A not-so-long time ago, there was American currency printed worth more than just $100. With the advancement of technology, the US government thought it to be a good idea to remove any bills in circulation worth more than $100 because counterfeiters were getting good at their jobs. Back then, the currency went as high as $100,000, so if you were rich, you could literally carry a few million dollars in your pants pockets and no one would be the wiser.
Carrying a million dollars these days has to be done with $100 bills, and if you know your math, you know that you’ll need 10,000 of them. To break it down even further, the small stacks of money you see at banks hold 100 bills, so 100 stacks of $100 bills ($10,000 each stack) contain your million. This amount of money can usually be carried in a briefcase and is relative to the graphic below. Not as impressive as you might think.
Moving up the ladder, 1 billion dollars is a lot more daunting. There are 1,000 million in a billion and unless you have an 18-wheeler to haul it around in, transporting the money can be quite a problem. Do you remember those same $10,000 stacks? Well in order to create $1 billion, you’ll need 100,000 of them. Using the same dude in the graphic above, this is what $1 billion would look like if you were staring it right in the face.
So from $1 million to $1 billion and now $1 TRILLION we go. The current US budget deficit (simply meaning how much the US has overspent) is $1.171 trillion, so we’re going to try and show you just how much money that is. Explaining a trillion dollars to you in terms of $100 can be quite confusing, so in relation to the picture above, you would need 10,000 pallets. Below you’ll find those 10,000 pallets and just how $1 trillion would fit on them. (The dude in this picture is in the bottom left corner)
Hopefully, if you see this amount of money on the street, you’ll be able to turn to your friend and sound smart by saying “I think that’s a trillion dollars.”
Getting you on you’re way to saving $1 trillion, here are some of the best money articles of the week.
Why Long-Term CDs Are Great For an Emergency Fund @ Budget Tracker: You might not think CDs would be good for liquidity but when you do your research, the interest rate they offer compared to savings accounts is too great to pass up.
Why I Just Bought 1,000 Blockbuster Shares @ PT Money: This guy sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. Blockbuster’s shareholder meeting in six weeks should make or break their stock.
19 Things to Take Off Mom’s To-Do List @ Wise Bread: Today is Mom’s day, so make sure you treat her like a queen. Here are 19 unusual ways to help Mom out for more than just one day.
Filing Your Taxes After the Deadline @ Studenomics: With every day that passes, the IRS will penalize you for not filing your taxes, so even if you can’t afford to pay your tax bill … FILE YOUR TAXES!
And this past week, we also participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance and the All Things Eco Carnival.
