Check out this article labeling $250K investable assets as “wealthy”.
I was thinking $1M or at least the $650K figure Johsua Kennon talks about in his personal blog (as a “tipping point”).
As for the “Lessons Learned”, the Bogleheads certainly take issue with the idea that the #1 piece of advice relative to saving and investing should be “working with a financial adviser or working with one earlier” (not to mention $250K being a lower than expectations target)! The Bogleheads philosophy is the “do it yourself, match the market” approach, which is so ridiculously simple that many people can’t believe that it should work. That’s why many go with commission based brokers who call themselves financial advisors, buy all the products (insurance, loaded mutual funds with high expense ratios) their broker tells them to buy, and have a portfolio that needs to generate a higher return to pay for all the fees.
I’d stick with the 27% who said that we should be “more hands-on with our investment portfolio, including adjusting their asset allocation”. Since late least year when I did a personal “cram course” in investing 101 and joined up with the Bogleheads I haven’t looked back. Add to this Goldie and Murray’s popular “The Investment Answer” book, and it confirms my suspicion that when it comes to money matters, “simple” can be “better”.
Other good lessons: “…Knowing how they want to live in retirement was more important than they’d realized it would be. Fifty-two percent said knowing how to manage retirement income was more important than they’d expected.”
If you’re in your 20s and 30s, better start thinking what life will be like when you hit 60. It will be here sooner than you think!
