Where are you in the rat race? Australian household Net Worth by Age

I found an interesting estimation of Australian household median and average net worth (total assets - total liabilities) broken down by age group on a webpage by wealthvieu. It made the estimates using the ABS survey of Income and Housing for 2019-20, and then adjusting for current (2025-26) property valuations. It also have estimated household net worth for the 25th, 50th (median), 75th, 90th and 99th percentile of the overall Australian adult population. I then calculated the ratio of these percentiles relative to the median and applied it to the median for each age group, so I could plot a rough estimate of the Household NW percentile values plotted against age.

I added DW's super balance and share of our home valuation to my NW figure to get an estimate of our household net worth for comparison. It looks like we would fall somewhere around the 97th-98th percentile for our age group.

As expected, household net worth starts off close to zero at age 20, then rises during working life until it peaks just before retirement, and is then 'decumulated' during retirement. But as studies have shown, most retirees do not 'die with zero' but instead leave an estate (either by intent, or by underspending during retirement).

It is interesting to see how the NW gap narrows as you proceed from the 25th, to 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles -- but then the 99th percentile is considerably further above the 90th percentile than you would expect if the progression up to the 90th percentile had continued to follow the same trend. It seems that the top 1%-5% of the population is considerably more skilled than most at wealth accumulation. I suppose this is true of most areas of human endeavor -- a small percentage of participants in any activity are exceptional good at it, and stand 'head and shoulders' above even the top 10%.

It is also interesting (to me) that the peak of the 99th percentile is 'only' a realistically achievable $10MM or so. Some of those in the 'top 1%' achieve truly stratospheric net worth of $100MM, $1B etc. Usually based on the creation of one insanely successful (and lucrative) business venture...

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Net Worth APR 2026

Chart updated to end of APR in sidebar.

The US stock market has continued to appreciate despite the ongoing Iran war (possibly due purely to an AI bubble reminiscent of the dot.com bubble of 2000), while the Australian and other international markets continue to show weakness. Probably indicative of an impending global recession and inflationary pressures due to oil price likely to remain above $100/barrel for the rest of the year.

My stocks/cash increased $24,669 (+5.26%) to $493,946. This was largely due to a cash gift I received in April that I added to my mortgage offset account.

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) increased by +$67,801 (+3.03%) to $2,308,743. This didn't quite fully reverse the substantial drop experienced in March. No contributions made this month. Having started my new job this week, some SGL contributions will recommence soon.

The real estate holdings were a mixed bag. The estimated value of our home remained unchanged at $1,295,556 (my half) for yet another month, While my 'other real estate' (investment apartment and holiday home) increased by +$6,632 (+0.30%) to $2,194,239.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) decreased by -$4,588 (-5.10%) to $85,447. I am currently still adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month. In theory a price dip is good while using DCA to accumulate an asset over time. Every cloud has a silver (or gold) lining I suppose.

Overall, NW increased by +$94,514 (+1.79%) to $5,385,940 during April. NW needs to increase by about 0.2% per month on average to keep pace with inflation (I.e. maintain real value), so the increase during April was about +1.6% in real value. Excluding the gift I received, the April 'bounce back' recouped about half of the decrease experienced in March.

The acute impact of the Iran war seems to have mitigated, but I expect the impact on the global economic growth and inflation will be negative during the remainder of 2026.

We just had to spend around $5,000 to have one of our home's property fences replaced, so this will impact my NW figure at the end of May. I will receive my SMSF pension payment in June, but as that will effectively just be a transfer of funds from my SMSF account into my mortgage offset account it will not impact my overall NW.

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Starting a new job next week

After two rounds of interviews I was offered a position as an Ongoing Advice officer with a small, self-licensed financial planning company that has an office in the Sydney CBD. It will be fun to actually get to use my Master of Financial Planning to help people achieve their financial goals. Unlike when I was a self-employed financial advisor (which was costing me around $13K pa in ASIC and ATO levies, and the fees to remain an 'authorized representative' of an AFSL), this role will provide me with a modest regular income, rather than just being an expensive hobby.

As my living expenses are more than covered by my QSuper lifetime pension and the mandatory minimum annual pension payment from my SMSF pension phase account, I'll be transferring the salary from this job into my mortgage offset account to help pay off my investment apartment mortgage faster. It will be good to have some taxable income, as otherwise the negatively geared investment property makes little sense.

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Decided to buy some SpaceX exposure for fun

DW was chatting about the possible SpaceX IPO, having just seen a youTube video about it. I commented that IPOs are generally overpriced and have often not a great investment historically, but that although SpaceX isn't yet listed, you can get some exposure via some listed investment companies that gained exposure to the private SpaceX shares issued during various rounds of capital raising, and traded off market. One of these is the ER Shares Private-Public Crossover ETF (XOVR) that currently has around 40% of its NAV tied up in exposure to SpaceX private share capital. How it got that level of weighting to SpaceX is itself quite interesting (it initially had around 5%-10% of capital invested in that, but over time it had to liquidate listed investments to cover capital outflows, so the proportion of its capital tied up in the illiquid SpaceX holding increased over time. From my POV that was actually a good thing, as I am interested in getting some exposure to SpaceX, not other listed stocks.

