Are You A “Moderate Millionaire?”

PRESENTED BY VANTA

Happy Wednesday, Future Party. If you’ve ever seen one of the Oscar Mayer “Wienermobiles” speeding down the street and thought to yourself, “I’d like to be behind the wheel of one of those bad boys,” then we have some good news. The company is looking to hire 12 new Gen Z “Hotdoggers” — yes, that’s what they call their drivers — for one-year assignments. The company even offers a “competitive vacation package.” Frankly, this sounds like a dream gig.

A record number of Americans are now millionaires thanks to their 401(k) balances.

Why It Hits: The “401(k) millionaire club,” as coined by The WSJ, demonstrates the wisdom of betting on the stock market and the power of compound interest — rewarding those who consistently stashed part of their paycheck away over the course of decades. That’s why 82% of the new class of millionaires are over the age of 50, per Fidelity.

Behind The Accounts: Having over $1 million in assets is more common now than ever before.

Final Balance: For the last hundred years, being a millionaire seemed like an unattainable dream that promised financial easy street. But as inflation and cost-of-living expenses have skyrocketed, so has the spending power required to feel wealthy — 40% of US households are unlikely to maintain their standard of living in retirement even with a seven-figure nest egg, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

That’s why UBS Global Wealth Management calls those with a little over $1 million in their 401(k) “moderate millionaires” — a group that has quadrupled to 52 million worldwide since 2000, including about a thousand added per day in the US last year.

Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS’s wealth-management practice, says people now need at least $5 million to spend like a “stereotypical millionaire.”

The Future: The new middle class may soon be considered those who have reached “moderate millionaire” status.

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SpaceX has filed for a trademark to roll out its own mobile carrier.

The Big Picture: SpaceX is already the king of low Earth orbit, with thousands of its Starlink satellites beaming internet service almost anywhere in the world. So, with plenty of infrastructure already in place, the company may have what it takes to take on established carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Behind The Signal: Starlink Mobile could be coming to a cell phone near you.

Closing Thoughts: SpaceX is prepping to launch an IPO at a wild $800 billion valuation next year — battling OpenAI with the biggest public offering ever. For SpaceX, the reliability of the Starlink business has been core to its revenue, so betting on mobile services using the infrastructure already in place could give the company even more power to sustain its sky-high valuation.

Next Call: Count down to Amazon launching its own mobile service using its Leo satellites. The mobile-space wars are upon us.

Nvidia just posted a record-breaking quarter… yet the markets dropped. Why?

Experts say that even the top AI earnings couldn’t calm the fear of a potential bubble.

After soaring at the open, the S&P reversed sharply, wiping out over $2T of value in hours.

The “Great Bitcoin Crash of 2025” only wiped out ~$1T by comparison.

Wall Street’s finally asking: What if AI isn’t enough?

So, where can investors diversify when public markets stop making sense?

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It’s not just for billionaires to tie the room together. It’s poised to rebound.

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89.4% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Back when Blockbuster was around, did you or someone in your household have a membership?

“Friday night Blockbuster was like going to church in our family.”

“When the kids were growing up, it was a must-have for weekend movie-and-a-pizza night. We’d put in an order at the pizza place next door to our Blockbuster and go browse the movie possibilities while it was prepared. It never seemed inconvenient — and we enjoyed it more than sitting on the couch scrolling to find something worth watching.”

“And I still have the card! #nostalgia”

“I actually worked at Blockbuster my last semester of college (2001).”

“No membership, but my first job was at a video rental store, and we’d go religiously to rent a couple of movies every Friday night to watch as a family. When my little store inevitably went out of business due to the bigger chains, we acquired a giant shelf full of VHS tapes. Those were the days…”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🍿 Bain & Co. has released a report with recommendations to get people back to movie theaters, which have recovered only 64% of their typical pre-pandemic attendance.

🎥 Universal is showing a six-minute trailer of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey exclusively in front of 70mm IMAX re-release screenings of Sinners and One Battle After Another and IMAX screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

💻 Spotify has rolled out music videos to premium subscribers in the US and Canada.

🦾 Nearly all of the top AI firms are joining forces to form the Agentic Artificial Intelligence Foundation, which will create uniform standards for AI agents.

₿ Facing a major demand downturn, industrial bitcoin miners are transforming into data centers for AI.

👓 Google is planning to release its first pair of AI glasses sometime next year.

📱 Australia has officially kicked off its social media ban for users under 16.

🫠 Facebook is getting a major redesign to look a lot more like Instagram.

👀 Pew Research found that 40% of teens are “almost constantly online” — a 6% decrease from last year.