Comments on: My Total Lifetime Earnings & The New Wealth Ratio™!

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 01:03:50 +0000

In reply to Charlotte. This is awesome! I didn't know this actually - thanks for sharing!!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 23:17:25 +0000

You can now calculate your benefit if you retire early on the SS website.

I entered $0 for future earnings (if I retire today) and it gave me the benefit amount I will get at age 62 etc.

This is assuming you’ve already earned the 40 credits which is generally 10 years of working.

By: Joel

Joel — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 14:28:30 +0000

In reply to Chris.

That’s a great exercise for young people. Thank you for helping students like this!

The older you get, the $$ number gets scarier and scarier. It’s good to keep this in mind as you just start building wealth.

Cheers Chris! Have a great weekend!

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 13:15:01 +0000

I do something similar with my college students. They consider what their net worth is, and then I explain that that is their life savings. And for those with nothing, I say, “Over $XX,XXX has passed through your hands, and you have nothing to show for it.”

It really opens some of their eyes.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 20:56:59 +0000

In reply to wplearners.

Not sure I understand the question?

If I found extra money that I didn’t include previously I’d go back and add it in yeah – whether it changed anything or not, just to make sure I was using all the data I had :) And these days with the stock market being all crazy I’m sure it wouldn’t improve anything much – hah!

By: wplearners

wplearners — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 12:03:44 +0000

Love it, sir! I was looking over this article and realized that I need to connect with the other half of my revenue generation to see what her Lifetime earnings are.
Are you happy to add earnings from ten years ago as if it was last year, without any adjustment to the figures?

By: Sarah Kross

Sarah Kross — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 16:53:44 +0000

I am scared to go through the same exercise because I think I will be depressed after doing it. At 41, it will just cause me to question everything, especially my current path where I am trying to play what I think it’s a long game. But great insight and gives me a lot to think about lifetime earning potential and what it means to me.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 11:20:28 +0000

In reply to Harry.

Totally – the more accurate you can make it the better! (And even more impressive if you have all that data dating back your entire life ;) Unfortunately all that most people have are these SS statements – and many don’t even know they have those!)

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:06:56 +0000

I think a better number would be GROSS wages and other income, which would not show up at all on the SS statement. You’d need a number for the gross income from Quicken, or a homemade spreadsheet, or paper records/ tax returns. The FICA number is misleading and does not take into account source of income (cap gains etc.) and reductions to income (personal exemptions and other deductions) If you own a small business many things are deductible, and would affect your net, but you earned the money. You also pay both sides of FICA so that’s a handicap that won’t show up in net. There are so many variables from household to household that the only way to make it useful is to start off with ALL money, made from ANY source.
My two cents.
BTW, my number using your method is 62.79%. Using my proposed tweak it’s 37.21%.
Cheers

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 13:41:37 +0000

In reply to steve. Heyy very cool! It's as if you saved every last penny your entire life ;)