Anyhow, the price for XOVR has fluctuated between $14.79-$21.78 over the past 52 weeks, so the latest closing price of $17.03 seems reasonable. I placed a limit order at $17.00 for 100 XOVR units with my IBKR account, Hopefully it will get filled when the market opens. The current NAV for XOVR is apparently around $16.98, so the current market price seems reasonable too. Investing $1,700 in XOVR would make a significant impact on my NW whether it crashes to zero or becomes a '10-bagger', but it is fun to have a little bit of indirect ownership in SpaceX.

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Net Worth MAR 2026

Chart updated to end of MAR in sidebar.

Who would have guessed that possibly starting WWIII and creating a 1970s style oil shock to cause a global recession/Greater Depression could be bad for everyone's finances :) Apparently everyone except POTUS and MAGA voters it seems.... Ah well, now for the exciting March performance data:

Stocks/cash decreased -$10,502 (-2.19%) to $469,277. This was actually better than one would expect, due to about $300K of this figure being cash sitting in my mortgage offset account. 

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) decreased by +$97,668 (+4.18%) to $2,240,942. No contributions made this month.

The real estate figures are unchanged, as the source data has not been updated for March. The federal Labor government is floating ideas about limiting negatively geared properties to a maximum of two, and/or reducing the capital gains tax 'discount' (which was actually just a simplified method to avoid taxing the effect of inflation -- they replaced the cost base indexing method with the 50% 'discount' method, as at the time the inflation rate and typical holding period meant about 50% of realized capital gains were simply due to inflation) to 1/3 or 1/4. These changes are likely to make property investing less attractive, and the decreased demand is likely to cause a slump in property prices. It won't actually help renters who want to buy their first home however, as the last time Keating fiddled with negative gearing (simply delaying deductions to EOFY rather than being able to seek a PAYG variation) it resulted in a property slump, shortage of renting housing (due to fewer new constructions), and then a hike in rental costs (which makes it much harder for renters to save the required deposit to obtain a home loan). We'll see what actually gets announced in the budget, and then how the expected and unexpected impacts wash out during the following year or two.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) decreased by -$14,523 (-13.89%) to $90,035. I am currently still adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month. In theory a price dip is good while using DCA to accumulate an asset over time. Every cloud has a silver (or gold) lining I suppose.

Overall, NW decreased by -$122,693 (-2.27%) to $5,291,426 during Mar. NW needs to increase by about 0.2% per month on average to keep pace with inflation (I.e. maintain real value), so the decrease during March was about +2.4% in real value.

It would be nice to think that April won't be as bad as March was, but the economic impacts of Trump's war will take several months to become fully apparent, and the war could still escalate further.

I got a quote for adding a 'granny flat' to my holiday home property (around $235K), but in the current global situation I think it would be prudent to the leave the money sitting in my loan offset account, rather than spend it on a property improvement. Although the cost is likely to rise substantially in a year or two, I think putting this expense off for the time being is a wise move.

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GenLife Investment Bond Update

I finally got around to updating my sharesight portfolio tracker with my latest quarterly Investment Bond contribution transactions (processed on 17 Feb). Currently the quarterly contribution is around $1,825 each quarter, and I will continue to increase this by 125% annually until it reaches $50Kpa (which is approximately what my 'surplus' tax-free self-funded pension income will be). In the meantime I will store any 'surplus' pension income in my investment property mortgage offset account.

So far the annual ROI (after the ~30% tax paid by IB) is 8.57%pa, which seems OK. The investment allocation is fairly boring:

35% iShares Wholesale International Equity Index Fund

25% Vanguard High Growth Portfolio

20% Perpetual Geared Australian Share Fund

20% Dimensional World 70/30 Fund

I have automatic annual rebalancing in place, and the overall asset mix as at 31 Dec was:

Cash	0.19%
Australian fixed interest	0.76%
International fixed interest	7.72%
Australian shares	28.34%
International shares	62.99%
Australian property	0.00%
International property	0.00%

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Net Worth FEB 2026

Chart updated to end of FEB in sidebar.

Stocks/cash decreased -$7,981 (-1.64%) to $479,779. 

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) increased by +$33,292 (+1.44%) to $2,338,610. No contributions made this month.

Est. valuation of our home (my half) increased by +$23,320 (+1.83%) to $1,295,556. The estimated value of the 'Other real estate' (my 'lake house' and the investment apartment) increased by +$9,837 (+0.45%) to $2,187,607.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) increased by +$6,196 (+6.30%) to $104,588. I am currently still adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month.

Overall, NW increased by +$64,664 (+1.21%) to $5,414,119 during Feb. NW needs to increase by about 0.2% per month on average to keep pace with inflation (I.e. maintain real value), so the increase during February was about +1.0% in real value.

