Wealth, By Any Other Name

Millionaire. A word that used to inspire awe and envy.

I say ‘used to’ because being a millionaire just ain’t what it used to be.

The word was first used in French in 1719 by Steven Fentiman and was originally spelled with 2 ns. One n was dropped when it was first recorded in English in an 1816 letter of Lord Byron’s. It finally broke into print in an 1826 novel, ‘Vivian Grey,’ by Benjamin Disraeli. Another version of the word, ‘millionary,’ was used by Thomas Jefferson in 1786 while he was serving as a Minister to France. The first American printed use of the word was possibly used in the 1843 obituary of New York tobacco manufacturer Pierre Lorillard II. (Wouldn’t you just know he would be a tobacco manufacturer?)

Millionaires used to be able to buy and furnish exquisite mansions. They used to own private planes to travel between their exquisite mansions. Now, as they currently report, being a millionaire isn’t enough to get you through retirement, unless you have a very good pension, and we all know pensions are quickly vanishing.

Other great words have come along to replace the impact of ‘millionaire.’ They are ‘mega-millionaire,’ (having over 2 million dollars), ‘hyper-millionaire,’ (having over 100 million dollars), and ‘billionaire.’ You know, I have worked in the investment and estate planning fields my entire career and have worked with very wealthy people as well as some of modest means. Still, I have a hard time wrapping my arms around the thought of having a billion dollars. Where in the world would you keep it? Hopefully, not at a bank in Cyprus.

I had a wealthy client a few years ago that was in the ‘mega’ range. He wanted to see what a million dollars in cash looked like. The local Federal Reserve bank helped us out with that one. Interesting to take a tour of the Federal Reserve and have them be so accommodating. FYI, that person was a lottery winner, and like me, had a hard time grasping that amount of money.

For now, the words ‘millionaire’ or ‘mega millionaire’ are enough for me to still be in awe. (No envy here. I am not a material girl.) But, it won’t be long and we’ll be coming up with words to replace ‘billionaire.’

Wealthy, by any other name, is still wealthy.