Net worth over $20 million

[Anonymous]

I retired early a decade ago as an equity partner in one of the top Biglaw firms in DC. It's one that everyone who knows DC law firms has heard of. My experience is a little dated, obviously, and the average equity partner now surely makes a lot more than they did then, but still . . .

I find the "weirdo" who has been posting here about Biglaw equity partners in the DMV easily accumulating $20+ million net worths amusing. Whoever that is is clearly not a Biglaw partner himself and doesn't know very many either. They mention the Kirkland lawyer, but of course equity partners there make a lot more money than at virtually any other firm and making equity partner there is also extremely difficult -- so they're real outliers.

Law firms aren't handing out $3-5 million to the average equity partner in DC Biglaw. The average partner is making about half that, many are making less, and the top partners are making much more. The American Lawyer publishes average profits per partner, the median number, and the median is almost always lower than the mean. Then there's taxes, both federal and state, which are enormous, expensive homes, private schools, you name it.

I know a handful of "frugal" partners, but not many. The majority have pretty high end taste, and pay for it. It's also not in the nature of most partners to work their asses of for 60 or 70 hours a week and not spend their money -- or allow their spouses and kids to spend it. Very few look to retire early.

Etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired early a decade ago as an equity partner in one of the top Biglaw firms in DC. It's one that everyone who knows DC law firms has heard of. My experience is a little dated, obviously, and the average equity partner now surely makes a lot more than they did then, but still . . .

I find the "weirdo" who has been posting here about Biglaw equity partners in the DMV easily accumulating $20+ million net worths amusing. Whoever that is is clearly not a Biglaw partner himself and doesn't know very many either. They mention the Kirkland lawyer, but of course equity partners there make a lot more money than at virtually any other firm and making equity partner there is also extremely difficult -- so they're real outliers.

Law firms aren't handing out $3-5 million to the average equity partner in DC Biglaw. The average partner is making about half that, many are making less, and the top partners are making much more. The American Lawyer publishes average profits per partner, the median number, and the median is almost always lower than the mean. Then there's taxes, both federal and state, which are enormous, expensive homes, private schools, you name it.

I know a handful of "frugal" partners, but not many. The majority have pretty high end taste, and pay for it. It's also not in the nature of most partners to work their asses of for 60 or 70 hours a week and not spend their money -- or allow their spouses and kids to spend it. Very few look to retire early.

Etc.

Exactly what I've been saying. But the person you're referring to is a poster who frequently pops up to claim farcical things about high earners and high net worth people.

I have no idea what their problem is, but they always post nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired early a decade ago as an equity partner in one of the top Biglaw firms in DC. It's one that everyone who knows DC law firms has heard of. My experience is a little dated, obviously, and the average equity partner now surely makes a lot more than they did then, but still . . .

I find the "weirdo" who has been posting here about Biglaw equity partners in the DMV easily accumulating $20+ million net worths amusing. Whoever that is is clearly not a Biglaw partner himself and doesn't know very many either. They mention the Kirkland lawyer, but of course equity partners there make a lot more money than at virtually any other firm and making equity partner there is also extremely difficult -- so they're real outliers.

Law firms aren't handing out $3-5 million to the average equity partner in DC Biglaw. The average partner is making about half that, many are making less, and the top partners are making much more. The American Lawyer publishes average profits per partner, the median number, and the median is almost always lower than the mean. Then there's taxes, both federal and state, which are enormous, expensive homes, private schools, you name it.

I know a handful of "frugal" partners, but not many. The majority have pretty high end taste, and pay for it. It's also not in the nature of most partners to work their asses of for 60 or 70 hours a week and not spend their money -- or allow their spouses and kids to spend it. Very few look to retire early.

Etc.

So…the Kirkland equity partner is likely worth $20MM+. Funny how you admit the one actual example is true.

Cravath equity partners average $4MM-$8MM per year. I know an equity partner there as well.

