Magnum and the money

[Mr. Keoki]

Growing up I had a friend that was a male model. He would get shoots and get paid 10k or whatever (he was in a Taco Bell commercial once). Either way the talent agency would take their cut. But once he got that check it would be gone. He would mooch so much in between jobs that it seemed like he only had money for a week before it was back to mooching and IOUs.

As far as insurance goes, it was much more affordable in the 80s. Probably not too big of a lift to carry some sort of bare bones policy.

Magnum being perma-broke doesn't seem too far fetched to me. Besides it definitely drives home the point of him chasing lost youth.

[No need to know!]

-$200 a day is a hell of a lot of money.
-Not if you only work 10 days per year it isn´t.

[KingKC]

-$200 a day is a hell of a lot of money.
-Not if you only work 10 days per year it isn´t.

$200 per day in Honolulu isn't squat. Assuming a five day workweek that amounts to $52,000 per year in a city that is twice as expensive as the average city in the United States. Even working seven days a week that is only $73,000 per year which equates to about $36,500 in the average U.S. City.

[K Hale]

-$200 a day is a hell of a lot of money.
-Not if you only work 10 days per year it isn´t.

$200 per day in Honolulu isn't squat. Assuming a five day workweek that amounts to $52,000 per year in a city that is twice as expensive as the average city in the United States. Even working seven days a week that is only $73,000 per year which equates to about $36,500 in the average U.S. City.

It would’ve been different in the 1980s but still not enough if you work 10 days a year.

[KingKC]

-$200 a day is a hell of a lot of money.
-Not if you only work 10 days per year it isn´t.

$200 per day in Honolulu isn't squat. Assuming a five day workweek that amounts to $52,000 per year in a city that is twice as expensive as the average city in the United States. Even working seven days a week that is only $73,000 per year which equates to about $36,500 in the average U.S. City.

It would’ve been different in the 1980s but still not enough if you work 10 days a year.

Actually adjusting to August of 1983 with the Consumer Price Index at roughly 100, $52,000 would equal in value to about $125,000 in today's dollars and about $60,000 after cost of living adjustment for Honolulu. That would be best described as decent income in 1983 but nowhere near "a hell of a lot of money.".

[Pahonu]

$200 per day in Honolulu isn't squat. Assuming a five day workweek that amounts to $52,000 per year in a city that is twice as expensive as the average city in the United States. Even working seven days a week that is only $73,000 per year which equates to about $36,500 in the average U.S. City.

It would’ve been different in the 1980s but still not enough if you work 10 days a year.

Actually adjusting to August of 1983 with the Consumer Price Index at roughly 100, $52,000 would equal in value to about $125,000 in today's dollars and about $60,000 after cost of living adjustment for Honolulu. That would be best described as decent income in 1983 but nowhere near "a hell of a lot of money.".

Your adjustment to 1983 looks accurate but the problem is the assumption that he worked five days a week, every week. I don't know how we can figure out how often he worked, but there are multiple clues in the episodes that he had periods of no work at all. Plus how many episodes is he doing work for Robin for free? Which episode is it that Magnum talks about catching up on his exercise and explains how he has to wait for clients to come to him?

How many days of PAID work a year would forum members estimate he worked? Weigh in everybody.

[K Hale]

I’m going to guess perhaps half the year. Just an impression. And some of that was pro bono work. If he wasn’t getting free rent and no car payments, things would be rough.

[KingKC]

Even if he just worked an average of two days a week ($400) he should have had more money on him than he seemed to ever have on the show. About the only bill I ever heard that he had to pay was the phone bill and it seemed to always be getting cut off. Gas for the car was probably his to pay as well as food (and beer of course). BUT he was constantly dead broke so I am guessing he worked very little or was a spendthrift and I didn't get any hints that he was a spendthrift. In Season 6 he took a "real job" as a hotel detective and in Season 8 he thought up the Great Hawaiian Adventure Company idea to make money so all the way to the end he was scrounging for income.

[K Hale]

I expect he probably also paid utilities on the guest house, since he was paying the phone bill. And then there was upkeep and maintenance on the Ferrari. Don’t forget all the incidental expenses like TC’s helicopter damage!

