Does "currency earned" mean total collected, or how much is in your bank?

Question

The Achievement Legacy section includes a set of Currency achievements, Exorbitantly Wealthy, and is described as "Earned xxx credits." There are 100k, 1mil, 10mil levels.

When it says "earned", does that mean all the money collected over time, regardless if it is ever spent or not? Or do you have to have that much money in your inventory to get the achievement?

I ask because it feels like I've earned enough to hit some of the higher levels, but I don't have the last achievement yet. If it does track earned as it suggests, has it only been tracking that since the Achievement system went live?

Answer 1

It means how much is in your bank at a given time. I got the 1 mil and 10 mil achievements right at the mark, despite spending at least 50 million along the way.

Answer 2

In this scenario, the Earned terminology refers to how much you actually have stored. Each time you spend currency and such before you have the achievement(s) it depletes the progress to the achievement, thus requiring you to gain the specified amount and hold that out until the achievement is aquired.