Perhaps I define BigLaw more narrowly to refer to Kirkland, Cravath, Latham and firms of similar prestige.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired early a decade ago as an equity partner in one of the top Biglaw firms in DC. It's one that everyone who knows DC law firms has heard of. My experience is a little dated, obviously, and the average equity partner now surely makes a lot more than they did then, but still . . .

I find the "weirdo" who has been posting here about Biglaw equity partners in the DMV easily accumulating $20+ million net worths amusing. Whoever that is is clearly not a Biglaw partner himself and doesn't know very many either. They mention the Kirkland lawyer, but of course equity partners there make a lot more money than at virtually any other firm and making equity partner there is also extremely difficult -- so they're real outliers.

Law firms aren't handing out $3-5 million to the average equity partner in DC Biglaw. The average partner is making about half that, many are making less, and the top partners are making much more. The American Lawyer publishes average profits per partner, the median number, and the median is almost always lower than the mean. Then there's taxes, both federal and state, which are enormous, expensive homes, private schools, you name it.

I know a handful of "frugal" partners, but not many. The majority have pretty high end taste, and pay for it. It's also not in the nature of most partners to work their asses of for 60 or 70 hours a week and not spend their money -- or allow their spouses and kids to spend it. Very few look to retire early.

Etc.

So…the Kirkland equity partner is likely worth $20MM+. Funny how you admit the one actual example is true.

Cravath equity partners average $4MM-$8MM per year. I know an equity partner there as well.

Perhaps I define BigLaw more narrowly to refer to Kirkland, Cravath, Latham and firms of similar prestige.

There are only 5 Cravath partners in DC . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired early a decade ago as an equity partner in one of the top Biglaw firms in DC. It's one that everyone who knows DC law firms has heard of. My experience is a little dated, obviously, and the average equity partner now surely makes a lot more than they did then, but still . . .

I find the "weirdo" who has been posting here about Biglaw equity partners in the DMV easily accumulating $20+ million net worths amusing. Whoever that is is clearly not a Biglaw partner himself and doesn't know very many either. They mention the Kirkland lawyer, but of course equity partners there make a lot more money than at virtually any other firm and making equity partner there is also extremely difficult -- so they're real outliers.

Law firms aren't handing out $3-5 million to the average equity partner in DC Biglaw. The average partner is making about half that, many are making less, and the top partners are making much more. The American Lawyer publishes average profits per partner, the median number, and the median is almost always lower than the mean. Then there's taxes, both federal and state, which are enormous, expensive homes, private schools, you name it.

I know a handful of "frugal" partners, but not many. The majority have pretty high end taste, and pay for it. It's also not in the nature of most partners to work their asses of for 60 or 70 hours a week and not spend their money -- or allow their spouses and kids to spend it. Very few look to retire early.

Etc.

So…the Kirkland equity partner is likely worth $20MM+. Funny how you admit the one actual example is true.

Cravath equity partners average $4MM-$8MM per year. I know an equity partner there as well.

Perhaps I define BigLaw more narrowly to refer to Kirkland, Cravath, Latham and firms of similar prestige.

What an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

It’s estimated that 40% of Nvidia’s workforce is worth $20MM or more…that’s like 15,000 people at just one company.

Now extrapolate to all these tech companies that have seen huge stock runs over the last several years…not to mention OpenAI is private and is valued at $250BN, so you have hundreds there worth at least $20MM on paper…as well as at all these other AI companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired early a decade ago as an equity partner in one of the top Biglaw firms in DC. It's one that everyone who knows DC law firms has heard of. My experience is a little dated, obviously, and the average equity partner now surely makes a lot more than they did then, but still . . .

I find the "weirdo" who has been posting here about Biglaw equity partners in the DMV easily accumulating $20+ million net worths amusing. Whoever that is is clearly not a Biglaw partner himself and doesn't know very many either. They mention the Kirkland lawyer, but of course equity partners there make a lot more money than at virtually any other firm and making equity partner there is also extremely difficult -- so they're real outliers.

