The most effective a part of watching a period-piece TV present is pulling out the outdated inflation calculator anytime somebody mentions cash. Take as an illustration that scene in “Mad Males” season 4 the place Peggy hustles $400 out of Roger: it is an important Peggy second regardless, however it will get higher if you understand she simply haggled her manner right into a shock $4,000 bonus, and even crazier if you understand that Roger casually carries $4k money with him wherever he goes.
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In relation to being up entrance about cash, “Mad Males” is a lot better than most, as a result of quite a lot of TV reveals (modern or in any other case) need to maintain their characters vaguely, relatably middle-class. So for a scene the place somebody’s supplied a brand new wage, reveals will typically solely give us the character’s response to the quantity to work with, not the quantity itself. “How I Met Your Mom,” as an illustration, could have the gang discuss excitedly about getting “an enormous fats examine,” or they will have Barney speak about spending a number of “craploads” a yr on fits. The writers for “HIMYM” do not need to deal with class, so these particulars are brushed apart.
However “Mad Males” is all about class. It is a present about wealthy folks getting richer; the present needs you to have an honest understanding of how loaded Don is at any level, for additional emphasis on how wealth is wasted on the wealthy. The result’s that, for many who wish to maintain observe of these things, “Mad Males” presents a comparatively thorough accounting of Don’s funds all through the ’60s. The last decade for Don might have been full of ups and downs, however that quantity in his checking account solely ever went up. (Properly, divorces however.)
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Don Draper begins off at a measly $300k a yr
In season 1, Don’s wage is rumored (by a jealous Pete Campbell) to be about $30,000 a yr, which might come out to a $325,000 in 2025. Assuming that Pete was exaggerating the quantity a bit out of anger, let’s carry this right down to $300k to be secure. That is sufficient to benefit from the comfy life we see from him: he is obtained a spouse and youngsters in a pleasant home in Ossining, a pleasant automotive, a hidden stash of money, and loads of spare change for his many affairs. It is price noting, nevertheless, that this isn’t fairly “f**ok you” cash. He cannot afford to make a number of the extra extravagant choices of his in later seasons.
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On the finish of season 2, we see a weekly paycheck of Don’s the place he is making $947 every week, which comes out to an annual wage of round $500k in as we speak’s cash. That sounds nice, however it will get higher: after Roger’s coronary heart assaults in season 1, Don is made a accomplice of the agency and given a 12% stake. So by season 2, Don’s obtained a internet price of a number of million {dollars} on prime of his $500k wage. That cash turns into money when PPLÂ buys out the corporate in season 2, successfully making Don a multi-millionaire (in Sixties cash) in a single day.
On the finish of season 3, when Don and the others begin their new promoting firm, Don is definitely in a position to make use of his cash to cowl his share of the start-up prices. He is additionally simply in a position to spare $50k for Pete’s share, which tells you a large number about how wealthy he’s at this level. Making issues extra comfy for Don is that his spouse Betty comes from wealth, and since she leaves for an additional wealthy man, she’s tired of taking any cash from him within the divorce.
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So, by season 4, Don is already wealthy past most of our wildest desires, and we’re nonetheless solely in 1965 at this level. (The present ends in 1971.) As his new firm grows, his internet price balloons, and when the corporate is purchased by McCann in season 7, he receives what followers have estimated to be about $3,250,000 upfront, or $1.6-$1.7 million after taxes. (Equal to $14 million in 2025.)
Don provides away one million {dollars} in season 7. How massive of a deal was that?
Though most viewers understood that Don was wealthy, it is simple within the later seasons to be stunned by precisely how wealthy he is gotten. Not solely has he raked in main one-time offers due to a number of enterprise mergers all through the present, however his spectacular season 2 wage has actually continued to rise on prime of that. By season 7, Don is so wealthy that even when he skips work for weeks to go on a drunken bender throughout the nation, making a gift of his costly automotive on a whim midway by, he is nonetheless at zero danger of ever being poor.
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The most important indicator of simply how a lot Don has “made it” all through the present is in his divorce settlement with Megan (Jessica Paré), the place he writes her a examine for $1 million simply to get the divorce over with. Megan herself struggles to imagine he is severe, and so did the followers: $1 million is round $8 million in as we speak’s cash. We knew Don might cowl that quantity, however might he afford the chance of making a gift of that a lot cash that shortly? Seems, sure: this was a couple of episodes after the corporate was offered to McCann, so Don would nonetheless have at the least $600,000 from that merger left over.
What’s price remembering is that Don Draper is taken into account a advertising and marketing genius on this present, particularly within the earlier seasons. His season 1 wage (of $300k in as we speak’s cash) is considerably increased than the common artistic director for an promoting agency on the time, as a result of Don Draper is just that cool and proficient. Financially talking, Don is a uniquely profitable individual all through the whole thing of the present; by season 7, he can afford to be as reckless along with his money as he needs. By the point we reached the sequence finale, Don might purchase something on the earth besides his peace of thoughts.
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