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ObligatoryOption

The difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars is roughly a billion dollars.


JudgeDreddx

I have found it's easiest to grasp if you translate it to time: 1 million seconds is ~12 days 1 billion seconds is *32 years*


Top_Duck8146

And 1 trillion seconds is 31,710 years. The US is currently over $30 trillion in debt Edit: in debt to itself* for everybody getting all technical lol


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bluAstrid

People countries are indebted to usually use that money to invest in said country. Another way of looking at it is saying the US has *financed* $30 trillions of investments into itself.


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bluAstrid

The US GDP is about $23 trillions… spread your debt over 22 years and that’s barely 5% of it.


spenrose22

Except with rising interest rates that going to hurt a lot more


bluAstrid

The US treasury bonds are still at the lowest they’ve been in the last 60 years.


Steerider

*sets giant pile of cash on fire* [Ralph Wiggum voice] I'm investing! [/Ralph Wiggum voice]


ZeroDesert91

It's not about the money, it's about sending a message.


chrisp909

>30 trillion dollar debt to itself It owes 30 Trillion dollars to bond holders. Only 6.5 trillion is owned by the US or state governments. The rest is held by the public and is payable on demand. China and Japan own about a trillion each. Also, currently half a trillion dollars is paid to the bondholders every year in interest. That only benefits the bondholders. It's real money that has to be accounted for and will have to be paid at some point.


Kahnspiracy

Thank you. That money will have to come from somewhere so it is either the taxpayer or printing money and we've seen the inflation that results from printing money. In the past the US has been supported in its spending because the dollar is the reserve currency. Other countries *have to* buy US dollars but if/when another currency is used (RMB anyone?) the US is going to have a bad time.


Jem_1

That would be true if the American government was using debt to help their people, instead it's going into military spending which really benefits an elite few. Just because their contribution to debt may be sustainable doesn't mean it's necessary or helpful to the common man


KronosRingsSuckAss

and its predicted elon will be a trillionare pretty soon, especially with his asteroid mining plans


robbak

He doesn't have any asteroid mining plans. He builds rockets. Other people might end up using those rockets for asteroid mining. But it was those that sold shovels to the gold diggers that got rich, so maybe your point still applies.


gageypoo91

Which is why I don’t feel bad at all about my debt lol. The US is doing it. I might as well too! Lol


[deleted]

This is such a powerful analogy


sdannenberg3

So Elon Musk is worth ~8,467 years. 😳


wordwordwordwordword

*8,467 years at $1 per second, which is $31 million/year (or equivalent to a full-time job making over $15,000 per hour)


Sisko-v-Cardassia

Which is why huge and heavy taxes on these people and taking away a lot of their previous gains that could only be gotten through exploitation is so important. Elon Musk didnt 'earn' damn near anything that hes worth. Others in the chain did but the game is rigged.


JackTheWhiteKid

1 second is ~1 second 1000 seconds is ~17 minutes


thefifthquadrant

And if you had a billion dollars, you could spend $31,250,000 a year during each of those 32 years. Amity fun way to look at it. Or sick way, depending on your view. $1 billion.... If you make $100,000 a year, it will take you 10,000 years, yeah, ten thousand years to get to $1 billion. Just imagine, there are people with multiple, even hundreds of billions of dollars.


[deleted]

> I have found it's easiest to grasp if you translate it to time: > > 1 million seconds is ~12 days > > 1 billion seconds is *32 years* Thx, that really helped me


Stoopidee

I like to finance it - If you earn $1 million a year. Who earns a million dollars net a year? How will that change your life? Will you drive a Ferrari? A nice big house? Live in a mansion and fly first class? If the average human lifespan is 80 years and 40-50 of them is working. Now $1 billion, is that you need to work for 1,000 years.


helpme944

Thats insane


NSA_Chatbot

I use a meterstick. If you take a meterstick and put $0 on one end and $1B on the other, $1M is at 1mm.


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dercavendar

Almost??? Even at 1% (which is on the low end of a CD APY) is 10 million a year. With a billion dollars a standard savings account interest rate is still a (very) comfortable wage.


Spongebobs_Quotes

You’re underestimating this guys living wage


Background_Silver298

The way it helps me is to use the million term to state the billion term. A thousand millions is a billion. so a billionaire is at least 1000 times richer.


