The world's billionaires have so much money it's hard to fathom - here's how their spending compares to the rest of us
- The world's billionaires view money differently than the average person - in more ways than one.
- The typical billionaire could easily afford to spend $80 million each year, while most Americans earn less than $60,000.
- We crunched the numbers and found the value of $1 for the average American equates to $1,355 for the typical billionaire.
Billionaires are unfathomably rich in the eyes of the average person.
For the typical billionaire, a massive purchase - think: a brand-new luxury car, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, or pricey college tuition - is just a drop in the bucket.
The median household income in the US is $59,039 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. With only about 2,000 billionaires worldwide, it's difficult for the rest of us to understand the power wielded by a 10-figure net worth.
Business Insider crunched the numbers to see how the spending power of the world's billionaires and average people compares on a dollar-to-dollar basis.
The median fortune of a Forbes list billionaire is about $2 billion. A conservative 4% annual withdrawal rate would bring their income to about $80 million a year.
At that rate, the value of $1 to the average person is the same as $1,355 to a billionaire. That means the stomach pinch you feel when you drop $100 on something is how a billionaire feels when they spend $135,500.
Below, check out the real cost of 12 purchases, and the relative "cost" for someone with a $2 billion fortune.