this post was submitted on 29 Feb 2024
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Economics
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~$6 Million net worth is not as much as you think. It is not enough to stop working. One major illness (in the US) for you or your spouse and a big chunk of it goes away. If the illness leaves the main household earner unable to continue to earn, y'all fucked.
$6M is most certainly enough to stop working for the majority of people. Even a modest 3% return on your $6M is $180,000 per year. Are you telling me that you can't live on $180k per year?
I definitely should have left my original first line in there before posting the comment.
Net worth ≠ CASH.
Many years ago I was given a met worth of $1.5mil and the reality was that I was drowning in debt and every asset that I "owned" was financed, so I actually didn't own it. Net worth is make believe, just ask Trump.
When I finally got out of debt I properly owned a $250k house, $16k worth of used cars (which rapidly depreciate daily) and about $20k in cash. Realistically, I was worth close to $100k when I was given the $1.5mil valuation.
Here is an example. I owned a $125k (msrp) sports car. It was valued at $125k even though it was already a year old. I put zero down and was in fact upside down on it (I was young and stupid). Technically, that should be a negative against my net worth but UBS credited it as the cars original MSRP to my valuation. Bankers are incentivised to do this because it allows them to lend you money and load you up with debt you have no business having.
EDIT: Typos
Then you didn't have a NET worth of $1.5m, you had a gross value of $1.5m. net worth is assets minus liabilities. Liabilities include things such as loans and credit card debt. But you're right, having a net worth of $6M doesn't mean they have $6M cash. That's a valid point.
I fully agree, and so does my finance degree, and yet that's the bullshit UBS did and I suspect most banks do when valuating people. I was shocked, but they wanted my business.
Here is another example. I sold the house I bought for $250k. Before I sold it it was being valued by my banks at $1mil+ by using area comps, except that my home was old and modest and the comps were new builds after the old neighborhood homes were demolished. Actual sales price was $475k of which I netted less than $450k. That's over $500k worth of bullshit valuation. Don't even get me started on art, watches, and jewelry.
Right? Sure they're valued at whatever, but who are you going to get to actually pay that much without a storefront to sell it for you?
The old "get it valuated by a paid expert then donate it to a museum for a tax break" trick.
I doubt the museum is interested in my Citizen Eco Drive watch. Haha!