The dad’s brother paid for the Paris trip. He had been watching his niece (the older one that counts everyone) while he worked in Paris, and in exchange the brother paid for them to go to Paris for Christmas (and also no doubt so he could see his kids). The brother is loaded, as we also see in the second move, he is remodeling a New York brownstone in midtown.
That says, they do pretty well. It may even be the mom with money. There is evidence to suggest she is a fashion designer with all the mannequins in the house. But the following year when they pay their own way, they go to Florida and not Europe, so they are probably not as loaded as his brother.
excellent analysis
learning the lore from Home Alone was not my first idea this morning
I cannot stop now
Rich people go to Florida too. Also I have known a few fashion designers and they generally fell into the pretend job category. I'm sure there are hard working career focused designers out there, but there are a lot of dilettantes half-assing it as well .
The house costs around $2.5m in today's money, or around $1.1m in 1990. Household income would have to be north of $300k/yr in 1990 dollars or over $600k in today money.
Kevin's uncle paid for the vacation for 15 or 17 people, which would have cost over $40k in 1990. The uncle also had a penthouse in Paris(where he transferred to, creating the desire to bring the family together for xmas.), Kevin's family stayed in a suite.
Given the neighborhood and proximity to Chicago, the father likely worked in finance.
I don't think you can can you apply the insertion figures to calculate house prices because real estate has increased so much faster than everything else in the last two decades. To put it into perspective, I recall as a kid in the 90s, a friend living in a two story house with a pool next to the beach, and that house cost 400k - which seemed like a lot because we lived in a 3bed house on a suburban half acre block which cost under 200k.
Yeah, I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment 1 mile from the beach in the late 90's that was $850. Now the same apartment is going for $3500. Housing prices have reached insane highs. Housing is so expensive now that it's driving people out of the cities, and people are commuting hours every day to work.
That's generational wealth. He probably doesn't have to do anything but plays at being a businessman or something. People doing mortgage calculations don't understand how the wealthy live.
I'm in the development office of a tiny city that's an enclave for the super-rich.
It's a different world. We're talking houses with 4 bedrooms but a dozen bathrooms because of all the space taken up by the art galleries, wine cellars, catering kitchens, libraries, etc.
Our city development code has a section on servant's quarters.
I'm reviewing plans for a guest house that's 4,000 square feet and has a rooftop tennis pavilion.
Another one bought the 4 mansions down the street and leveled them to build a private soccer field for the kids.
These people literally don't understand what the rest of the world is like. I'll get angry phone calls demanding that road work be stopped the next city over because they don't want guests to see the construction workers from the north tower's terrace, and they don't understand why that's an unusual request and why I can't fix it.
I used to date a woman whose parents were multi-millionaires. They had a giant mansion in Hollywood hills, with a heated pool, tennis court, basketball court, and private garden in the backyard. I went there for dinner once when they had some friends over. You know how we'll sit around after dinner with friends and maybe talk about a new car we're interested in? They were talking about which new private jet they want to buy to replace their current private jets. I thought they were joking at first and then realized they were serious. I just kept my mouth shut. I don't have anything to contribute to that sort of conversation. I was only making something like $2,300 per month at the time, drove a $4500 car, and had roommates.
I hope they choke.
Also, people look at the years they earned a good amount and think they are in the top 10%, but it's more like 30% of people are in the top 10% at some point in their life.
Meanwhile, the truly rich are paradoxically not in the top 10%, because their wealth grows without incurring capital gains income tax.
It's a totally different world with different rules.
Working class thinks they are rich when they can afford the mortgage for a nice house.
Actual rich have a nice house without a mortgage payment and just have a few multiples of the working class guys salary accrue in a trust. They only take out small amounts for vacations, groceries, a car, etc.
The truly rich live even differently. They have trusts, of course, but their personal expenses are paid for by their personal non-profit charities that provide an allowance to them that's managed by a family office and full time controller/money-babysitter who is also the family's fixer and consigliare. Additional big purchases live private jet airfare and shopping sprees are paid for by an amex the controller just pays off.
The official novelisation of the movie says he is a "prominent business man" and the mom is a fashion designer.
So both probably makes quite a bit.
Certain activities pay really well.
Right up until they don’t.
the dad invested in Bingus Token
It was the 1980s. Capitalism hadn't reached its end-stage yet.
The US was still blissfully ignorant of how we were profiting at the expense of many lesser developed countries (that we had a hand in keeping less developed).
was still blissfully ignorant
Most westerners still are lol
Oh it must certainly had. Tech just hadn't caused that bullshit to infect every corner of society yet. Rome wasn't sacked in a day.
edited because of *$#& autocorrect.
There is a theory that he's a spy or government agent and that's also why Kevin is so good at making boobytraps
Because genetics?
Either that or his dad taught him to.
Pre internet and bitcoin so lawyer, plastic surgeon, or international jewel thief.
While his actual name is Peter McCallister, he had a successful line of businesses that he expanded across the Chicago area. He was actually better known as Abe Frohman, The Sausage King of Chicago.
I thought he would have been older.
Whenever someone is a successful businessman, I assume either:
a) Arms Dealer, so these are all Yuri Orlov.
b) or something worse, such that if we learned about it, we'd wish it was just some guy selling used AKs in Africa, for instance the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma. Or an arms dealer who represents the United States.
My rule of thumb when I meet a rich person is that they probably killed someone/something. Arms dealer, environmental engineer who signed off on a mine that killed off an endangered toad, high-end lawyer who got some criminal asshole off the hook, shit like that. Never do I think that someone improved society.
Prove me wrong kids. Prove me wrong.
His brother paid for the vacation. He paid for the trip to Florida in the sequel.
I live right by the area this house is in. It's in Winnetka, the "North Shore" of Chicago, where all the rich execs that work in Chicago live.
Oh, so you're a big shot exec, huh?
Every time this comes up it needs to be pointed out that he did not pay for 9 peoples vacation, his boss did.
It was 15 or 17 people and Kevin's uncle paid for it.
Yes, it was the uncle, so it's a money family, money comes from the previous generation. They don't ever mention their jobs in the film, but in the novelization the mom was a fashion designer, but that's something the author made up on account of all the mannequins. He made the dad a businessman because it was a safe bet.
Where is that mentioned?
It was a throwaway line early in the film. The uncle paid for plane tickets for all the family members to come see him in Paris, and IIRC the adults were flown first class while the kids were flown coach.
And still not have enough brains to keep track of your kids
A politician!
Shoe salesman probably.
"Thanks Peg."
Mob lawyer, it's Chicago after all..
That explains his favorite film... Ya filthy animal.
That was Uncle Frank’s movie choice, I think.
He was a lobbyist.
War crimes, probably
The NYT did a piece on this.
Thanks for the link. For us plebs:
Cocaine kingpin.
They implied that most of the extended family was only visiting, but looking at the house I'm not convinced they didn't all live in it like a commune.
His dad is Richie Rich
He had to have been a professional Scrooge.
Had to have been banker
Trafficking without a child...
He used to earn 10% commission
I honestly chalk this up to Hollywood being out of touch and just assuming "Everyone just has an unlimited food budget that comes from that office everyone works at." as per usual
