Net Worth Guides

Headlines put a billionaire's fortune in quotation marks. The "only on paper" test also throws out your home equity and your 401(k). Why paper wealth is real.

The methodology page shows every rate table. This is the longer story of how the system behind it got built, including the mistakes.

MrBeast leads at $2.64 billion, and every figure on the list links to its full calculation instead of a copied guess.

Ranked by paychecks that were actually reported, with the deal structures that produced them: Depp's $90M Pirates deal, Downey's $75M Endgame backend, Bullock's $70M record.

Documented salaries, the backend points they won in 2000, and six very different post-show careers, compounded into figures you can check.

One has company accounts on the public record, one had his residuals read out in a tax court, and one has a full model on this site.

The per-view, per-1,000-view, and per-million-view math by niche, built from creators who published their actual dashboards.

Ads, sponsorships, memberships, and merch, priced with sourced rates instead of folklore, from hobby channels to the biggest names.

The exact union rates for film, TV, soaps, commercials, and background work, what SNL pays, and where the $20 million paychecks come from.

The new Equity minimum, what swings and understudies add, how star deals are structured, and what an eight-show week actually pays.

Union session fees, audiobook per-finished-hour rates, video game contracts, and how the working middle of the field actually earns.

Reported salaries from $20,000 to $1.25 million per episode, and our modeled net worth for the main cast.

Documented exits from $66 million to $5.7 billion, and what the sharks are actually paid per episode.

The $1 million per episode era, the voluntary pay cut, and the 1% backend that keeps paying.

A federal tax case put hard numbers on reality TV money. Our modeled net worth for the whole cast.

All 29 actors we model, from Kevin Hart at $754 million down. Every figure is our own calculation, not a borrowed number.

One of TV's richest syndication deals, modeled for Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and the cast.

The public salary fight, the climb to $500K an episode, and Sofia Vergara's endorsement empire on top.

Luxury real estate leaves a paper trail. Modeled net worth for Jason Oppenheim, Chrishell Stause, and the cast.

Lisa Vanderpump's empire, the documented Scandoval numbers, and Ariana Madix's post-scandal deals.

Separating inherited Charleston wealth from what the cast actually built, person by person.

A hard-seltzer brand that hit $38 million, a 44-million-download podcast, and the documented Hamptons money.

Court records, real resale businesses, and one fortune that predates the show. Modeled net worth for Barry Weiss, Dave Hester, and the cast.

A Tier 1 sub nets about $2.50 to $3.00. The subs, Bits, and ad math, plus what the top earners actually made.

Instagram pays most creators almost nothing per view. The real money is brand deals at about $10 per 1,000 followers.

The full sponsored-post rate card, from about $10 per 1,000 followers to six and seven figures at the top.

Subscriptions, Bits, donations, ads, and sponsorships, with what each lane actually pays a live streamer.

Podcast ad money is sold per 1,000 downloads. A 10,000-download show earns about $250 to $500 an episode.

About $0.003 to $0.005 a stream through the streamshare model, so a million streams is roughly $3,000 to $5,000 before the split.

Creator Rewards pays $0.40 to $1.00 per 1,000 qualified views. The per-view math and how TikTok compares to YouTube.

The $30 to $70 per 1,000 views baseline, the finance premium, and worked examples by channel size.

About $0.04 per 1,000 views. How the pooled model works and what Shorts are actually for.

YouTube does not withhold for US creators. Self-employment tax, quarterly estimates, deductions, and the AdSense tax form.

A scale role pays $1,246 a day. Documented star deals run to $90 million. The full ladder, from every disclosed salary we track.

The 3.6% cast pool, streaming bonuses, and the checks that arrive decades later.

About $3,000 per episode for rookies up to $25,000 for the most tenured cast, and why the real payday comes later.

A $1,517 per episode union minimum on hour-long daytime dramas, with veterans reported at $5,000 and up.

$224 per day at the 2025-26 union rate, $262 for stand-ins, with overtime after 8 hours. What extras actually take home.

The $822 session fee is the smallest part. How residuals turn one national spot into a year of checks.

Assets minus liabilities, the exact Fed formula with a worked example, and why the U.S. average is five times the median.

Every asset and liability category, a full worked example that adds up, and how often to recalculate.

Federal Reserve data on what Americans actually have at every age group, and why the number most people cite is the wrong one to look at.

Agency businesses generate cash from day one, which looks like an advantage over SaaS founders who burn for years before profitability. But turning that cash flow into lasting wealth requires understanding how agencies are valued, and most owners find out too late that they built a job, not a business.

Architecture is one of the longer paths to full licensure among the professions, and one of the more modest income ceilings. Here is what architects actually accumulate at each stage, and what it takes to reach the top of the wealth distribution in this field.

CPAs start earning full salaries earlier than most licensed professionals and carry far less debt. Here is what that structural advantage actually produces in net worth at each stage, from staff accountant through Big 4 partner.

Dental school now produces the highest average professional school debt of any healthcare career. Here is how that debt load interacts with dentist incomes at each career stage, and why practice ownership changes the math entirely.

Physicians earn more than almost any profession. They also start a decade later than everyone else, carry more debt than almost anyone, and spend years earning residency wages. Here is what that actually means for their net worth at each stage.

Entrepreneurship produces the highest wealth outcomes of any career path and also some of the worst. The difference comes down to what stage you are at and whether the business reaches the right inflection points.

Law has one of the most bimodal income distributions in any profession. Whether a lawyer's net worth looks impressive or grim by their forties depends almost entirely on which track they took at 25.

Marketers and account executives build wealth from salary, bonus, and invested savings rather than equity events. That makes the curve more predictable than founders, but the gap between traditional company roles and tech company RSU packages is large enough to produce entirely different outcomes over a ten-year career.

Pharmacists earn reliable six-figure salaries and start their careers earlier than most other healthcare professionals. The catch is a large debt load on the way in. Here is what pharmacist net worth actually looks like at each stage.

Physical therapists earn a median salary around $100,000 with a doctoral degree and often more than $100,000 in student debt. Here is what that combination actually produces in net worth, and how travel therapy and practice ownership change the math.

The airline pilot career has one of the widest income ranges of any profession: regional first officers earning $50,000 and senior major carrier captains earning $400,000. Here is what that path actually produces in net worth at each stage.

The median real estate agent earns less than most people expect. The top 20% earn a disproportionate share of all commissions. Here is what each group actually builds in net worth.

SaaS founders are often paper-rich and cash-poor for years before an exit. Here is what the numbers actually look like at each stage of the journey, and what separates the founders who convert that paper into real wealth.

No employer survey publishes this number. Here are the realistic benchmarks built from salary data, typical savings rates, and what equity actually contributes.