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If submissions could be anonymous, it would be very interesting to learn about the demographics of the HD readership. For example ;
current age,
female or male,
primary occupation (either present or past),
age at retirement (if retired),
net worth (excluding cars and primary residence- other real estate holdings can be included,
etc…..
Editor(s) – is there a way to do this ?
Jonathan published an article, The Other Half, in 2018 that said this: “Indeed, HumbleDollar’s audience tends to be more affluent and more financially self-disciplined than the broad population. A recent survey of the site’s readership found that 74% of you have annual incomes of $100,000 and above.” Today’s equivalent value is $132,555.
Thanks for the article link, Dan. That was written before I knew of HD. It’s a good reminder to stay humble and non-judgmental.
Indeed it is, Dan. Sometimes those who “unhumbly” cast judgment are blind to their conduct and tone. Quite unfortunate when that happens on HD.
My first email exchange with Jonathan was in April of 2021, by the way. That was the start of a treasured semi-professional, semi-personal relationship.
Also, this post does not adhere to the Forum rules for posting. The question should have gone directly to Bogdan.
Per my many conversations with Jonathan, he believed HD was primarily a retirement website with the demographic being mid-career to late career, close to retirement, or currently in retirement. I know there are readers from all sorts of backgrounds (not all college educated) and professions, a majority of which followed Jonathan from the WSJ. And, with a range of net worths that represent the varying levels of “enough” to achieve “financial freedom.”
So, use that information as you will. No need at this point for any kind of formal demographic analytics.
If the editor/site can’t compile this info, I would be glad to do so. Will provide email for data submission if posting the results would be allowed. ALL data would be reported anonymously and in aggregate form.
Real data would be nice – still waiting for an editor to respond ?
You could email Bogdan about this, however, I don’t think it’s within the sites capabilities.
These would be easy questions to answer, so here goes — I’ll kick things off.
Age: revised down to 12 last week, after my wife Suzie caught my grandson and me in a competition to see who could leave the longer bike skid mark.
Male/Female: everyone’s identifying as something else these days, so I’m going with a fridge — big and cool.
Occupation: pain in the *ss.
Net Worth: surprisingly healthy, for someone in the above line of work.
Can the editor help? Possibly — though I suspect he’s too busy working.
Based on my having been a reader for a few years…my guess…
current age…Over 50
female or male…70-30 Male female
primary occupation (either present or past…primarily Professionals
age at retirement (if retired)…Over 65
net worth (excluding cars and primary residence- other real estate holdings can be included…$1.5M-$3M
Also, primarily college-educated and retirement income over $100K
LOL, Mike, you pretty much nailed AI’s conclusions about HDers, without wasting thousands of gallons of water or causing electricity rates to skyrocket! Great job, brother!
Glad to be of service! Ha! Just calling them as I see them.
I wonder about the average age. I feel like I am younger than a lot, but maybe not. Chris
here is what gemini days for people who read popular financial blogs. Estimated Median Net Worth: $500,000 – $1,500,000
I asked this in past of Jonathan and it wasn’t at the time
Mark, this post got me thinking…. what would AI tell us? Here is the question and a partial answer. is there any way that AI can estimate the average net worth of contributors to the HumbleDollar blog?
What the Data Suggests: The Estimated RangeIf you synthesize the demographic data, the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), and the explicit disclosures on the site, an AI-driven model points to a very specific wealth bracket for the core group of regular contributors.
MetricEstimated RangeContext & DriversEstimated Median Net Worth$1.5 Million – $2.5 MillionDriven by 30 to 50 years of steady compounding, high home equity, and fully funded retirement accounts. They easily clear the top 10% of U.S. wealth for their age bracket.Estimated Average (Mean) Net Worth$2.5 Million – $4.0 MillionSkewed upward by a segment of high-earning professionals (doctors, executives, successful business owners) who have amassed $5M+ portfolios.
Key Traits of the “HumbleDollar Portfolio”The text tells a consistent story about how this net worth is built:
Ultimately, while an AI can’t give you a single dollar figure down to the penny, it can confidently tell you that the HumbleDollar contributor pool represents the upper-middle class to affluent tier of American retirees: disciplined, pragmatic savers who turned ordinary career earnings into extraordinary compounding machines.
I love the part about the “restart nuance”. That is definitely us. Chris.
Yes, that struck a chord with me as well.
Me too, and I’m a poster boy for it.
Dan,
The last sentence in your post describes us to a T.
Right. You don’t need a two comma income to achieve a two comma net worth. You get there one payroll deposit at a time, over a long period of time.