When a Million Dollars was serious wealth

[nwsteve]

DW & I were discussing the current debates in the media regarding if and how bad inflation might become and it triggered me to do this simple check. I graduated from my Masters program at Duke in 1970. The Millionaire Next Door was the rage and there was the TV program The Millionaire. My first job at a Fortune 100 megacorp almost broke the magic five figures.
Out of curiosity, I used the government inflation calculator (https://www.usinflationcalculator.com) to see what that 1970 Million dollars is worth today--7,036,159.79!
Our net worth while healthy and over a Million, it is nowhere near 7,036,159.79. For me, it was a real eye opener just how much inflation can take.
YMMV

 

[braumeister]

Actually, The Millionaire (TV series) ended in 1960. So that would make it more than $9 million today.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millionaire_%28TV_series%29

 

[Palmtree]

Like someone once said, "Inflation is the crabgrass in your savings", but you might want to roll your calculations forward about 25 years.

The Millionaire Next Door, was originally published in 1996.

 

[CardsFan]

And the Millionaire Next Door wasn't written until 1996. So, the inflation effect from then would be $1,739,980.88

 

[finnski1]

DW & I were discussing the current debates in the media regarding if and how bad inflation might become and it triggered me to do this simple check. I graduated from my Masters program at Duke in 1970. The Millionaire Next Door was the rage and there was the TV program The Millionaire. My first job at a Fortune 100 megacorp almost broke the magic five figures.
Out of curiosity, I used the government inflation calculator (https://www.usinflationcalculator.com) to see what that 1970 Million dollars is worth today--7,036,159.79!
Our net worth while healthy and over a Million, it is nowhere near 7,036,159.79. For me, it was a real eye opener just how much inflation can take.
YMMV

But a million dollars in 1970 was more than most people needed probably by quite a bit as is $7 million today.
I graduated high school in 1977 and if you said someone from our small town was a millionaire it was a big deal. Today of course it is not a big deal and in fact is almost mandatory.

 

[RunningBum]

Actually, The Millionaire (TV series) ended in 1960. So that would make it more than $9 million today.

The Millionaire Next Door, was originally published in 1996.

But the average of those two is just about correct!

 

[Chuckanut]

Actually, The Millionaire (TV series) ended in 1960. So that would make it more than $9 million today.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millionaire_(TV_series)

If you watch it, you will notice DeForest Kelly playing an young idealistic doctor in one of the episodes.

A million bucks. Tax free, IIRC. Not bad even today.

 

[Time2]

I've had a million, I've had 2 million, two million is better!

A paraphrase of Ashley Montagu.




"I've been rich and I've been poor, rich is better.

 

[willing2try]

Inflation in the 70s was rampant. The value of $1M in 1980 is only $3.3M today.

 

[Andre1969]

Back around 1999/2000, when I started planning my retirement goals, I figured that if I could get to $1M in investible assets, and mortgage free, I'd be happy.

Adjusting for inflation, that would be around $1.6M and mortgage free today. I'm currently around $2.4M, but with around $459K on the mortgage. So, subtract out the mortgage and I'd be around $1.941M. Or, about 21% above my $1M goal in 1999/2000.

So, maybe my original goal wasn't *too* far off, after all.

 

[TheWizard]

I've noted this a few times before, but the current concept of a millionaire, especially in regard to various Millionaire Tax schemes, refers to someone with an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.
And there are a lot of them...

 

[MC Rider]

I've noted this a few times before, but the current concept of a millionaire, especially in regard to various Millionaire Tax schemes, refers to someone with an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.
And there are a lot of them...

You're bursting some bubbles there.

 

[CSdot]

If that was 1970 (51 years ago), fast forward 51 years from today (2072) and imagine what a million dollars will be worth in purchasing power for our kids. Sadly, I suspect $1,000,000 will be the equivalent of you having at best $100,000 in 2021 dollars. That assumes the dollar still exists as a recognized and respected unit of measure.

 

[MC Rider]

........ That assumes the dollar still exists as a recognized and respected unit of measure.

In 50+ years? I say not a chance, LOL.
Also not a chance any of us will be around to find out.

