This is a good reference for the next time yet another security company goes for $XX,000,000,000 and the buyer says "because that's how much they're worth"
It's all bullshit valuation after $500,000,000.
What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
21–30 of 107 posts
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#22A cube of 100 dollar bills four feet on a side is about 160M dollars. So, six of them.
This made me do a search on the missing Iraqi billions, as I remember there were details at the time how it was packaged in pallets and flown into the country. Couldn't find that, but according to The Guardian [0]:
> Over the first 14 months of the occupation, 363 tonnes of new $100 bills were shipped in - $12bn, in cash.
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#23$1 billion dollars looks like $20-$35 million dollars a year of indefinite spending, inflation adjusting, depending on the exact form of the billion dollars and the tax rates involved. So, spending 100% of the after tax income of like 75 (well paid!) staff engineers at a big tech company in CA, but without having any job.
I always thought one of the biggest problems with modern education is not spending enough time teaching people about interest rates/return on investment. If everyone just understood what you're pointing out here--just really "got it"--I feel like the world would be in a much better place. It's not dire (I don't think?), and I know we've come a very long way, but, man, it could be so much better.
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#24The world has about 3000 US$ billionaires.
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#25A cube of 100 dollar bills four feet on a side is about 160M dollars. So, six of them.
This would fit in a standard cargo van, but the weight would crush it.
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#26The second box is 10,000 pixels (100x100). Not 1,000 pixels (31x31)
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#27It looks like 4 (I think we're up to $250M TC now?) AI engineers at Meta.
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#28> To earn $1,000,000,000 you'd have to work more than 1,379 lifetimes! Reminds "Something for Nothing" by Sheckley.
thats depressing
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#29$1 billion dollars looks like $20-$35 million dollars a year of indefinite spending, inflation adjusting, depending on the exact form of the billion dollars and the tax rates involved. So, spending 100% of the after tax income of like 75 (well paid!) staff engineers at a big tech company in CA, but without having any job.
I always thought one of the biggest problems with modern education is not spending enough time teaching people about interest rates/return on investment. If everyone just understood what you're pointing out here--just really "got it"--I feel like the world would be in a much better place. It's not dire (I don't think?), and I know we've come a very long way, but, man, it could be so much better.
Maybe. A lot of these calculations are usually based on historical averages for the US stock market. For the economy to keep moving, they need people to spend their money.
Eventually it may all even out, where people spend so much once they hit a certain point in their life/portfolio, that it allows for everyone else to be saving and investing everything in the first few decades of life. But a transition period where everyone stops their mindless consumerism would be rough on markets. Sales of “wants” would collapse and the stocks would fall right with them. At least that’s my theory.
I also often wonder if the stock performance we’ve seen is simply a result of the way the population has grown. If we are seeing slowing growth, or even population decline, can we expect the markets to contract right a long with the population. What will that mean for everyone’s retirement accounts?
Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?
#30Tom Scott did a video on this, "A Million Dollars vs A Billion Dollars, Visualized: A Road Trip":
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YUWDrLazCg
The length of one million USD is about the distance of a US football field or UK football pitch (which he demonstrates walking in a parking lot).
The length of one billion USD is driving over an hour at a speed of 100 kph (55 mph), the rest of the video.