40% of Americans Will Never Gain a Net Worth of $10,000

During my studies to become a Certified Financial Education Instructor, I came across this statistic.

40% of Americans will never gain a net worth of $10,000 (American Dream Education Campaign)

To clarify this quote let me first define net worth.

NET WORTH: an individual's net economic position; similarly, it uses the value of all assets (long term assets) minus the value of all liabilities (Wikipedia). 

Hereʻs a simple example, you have $1000 in a Savings Account, $500 in your Checkings Account, and a car worth $15,000. Your total assets would be $16,500.00 

You also have $3000 in credit card debt, you took out a personal loan to take a Vegas vacation of $1500, and you still own $13,000 on your car loan. Your total debt would be $17,500.00

So what is your net worth? Your net worth is -$1,000.00

  $16,500.00   Assets
- $17,500.00   Debt (Liabilities) 
--------------------
- $1,000.00     Net Worth

This is a very simplified example to help you understand how to calculate your net worth. The fact that 40% of Americans will NOT achieve a net worth of $10,000 is clearly a sign that Americans have too much debt. Take a moment to inventory your assets and total your liabilities to see what your net worth is. 

Do you want to be a part of the 40% or the 60%? The choice is yours and everyone has the opportunity to be a part of the 60%. 

(If you need help calculating your net worth, please feel free to contact me at saydeepojas@gmail.com and I will be happy to assist you)