What does 1 million dollars buy really?
Are you rich? The smart money says you answered “no” to that question, regardless of how much money you have. According to a 2013 report by investment bank UBS, only 28% of people with $1 million to $5 million in assets considered themselves wealthy. Even when you ask people with more than $5 million in assets, only 3 in 5 consider themselves wealthy.
A lot of people brag about buying lambos and we here stories of crypto millionaires. What we don't really hear about are the deeper questions such as whether or not becoming a millionaire will even make a difference? Will the average crypto millionaire even have a means of cashing it out?
A million dollars actually is not a lot of money anymore in the United States
1 million dollars seems like a lot of money for most people just starting out. If you are young and you just got into crypto or are just starting your career, or if you come from an under privileged background, then a million dollars seems like a fortune. In reality a million dollars only seems like a lot of money but due to inflation, the rise in the cost of living, and other aspects, is it really?
In reality 1 million dollars isn't even enough for a dignified retirement in a lot of places in America. In addition, houses in some places in America cost more than a million dollars so a million dollars may not even be enough to buy a house in a luxury area. 1 million dollars for certain is not enough to afford a mansion, and some cars cost a million dollars. This is not to say that 1 million should be taken lightly but that what 1 million dollars meant 20 years ago is not what it means today.
- The average salary worker with a bachelors degree earns $2.4 million over a lifetime.
- There were 8.6 million millionaires in the United States, in 2012.
How much do you need to live the way you want?
And this is ultimately what matters. It's about how much you need to do what you want. A person with 1 million dollars may be able to do everything they want but another person with a million dollars might not. An apartment complex costs a few million dollars? So with just 1 million dollars a person may not even be able to afford that.
The lesson? Don't chase the numbers, chase the lifestyles. If you like lambos, mansions, etc, you will need much more than 1 million dollars.
References
- https://seanwes.com/lambogoal/041-if-you-think-a-million-dollars-is-a-lot-of-money/
- https://www.cheatsheet.com/business/3-reasons-why-1-million-is-not-a-lot-of-money.html/?a=viewall
- https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-04.pdf
- https://www.supermoney.com/2016/05/much-money-take-considered-rich-us/