Oh, and paying informants. There was a scene in “Underworld” where Higgins pays a hotel maid $10 and she doesn’t give him any real information. He then mutters to himself, “No wonder he’s always broke.” I laugh every time I see that scene, the line comes out of nowhere and is one of the funniest in the whole series to me.

[Pahonu]

I expect he probably also paid utilities on the guest house, since he was paying the phone bill. And then there was upkeep and maintenance on the Ferrari. Don’t forget all the incidental expenses like TC’s helicopter damage!

Oh, and paying informants. There was a scene in “Underworld” where Higgins pays a hotel maid $10 and she doesn’t give him any real information. He then mutters to himself, “No wonder he’s always broke.” I laugh every time I see that scene, the line comes out of nowhere and is one of the funniest in the whole series to me.

I forgot all about that line, but you're right. Hilarious!

[K Hale]

I just re-watched “The Sixth Position” and was reminded of yet another expense. He had to pay Rick $1700 for a replacement for a camera lens that belonged to Robin that Magnum thought he had lost. Of course it turned out Robin had lost it himself the last time he was in town...

[KingKC]

I expect he probably also paid utilities on the guest house, since he was paying the phone bill. And then there was upkeep and maintenance on the Ferrari. Don’t forget all the incidental expenses like TC’s helicopter damage!

Oh, and paying informants. There was a scene in “Underworld” where Higgins pays a hotel maid $10 and she doesn’t give him any real information. He then mutters to himself, “No wonder he’s always broke.” I laugh every time I see that scene, the line comes out of nowhere and is one of the funniest in the whole series to me.

I would lean toward thinking that TM did not pay the utilities on the guest house. They were probably in the name of the estate since guests prior to TM's occupancy would need utilities so they probably just stayed on. Besides, if he was responsible for the utilities I think we would have seen an episode where they were cut off due to his financial irresponsibility just like the phone. I don't think he ever paid TC for all the bullet holes in the glass of the helicopter. TC was always griping out what TM owed him for gas as well.

[K Hale]

I expect he probably also paid utilities on the guest house, since he was paying the phone bill. And then there was upkeep and maintenance on the Ferrari. Don’t forget all the incidental expenses like TC’s helicopter damage!

Oh, and paying informants. There was a scene in “Underworld” where Higgins pays a hotel maid $10 and she doesn’t give him any real information. He then mutters to himself, “No wonder he’s always broke.” I laugh every time I see that scene, the line comes out of nowhere and is one of the funniest in the whole series to me.

I would lean toward thinking that TM did not pay the utilities on the guest house. They were probably in the name of the estate since guests prior to TM's occupancy would need utilities so they probably just stayed on. Besides, if he was responsible for the utilities I think we would have seen an episode where they were cut off due to his financial irresponsibility just like the phone. I don't think he ever paid TC for all the bullet holes in the glass of the helicopter. TC was always griping out what TM owed him for gas as well.

Well, surely there would’ve been a phone line in there too, that the guest wouldn’t be expected to pay. But Magnum was expected to pay the phone bill. I feel like it’s very likely that once Magnum moved in there as a permanent guest, Higgins had all the utilities put in his name.

[Lord Ickenham]

Yesterday I watched the Dream a little dream episode, and in one of the flashbacks TM said, he didn't save too much money at the Navy.

[Hawaii Winds]

It’s a given that many times, his clients do not pay him. I remember one episode where Rick makes a remark like “Oh, this must be the one client who paid?” That said, I do wonder where Magnum’s money goes. He must be paying his own utilities, since there was that time everyone thought his phone got shut off because he didn’t pay the bill, and he’s expected to put gas in the Ferrari and maintain it. Other than that, it doesn’t seem like he has a lot of expenses.

I wonder who pays his medical insurance. If he has to pay it himself due to being self-employed, that could take up a lot of money. Or, perhaps it’s part of his Navy pension (Tricare?).

Good question on his medical insurance, he's been shot several times in many episodes, must be the Navy retirement benefits. I couldn't imagine what it must cost to maintain a Ferrari, let alone the fuel costs.

Food costs and a diet of chili dogs and beer, plain hamburgers and Macho tacos or a burrito machisimo must be on the easy on the wallet.