Post by @yunggeeski

$1 million used to be worth a lot more. In 1871, $1 million had roughly the same purchasing power as $27.5 million today. If you held that $1 million in cash the entire time, its real purchasing power would now be equivalent to about $36,420 in 1871 dollars. The weird spike early on is from late-1800s deflation. Follow @yunggeeski for more finance charts. Sources: historical U.S. inflation/CPI data; BLS CPI.