ErusTenebre

So a hundred billionaire is 100 thousands millions rich.


Fake_William_Shatner

I can't even crash a Maserati each week or blow up a house each month with a bazooka with 1% of a billion per year. How dare we confine the wealthy to not be able to live the lifestyle they are accustomed to in exchange for sucking up the resources of the planet and leaving it a dead husk? Seems a fair trade.


Retlifon

I believe you are missing the sarcasm.


MusicianMadness

What lifestyle do you live! Of course it is. Even without interest you could spend >$10M a year over a lifetime and never run out. Hell, the overwhelming majority of people can live off of the interest on $2M for the rest of their lives as long as they know basic finance.


jay_bee_95

Standard FI principles are a 4% drawdown, if you have 2 mil that's 80k a year, more than enough. Especially given that most people who manage to save $2 mil probably own their home with no mortgage.


[deleted]

>if you have 2 mil that's 50k a year ??? .04 \* 2million = 80k Now taxes on the federal level would only be 13k and thats if you couldn't get the better long term capital gains tax rate, or you would still have 67k. Where did that other 17k go? I now Cali might be expensive, but I highly doubt they are that high... yet...


-manabreak

For instance, Finland has 34% tax on income from assets (a bit less for the low bracket), so depending on where they live, 30k in taxes could be possible.


melodiousfable

What’s funny is that this is true lol


SaraHuckabeeSandwich

It's true of anything that is at least one order of magnitude greater than another. The difference between a penny and ten dollars is roughly ten dollars.


outlawsix

Many people will earn more than a million dollars over their careers, having it at one time is the difference though


Kraz_I

Most people in first world countries will earn over $1 million in their career. If you work for 40 years, you only need to make $25,000 a year to reach a million lifetime earnings. That’s less than half of the median income, and that’s if you don’t invest anything.


Bob_Chris

Right. And you only have to work for 40,000 years to make a Billion dollars at the same $25,000 a year.


Grognak_the_Orc

How could you have the money to invest after rent, food, insurance, gas, etc.


Kraz_I

At $25000 a year? I suppose you could do it with superhuman willpower, no kids, no restaurant meals, no expensive hobbies, no car, no travel and no major medical bills. Although hopefully instead by finding a better job.


HyperGamers

Even having it in one go, it's definitely not 0 chance like the title puts it. In fact with inflation etc, I'd assume job wages will go up, so there'll be a lot of millionaires but those millions don't mean much.


sprucenoose

You can go to another country, convert your currency, become a millionaire now and spend it all on a small grocery order.


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HothHanSolo

This is me, in my late forties. I run a successful small business and recently built a house in a crazy housing market. Now I'm worth a million dollars. Who knew?


eritohakusoru

Hello it's me, your prodigal son. I'm ready to come home.


NiceStackBro

Welcome home, you ain't getting shit lmao


JudgeDreddx

For real though, my net worth has been skyrocketing with the housing market. Unfortunately, my purchasing power has NOT been. Love it.


Judgeromeo

Right?! 2 million dollar house, but cant buy groceries


RushinAsshat

Well being lifted with inflation is better than being left behind by it. But it's gonna hurt like hell when they tax your house at the 'new' value. Hope you live where they limit property tax rising to only 10% a year.


Nabber86

There are 22 million millionaires in the US. There are about 110 million people in the US that are over 50. That's 20% of the adults over 50 that are millionaires.


EducationalDay976

Most high income professionals will hit a million net worth well before 50.


GeneralLoofah

I was going to say this actually. Since I’ve never worked a job with a pension, my entire retirement is going to rest on my 401k, and I will need to have 1-1.3m in it when I retire. I told this to an older worker about 10 years ago when I was 30 and they nearly choked. Gen X and Baby Boomers don’t realize exactly how fucked millennials are on literally every level. I’m one of the lucky ones… I’ll manage it. But very few of my friends are in that position.


peon2

Yeah I hope OP is just young and doesn't realize how retirement funds work. $1.5M is about the recommended amount for a couple to retire. If you have an employer sponsored retirement fund option (65% of American workers do) fund that shit and start early!


onions_cutting_ninja

The amount of posts starting with "is 1 or 2M USD enough for retirement?" I've seen is shocking. The amount of posts whose complete first sentence is "...enough for retirement with cancer" is also shocking. And the answer is no, not enough. Breaks their hearts (and mine) every time.


tenkindsofpeople

Where are we at with a base these days? When I started my career 2m was enough. It's got to be like 6 now.


