A billion dollars is so much more money than most Americans can fathom, but it doesn’t stop people from imagining what it would be like to have that level of wealth. While billionaires and average Americans can both earn interest on their money and assets, billionaires’ baseline is so much higher that the interest they earn is more than most households could make in several lifetimes.
This comparison matters because many Americans are told they’re falling behind financially for not earning enough on their money — without acknowledging how much starting capital determines what those returns can actually do.
