Do you know what is your real wage?

P/S - I want to read the book.

In simple terms, real wage is what your salary can buy given current prices of goods and services.

Example
If your monthly salary is $1,000 and the current price of a loaf of bread is $1, then your real wage is 1,000 loaves of bread.

If the price of bread is increased by 25% from $1 to $1.25, then your real wage would have declined to 800 loaves.

Of course, we don't buy bread only with our monthly income but it highlights the point that when consumer price level goes up, your real wage goes down, assuming your paper salary of $1,000 remains unchanged.

What is reality for the period between 1997 and 2006?
If your average monthly income is $1,180, real average annual change is a positive 1.7% only!!!!
Whereas, if your average monthly income is $3,190, it is growing at 4.3% per annum on average.

What is the moral of the story?
You have got to work much smarter or harder if you want to retire early and very rich.