A Dollar and a Week's Wages

Word came that money had grown faster than wages. Larry Fink said in Detroit that 25 years in the US stock market earned about 10% a year, and wages did not keep up. Ambrose: a dollar in shares in 2001 is nearly eleven now, dividends reinvested. Pim plants a dollar. Prudence: wages? $596 a week then, $1,251 now, about 3% a year; after prices, about 12% in 25 years. The ledger, this once, agreed with him.

Fink's other claim in Detroit was that owners of assets have beaten wage earners, with 25 years in the US stock market returning about 10% a year, and the arithmetic bears him out: a dollar in the S&P 500 at the end of September 2001 became nearly eleven with dividends reinvested, while the median full-time weekly wage went from $596 to $1,251, about 3% a year, which after inflation is a raise of about 12% over 25 years.

Starring

🎙️The NarratorAmbrosePimPrudence