Gen Z's definition of financial success includes joining the top 1%

To be fair though, in places like Sydney, the 1% are buying most of the houses, having most of the good experiences, and living a very much better quality of life. You could be in the 90th percentile and still not afford any better than ‘house 90 minutes commute away’ thanks to $1.6m median prices.

I am very much an upper income earner and yet I could not afford any ‘average’ house in any suburb I’d actually want to live in.

$10M is actually pretty spot on for a net worth that would make me feel "rich".

Sounds about right to me.

One reasonable definition of financial _success_, an acceptable endgame state, is "you have enough that you can live a baseline lifestyle that doesn't feel impoverished through passive income / interest".

In the UK as a single person 1-2M GBP is probably enough and for a family depending on expectations maybe 3-4ish. 3% a year withdrawal gives you 30/60/90K/120K pa, then you pay taxes. Nice, but not footballer private jet crazy life money, depending on the banding there you'll rent a house, have a nice car, the odd restaurant, and not worry about the price tags at the supermarket.

If you look at it another way it ends up being about as much as the median person earns throughout their working life. Basically, if you manage to front load that same amount of earnings then you're "successful".

Those numbers work out around the 1-5% mark in the UK, I imagine the same is true in the US.

> pay that exceeds half a million dollar a year would put them in the top 1% of earners in 32 out of 50 states

I'm honestly kind of shocked that a half a million dollars per year is insufficient to be in the top 1% of earners in 18 states.

It's kind of ironic the concept of a whole generation considering success as being part of the 1% and still being optimistic about it. By definition, the vast majority won't be successful.

> they are also the most confident in reaching them

They are by definition also the youngest in the survey. Youthful overconfidence is a thing so may not have anything to do with generations

Well, it says they want a net worth of $10M, not to necessarily be in the top 1%. By the time they get there it won't be top 1% anymore

Well, enjoy your ADs.