If you have $1m, you can draw something like $30-40000 a year reasonably safely. That’s obviously a lot of money, but isn’t what most people in the mentioned countries think of as “living large” if it’s your whole income, especially for a couple/family. That puts you at about the median individual income for Japan and NZ, a bit above in Korea, and below for most of western Europe and Aus.
Obviously that’s without working, but that’s kinda the point. It’s wealth, but not enough that most people in those places would be comfortable not working if that’s how much they earned. Hell, in the US that wouldn’t even cover childcare for a few kids in many locales.
The $1m isn’t in cash… You forget that the average house price in London is around $900k, and for Sydney it’s $981k.
That means your pool for your car, furnishings, investments etc. are either minimal, or you have a mortgage, and definitely can’t live passively off $30-40k per year unless you’re living in cheaper than average housing (one would call this “not super wealthy”) and definitely not if you’re supporting a family.
I’m not saying the cost of living isn’t worse in the US, just that $1m is a comparatively tiny amount everywhere and that most millionaires (as there will a correlation between net worth and frequency) are frankly closer to the working class than they are to billionaires.
If you have $1m, you can draw something like $30-40000 a year reasonably safely. That’s obviously a lot of money, but isn’t what most people in the mentioned countries think of as “living large” if it’s your whole income, especially for a couple/family. That puts you at about the median individual income for Japan and NZ, a bit above in Korea, and below for most of western Europe and Aus.
Obviously that’s without working, but that’s kinda the point. It’s wealth, but not enough that most people in those places would be comfortable not working if that’s how much they earned. Hell, in the US that wouldn’t even cover childcare for a few kids in many locales.
The $1m isn’t in cash… You forget that the average house price in London is around $900k, and for Sydney it’s $981k.
That means your pool for your car, furnishings, investments etc. are either minimal, or you have a mortgage, and definitely can’t live passively off $30-40k per year unless you’re living in cheaper than average housing (one would call this “not super wealthy”) and definitely not if you’re supporting a family.
I’m not saying the cost of living isn’t worse in the US, just that $1m is a comparatively tiny amount everywhere and that most millionaires (as there will a correlation between net worth and frequency) are frankly closer to the working class than they are to billionaires.
None of what I said is disagreeing with your point. You’re reading into my response opposition that wasn’t offered.