Law firms aren't handing out $3-5 million to the average equity partner in DC Biglaw. The average partner is making about half that, many are making less, and the top partners are making much more. The American Lawyer publishes average profits per partner, the median number, and the median is almost always lower than the mean. Then there's taxes, both federal and state, which are enormous, expensive homes, private schools, you name it.

I know a handful of "frugal" partners, but not many. The majority have pretty high end taste, and pay for it. It's also not in the nature of most partners to work their asses of for 60 or 70 hours a week and not spend their money -- or allow their spouses and kids to spend it. Very few look to retire early.

Etc.

So…the Kirkland equity partner is likely worth $20MM+. Funny how you admit the one actual example is true.

Cravath equity partners average $4MM-$8MM per year. I know an equity partner there as well.

Perhaps I define BigLaw more narrowly to refer to Kirkland, Cravath, Latham and firms of similar prestige.

There are only 5 Cravath partners in DC . . .

You just answered the question I was about to ask. Which is how many equity partners these firms have

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

No one who posted they have this level of wealth said it was easily replicable by others. That's the crux of it. You can't go back in time and buy Apple stocks at a dime a dozen like I did. If you want to do the same, you can't, because Apple has reached maturity and is now too expensive, and you have to take a risk like I did and pick the next big winner. Not easy!!! Although in more recent years I've had good luck with all the famous tech stocks (Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, etc). Sold Tesla once the idiot made his Nazi salute. I'm live and let live, but certain things are beyond the pale. And no, besides marriage or lottery, no one gets rich overnight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

It’s estimated that 40% of Nvidia’s workforce is worth $20MM or more…that’s like 15,000 people at just one company.

Now extrapolate to all these tech companies that have seen huge stock runs over the last several years…not to mention OpenAI is private and is valued at $250BN, so you have hundreds there worth at least $20MM on paper…as well as at all these other AI companies.

You might have answered your own question here. 1) the stats apparently consider "investable capital", I am not sure if company stock is this. 2) Nvidia had breakaway returns that do not reflect "all other" tech companies. Is there some tech sector stock market boom I am not noticing? Most large companies do not allocate much in terms of options for newer employees, and the number of old employees isn't as high as you think. AI thing is iffy and so far it's more about investment into it vs returns.. Returns might be dubious

How many people with liquid capital of 20 mil are there in your opinion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

No one who posted they have this level of wealth said it was easily replicable by others. That's the crux of it. You can't go back in time and buy Apple stocks at a dime a dozen like I did. If you want to do the same, you can't, because Apple has reached maturity and is now too expensive, and you have to take a risk like I did and pick the next big winner. Not easy!!! Although in more recent years I've had good luck with all the famous tech stocks (Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, etc). Sold Tesla once the idiot made his Nazi salute. I'm live and let live, but certain things are beyond the pale. And no, besides marriage or lottery, no one gets rich overnight.

Extrapolate those stock runs to employees. If you have been there 10-15 years and at a decent level (which can easily pay $500k-$1MM…thousands of employees), NVIDIA stock is up 3000%. Meta is up 1000%. MSFT is up 1000%. The list goes on.

[Anonymous]

Yea there are some real weirdos on this thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

It’s estimated that 40% of Nvidia’s workforce is worth $20MM or more…that’s like 15,000 people at just one company.

Now extrapolate to all these tech companies that have seen huge stock runs over the last several years…not to mention OpenAI is private and is valued at $250BN, so you have hundreds there worth at least $20MM on paper…as well as at all these other AI companies.

You might have answered your own question here. 1) the stats apparently consider "investable capital", I am not sure if company stock is this. 2) Nvidia had breakaway returns that do not reflect "all other" tech companies. Is there some tech sector stock market boom I am not noticing? Most large companies do not allocate much in terms of options for newer employees, and the number of old employees isn't as high as you think. AI thing is iffy and so far it's more about investment into it vs returns.. Returns might be dubious

How many people with liquid capital of 20 mil are there in your opinion?

