How does your family wealth stack up ?

[Wiregrass Willie]

I ran across a figure today that I'd like to share with DU. Warren Buffett -- supposed to be the 2nd richest man in the world -- owns 2,567,455 shares of Berkshire Hathaway (brka) stock. So what ?

BKRA is valued on the NYSE at $140,000 a share. But wait. I can't find the current figure, but in 2004 the median net worth of American families was $93,100. If we do the arithmetic, we will see that one share of Mr Buffett's holding is worth 150% of what the median American family is worth. If we multiply the number of shares he holds by 1.5, we will see that Mr Buffett is worth the combined net worth of 3,851,182 middle class American families.

Buffett is the most honest of the super rich. He is the one who said that the rich are fighting a class war -- and they are winning.

[Horse with no Name]

1. Should I stack the quarters first or the pennies?

:shrug:

[debbierlus]

5. Now, that is pretty funny

:rofl:

I have my dime rolls going....

[Xipe Totec]

2. It's now what you own that matters - It's who you own nt

[porphyrian]

3. Ha! Hahahahahahaha! -n/t

[debbierlus]

4. The median net worth is 93,100? B.S. it is....

Most people don't have any savings & they are in debt up to their ears & over!

Isn't the median the smack middle? It isn't average is it?

[dmallind]

8. yep it is - but remember net worth

isn't just savings. It's home equity, 401ks, accrued pensions etc too. AND easily saleable assets such as cars, collectibles, etc.

You can have 25K in credit card debt and no retirement but if your home has a $50K mortgage left from buying it fifteen years ago and is worth $168,100 then you have $93.1K in net worth.

I'd say it's safe to bet that for a lot of the middle class most of their net worth is in their homes. If you include pensions and 401k that's a very very safe assumption well into the upper-middle classes.

[frankenforpres]

11. it's a bad stat

id like to see it without primary residence included


i bet the median is pretty dire then

[dmallind]

19. It would certainly be much worse

401ks have helped a lot of people build some net worth, but like anything else that is voluntary it requires action and priorities to be assigned, so does not reach everyone.

[sandnsea]

9. House, 401K, assets

Yeah, the upper 10%, with the few thousand of the upper 30%, probably averages out to $93,100. It would be nice to see the figures if you took out the upper 2%, the ones who have accumulated a million or more including their house. I think we'd see much lower figures, and much more in keeping with the majority of Americans.

[frankenforpres]

13. median should account for that

i would agree that average or mean is a worthless stat in this regard, but median should be the middle person. 93K seems high to me

[sandnsea]

22. No it wouldn't

Take 100 people. Give 2 $10 million in assets. Give 48, $75,000 in assets. Give 30 $10,000 in assets. And give 20 nothing. 98 people only have $3,900,000 in assets. Of course the top 2% will skew the results, always.

[frankenforpres]

24. in your example

the initial median is between 10K and 75K, without the top 2, it is 10K for sure

[AndyTiedye]

16. "A Million or More Including the House" Based on Bubblicious Real-Estate Valuations

doesn't make you a millionaire, especially now that the bubble is going poof.

[Wiregrass Willie]

14. That's right. Half have more - half have less

Here's an interesting site. Type in various ages and incomes and see what you get.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/networth_ageincome/index.html

[damntexdem]

21. Most people's net worth is in their home equity.

And until a house is sold, that is just theoretical -- and in the past year, has become more and more theoretical.

[dmallind]

6. But the age old question remains

...while there is no doubt that Warren Buffett is unquestionably rich, there is also no doubt there are but a scant few even on that order of magnitude.

Clearly then the "rich" must extend a bit further down from these outliers. But where do they start?

If the median net worth is $93,100 then surely "rich" must be substantially above that - or half the nation would be "rich".

So where, again the big question, does "rich" begin?

[frankenforpres]

12. im rich

i have a wife who loves me, an apartment that's warm in the cold and cool when it's warm, enough food to eat, and health vision and dental insurance

i also like my job


i certainly dont have $93K, im negative a little less than that in student loans

[mdmc]

7. Worldwide, I would say I am in the top 10% of all human earners

but I only make $25,500.

I am rich, but not in an Mericka, wax my Hbummer sort of way.

[EOTE]

10. Is that really so?

I know Buffett is insanely and sickeningly rich, but 2,567,455 shares at $140,000 a pop is equal to more than a third of a trillion dollars. I didn't think anyone on earth had that much money, yet alone has that much money invested in a single stock.

[Jim__]

17. According to wikipedia, Buffet is worth about $52 billion.

wikipedia. That would be about 371,000 shares of brk.a.

He's no piker.

[undeterred]

15. I worked as a temp at Northern Trust Bank in Chicago once

They had a division called "Substantial Families". When I first heard the term I thought they were all overweight. Then I realized they were the uber-rich and needed bankers to help them with their money. Bankers who held special weekend seminars for them.

I wondered if they had Substantial Family Dysfunction.

[Javaman]

18. Wealth? what is this wealth that you speak of? nt

[damntexdem]

20. That stack is around here somewhere. When I find it, I'll tell you.

Darn, the stack's so flat, I can never find it!

[SyntaxError]

23. I'm only worth about $21,444,991....

I cheat when I play The Sims.

[Turbineguy]

25. Mr. Buffett understands

that being rich surrounded by hundreds of millions of heavily armed poor with nothing left to loose is not a desirable situation.

[Elspeth]

26. Hence gun control legislation?

There's a reason for that 2nd amendment

[catnhatnh]

27. How my "wealth" stacks up.....

...triple it and it would scarcely be a speedbump on the road to riches....