The car you drive

[sv2007]

What % of your net worth is in your cars?
I think this depends on your age too, give a range, e.g. 25-35, 35-45, 45-55. 55+ ?

I predict the following:
25-35 20%
35-45 10%
45-55 5%
55+ 3% (possibly even down to just 1 car)

Note: If you are under 25, then it's hard to guess because you aren't established, but feel free to list.

I've made a mistake in calculating the prediction. Now, it should be correct.

Does my prediction match your situation?

[bjl584]

I drive a 2011 GMC Sierra 1500.

It's paid off, so whatever it is worth is 100% equity for me.

I'm not sure what it is worth. Maybe $20,000 give or take??? I plan on driving it until it dies on me, so I don't really pay much attention to its value.

To answer your question, it's less than 7% of my net worth and less than 4% of the value of all my assets.

[sv2007]

To answer your question, it's less than 7% of my net worth

Thanks for reply. Without knowing you age group, it's hard to tell if my prediction is right. Do you fit into my prediction?

But no need to list you car models for privacy; I'm just thinking my predictions might fit most folks on this forum.

Actually, you can just post whether my prediction fit you or not. Even better.

[phantom]

My husband and I straddle your 25-35 and 35-45 brackets. (We're 34 and 37.) Our cars are currently about 3% of our net worth. But, we're about due to replace one of those cars, at which point they'll probably jump to about 6% of our net worth.

[97guns]

hmm, never figured that number out and had to do it, my car is 1% of my net worth. my brother has a truck, mercedes and 2 harley which works out to around 10% of his net worth

i think it is important to keep this number as low as possible because vehicles are the most depreciating asset you can own

[disneysteve]

It depends what you include in your net worth calculation and how you value the cars but for a ballpark number, I'm going to say our cars represent about 2% of our net worth. My wife and I are 52 and 51 years old.

[TexasHusker]

I own 3 cars outright that are worth a combined $75K, plus I lease one that's worth about $70K.

I don't count any of the cars - paid for or not - as part of my net worth. In fact, I don't count my personal residence as part of my net worth, even though it might be, technically. Both cars and personal houses are "cost of doing business" expenses that give me some motivation to work hard, give a lot, and grow my businesses.

Houses and cars to me are also toys of sorts. Necessary, but a great deal of fun, too. Obviously I would be miserable driving a Chevy Cruze, not that there is anything wrong with one of those...

[sv2007]

It depends what you include in your net worth calculation

I thought net worth is just your assets - debt.
Is there another definition you have in mind?

[MonkeyMama]

Personally, we've mostly been in the 1% - 3% range.

I have a high cost of living bias. We spent our teens and early 20s saving for our first house. Not spending money on cars. We maybe had cars worth $500/each when we bought our first home. We were probably only worth $60k-ish by then (before 25) which only puts us at less than 2% of our worth tied up in cars. (I can't imagine why we would have ever saved up so much money before 25, except frantically trying to save up to get into a home).

Today we are at about 3%, age 40. It's only so high because we just bought a newer vehicle in the past year.

We still buy relatively inexpensive/used cars and we drive our cars for 10-15 years. Most years that would make the value of our cars fairly worthless. My 11yo car is only worth about $3k, for example. I might keep it another 5 or 10 years. (Since our mid 20s we have not bought a car that is more than 1 year old. No longer trying to put myself through college on a meager income and no longer saving up for a home, so we will spend a little bit on cars).

[disneysteve]

I don't count any of the cars - paid for or not - as part of my net worth.

Same here. I only figured it out for the purpose of answering this question - which I think is a great question by the way.

[bjl584]

Thanks for reply. Without knowing you age group, it's hard to tell if my prediction is right. Do you fit into my prediction?

But no need to list you car models for privacy; I'm just thinking my predictions might fit most folks on this forum.

Actually, you can just post whether my prediction fit you or not. Even better.

I'm 38.

And, I didn't include the value of the truck when figuring out assets or net worth.

[disneysteve]

I thought net worth is just your assets - debt.
Is there another definition you have in mind?

Which assets do you include?
It sounds like you're including the house and cars.

What about other assets? Do you count my watch? My wife's engagement ring? Furniture? Collectibles? Artwork? Electronics gear? Silverware? Appliances?

Where do you draw the line for what counts toward net worth and what doesn't?

[Fishindude77]

Three automobiles equate to under 1.5% of net worth.

A car is an asset (something that has value and can be sold for money) same as a house, business, piece of property, gold bars, stocks and bonds, etc. and should be calculated into your net worth just the same if you want a TRUE picture of your net worth.

If you owe anything against them it's a liability that calculates into your net worth computation.



What about other assets? Do you count my watch? My wife's engagement ring? Furniture? Collectibles? Artwork? Electronics gear? Silverware? Appliances?
Where do you draw the line for what counts toward net worth and what doesn't?

Technically, all of the above is indeed a portion of your net worth.
I use some best guess, round numbers for things like the above, household furnishings, toys, etc. in my calculations recognizing that resale may be a fraction of initial purchase prices.

[disneysteve]

A car is an asset (something that has value and can be sold for money) same as a house, business, piece of property, gold bars, stocks and bonds, etc. and should be calculated into your net worth just the same if you want a TRUE picture of your net worth.

I suspect that there are exceedingly few people who, when reporting their net worth, actually count the value of absolutely everything they own. Most likely include only the big ticket items - house, car, financial assets, and maybe high end artwork or other valuable items.

[parafly]

I own a car, truck, and motorcycle, all of which are fully paid for. They represent about 5% of my total net worth. I'm in the 25-35 age bracket.