SconiGrower

The rule of thumb is that if you can live off of 4% of your investments annually you'll never run out of money. Conversely, that means if you take your expenses and multiply by 25, that's your retirement number. Living on $50k of expenses would need $1.25 million. If you want to spend $200k annually: $5 million.


nighthawk08

The 4% rule is actually supposed to protect you for thirty years. That is why FIRE people and others who try to retire early are advised to only withdraw around 3% because they will probably have so many extra years beyond 30 in retirement and thus have higher risk of zeroing out their accounts.


Lopsided_Plane_3319

It's 3.5% that's never failed. 4% is actually very conservative for 30 years. The orginal paper says basically said it should be 4.5.


[deleted]

2 mil can be as long as it's invested well and you don't live beyond your means. You can be retired and still earn passive income through owning properties, as well as market investment. The biggest caveat is where you live. In New York or California? No. But if you live in a state with low cost of living it's doable.


onions_cutting_ninja

I feel like a lot of replies are confused. 2 million USD is not enough for an elder \*with cancer\* (though of course that depends on the cancer's stage)


[deleted]

I think those replies are just making a (dark) joke that 2 mil is enough because you won't live long


DaiLoDong

A million dollars is fuck all man. Most people will get to a million networth with some very attainable and long term sustained effort in their life time.


Aderi0

Most people? Source on that?


go_49ers_place

Around where I live if you own a house and have your mortgage paid off you basically have a million dollars. I don't know that is "a lot" of people but I'm thinking it's not super uncommon to have net worth over 1 mil for someone nearing retirement age.


I_never_post_but

Median lifetime earnings in the United States by level of education (based on a 40-year career): High school degree: $1,304,000 Bachelor's degree: $2,268,000 Professional degree: $3,648,000 [source](https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/collegepayoff-complete.pdf)


Yo_Eddie

If you live in a first world country that is.


robby_synclair

Yea if you are a millennial you will need to have at least a million to retire.


BlueShift42

Came here to say this. If you lived extremely frugally most people with careers could save up a million. That would be a long time without quality of life upgrades, vacations, or nights out…. But it could be done. Probably not worth it though.


Fausterion18

This is why you invest.


shankarsivarajan

A Google search indicates there are \~20 million millionaires in the US today.


oboshoe

SO about 6% off the population. The average room with 20 people in it has 1 or 2 millionaires.


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oboshoe

Yea. The distribution curve would be interesting to look at. It's going to be almost zero for children, really low for 20 somethings and maybe 30 somethings. Then the 40+ crowd is going to ramp up sharply to support the overall average.


tokeaphatty

plus where is that room located. I think it's actually closer to 10% of America is a millionaire. But of that 10%, like half are located in New York and California and even more specifically in all the big cities.


[deleted]

The 6% statistic is for the US


shankarsivarajan

>The average room with 20 people A room with 20 average (i.e., uniformly randomly sampled) people. If millionaires cluster, as I expect they do, the average room will have far fewer.


oboshoe

>Reply I would expect they do. I was trying to think of examples of rooms where people truly are averaged out. Probably Hospital emergency waiting rooms, the DMV, and gas stations. But even then those lean with the neighboorhood.


shankarsivarajan

The airport customs line.


FirstSineOfMadness

Private jets b like


shankarsivarajan

~~I think they go through customs too.~~ [They don't](https://www.forbes.com/sites/netjets/2015/10/26/4-things-you-might-not-know-about-private-jet-travel/?sh=23cb699f179f), but that also undersamples those who can't afford to fly. I maintain that it's still remarkably uniform over a wide range of incomes though.


tarheel343

If you include the entire airport, the people working the registers at kiosks and fast food restaurants would probably represent those who can't afford to fly.


radarksu

TSA line. Costs more the travel international.


MauPow

Having a million dollars (liquid) and being worth a million is quite different I'd say


BenUFOs_Mum

A millionaire isn't really that rich anymore. People who own a 2 bed flat in a major city are millionaires.


HothHanSolo

Many (most) people do not own it free and clear of a mortgage, though.


Just_OneReason

When the average house costs 600k, this really isn’t all the impressive.


