Replies to post #68908 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

In other words, you think it’s “unsustainable” for 5% of the populace to have net assets greater than or equal to the median price of a house in an expensive neighborhood.

Why would that be unsustainable?

Sometime you come across on this board as more resentful than rational.

[oldberkeley]

Speaking as just an average middle-class person: yes, 1 mil is a lot of money!

According to the National Association of Realtors (an organization I belong to) the national median home price is $205,000. I often work with people whose dream is to own a home worth that much.

Also, as I'm sure you know, it's not the sale price that factors into your net worth, it's the equity. Especially considering what the mortgage scene has been like in the past 20 years, one could own a million dollar home and have zero equity!

To repeat: To the vast, vast majority of Americans, of course 1 mil is a lot of money.

[apljack]

OT: "$1M is a lot of money?"

"Yes, it is a lot of money. It may not get you a vintage Ferrari collection, but in every city of this country you can buy a fine place for 500K and still have 500K left over without a mortgage to pay."

Come now, let's be realistic, the median price of a home in America right now is about $208,000. Any retiree with $1 million could easily live in their median priced home, owned outright, and have a nice fixed income of about $50,000 if the remaining $792,000 was invested in a mix of yield producing stocks and bonds (about 7% overall).

Where most live, that would be quite comfortable. $1 million dollar homes as a median is part of the madness that brought us to the edge of oblivion where we are right now.

aj

[OakesCS]

OT in every city of this country you can buy a fine place for 500K

while i aqree $1M is a lot of money for most folks, $500k will not buy a "fine" place in many cities in this country. $500k in Boston/Cambridge and San Francisco/bay area will get you a quite modest home by standards in most of the US.