cost $20,000. They each made--good union jobs--a bit less than $2k each in the '50s. With promotions, inflation, pay hikes above the cost of living (again, union jobs) and with overtime (at time and a half, double time, and from time to time triple time), by the time the steel mill went out of business their paychecks were over $80k in the mid-80s. A bit richer than their pay in the '50s, compared to the rest of the community, but their '50s pay wasn't just pegged at median, either.

Housing's exceeded the 'inflation' index for the last 20 years by a fairly wide margin. Esp. in some areas.

Pac NW.

Wilbur, WA.

I bet very little of that NW is liquid, tied up in retirement accounts that would be heavily taxed if liquidated.

It's not like you can go on some spending spree. Pfft.

Don't feel like I'm rich!

It just isn't.

My 401 allowed me to retire a little early. My house is kind of crap but i like my property and location. Don't know if i can ever afford to fix it up nice. My former township in WI. screwed me out of a lot of what i should have had from my first house there. I have enough money to take road trips in my van and help out some other people.

"more about amassing assets that bump up their overall net worth"

Careful ladies and gents, don't go getting that "Millionaires Club" tattoo just yet. Based on those two items from the article, your "wealth" is only a couple negative/bad decisions by other people away from going back to the Thousandaire Club at least on paper.

That said, uh, congrats?

Yeah, insurance, Medicare, blah blah. But those are not guaranteed or reliable either. And they often have limits, especially with major issues.

Homeowner expenses, disasters, health problems, new cars (?! - god-awful expensive now, even used), etc. etc.

It's just not what it used to be. And you can be wiped out in a NY minute by a disaster - material or health.