This past weekend, I was shopping for a house. My wife and I figured that something in the $275K range was in our budget. A fair chunk of change.
Then I remembered the house that I grew up in. My parents bought that house back in 1970 for $33,000 while my father was making about $4,000/year.
Yet, between then and now - “millionaire” was always considered to be wealthy. How soon until an average salary is a million (professional sports not included)? What will we use then? “Multi-Millionaire”? Doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Hard to tell - if I (a qualified economist) could predict inflation (and, thusly, a large component of interest rate structures), I wouldn’t be sitting in this office.
I can tell you one thing, though: everyone’s a millionaire in Italy.
I thought about this when I last watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
At one point, the evil Mr. Potter offers George a $20,000 a year position. George’s eyes pop out. Obviously, that’s a great salary for 1946.
Fast forward to 1986: I take my first job out of college for $20,800 ($10/hr). Good salary for a green employee, but not stellar. And this was only 40 years later than IAWL.
Another comparison: in “Yours, Mine, and Ours”, Lucille Ball buys one week’s groceries for the combined family of 20 for around $150 (can’t remember the exact amount). It gets a big laugh back then, as the cashier rings up more and more, the tape pours out of the register, and the grand total appears. Today, I’m lucky to get away with $150 to feed 3 of us for 2 weeks. So that amount 30-some years ago bought 20 people-weeks worth of food; today it buys 6. So in 30 years, the buying power of the dollar has been reduced 70%!
Sooner or later, $1,000,000 won’t be as fantastic an amount as in the past. But I think because of its magnitude, it’ll remain a staggering amount for quite a while. As long as we keep the penny around, prices will still be grounded to it.
It’s hard to say. If I hear the word millionaire today I’m apt to be more influenced by the traditional notion of having enough money to live very lavishly, to the point where one wouldn’t have to worry about running out of money. So I figure it’s more applicable to someone who not only has a million but also earns or otherwise receives a roughly comparable amount each year, or at reasonable intervals.
Although a millionaire is still considered wealthy, the lifestyle associated with it has changed quite a bit. Before, it implied chauffered limos, estate houses, and such.
Nowadays, if someone had $1,000,000 given to them, they could, with careful financial investments, live a comfortable life, but without servants, limos, and such.
The first lottery millionaires in Maryland (who were actually given $50,000 a year for 20 years) did very poorly as a group. Most overextended themselves, using future payments as collateral for loans. One guy in particular had to work cleaning restrooms on Florida highway reststops, because his yearly check was completely garnished.
Like, considering what all of the other posters have said, I remember when my folks bought a new 3 bedroom home in a new housing development for $5,000. My father was making good money then at about $8,000 a year. The same house today is valued at $45,000. $8,000 a year is below the current national poverty line.
It looks to me like we have more millionaires around than ever before and more billionaires than ever considered. The next step will be trillionaires.
I gave up a long time ago trying to understand inflation and such, but I remember buying comic books for 10 cents and the last time I saw the price of one, it was $1.00.
I rarely play the lottery. I look at the jackpot (say $5 Million), and think of all the ways that I would want to spend it (and dispersements to family), and realize that there wouldn’t be a whole lot left. After the house (huge and cutom, natch), and the 5 or 6 cars, I would have to go back to work anyways to pay for the gas and such. So I would rather keep the dollar it would cost to play rather than have to deal with that.