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Originally Posted by JMintzer
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The problem with an “average” is that outliers or numbers that are much lower or higher than the others can throw the average number off and make it an unreliable figure. In the US, income is concentrated at high levels (top 10% for example) and the rest at low and mid levels. These very high income American raise the “average net worth” to a much higher figure than the “average Joe” in America actually has.
A better number where the distribution of incomes is very wide would be the “median” number. This would show that half have more than the median amount and half have less than the median. So in your source they mention that the “average” household net worth of 55-64 year old household is $1.176 Million. Yet the median reported in the same article is much lower and comes in at $212,500. So the median or middle income household in the USA at age 60 has a net worth closer to $212,500 not 1.2 Million. Where there is a wide difference in numbers a median is more accurate than an average. The American in the middle is not a millionaire.