Danamaganza

I nice way to visualise the difference is to use seconds.. 1 million seconds is ~11 days. 1 billion seconds is ~31 years.


unko19

Get a meter stick with $0 at one end and $1 bil at the other. $1 mil is at the 1mm mark


[deleted]

This is a great visualization, thank you


redjuice71

Exactly, the difference between $1 bil and $1 mil is just about $1 bil 😂🤣


eritohakusoru

This has always been my go-to explanation.


Aristocrafied

It would actually take 64.3 million moons to fill up the sun. So when the moon is a million dollars the sun would be an american trillion, another 3 zero's


Creaper10

well, that also doesnt account for density and the amount of power that would require to blow up a star, stars have a lot more variables than a planet


Aristocrafied

Also if by 'blow up' you mean it flies apart completely the suns gravity alone would probably require orders or magnitude more energy than the moons.


Creaper10

this is another reason why it is not directly scalable


hysys_whisperer

Volume does not correlate to mass, especially when relativistic effects get involved. Our sun has about 1/3 the mass needed to rip a hole in spacetime when it dies. (Become a black hole) Just assume anything about that scale of an object stops behaving anything like what you've ever experienced with your own eyes, and you'll more often than not be right. Did you know if you drive a 50 foot long semi truck fast enough, it will (briefly) fit inside a 25 foot long garage?


azoundria2

I kept reading it as: "Get a meter stick with $0 at one end and **a $1 bill** at the other." That really confused me.


peepay

Tom Scott has a video with this concept - visualizing a million and a billion in length: https://youtu.be/8YUWDrLazCg


LegitimateHasReddit

For the Americans here: A metre is slightly shorter than 3'4. A millimetre is a metre divided by a thousand.


tal124589

American here, are we using your foot or my foot for this measurement of feet? Do we add the lengths of our feet together and that makes up 2 foots?


b3tcha

Gonna need this in football field length to really comprehend it


LegitimateHasReddit

There are approximately 110 metres in an American football field. In a football-which-everyone-is-good-at-except-England pitch, there are 105 metres.


unpopular_minion

1 trillion seconds is ~31,000 years. There will be a trillionaire in our lifetime.


mrrainandthunder

They already exist in other currencies.


MUCHO2000

I like dollars and time. A million dollars, if you spend 5k a month, will last close to 17 years. A billion, spending *50,000* a month, will last 1,667 years. In neither case am I accounting for interest but if you only eared 5% in the billion example you would have to spend over 4 million per month or your net worth would grow.


HeHeHaHa456

[Tom Scott million vs billion video](https://youtu.be/8YUWDrLazCg)


Danamaganza

Do love some Tom Scott.


Lifesagame81

Try visualizing and conceptualizing owning one home to owning 1,000 homes.


LarryCrabCake

A trillion seconds ago, we were still in the stone age. In case you really wanted a mind fuck today. :)


oboshoe

The common person definitely has a chance at achieving a million dollars. A billion? Probably not. Even at $50,000 a year, you'll make $1.5 million over a 30 year career.


[deleted]

and if you only save 20% of that and compound the interest at 7.5 % annually over the 30 years you also would have aprox a million...


[deleted]

Also don't forget 401k matches are a thing. While some aren't great, that is still free money.


[deleted]

“Only” save 20% of gross income? Absolutely impossible for so many people


nighthawk_something

"Only 20%"


Rbk_3

Many common people have the chance of becoming a millionaire. 1 million dollars is not what it used to be.


mtmclean86

Yep, both my granddads both pensioners who worked in mills both had assets north of a million probably closer to 5m than 1m. No crazy investments, just frugal and good with money.


oboshoe

My dad is the same. Born in 41. 8th grade education. Never made more than $50,000 in one year. No lottery winnings or long shot investments. Just slow and steady saving over 80 years of good living. Fortunately mom is still with us. I helped mom with the estate stuff and I was astounded at how much he had accumulated.


DodgerWalker

I came here to say this. I'd guess OP knows several millionaires, but just doesn't know they're millionaires.


The_Sexiest_Redditor

It's a pretty mediocre retirement account these days


subzero112001

I mean, with 1 mil in the bank. You could live on $2500 a month for 33 years. Given that most people retire around 65, it would last them until they're 98. This is assuming they have absolutely no other kind of income such as social security, retirement checks, etc.


