Wealth Building Report 2024

Finder's Wealth Building Report sheds light on how Australians build their wealth, offering insights for those seeking to improve their financial future. The report combines survey data from consumers actively building wealth and those who are not, aiming to uncover the behaviours and values driving Australians' wealth-building journeys.

Australia's wealth story

Australia is a wealthy country when compared to the rest of the world. The average household has a net wealth of $1.58 million according to the national accounts released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Australia is ranked fifth in the world for average wealth per adult and second for median wealth per adult, behind Luxembourg.

This wealth is overwhelmingly held in two Australian staples: property and superannuation. Households have $3.9 trillion in superannuation assets and just shy of $10.5 trillion in residential land and dwelling value. Without residential property, average household net wealth drops to $573,252 and excluding superannuation, it falls further to $196,778 – almost one-tenth of the original figure.

This stunning surge in household wealth has minted roughly 2.8 million Australian millionaires as of October 2024. This is 13% of the adult population and one of the highest proportions globally. Many of these millionaires have landed in this once-elusive club simply because the value of their homes has grown. The number of millionaires drops to 1.1 million (5% of Australian adults) when we remove the value of the principal place of residence in net wealth calculations.

The raw amount of wealth in a country is only one factor when considering the prosperity of its citizens. It is also important to understand how evenly that wealth is distributed.

What about wealth equality?

• Australia ranks among the top countries in the world for wealth equality. Our riches are more evenly distributed than the US and the UK.
• Although Australia has one of the best equality ratings, that doesn't mean our wealth is perfectly distributed. Almost 1 in 6 (16%) households with more than $100,000 in combined income own 2 or more properties.
• Australians with investments are twice as likely (16% to 8%) to have received parental support for a house deposit.

Our expert says

"The bank of Mum and Dad has given some lucky Australians a wealth boost by removing common burdens such as saving for a house deposit. Removing these burdens can unlock the time and money required to explore other wealth building avenues like investing in shares and establishing passive income streams."

Graham Cooke

Head of consumer research

How are Australians growing their wealth?

• The most common factor that contributed the most to investors' net wealth was budgeting carefully and reducing expenses (38%).
• Investing frequently (12%) and paying off debt (9%) round out the top 3 contributors.
• Interestingly, 10% of investors credited marrying well or receiving an inheritance as the primary factor behind their net wealth.

Managing money effectively

• The majority of Australia's investors (84%) have a frugal habit that supports their investing behaviours, compared to 75% of non-investors.
• The most popular frugal habits among investors include buying discounted groceries (59%), eating home-cooked meals (44%) and regularly comparing and switching household bills (34%).
• This frugality partly explains why investors, on average, allocate 23% of their income towards investments and savings, compared to just 14% for Australians who do not invest.

Risks and financial setbacks

• Investment loss was the most common financial setback among investors with 21% experiencing it.
• Non-investors were less likely to experience financial setbacks, with 42% reporting one, compared to 52% of investors.
• Those investors who experienced an investment loss had a higher median net wealth ($1.1 million) than the overall median of all investors ($913,000).

Our expert says

"Risk in itself can be positive as it allows us to access higher returns. The real challenge is getting the balance right, and moving away from the mindset that not investing comes without any risk."

Thomas Stelzer

Publisher

Actively building wealth

• Nearly all investors (93%) have taken steps to build their wealth, compared to just 60% of non-investors.
• Australians who own investments are nearly 5 times more likely to have increased their superannuation contributions and 9 times more likely to have established passive income streams.
• Investors with a net wealth exceeding $1 million are much more likely to have at least one passive income source than non-investors.

Our expert says

"Due to the compounding nature of investing and building wealth, the sooner you start the better your outcomes are likely to be.

A common excuse or belief is that people need to save up enough money to start investing and build an investment portfolio. That may have been true in the past, but over the last 10 to 15 years, the advent of fractional investing and other tech innovations have made it much easier to get started investing and building wealth with small amounts. In fact, you can now get started with as little as $1."

Sarah Megginson

Head of editorial

Written by

Joshua Godfrey

Insights analyst

Joshua Godfrey is an insights analyst for Finder. Josh manages Finder's monthly Consumer Sentiment Tracker and quarterly reports which examine the financial issues currently affecting Australians. He has a Bachelor of Business and Diploma in Innovation from the University of Technology, Sydney where he studied finance and marketing. See full bio

Joshua's expertise

Joshua has written 25 Finder guides across topics including:

• Data and analytics
• Money trends