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IBKR increased margin loan limit for individual AU accounts

When I logged in to check my monthly EOM IBKR account position, I was notified that there was an offer to increase individual account margin loan limit from $50K to $150K. I decided to accept the increased limit as I plan on eventually using this account (when I am 67) to invest 'cheap' money I get loaned by the Australian government via the Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) - which which will lend up to 150% of the Age Pension amount to Australian property owners at a very attractive interest rate (currently 3.95%pa.

I initially setup my IBKR account with a deposit of $50K and initially purchased about $67K of VVLU and VDAL on 1/7/2025 using about $16K of margin loan. This was an approximation of what my annual investment plan will be once I start adding an annual amount using a HEAS loan from age 67 onwards. [I then bought a small amount of PLTR stock (10 shares) on margin for fun]. Total current holdings value is currently $75,619 with an outstanding margin loan balance of about $19,142.

Currently 'buying power' is $52K (if I bought more srocks entirely on margin -- not a good idea), and the 'available funds' is $7,816 (max cash I could withdraw from the account without getting a margin call).

I don't plan on making any further trades in my IBKR account until I can start adding the HEAS loan cash to make additional investments from age 67. So far the total margin loan interest charged was $701.57 (capitalized to the loan balance) while the dividends received was $834.41. So the dividend income is just about matching the loan interest (so 'neutrally geared' overall) and the LVR is a fairly conservative 25.32% (at the current market valuation). So minimal net taxable income (if any) and likely no need to add cash (barring a major market crash).

The increased margin loan limit of $150K will be very useful when I want to start investing the annual 150% of Age Pension (currently $46K pa) and continue to use a modest level of gearing (about 25%). This should mean adding about $10K pa to the margin loan balance. Under the previous $50K loam cap this would have meant hitting the loan cap after only a few years, Under the new cap I should be able to invest my HEAS annual loan with 25% gearing for a decade or more.

Of course using borrowed funds to invest is risky. And then using 'double gearing' by also using a margin loan is especially risky. But overall the strategy seems quite attractive -- I will be investing a total of around $56K pa (of 'OPM" - Other People's Money) in VDAL and VVLU. While the VDAL ETF is new, the relevant benchmark performance for past 10 years in 12.03%pa. And VVLU 5-year performance is 14.32%. So over a 10-year or more holding period a 10%pa ROI seems plausible (but no guarantees...)

With an annual investment (using HEAS + ML) of $56K the interest costs should be around:

$46,000 @ 3.95% = $1,817

$10,000 @ 6.105% = $610.50

total interest            $2427.50 = avg 4.34%

So I'm hopeful that over a 10-20 year investment period the ROI is quite likely to exceed the borrowing costs. I any case, the maximum debt (HEAS + ML) after ten years would be around $600K, with most of it a 'non-recourse' loan secured against existing real estate holdings, not repayable until my death, and with a 'no negative equity' guarantee. If things work out I would likely start to sell off some of the investment in my 90s to initially pay off the margin loan, and then pay down the HEAS balance. My taxable income is likely to be quite low, so CGT on annual tranche sales would likely be minimal.

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Net Worth JAN 2026

Chart updated to end of JAN in sidebar.

Stocks/cash increased +$4,818 (+1.00%) to $487,760.

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) increased by +$5,121(+0.22%) to $2,305,318. No contributions made this month..

Est. valuation of our home (my half) increased by +$27,725 (+2.23%) to $1,272,236. The estimated value of the 'Other real estate' (my 'lake house' and the investment apartment) increased by +$41,282 (+1.93%) to $2,177,770. Nice to see apartment prices in the suburb where my investment unit is located have finally started to show some positive movement.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) increased by +$12,738 (+14.88%) to $98,362. I am currently still adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month.

Overall, NW increased by +$91,684 (+1.74%) to $5,349,455 during Jan. NW needs to increase by about 0.2% per month on average to keep pace with inflation (I.e. maintain real value), so the increase during January was about +1.5% in real value.

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Net Worth DEC 2025

Chart updated to end of DEC in sidebar.

Stocks/cash decreased -$4,121 (-0.85%) to $482,942.

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) increased by +$4,854+0.21%) to $2,300,197. As I am currently unemployed/retired and the 'guaranteed cashback' value of my QSuper pension accounts decreases regularly due to monthly pension payments. There was one small additional employer contribution adding to the balance, that was in relation to part of my redundancy payout in July. Most of the increase was due to a slight rise in the unit value of our SMSF Vanguard Fund investments during the month.

Est. valuation of our home (my half) decreased slightly by -$3,109 (-0.25%) to $1,244,511. The estimated value of the 'Other real estate' (my 'lake house' and the investment apartment) decreased by -$17,759 (-0.82%) to $2,136,488, more than offsetting last month's rise in estimated valuations.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) increased by $2,029 (+2.43%) to $85,624. I am currently still adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month, and DS1 gave me a 1oz silver 'wombat' coin for Christmas ;)

Overall, NW decreased by -$18,106 (-0.34%) to $5,257,771 during Dec. NW needs to increase by about 0.2% per month on average to keep pace with inflation (I.e. maintain real value), so the decline during December was about 0.5% in real value.

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