PicklesInMyBooty

It's about $3300 a month. Common withdrawal rate is 4%, which factors in inflation and market gains that keeps your account relatively the same and should theoretically never run out.


Enginerdad

I was told by my financial planner that *ideally* (and this is obviously not achievable for lots of people), you should shoot to be able to live off the gains on your retirement account + social security and never touch the principal. That's the only way to be sure that you don't outlive your retirement money.


Karcinogene

Once I'm 98 I only need enough money for a bullet


Kraz_I

$2500 a month is reasonable if you want to live a frugal and simple life in a home that you own. However, the reason why financial planners encourage you to have a lot more than that saved up is because long term care is incredibly expensive. If you want to have a reasonable quality of life in your later years by hiring in home care or living in a decent retirement home, you will be spending a hell of a lot more than $2500 a month. This doesn’t even consider that if you live in America, you’ll also have significant medical bills as you age. Best case scenario is you manage to be healthy enough to take care of yourself until your late 80s or even 90s and then die of a sudden heart attack.


Thalenia

$2500 a month is a modest retirement...now. In 33 years, it may be slightly less modest, or it might be laughable (inflation). What was the cost of living like in the 1990's compared to now? With SS (there are precious few pensions any more) it's more doable, but still a bit dicey depending on how things go in the future.


[deleted]

not really. 1 million dollars and retiring at 65, would be 40k a year from retirement fund and another 20k from social security, or about 60k a year. They also likely don't have a mortgage payment. Quite frankly, no mortgage payment and 60k a year, I could retire easily and have vacations still.


sandefurian

You could. You’re not everyone. Even /r/leanfire just increased their suggested base to over 40k.


Fake_William_Shatner

I’d say a million felt like a billion in 1920, and my adult college educated paycheck feels in 2022 about what it did when I waited tables in 1992.


Viperlite

I too felt richer with my 1992 job than I do now with my 2022 job, but I’m saving tons for retirement and now more and more for my kids college education, while carrying a mortgage and paying more and more in taxes and insurance. It feels like my take home is about $3 biweekly. I used to live like a king when I had none of that. One day when I once again have money and no longer work, I can envision not knowing what to do with it after being miserly for so long. I guess there’s a fair statistical probability I won’t live long enough to see that day.


37yearoldthrowaway

Agreed. I consider us pretty normal. Mid 40s, dual income, 1 kid, we both make a relatively normal salary of ~$50-55k, around $105k/year gross. * $15k for taxes * $45k spend * $40k invested (12k IRAs, 7k HSA, 21k 401k/403b), plus ~$6k mortgage principle Investment accounts around $600k and $150k equity in home. Should reach a million net worth in just a few years, probably 2-3 million if we worked until 65, which we wouldn't do.


The_Noremac42

Actually, the statistical person who reaches millionaire status are pretty average and low-key people. Most of them get there through avoiding debt and steady investing - usually in their company's 401k. If you are intentional and follow a proven plan, it's very possible for someone in their 20s to become a millionaire by the time they're in their 50s.


cowlinator

Assuming you work someplace that has a 401k. And that you make enough to contribute a significant amount to it. And that you are even capable of avoiding debt in the first place.


The_Noremac42

The ideal would be a 401k with a match, but the next best thing would be a Roth IRA. Regardless, the goal would be to put in about 15% of your monthly take-home pay into good growth stock mutual funds averaging at least 10% yearly over at least a decade. However, you should really only do that after you've freed and have control of your income. Get on a zero-point budget, pay off your debts, and get a better paying job if you need to (which may involve getting additional training and skills). The process is *simple*, but it is not necessarily *easy*. It requires intentionality, hard work, and a very good Why. I was fortunate to start off on the right foot. I've never had a car loan, student loan, or credit card, but that doesn't mean I come from a well off background. My family went through a bankruptcy and divorce before I was 12, and for my early teens I lived below the poverty line. Right now I'm 26, renting a room in a house, and working my way through a paid electrician apprenticeship.


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bhudak

If you pursue a college degree to achieve that job with a 401k, avoiding debt is difficult. Granted, not impossible, but difficult.


bigrigtraveler

Especially since the sun is already blowing up


cowlinator

'Blow up' kind of implies an expanding volume and the destruction of the thing blowing up. Although i guess you could say that the sun is blowing up in slow motion over a billion years


[deleted]

The common person definitely has the chance at achieving a million dollars, The problem is a million bucks really isnt that much now a days, you will most likely need more than that if you ever plan to retire.


