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09-13-2007, 03:51 PM
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#2
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 549
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If I truly believed what this article is trying to say....I should be headed back to "the salt mines" tomorrow morning!! 
....only part I DO agree with is that anybody with $5M IS RICH!! 
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09-13-2007, 04:03 PM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Houston
Posts: 2,155
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Yeah, this is getting old. It's like "how much is a million?" question. Or "What's a millionaire?"
These guys basically run out of subjects to write about. Why 5=1? Why not 2=1? 10=1? ... Pick any ratio, and someone will find an argument for or against it.
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09-13-2007, 05:10 PM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 4,455
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The simple answer is to date back the time at which the term "millionaire" was coin to symbolize wealth and normalize the value.
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09-13-2007, 05:12 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 1,127
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That's interesting -- in the early 70's, when I started fantasizing about being financially independent, my number was $1M. I bet the CPI is about 5X now what is was then.
But $1M still is still my number -- I just don't want to wait, and it's enough.
Coach
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09-13-2007, 05:37 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,901
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A man who makes a million dollars is as well off as if he were rich.
John Jacob Astor (early 1900's)
__________________
“I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said” Alan Greenspan
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09-13-2007, 05:39 PM
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#7
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,846
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by tryan
Always thought anybody with with more $$ than me was "rich" ... but $5m ??
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam
Yeah, this is getting old. It's like "how much is a million?" question. Or "What's a millionaire?"
These guys basically run out of subjects to write about. Why 5=1? Why not 2=1? 10=1? ... Pick any ratio, and someone will find an argument for or against it.
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Enjoyable article, but I noticed that they're finding it difficult to interview actual pentamillionaires-- let alone pentamillionaires who aren't still working in one way or another.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spanky
The simple answer is to date back the time at which the term "millionaire" was coin to symbolize wealth and normalize the value.
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Well, ironically we'd have to go back to one of the first bubble boys-- John Law ("First Duke of Arkansas", way before Bo & Luke) enabled the creation of French citizens with net worths of a million livres back around 1719.
Now all we need is a good 200-year currency converter & CPI calculator...
John Law (economist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How John Law's Failed Experiment Gave Us a New Word: 'Millionaire' [Free Republic]
__________________
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Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
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09-13-2007, 07:30 PM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,713
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eH... Inflation happens. When I was a sprat milk was $1-something a gallon, too.
Site that compares hist. prices in one community (White Plains, NY); I'm not from White Plains, just to clarify.. jes' happened to come across it.
Library History
1969:
Average Income: $9,433
Average Cost of:
3 Bedroom Home: $25,600
New Ford: $3,278
1 Gallon Gas: 35¢
1 Pound Bread: 23¢
1 Gallon Milk: $1.35
Note how super-cheap the gas compared to bread/milk.
1989:
Average Income: $27,225
Average Cost of:
Three Bedroom Home: $120,000
New Car: $15,403
1 Pound Bread: 69¢
1 Gallon Gas: 97¢
1 Gallon Milk: $2.62
Still, note how super-cheap the gas compared to bread/milk.
Too bad they haven't kept up the figures at this site... but I guess you can find similar #s elsewhere.
Not that hard to imagine that the concept of "millionaires" we (ok, I) grew up with in the 60s->70s would be "pentamillionaires" today..
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09-13-2007, 07:38 PM
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#9
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 325
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Sometimes even $5 million doesn't seem enough.
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09-13-2007, 08:50 PM
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#10
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 188
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I've long thought $5 million was the threshold of being "rich." Doubt that I'll ever experience it, though many obviously are.
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09-13-2007, 08:58 PM
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#11
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 4,455
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CybrMike
Sometimes even $5 million doesn't seem enough.
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What is enough for one person may not be adequate for someone else because of the difference in needs and personal preferences. The income threshold for basic needs and decent standard of living varies significantly among individuals. An amount of five million dollars is definitely insufficient if your standard of living requires a dollar figure in the billions.
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09-13-2007, 09:15 PM
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#12
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 377
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I sometimes wonder if all these articles from the mainstream media and investment houses, ala Look Bob loves to work and is working to 100, and 1 million isn't enough, is #1 to keep the Baby generation from calling it quits even earlier, jerking all their cash out of the market and living on CD's.
No thanks for me, I would rather enjoy life then worship Mammon.
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09-14-2007, 01:11 AM
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#13
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
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IMO - There is a difference between financially independent and being wealthy. $5mm is not super wealthy. But it might be a lower threshold where one is above what would be considered upper middle class... in terms of money.
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09-14-2007, 02:01 AM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: North of Montana
Posts: 2,767
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coach
That's interesting -- in the early 70's, when I started fantasizing about being financially independent, my number was $1M.
Coach
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Mine was $12K/yr to be comfortable. Now pay a lot more than that in income tax and am only comfortable.
__________________
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate conclusions from insufficient data and ..
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09-14-2007, 09:56 AM
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#15
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 56
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Since the allowed age for withdrawals from my retirement accounts is still 35 years away, I think I may need to up my goal from $5M! It seemed like such a lofty and impressive number....
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09-14-2007, 10:10 AM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 16,748
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss_Lala
Since the allowed age for withdrawals from my retirement accounts is still 35 years away, I think I may need to up my goal from $5M! It seemed like such a lofty and impressive number....
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Sorry to say, but you are right... $5 mill is probably your number... but guess what?? You make more than we did when we were you age... I was just looking at my SS statement and there were many years when my earnings were in the $40K range... Now it seems that people are graduating from college with jobs in the $80s or even $100s...
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09-14-2007, 10:22 AM
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#17
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 854
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
I was just looking at my SS statement and there were many years when my earnings were in the $40K range...
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When I look at my SS statements, I had j*bs with pay in the $40K range - wait that was only 5 years ago. Most years were much much lower. 
$1m still looks pretty nice to me.
__________________
I would not have anyone adopt my mode of living...but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father's or his mother's or his neighbor's instead. Thoreau, Walden
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09-14-2007, 10:34 AM
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#18
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 56
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
Sorry to say, but you are right... $5 mill is probably your number... but guess what?? You make more than we did when we were you age... I was just looking at my SS statement and there were many years when my earnings were in the $40K range... Now it seems that people are graduating from college with jobs in the $80s or even $100s...
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Yes, those salaries are possible for people my age who graduate with a lucrative degree. Those of us with B.A.s in History don't fare so well.....
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09-14-2007, 12:32 PM
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#19
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Dryer sheet wannabe
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 24
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Quote:
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With the rising cost of living, and the lengthy retirements many people must plan for, financial experts say the new benchmark for the rich is $5 million.
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Note, it says new benchmark for the "RICH" is 5 Mil...I'd be happy with 1.5 mil, and my planned retirement is 25+ years away. I think it's all relative...5 mil to me would probably still seem like an absurdly high amount, though I may change my tune 25 years from now. There's no way that I could save that much regardless so it really doesn't matter. 5 mil will look different depending on who's looking...
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09-14-2007, 12:37 PM
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#20
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Dryer sheet wannabe
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss_Lala
Yes, those salaries are possible for people my age who graduate with a lucrative degree. Those of us with B.A.s in History don't fare so well.....
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Agreed, and those of us with no degree at all even more so, though whether to get a degree, AND what degree to pursue are individual choices that we all had to make. DH and I both skipped college and went straight to work. We're comfortable, and are saving so I think we're doing ok without the degrees.
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