Frugal Baby Boomer Millionaires Learn to Cope
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 5, 2007 -- Most older baby boomers remember John Beresford Tipton, the "Millionaire" who discreetly awarded a million dollar check to some worthy individual every week on TV during the late 1950's. While people old enough to remember the show (over 55) would still be thrilled at such a gift, being a millionaire just ain't what it used to be.
One problem is that Inflation has deflated the significance of a million dollars, which has only 54% of the purchasing power it had in 1987 (source: Wall Street Journal). There are a whole lot more millionaires today thanks to inflation and prosperity. Another issue is that real estate prices have soared and become a significant source of illiquid wealth - for boomers fortunate enough to have significant home equity in hot real estate markets.
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