 

[athena53]

I was watching reruns of "Gilligan's Island" last week while we were temporarily confined to our rooms on my Alaska cruise - the crew kept us supplied with food, DVDs, books and adult beverages. It was kind of funny to hear Thurston Howell described as "a millionaire" who clearly could afford anything he and Lovie wanted.

A million isn't what it used to be.

 

[RobbieB]

We have almost 19 million millionaires here in USA. Highest in the world.

 

[RetiredHappy]

This is another measure... countries with the most millionaires per capita. Hint: It is not USA.

https://nomadcapitalist.com/finance/top-5-countries-by-millionaires-per-capita/

 

[Amethyst]

Wonder how many of them would be in the million club without home equity.

We have almost 19 million millionaires here in USA. Highest in the world.

 

[Koolau]

In 1968 I had a summer j*b working for a millionaire. I got paid $1.50/hr for being a driver and all around gopher. The guy never flaunted his wealth and I learned a lot from him. When I got my "real j*b" after school ca. 1970 I was making $10K plus. At first, I thought I was rich. That didn't last long. Though I eventually became a millionaire, it's just not the same due to inflation. YMMV

 

[Andre1969]

Seems like not that long ago, if you put $1M into one of those "What percent net worth am I" calculators, it would put you in roughly the top 8%. But, I just tried one out, and now it's only the top 11.9%. Of course, that number is going to vary depending on the calculator you use, and I'm sure the data itself could be suspect, but it does show that time, and inflation, do march on.

 

[street]

When I do a quick look I find contradicting numbers with how many US households are millionaires. I see from 6% to 11% of US households being millionaires.

 

[Aerides]

Big difference between being a net worth Millionaire, vs. a liquid/investable assets millionaire. Discount house/land/possessions/business/farm, etc., and that percent of households would drop a lot.

And that kind of millionaire, assuming no debts, no mortgage, etc., could still do quite well today. Couldn't retire, but could definitely set them on the path for ER. I'm sure we have plenty of folks in our Young Dreamers" sub forum who still see the value in hitting their first million, and don't quite subscribe to the "eh, that's not what it used to be" idea.

 

[aaronc879]

But a million dollars in 1970 was more than most people needed probably by quite a bit as is $7 million today.
I graduated high school in 1977 and if you said someone from our small town was a millionaire it was a big deal. Today of course it is not a big deal and in fact is almost mandatory.

To say a million dollars is "mandatory" is obsurd. I have never known anyone that i'm aware of that had a million dollar net worth including a lot of people who have/had a happy retirement. Unless I win the lottery I will never have a million dollar net worth yet I will retire before SS and be happier than when working. Having a million+ net worth is no where near mandatory. A million dollars is still a huge amount of money that the majority of people will never have.

 

[finnski1]

To say a million dollars is "mandatory" is obsurd. I have never known anyone that i'm aware of that had a million dollar net worth including a lot of people who have/had a happy retirement. Unless I win the lottery I will never have a million dollar net worth yet I will retire before SS and be happier than when working. Having a million+ net worth is no where near mandatory. A million dollars is still a huge amount of money that the majority of people will never have.

Well I did say"almost" and it was meant as a comparison to what a million in 1970's was. Not necessarily an absolute. Wasn't trying to denigrate less than a million at all. In fact I believe one can easily do with less. Much less in fact. I am 62 and DW is 65. We have not yet started ss. When we take ours we will in fact be about 160-180% SIRE so would need $0 in liquid net worth. Not that I would want that but it would be perfectly fine. ANd yes a million dollars is still a lot of money.

 

[Koolau]

Seems like not that long ago, if you put $1M into one of those "What percent net worth am I" calculators, it would put you in roughly the top 8%. But, I just tried one out, and now it's only the top 11.9%. Of course, that number is going to vary depending on the calculator you use, and I'm sure the data itself could be suspect, but it does show that time, and inflation, do march on.

Yep. Even here with all the conscientious savers and diligent investors, there aren't too many 1 percenters. They are a whole other breed from us mere millionaires. Sigh!