Made My First Million Dollars

OK – that’s a complete lie; I haven’t. But just had a quick chat with my buddy Eric and he brought up a good point as I asked him, “I’m curious who will make their first million… first.” He asked, “define ‘make’”.

Excellent question — is it what’s in your bank account and various investments? Does it include the equity you have in your house? Is it all your assets? Is it less all your debts?

What do people mean when they speak of making their “first million”?

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  • http://www.josh20.com Josh20

    Needs to be liquid. Anyone can be a millionaire on paper :) .

  • http://www.netnagel.com/ Eric Nagel

    I’m going with the bottom number in Microsoft Money’s account list. That’s assets minus debts. Not quite $1mm yet :)

  • Adam

    Still working on any version of $1M. I’ll let you know what I think when I get to the first rung.

  • http://www.softomic.com Paul

    Could that mean in a lifetime? Check out your records at Social Security. One year I updated my records and now every year I get a summary of how much I’ve earned in SSA dollars. It ain’t gonna be a million for a while. I guess once (if ever) I hit that number I’ll also be able to claim that I’ve spent a million as well. Make that spent a million plus change.

  • http://www.adisn.com Michael

    To me ‘made’ implies doing something active you can truly stand behind to make that million. I define ‘making’ a million as earning it either via investments or via my job. This is quite a bit different to me than being worth a million, winning a million, or marrying into a million.

    Your home is an investment, so the equity is is technically part of what you have earned on your investment, but unless you are actively ‘playing’ the housing market can you really hold your head up high and say you ‘made’ the equity in your house? Maybe some people can, I personally don’t feel that way.