with income more appropriate for younger cohorts. And life stage really matters.

I had a negative net worth for much of my 20's, but had very high income for that age cohort. Now I have a comfortable net worth, and less of an outlier income for age, and feel less "wealthy" due to mid-life responsibilities, even though I'm objectively "wealthier" than before.

So you are among those who would have said you felt "comfortable" in this survey.

Again, it isn't really about how much you have or how much you make but how you FEEL about what you have OR what you make.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Median home price in Phoenix is $350k vs $1.5M in San Francisco. So the feeling of "wealthy" varies less between the two cities than does the median home price.

Possibly because 60% of San Franciscans are renters and care more about rents than prices.