Are the Blish novelizations canon?

[ZapBrannigan]

Wait, 5 million dollars doesn't qualify as rich any more?

No, because if you retire early with $5 million and try to live like the rich, you'll run out of money pretty fast. But you can live like a middle class person on that nest egg and not go broke.

If you want to retire early, live like the minor-league rich, and never go broke, you'd better start with $10 million nowadays, minimum. The dollar is not what it used to be.

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

Nope. To be rich you have to have enough money to sustain a rich lifestyle for at least 40 to 50 years. $5 million would give you $100,000 a year. That's more upper middle class. Rich is a million+ a year for the rest of your life.

 

[MAGolding]

$ 5,000,000.00 in cash hidden somewhere will last for 50 years at the rate of $ 100,000.00 per year..

$ 5,000,000.00 invested at one percent interest per year will return $ 50,000.00 per year forever. At 2 percent it will give $ 100,000.00 per year, at 3 percent $ 150,000.00 per year, at 4 percent $ 200,000.00 per year, at 5 per cent $ 250,00.00.

To get at least $ 1,000,000.00 per year interest you need at least $ 20,000,000.00 to $ 100,000,000 invested at 1 percent to 5 percent interest.

To get at least $ 1,000,000.00 per year for 50 years withdrawing from the capital without any interest you need at least $ 50,000.000.00 cash starting out.

 

[dupersuper]

None of this is improving my views on capitalism...

 

[johnnybear]

Don't waste it and you can live comfortably for many a year is my credo!
JB

 

[Mudd]

No.

Nope. To be rich you have to have enough money to sustain a rich lifestyle for at least 40 to 50 years. $5 million would give you $100,000 a year. That's more upper middle class. Rich is a million+ a year for the rest of your life.

I eat what I like, drive what I like, travel, give gifts and make charitable donations. I have a safe, comfortable place to sleep and clean clothes every day.*

By the standards of 99.99999% of all the human beings who've ever lived on this planet I am therefore obscenely wealthy while living on five figures annually. So, you can split hairs about the difference between middle class, upper middle class and wealthy all you like but at the end of the day it's worthwhile to hold on to some perspective on things.

Five million? Christ, I'd probably buy a McLaren.

If I was only making 5% on my investments I'd pull it all out and just buy a bigger place to live instead.

*Probably my best luck, in a very fortunate life, is that I have good health insurance. Sadly, in the U.S. that's probably the biggest difference between having enough and facing imminent disaster every day.