What Does One Dollar Mean to You?

One Dollar ($1.00) So what’s a dollar mean? Even a child understands converting a dollar to a candy bar or a soda.

One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) Almost all adults understand the meaning of one thousand dollars. Perhaps it is your monthly rent or mortgage payment. Perhaps you think of one thousand dollars in terms of your take home pay for some period of time. Perhaps it is means the down payment on a new car.

One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) If we live long enough, we will have something in our lives that will mean one hundred thousand dollars. Perhaps that 30 year mortgage is finally paid off. Maybe you will have that much in your 401-K. Even if you are drawing Social Security, using the 4.0% rule, you have an annuity worth $500,000 in order to draw $20,000 every year. Multiply $500,000 by every baby boomer in America; just something to think about.

One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) Something like 7% or 8% of American families have a net worth in excess of one million dollars. Most of those Americans are first generation self made millionaires. To those people one million dollars means a lifetime of deferred gratification, self denial, thrift, and hard work.

One Billion Dollars ($1,000,000,000) Only about 400 Americans actually are able to relate to a billion dollars. I have some idea of a billion dollars means when I watch the Redskins play in FedEx Stadium on a Sunday afternoon, but I really don’t understand a billion dollars in any personal way.

One Hundred Billion Dollars ($100,000,000,000) I would contend that the Government officials who handle this kind of money have no idea what that number means in real human terms. If their decisions turn out well, the nation is blessed. If their decisions turn out badly, frequently innocent lives are ruined. Sometimes blood runs in the streets.

One Trillion Dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) About 1/16 of our current national debt. Also about 1/16 of the total personal debt of all Americans, or about 1/60 of our total debt including all unfunded liabilities.

The U.S. Debt Clock