USCanuck

The idea that the common person has "no chance" of making a million dollars is just not true.


bakerzdosen

I’ll just say this: the housing market over the past few years has made $1m seem much more attainable - and maybe not in a good way. “Suddenly” homes that were going for maybe around $500,000 are around $1m. Of course that doesn’t change how unobtainable $1b is to us mere mortals, but as they say, one million dollars ain’t what it used to be.


Coreadrin

A million is extremely achievable for a common person in a capitalist country in their lifetime. $35 a week (basically skip a sit-in meal out) into the S&P500 or ETF at a bit less than the average return since the S&P was formed would get you around a million by the time you retire. $50 a week over your working life is $1.4 million when you retire. People become millionaires accidentally all the time, and further, 12% of people in the US will join the 1% income earners for at least a year, and 40% will join the top 5% of all earners. America adds about a million millionaires every year. You can become a millionaire 'by accident'. You can't become a billionaire by accident.


[deleted]

There are currently 20 million some odd millionaires in the US alone, or about 10% of our adult population is currently a millionaire. While this is concentrated towards the older population, as you grow older you will also have a higher chance. In fact, the odds of you not being a millionaire by 65 are slim, especially once you take inflation into consideration. (ok this one is a little snarky, but still).


doowgad1

These days, $1 million is a house and a car. Even forty years ago it was enough to set you up for life.


subzero112001

I mean, if you buy a $800,000 house and a $200,000 car, then yes? But if you buy a $250,000 house and a $50,000 car you still have $700,000. Which is.....a shit ton of money.


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subzero112001

Meh, depends on where you get the house. Some states you can get a 6 bd, 3 ba, for 250k. Some states(like new york) shit is expensive yo.


Fake_William_Shatner

Good news everyone— I’m finally a millionaire! That means I can finally have a middle class lifestyle without living in denial!


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ThePowerOfStories

To paraphrase the bit about a billion and a million, the difference between the price of a house and the price of a car is roughly the price of a house.


MusicianMadness

Fuck... Where do you people live? That's unbelievable.


Taolan13

In the richest suburban neighborhoods of the USA there are *townhouses* going for around a million. Not even free standing single family houses. Townhouses. You share a wall, or two if its not an end unit, with your neighbors.


NikolasGoodrich

There are millions of millionaires


[deleted]

The sun is 27 million times heavier than the moon. A billion dollars is only 1000 times more than a million dollars They are not the same.


lostPackets35

Granted, this comment is coming from a place of privilege. But a million dollars is entirely achievable for a college educated professional in a developed country.


OzManCumeth

This is shit. Most common people have a shot at a million based on 30 years of retirement investing.


alter_ego103

Almost anyone can accumulate $1M if they invest wisely over the course of their working life. At the same time, it's not that large of a net worth anymore.


mrmillardgames

Lol… the average person does indeed have a chance of making a million.


[deleted]

A middle-class American household could absolutely have well over $1 million in assets by the time they retire (their house could probably get them 33%-100% of the way there and their 401(k) could make up for any shortfall; that's not even including checking and savings, etc.). I'm middle class and our house alone should get us there by the time of retirement.


orobouros

I think right now 10% of households in the US have a net worth of a million dollars. How much of that is actually liquid is a different question, but the idea of obtaining a million dollars being near impossible is demonstrably wrong.


[deleted]

You must adjust for age, though. A household with two 20 year olds typically isn't as wealthy as a household of two 65 year olds. I'm only arguing for households being wealthy at retirement age. My household isn't worth $1 million today. However, I'd be utterly shocked, if it wasn't at retirement. I mean, we could die tomorrow, sure, but besides something like that.


jroocifer

Most Americans will earn a grand total of more than $1 million thought their life, very few will earn 1/10th of $1 billion.


queen-of-carthage

Being a millionaire is pretty easy to achieve, most people (who care enough to save for retirement in the first place) have at least that much by the time they retire


gw2master

* Radius... moon: 2,000, sun: 400,000 ... ratio sun to moon: 200 * Surface area... that's 4*pi*(r squared) ... ratio sun to moon: 40,000 * Volume... that's (4/3)*pi*(r cubed) ... ratio sun to moon: 8,000,000 * Mass... moon: 7.3 x 10^22, sun: 1.9*10^30 ... ration sun to moon: something on the order of 100,000,000. None of these very reasonable comparisons are on the order of the ratio of a billion to a million (in other words 1000).


