I was watching this video the other day. One of those guys with a perfect house and an even stronger opinion about money. You know the type. But one thing stuck. He said his house in Miami Beach cost a hundred thousand dollars back in 1930. A hundred thousand. And years later that same house was appraised at forty-six million. That’s not a price jump. That’s time travel. Like picking up a brick and suddenly holding a gold bar.
And then came the line that stays with you. If that house ever pushes toward a hundred million, it doesn’t really say much about the house. It says something about the dollar. The dollar has basically dissolved over a century. Ninety-nine point nine percent gone. Sounds dramatic, but when you follow the line, the picture fits. The value keeps sliding. Every decade again. That’s currency devaluation in real life. Quiet. Steady. A little uncomfortable.
He brought up Buffett and Munger too. Two guys who always look calm, except when they talk about saving. They’ve been saying for years that money sitting in the bank is basically a fairytale. And honestly, you feel it now. Whether you’re buying groceries or trying to put something aside. Prices keep moving. You don’t. Your balance just sits there, a bit confused, like it doesn’t know what it’s supposed to do.
He also said that in a good year you lose around seven percent of your wealth just by keeping it in the bank. And that the dollar can melt fifteen percent a year. Maybe those exact percentages shift from year to year, but the idea is right. You don’t see it directly, but it rubs. A little less purchasing power every year. A tiny hole in your wallet that nobody talks about.
People then say, yeah, but investing, spreading risk, this, that. Sure. Do all of that. But his point was much simpler than all that financial jargon. Money doesn’t stay what it is. It changes. It evaporates. And the longer you let it sit still, the thinner it gets.
It doesn’t have to scare you. It should just wake you up. That’s really enough.
