17 March 2026

Starting Wealth

TL8 starting wealth is $20,000.

Under standard, settled lifestyle, assumptions you can spend 1/5 of that on "adventuring gear."

Want a humbling moment?

Add up all of your assets and calculate how many starting wealths it takes to cover them.

My freaking house, according to Zillow, is $179,200.

If that's 4/5 of what I own then I need $224,000 for a starting wealth.

"Wealthy" is $100,000.  20 points.

"Very Wealthy" is $400,000.  30 points.

I'm somewhere between wealthy and very wealthy.

I don't FEEL wealthy, but here we are.

I can no longer relate to myself as a character.

Several of my friends are in better financial condition based on their home's value.

What the actual fuck?


3 comments:

  1. Some of that is inflation, the rest is house prices have outpaced inflation. What year was,the book published that defines TL8 starting wealth? Inflation adjusting the wealth levels may bring the numbers back in line.
    My house almost doubled in value circa 2021-22 but I don't feel any wealthier

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 2004 is when 4th edition came out and set it at $20k.

      Using this site: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ $20k in 2004 is $34.6k today.

      Since I bought my house in 2004, I know it was worth $70k then! $121.1k according to the calculator...

      I'd still need to buy "Wealthy" even using 2004 dollars, I'd just have a lot more points in "Debt." because I don't owe 3/4 of my loan anymore.

      Delete
  2. Back when "1%" was a thing, I looked it up. At the time, approximately 50% of the people in the U.S. were in the worldwide 1%.

    ReplyDelete

You are a guest here when you comment. This is my soapbox, not yours. Be polite. Inappropriate comments will be deleted without mention. Amnesty period is expired.

Do not go off on a tangent, stay with the topic of the post. If I can't tell what your point is in the first couple of sentences I'm flushing it.

If you're trying to comment anonymously: You can't. Log into your Google account.

If you can't comprehend this, don't comment; because I'm going to moderate and mock you for wasting your time.