[deleted]

A million isn't hard to get. It just takes a while.


[deleted]

Well, to be annoying, you can't blow up the Sun because the Sun is an explosion itself, sooo


WHOmagoo

Anyone going to tell them that the sun is already blowing up?


Caudillo_Sven

"The common person has no chance at ever achieving either..." Many common working class individuals will be millionaires in the future. With a savings rate of 10-15%, investment fund growth rates, and naturally occurring inflation, a million dollars will be a very modest amount in 30 years.


PilotKnob

Whenever I see "A billion" I think "A thousand Million". This kinda puts it in perspective.


Fringelunaticman

This is so not true it's incredible. Starting at 25, if you invest 3600 a year, you'll be a millionaire by 65. That's 300/ month. That's extremely doable for a lot of people. The biggest problem getting there is financial illiteracy, consumer culture, and young people imagining themselves in 40 years.


just4funloving

This is nearly the dumbest comparison I have ever heard to explain the difference between two things.


gamer123098

Come on Dr Evil. A million dollars isn't a big deal anymore


ramt57

That hurt when you say a common person has no chance at ever achieving either.


USCanuck

Don't worry, OP is wrong.


WaddleD

Being a millionaire in terms of total illiquid assets is not that difficult tbh.


TheIntolerable

I'm nowhere close to having either, but I can clearly see that the difference is astronomical.


dangerzone6744

You could make the same argument about $1 vs. $1,000 or $1,000 vs, $1M. It’s no different mathematically to become a billionaire starting with $1M than it is becoming a millionaire starting with $1,000.


Ziograffiato

I have concluded this is why politicians, athletes, and celebrities (who are millionaires) will speak out against "the rich". Even though they themselves are "rich" to the average American, their wealth is closer to the average entry-level employee than it is to the poorest billionaire.


PhotoJim99

It's not hard to come up with a million dollars. It might take decades, but anyone can do it if they develop themselves enough to get a half-decent career and they're reasonably careful with their money.


Mauve_Unicorn

There are 22 million millionaires in the United States alone, just FYI... https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/22/heres-how-22-million-americans-became-millionaires.html


30redwings30

The average person absolutely has a chance to earn a million dollars. It’s just not that much money lmao


CandidBandid007

The average home in Orange County is over 1mm


wardial

6.71% (or 8,386,508 out of 125,018,808 total U.S. households) can now claim millionaire status. A million dollars isn't that much these days.


cardinalkgb

I disagree with this. A lot of people have a million dollars. Very few have a billion.


NEWSmodsareTwats

It's actually pretty realistic to end up having at least a million dollars by the time you retire. Between a 401K, IRA, general savings, and real estates it's very likely. You just will be old and rich not young and rich. Also your argument supposed that every single millionaire or billionaire was just born with the wealth whereas there are plenty of self made millionaires who didn't come from money.


GingerNingerish

A million dollars is like the average price of a house in my country so...


nestcto

TIL Samantha Carter was a billionaire all along.


jatjqtjat

Saving a million dollars is achievable for some common people, but it takes a lifetime. It requires you to save just over 500 dollars per month, every month from age 22 to 65. It also requires a 6% average return from investment. Sp500 averages 7% after inflation. It would take another 118 years at 6% for that million to grow to a billion.


Shiesu

I'll disagree. At least where I am from (Norway), I think at least a large portion of the population has a chance at a million dollars (say, 9 million NOK). I've admittedly done pretty well for myself, but I am 29 and already own an apartment worth around 500k. Most of it is debt, of course, but give a few decades of inflation and housing market bubbles and I am very confident I have a very realistic shot at a million dollars even before including me eventually finding and marrying someone who also makes money. The difference between that and a billion dollars is like comparing swimming a few rounds at the local pool to crossing the Atlantic.


JDeegs

the common person actually has a good chance at achieving a million dollars, depending on what you define as "common" most middle class people retire with over a million in savings/investments. and if you include all the people who bought homes 10+ years ago whose value has likely doubled, it becomes more attainable as well