Is a million euros truly a lot of money?

At first glance, the answer seems simple—one million euros is a massive sum. But in reality, the question is more completely different than it might initially appear. 

The average net salary in Slovenia is €1,514.49 per month, amounting to €18,173.88 per year and €726,955.20 over an entire 40-year career. From this perspective, a million euros seems enormous, as most people will not earn that amount in their lifetime. But is a million euros really so much? 

Relativity or Absoluteness 

Everything in life depends on perspective—in this case, whether we look at wealth relatively or absolutely. 

For example, someone earning a minimum wage will accumulate €432,993.60 net income over their career. Compared to the average wage earner, whose lifetime earnings are relatively higher, the minimum wage appears small. Now consider someone earning a net monthly salary of €2,946.86—this person earns €1,414,492.60 net over a 40-year career. They make twice as much as the average wage earner and four times as much as someone on minimum wage. That’s a substantial amount of money, isn’t it? 

Let’s examine the case of Jon Winkelried, CEO of TPG Inc., the highest-paid CEO in the world in 2023. He earned $198,685,926 last year, translating to $16,557,160.5 per month, $551,905.35 per day, or $22,996 per hour. Jon earns in a single hour almost as much as the average Slovenian earns in an entire year, and in just two days, he surpasses their lifetime earnings. Yet, even this isn’t absolutely a lot.

Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet, has a current net worth of $407.4 billion. By comparison, Jon Winkelried would need to work over 2,037 years at his current annual salary to match Musk’s fortune. Meanwhile, the average Slovenian would require an astonishing 14.8 million years. 

When compared to the earnings of ordinary people, a million euros seems monumental. However, alongside the wealth of the super-rich, it becomes negligible. In absolute terms, a million euros loses its grandeur. 

Wealth and Morality 

On the topic of whether wealth is moral, consider this thought from Thomas Sowell: 

I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.

Wealth in a market economy is created by generating new value, and a share of this value goes to those who create it.

Take, for instance, Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, whose current net worth exceeds $233 billion. That’s a staggering figure, yet it represents only a fraction of the value Amazon has created. Amazon’s market valuation exceeds $2.3 trillion, meaning Bezos has retained just a small share of the value he helped generate. Moreover, Amazon continuously creates additional value through its products and services, benefiting hundreds of millions of users worldwide. 

We can view money through a relative or absolute lens: relatively, a million euros can be a lot—or not. But in absolute terms, a million euros is no more than a grain of sand in a desert.