With the long awaited Baz Luhrmann adaptation of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel, The Great Gatsby, opening in cinemas tomorrow we decided to take a deeper look into Gatsby’s roaring 20′s life and, more specifically, his mind-boggling bank statement. Here at MyVoucherCodes, obviously we love a bit of frugal living but even we can’t help but be drawn in by the appeal of Jay Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle. Tragically for most of us dreams of exuberant partying in magnificent mansion grounds will remain exactly that…dreams.
If you wanted to live like The Great Gatsby, how much money would you need to fund your lavish lifestyle? We took a look at the book, made a list of key elements of his lifestyle, and estimated how much each element would cost if you wanted to live like Jay Gatsby today. The prices reflect what it would cost to buy modern day equivalents of what Gatsby has…
• Most of the cost to be Jay Gatsby comes from his mansion, which serves as the basis for attracting the attention of Daisy. Modern day mansions on the Gold Coast of Long Island cost at least $10 – $15 million. Kind Point Estate, one of the inspirations for Gatsby’s house, was recently listed for $39.5 million.
• High-end modern hydroplanes cost anywhere from $150,000 to $6 million. We assume that Gatsby had a very high-end hydroplane.
• One of the most expensive motorboats in 1922 came from Chris Smith and Sons and cost $7,500, $103,916.52 in today’s money.
• To calculate the cost of the parties, it’s assumed that each party costs $50,000 and that there are 5 of them. According to Richard Market, the President of the Association of Wedding Professionals International, the cost of a wedding reception in the upper crust neighbourhoods of Long Island, NY can average $40,000 – $50,000.
• The cost of the personal shopper assumes that Gatsby had 7 of each suit, one for each day of the week, from the Brooks Brothers collection coming in at a staggering $470,610 on fashion alone. Perhaps Mr Gatsby should maybe check out our latest frugal fashion posts for a bit of thrifty style inspiration?
• A yearly salary of $800,000 was used to approximate the cost of the gardener and 8 servants.
• The cost of the champagne and fruit alone racked up a whopping $81,300 to fuel Gatsby’s fun loving party guests. This assumes 500 guests for each weekend, that he bought fruit from The FruitGuys, and that he used Korbel champagne.
• The infographic assumes that if you really want to live like Great Gatsby, you’re going to have to live like him for a very short period of time. The book is set in 1922 and prohibition began in 1922, giving Jay Gatsby only a couple of years to amass his fortune through bootlegging.
Believe it not but that’s NOT ALL! After running the numbers on the cost of being The Great Gatsby the total figure came in at $34,320,880! That’s an astounding £22,033,162. For the full breakdown on the Jay Gatsby lifestyle take a look at the infographic below.
Feature Image From http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/
