These are worthwhile articles to read for yourself. Follow the links to read them in full.
Captain Capitalism: “What ‘Six Figures’ Means Today”.
As a returning WWII vet, if you made “six figures” [i.e. $100,000] in 1947, you were boss. It would be like making $743,000 today.
If you were a baby boomer, making “six figures” during Ford’s administration, you were pulling down the equivalent of $300,000 today.
But sadly, with the effects of inflation, compound/exponential math, today’s young “go getters” and “business leaders,” “six figures” really doesn’t mean anything anymore as it is now an obsolete metric of success, wealth, and income. You only make $67,700.
In 1 in 5 Families in U.S., No One Works
In 19.9 percent of American families in 2014, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), no one in the family worked.
A family, as defined by the BLS, is a “group of two or more persons residing together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. In 2014, there were 80,889,000 families in the United States, and in 16,057,000 of those families, or 19.9 percent, no one had a job.
Seven rules that can permanently fix your personal finances
The author writes from a British perspective, but his advice is perfectly sound for Americans too. Some good ideas there.
If you wanted to know how big the Chinese economy is getting, here are some articles to make you think:
- China now has bigger vineyards than France
- Apple sells more iPhones in China than US for first time
- Chinese entrepreneur buys BMW with small change
Food for thought, all of them.
Peter