I think public company stock is investable capital and would get counted in the $20MM.

Seems you have not been paying attention in general. MSFT is up 10x in the last decade…same for META…PLTR is up 30x in just the last 15 months…AAPL is up 10x in the last decade. Go look at the charts of lots of tech companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

No one who posted they have this level of wealth said it was easily replicable by others. That's the crux of it. You can't go back in time and buy Apple stocks at a dime a dozen like I did. If you want to do the same, you can't, because Apple has reached maturity and is now too expensive, and you have to take a risk like I did and pick the next big winner. Not easy!!! Although in more recent years I've had good luck with all the famous tech stocks (Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, etc). Sold Tesla once the idiot made his Nazi salute. I'm live and let live, but certain things are beyond the pale. And no, besides marriage or lottery, no one gets rich overnight.

The thing about stocks is that they don't just grow overnight either and even if they grow a lot over time, there are also ups and downs and different behaviors people display when this happens. what set you apart from other investors (which is likely also true for those who made a kilinn in crypto) is discipline to hold and not sell when stocks go up and down. Long term holding is risky. anything can happen overtime, and many early investors who could have made a killing end up selling whenever they can realize even little profit for various reasons. Call it anxiety or a need to pay bills or gambling with other sectors. Also, don't forget many millions of people who get periodically wiped out investing. You are one person whose success reflects overall growth in stock market over the decades, but this doesn't make people like you statistically significant compared to other investors.

it's far more likely that other investors with sizeable portfolios also had regular infusions of capital from their very high paying careers (like C level) or successful business profits, or even family money.

The stories of a lone investor who started with modest capital and grew to many millions by buying an holding tech sector stocks over the decades may not be as frequent as you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that only 280,000 people in the US have a net worth over $20 million? That seems low. Is that an old figure from before the stock market went bananas?

Why, OP? Because there are like 3 of you hanging out on this forum and posting how easy it must be to accumulate this wealth we should assume that everybody and their mother is loaded?

What do we do with various statistics of how most US households are a job loss away from being destitute and don't even have a few months of savings available to them? Or people who are close to retirement and have less than 500K NW? 280k is less than 1% of total US population, it sounds about right to me. There are millions of low millionaires but 20 mil is a different level that's much harder to achieve because vast majority of people aren't good at investing without panic or creating successful businesses or earning 7 figures.

No one who posted they have this level of wealth said it was easily replicable by others. That's the crux of it. You can't go back in time and buy Apple stocks at a dime a dozen like I did. If you want to do the same, you can't, because Apple has reached maturity and is now too expensive, and you have to take a risk like I did and pick the next big winner. Not easy!!! Although in more recent years I've had good luck with all the famous tech stocks (Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, etc). Sold Tesla once the idiot made his Nazi salute. I'm live and let live, but certain things are beyond the pale. And no, besides marriage or lottery, no one gets rich overnight.

The thing about stocks is that they don't just grow overnight either and even if they grow a lot over time, there are also ups and downs and different behaviors people display when this happens. what set you apart from other investors (which is likely also true for those who made a kilinn in crypto) is discipline to hold and not sell when stocks go up and down. Long term holding is risky. anything can happen overtime, and many early investors who could have made a killing end up selling whenever they can realize even little profit for various reasons. Call it anxiety or a need to pay bills or gambling with other sectors. Also, don't forget many millions of people who get periodically wiped out investing. You are one person whose success reflects overall growth in stock market over the decades, but this doesn't make people like you statistically significant compared to other investors.

it's far more likely that other investors with sizeable portfolios also had regular infusions of capital from their very high paying careers (like C level) or successful business profits, or even family money.

The stories of a lone investor who started with modest capital and grew to many millions by buying an holding tech sector stocks over the decades may not be as frequent as you think?

PP you replied. I agree with you all points! I am not claiming that my situation is common.