How much money would it take for you right now to retire for good?

[Syringer]

If someone told you they wanted you to stop working and you could never earn another penny again in your life other than through simple investments like mutual funds, stock indices, etc., (you can't say invest in your own biz or provide capital to another company) or basic jobs like bartending/pizza delivery, how much would it take?

 

[zerocool84]

Minimum 5mill.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I could live reasonably well on investing a tax-free lump sum of $3 million.

I wouldn't give up meat or dairy though.

 

[lifeobry]

If six million were offered I would not hesitate at all. Five, I'd have to think about it a little.

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Minimum 5mill.

Are you likely to earn that much if you exclude

simple investments like mutual funds, stock indices, etc., (you can't say invest in your own biz or provide capital to another company) or basic jobs like bartending/pizza delivery

If I work 40 years than I'll net about 2.5 mill after taxes but half of will go to expenses and that money will never get a chance to work for me

I think I'd do it at about under 2 million

invest it and live off interest only. (ie spend less than my interest) for the rest of my life

you make 100,000K for the next 40 years that is 4.8 million but its going to be like 2.8 million after taxes.

So tax free 2.0 million now is better than 2.8 million over 40 years.

taking the lump sum of a 2.8 million dollar lotto win would be ~1.4 million.

 

[holden j caufield]

you guys must live high on the hog. 1 million is good enough for this simple guy. Course I'm single with no kids. Married guys with kids need a whole lot more.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: Syringer
If someone told you they wanted you to stop working and you could never earn another penny again in your life how much would it take?

right now?

About 45-50 mil.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: mchammer187
If I work 40 years than I'll net about 2.5 mill after taxes but half of will go to expenses and that money will never get a chance to work for me

You have to take inflation into consideration. Assuming long-term economic stability, your income over 40 years will rise with inflation. Taking a lump sum of cash now and retiring now, one must consider how much he/she will need to (safely) invest in order to maintain enough money to live on.

 

[Acanthus]

3 mil would be plenty, assuming 5% gains over inflation YoY on investments.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
you guys must live high on the hog. 1 million is good enough for this simple guy.

Assume you're 25... 1 million will not get you a decent place to live for the rest of your life. it wont even get you a good rental for the rest of your life.

unless you plan on buying an RV and living at campgrounds for the rest of your life.. 1 mil wont last more than 2-3 years.

 

[ahenkel]

I could retire on 2 mil if I was guaranteed an investment return of 3% per year with zero loss.

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
you guys must live high on the hog. 1 million is good enough for this simple guy.

Assume you're 25... 1 million will not get you a decent place to live for the rest of your life. it wont even get you a good rental for the rest of your life.

unless you plan on buying an RV and living at campgrounds for the rest of your life.. 1 mil wont last more than 2-3 years.

1 mill is too low but your figure of 45 mill is even more absurd unless you are pulling 500K/yr and rising

and 3 years give me a break.

We have plenty of people that are making 50K a year or less on this forum. It would take them 15 - 25 years just to NET 1 million dollars before expenses and after taxes

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: holden j caufield
you guys must live high on the hog. 1 million is good enough for this simple guy.

Assume you're 25... 1 million will not get you a decent place to live for the rest of your life. it wont even get you a good rental for the rest of your life.

unless you plan on buying an RV and living at campgrounds for the rest of your life.. 1 mil wont last more than 2-3 years.

2-3 years?

 

[Colt45]

1M would be enough, more would be nice...

 

[ahenkel]

Yea I wonder what people do that they would blow through 250 - 333,000 thousand a year

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Low risk tax free bonds are earning about 4% right now.

Gimme a million bucks and I'm out - honestly perhaps a little less that that and I would be gone.

Move to a nice place with a super low cost of living and enjoy the simple pleasures of sun, sand, water, a few good books, and a nice fishing pole.

 

[holden j caufield]

Could move to texas or midwest where a house is super cheap, I already own a decent reliable car, already have some assets. But I'd move to a 3rd world country and surf everyday. 1 million in Indonesia or Costa Rica goes a long ways.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: mchammer187
1 mill is too low but your figure of 45 mill is even more absurd unless you are pulling 500K/yr and rising

and 3 years give me a break.

Well.. the original question was " How much money would it take for you right now to retire for good? "

I want to retire and live comfortably.
That means nice house, nice car, nice vacations, etc.
They dont come cheap. ... i can live nice for another 30-40 years on $45 million.


If you were given 1 million dollars.. and .. for simplicity sake.. decide to buy a $250,000 house...
No Mortgage.. outright buy.

Taxes are gonna be about $5k a year..
Water/Gas/Electric is gonna run ya about $200-$500 a month

Then .. I'd like a nice car... figure $30,000 right now..

