I get it. It takes a long time to earn this amount of money.

At $7.25 an hour (minimum wage in December 2009), to earn $200,000 would take:

27,586 work hours

690 work weeks (at 40 hours a week)

13.26 work years (52 weeks a year)

It is even worse for $288,000:

39,724 work hours

993 work weeks (at 40 hours a week)

19.20 work years (52 weeks a year)

The poverty level for a family of 4 is only $22,050.

There are a lot of other things, good things, practical things which to spend $200,000. There are a lot of charities that could use $200,000 to cure cancer, to help veterans, to feed the hungry.

The median home price in Chicago is about $200,000. A Ferrari on ebay is about $200,000. A single-engine airplane can be had for under $200,000.

I could buy 200,000 instant lottery tickets, 133,333 small cups of coffee, 11,111 supercut haircuts (with tip), 625 IPod Touches (32gb), and on down day in the market, 2 A shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

I would be debt free, mortgage free, monthly expense free for a couple of years for $200,000.

So trust me, I get it.