The Value of Money: What’s a Millionaire?
By way of Cafe Hayek, to Division of Labor’s “From ABBA to Led Zeppelin, Led: Using Music to Teach Economics“, here is a Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator. How much money would it have taken in 1961 to be a millionaire in today’s dollars?
My family moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Ashland, Kentucky around 1964. If I recall correctly, my father paid around $32,000 for the house I grew up in; he said he sweated every month wondering if he’d make the payment. How much is that money worth today? According to the calculator linked above, it’s worth about $215,676. Funny that an anesthesiologist would worry that much about cash flow. Aren’t doctors rich? Millionaires? Apparently specialists in that field weren’t - at least in the early 1970s. My father switched to general medicine (family practice) around 1971. He saw the future and the future held four children in college at the same time.
When I was born, 1961, one needed only $143,106.
When my sister was born, 1959, one needed only $139,277.
When my other sister was born, 1957, one needed only $134,490.
When my brother was born, 1953, one needed only $127,790.
