Finland versus the world - Meh
According to OECD
(1), Finnish households have pretty much the lowest mean net wealth within the OECD.
The diagram below shows that only Slovak Republic households are more
poor, than the Finnish.
The average (mean)
household in Finland only has a net wealth (net worth) of around 130k
euros and a median household net worth around 80k. (I estimated the
number from the diagram below so the numbers are not totally
accurate.
The OECD average
household net worth is about 220k. Other European nations like the
UK, Spain or Belgium have more than double mean and median net worth.
A certain precidental candidate would probably call this situation
”Sad.” and for once he'd be right!
 |
| Mean and median net wealth per household in selected OECD countries, 2010 or latest available year, values in 2005 USD PPPs. |
Finland versus Finland - you need to sit down!
If we then look at
the Finnish net worth data (2) in more detail we make stunning
conclusions. I really hope you're sitting down for these two!
The first of the two
tables below shows the net worth of Finnish households by different
fractions and age brackets within the population.
| Household reference person age | Number of households (thousands) | P10 | P25 (lower quartile) | P50 (median) | P75 (upper quartile) | P90 | P95 | P99 (aka ”the 1%”) | Average |
| All households | 2622,5 | 50 | 10 000 | 110 000 | 252 116 | 458 673 | 655 092 | 1 350 122 | 195 332 |
| Under 25 | 163,7 | -5 338 | -547 | 1 791 | 12 000 | 40 246 | 117 938 | 386 698 | 19 684 |
| 25-34 | 409,1 | -11 165 | 0 | 15 759 | 75 976 | 177 600 | 277 457 | 1 092 402 | 70 691 |
| 35-44 | 389,4 | 80 | 17 944 | 109 315 | 238 516 | 422 910 | 592 303 | 1 301 458 | 192 767 |
| 45-54 | 466,3 | 760 | 34 196 | 152 292 | 305 707 | 535 405 | 766 782 | 1 403 161 | 231 805 |
| 55-64 | 483,9 | 1 000 | 52 976 | 167 693 | 335 601 | 572 704 | 813 221 | 1 733 005 | 264 078 |
| 65-74 | 374,2 | 3 250 | 79 011 | 186 663 | 334 460 | 568 994 | 773 406 | 1 725 706 | 276 495 |
| Over 75 | 335,9 | 2 008 | 62 812 | 150 312 | 251 163 | 391 425 | 603 473 | 1 109 891 | 195 622 |
The fractions mean a
euro limit that is the highest value within that group, e.g., P25
means 25% of households are below that number and P90 means 10% of
households are above that number. People don't accumulate more net worth during their years of employment. They just don't save. This looks kind of bad but still
somehow manageable..
But there's a
caveat: most of people's net worth is in their homes and appartments.
The next table tells a much more dire story. This table lists the
households' financial assets including stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
| Household reference person age | Number of households (thousands) | P10 | P25 (lower quartile) | P50 (median) | P75 (upper quartile) | P90 | P95 | P99 (aka ”the 1%”) | Average |
| All households | 2622,5 | 350 | 2 000 | 9 098 | 32 099 | 94 698 | 170 935 | 625 334 | 50 373 |
| Under 25 | 163,7 | 60 | 500 | 1 570 | 7 189 | 18 000 | 30 000 | 85 232 | 8 316 |
| 25-34 | 409,1 | 300 | 1 100 | 5 000 | 16 039 | 40 610 | 71 190 | 236 922 | 22 658 |
| 35-44 | 389,4 | 350 | 2 006 | 10 000 | 29 052 | 73 682 | 133 938 | 585 480 | 51 514 |
| 45-54 | 466,3 | 500 | 2 685 | 11 000 | 36 186 | 106 920 | 180 338 | 800 790 | 52 973 |
| 55-64 | 483,9 | 306 | 2 500 | 13 850 | 57 500 | 145 978 | 252 222 | 851 823 | 72 253 |
| 65-74 | 374,2 | 500 | 2 988 | 13 897 | 50 000 | 133 334 | 219 003 | 877 849 | 73 308 |
| Over 75 | 335,9 | 700 | 2 512 | 10 000 | 32 000 | 92 190 | 166 944 | 461 209 | 42 624 |
What the?! The
medians for all relevant age groups are only around 10k euros. I find
these numbers to be really low; even people who are able to save some money are not really investing that money to make more money. People should let the magic of compounding work for their benefit.
So where do I fit in?
Your's truly is upper quartile based on net worth and even top 5%
based on financial assets as most of my assets are in my portfolio.
There's a lot of work left to move more to the right.
