So let’s ignore all that and plump for ‘purchasing power’ in the last quarter of a century as a rough-and-ready guide. Since 1980, the purchasing power of $1 million in the US has decreased by more than half. In Britain, the purchasing power of £1 million in 1980 has decreased by over 60 per cent. To put it another way, £760,000 in hard cash back in 1980 would equate to the spending power of £2 million today. While you might not have been a millionaire technically back then, you would certainly have been the equivalent of one by today’s standards.
