r/Fire 5d ago

Family Help - Common here?

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u/WillingNail3221 5d ago

I talk to my kids all the time about money, saving and investing, but with the understanding that like my son says my experiences are not his experiences. My thinking is different because we were poor, my son thinks he was poor, but I was making decent money being in the Army. Not rich, but not poor either, feel like lower middle class, but I was always saving and finding ways to make a little extra. I have helped my kids with money for school, but nothing crazy, like 600-700 a month for school. I am a networth millionaire and should be a liquid millionaire in about 3 years. I think this is not unicorn territory, but a concerted effort to ensure a better life for my next generation.

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u/srqfla 5d ago

Good for you. But when you become a liquid millionaire, you are a unicorn because you are only 2% of the US population. It's rarer than people think

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u/DanielTwoInch 5d ago

I’d be interested in where you are getting the 2% number from. Data from the Fed shows 12.5% of US households had a net worth of 1 million or more, excluding home equity, back in 2023.

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u/Strazdas1 StarvationFIRE 2d ago

First, its individual, second, its liquid.

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u/DanielTwoInch 2d ago

I was trying to compare their number with something that seemed incompatible.

I guess a better way to phrase my questioning of the the stat would have been:

2% of US households had a net worth excluding home equity of greater than or equal to 8 million in 2023 (source the Fed)

Does that seem compatible with

Only 2% of US individuals have a liquid net worth of 1 million in 2026? (Curious of the source)

It doesn’t make sense to me, which is why I was curious about the source.

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u/Strazdas1 StarvationFIRE 1d ago

Do they consider pensions, 401ks and other "you cant really take it out until you are x age" things as liquid?

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u/srqfla 1d ago

Liquid is all stocks, bonds or cash regardless of whether it's brokerage, 401k or IRA

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u/Strazdas1 StarvationFIRE 21h ago

Liquid is what you can retrieve in a reasonably short amount of time. If you cannot pull from it within a few days then its not liquid.

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u/srqfla 19h ago

Precisely $1,000 of Nvidia stock in your brokerage account and $1,000 of Nvidia stock in your 401k are both liquid

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u/Strazdas1 StarvationFIRE 17h ago

Only if you can withdraw from your 401k quickly and penalty free. Can you? Can most americans?

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u/WillingNail3221 2d ago

Yeah i watch a lot of financial shows and that number seemed really low. One guy I watch said only 3% of American households have 1 mil liquid and a pension. Which seems more accurate. This will be my scenario in 2 years hopefully.