What does it take to be considered rich in 2010? The old million-dollar standard seems defunct now that this amount is often touted as a minimum that should be saved for a comfortable retirement. Let's look at some recent attempts to pinpoint the new standard of wealth.
Movies
In the movie "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," Dr. Evil, the villain frozen in the '60s and thawed in modern times, tries to extort $1 million from the world's leaders -- and they all laugh. Dr. Evil later figures out that he needs to ask for much more money -- $1 million just isn't a significant sum. The bad doctor later ups his demand to a suitably sinister $100 billion.Another popular reference to our changing standards of wealth occurs in "The Social Network," a 2010 movie about the founding of Facebook. A conversation between Justin Timberlake's Sean Parker character and Andrew Garfield's Eduardo Saverin character goes like this:
Sean Parker: You know what's cooler than a million dollars?
Eduardo Saverin: You?
Sean Parker: A billion dollars.
The exchange occurs at a pivotal point in the movie when Facebook has proved successful but has not yet hit it big and the protagonists are considering the website's future. Parker's remarks seem to reflect the changing standard of wealth --no longer is it enough to become a millionaire. Now it takes a billion dollars to truly impress.
Forbes' list
When Forbes began compiling its lists of the 400 richest Americans back in 1982, just 13 of those people were billionaires. In 2010, every person on the list was worth at least a billion dollars, and the highest-ranked person, Bill Gates, was worth $54 billion.Forbes' 2010 list of the world's billionaires includes a whopping 1,011 entries. Of those, 75 people are tied for last place with a net worth of $1 billion. These people come not just from the United States, but also from India, Turkey, China, Romania, Italy, Poland, Malaysia, Pakistan and other countries. And while a few familiar names grace the bottom of the list, like J.K. Rowling and James Dyson, many of these mere billionaires -- and even some of the richest people on the list -- are relatively obscure. You don't have to be a Warren Buffett or a Sergey Brin to find yourself at the top.
Books
A 2008 book titled "The Middle-Class Millionaire" states that 8.4 million Americans have a net worth between $1 million and $10 million, including home equity. We can assume that many people have fallen out of this category with the decline in home values since the book was written, but the idea that you can be a millionaire, or even a multimillionaire, and still be middle class shows how times have changed.There are numerous books for sale with "billionaire" in the title. Claiming to teach ordinary readers how to achieve ultra riches are these popular titles (to name a few) in the business and investing category: "Trump Strategies for Real Estate: Billionaire Lessons for the Small Investor," "Think Like a Billionaire, Become a Billionaire" and "Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth." Even top-selling children's books like "The Billionaire's Curse," "Mr. Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire" and "Billionaire Boy" make a billion dollars the new standard to aspire to.
Continued: How much do you need to make a difference?
