Community Forums

Isaac-1 · 08-16-2020, 04:08 PM

I have been trying to stay out of the heat lately with daily heat index running over 110 degrees, most days around here. As such I have been looking for things to watch on Netflix, etc. One thing that drives me nuts is the way so many shows depict relatively small amounts of money as being life altering, which I guess it can be for some people.

This is often depicted as being related to some criminal activity, ie kidnapping someone for a ransom of $50,000, or embezzling from the mob, other times it is someone finding a briefcase with $5,000 - $50,000, etc in it. Sure this is a nice chunk of change, but is anyone really going to retire on that amount? $50,000 will barely buy a ran down mobile home in rural America these days, much less set someone up so they don't need to work for the rest of their life. $500,000 maybe, but even then living off the investments from $500,000 is going to still be a fairly frugal life style.

Does this portrayal of the value of money or the lack or it bother you too?

rk911 · 08-16-2020, 05:00 PM

nope. it’s a story, not a documentary.

jacwjames · 08-16-2020, 06:42 PM

There are plenty of things depicted on TV/Movies that are not realistic. If I see something really out of whack I'll make a comment to my wife but she reminds me that "it's only a show". I guess that's why I find myself watching more sitcoms then anything>>funny is funny!

FWIW, I recently read that the magic number for someone to think they are wealthy is $2.3M, and the amounted to retire is $1.9M (up 12% from last year).

LHRanch · 08-16-2020, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

I have been looking for things to watch on Netflix, etc. One thing that drives me nuts is the way so many shows depict relatively small amounts of money as being life altering, which I guess it can be for some people.
This is often depicted as being related to some criminal activity, ie kidnapping someone for a ransom of $50,000, or embezzling from the mob, other times it is someone finding a briefcase with $5,000 - $50,000, etc in it. Sure this is a nice chunk of change, but is anyone really going to retire on that amount?

Depends when the movie was made, of course.

I remember watching "The Millionaire" in black-and-white.

If you're still looking for things to watch on Netflix, I highly recommend the Doctor Evil scenes in the Austin Powers movies. "One million dollars!"