You're already out over 1/4 of your $1 million dollars, that's supposed to last for the rest of your life.. and you're ONE DAY into it.

1 million dollars isn't going to last long if that's your only asset.

 

[Adrenaline]

1.25 million if I could stay healthy the rest of my life but considering medical expenses I would have to say about 3 million.

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: mchammer187
1 mill is too low but your figure of 45 mill is even more absurd unless you are pulling 500K/yr and rising

and 3 years give me a break.

Well.. the original question was " How much money would it take for you right now to retire for good? "

I want to retire and live comfortably.
That means nice house, nice car, nice vacations, etc.
They dont come cheap. ... i can live nice for another 30-40 years on $45 million.


If you were given 1 million dollars.. and .. for simplicity sake.. decide to buy a $250,000 house...
No Mortgage.. outright buy.

Taxes are gonna be about $5k a year..
Water/Gas/Electric is gonna run ya about $200-$500 a month

Then .. I'd like a nice car... figure $30,000 right now..

You're already out over 1/4 of your $1 million dollars, that's supposed to last for the rest of your life.. and you're ONE DAY into it.

1 million dollars isn't going to last long if that's your only asset.

I said 2 million and I could just live off the interest

No way you are going to be buying a house every year or something anything like that. There is a reason why mortgages are 30 years long because people don't changes houses every year.



The point you should stop working should be the point where the money equals the quality of life gained by working.

The answer of I can life real nice off 45 million doesn't really answer anything.

Lets say you work the rest of your life you will earn 20 million. But it is going to take you 45 million to retire early?

That number should be 20 million or less (considering you get all that extra time to do whatever you want) You could even work for free.

That is what I find ridiculous. Any number you arrive at without projecting your own future earnings is absurd.

at 2 million @ inflation + 5% pretty aggressive but it is pretty reasonable return rate provided you are investing for the long haul.

that is 100,000K a year minus taxes. The moment you can get a better deal than you have now is the point you take the money. And no I wouldn't buy a nice house and car the first day. I would likely stay in my same situation and not work unless I had millions of dollars. Because I'd still be better off than I was taking the 2 million.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I could comfortably live on $80,000 a year if I weren't working. Factor that into an 8% interest earning account with 30% tax, I'd need just under $1.5m in the bank. Add to that $500,000 to buy a nice house and car to get myself started, $2m would do it for me.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: mchammer187
Any number you arrive at without projecting your own future earnings is absurd.

Maybe you want to live the way you currently live... but i dont.
if i wasn't going to work at all for the rest of my life.. i want to live comfortably.

this is a hypothetical situation... maybe you want to live for the rest of your life on $20000 a year..

i want to live on 1 million/year.

my life.. my choice.

who gives a fuck at projecting their future earnings.

If you ask any person on the street "how much would it take .. right now.. for you to give up working for the rest of your life" .. do you really think they're going to say "well.. i make $45k right now. and that's enough for me" .. no way... they're gonna say "if i live nice on $40k a year... imagine how well i will live on $400k a year"

Everyone wants to live the life of the rich.

Nobody is "content" with being middle class

anyone that says they don't want to be rich and well off and not have a care in the world is lying.

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: mchammer187
Any number you arrive at without projecting your own future earnings is absurd.

Maybe you want to live the way you currently live... but i dont.
if i wasn't going to work at all for the rest of my life.. i want to live comfortably.

this is a hypothetical situation... maybe you want to live for the rest of your life on $20000 a year..

i want to live on 1 million/year.

my life.. my choice.

who gives a fuck at projecting their future earnings.

If you ask any person on the street "how much would it take .. right now.. for you to give up working for the rest of your life" .. do you really think they're going to say "well.. i make $45k right now. and that's enough for me" .. no way... they're gonna say "if i live nice on $40k a year... imagine how well i will live on $400k a year"

Everyone wants to live the life of the rich.

Nobody is "content" with being middle class

anyone that says they don't want to be rich and well off and not have a care in the world is lying.

Maybe not happy being middle class but if work putting you in a worse situation financially why not take the money?

Would I rather be filthy rich? Of course.

But the question isn't would I rather be middle class, rich or filthy rich. The question is at what point do you take the money.

I'd life a helluva lot more comfortably knowing I don't have to work.


Thats like saying I would turn down a 5% raise to not work.

IE you get paid 5% more than you are making now adjust for inflation every year to not go to work and do anything you want. Would you honestly turn that down?

 

[Mike Gayner]

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: mchammer187
Any number you arrive at without projecting your own future earnings is absurd.

Maybe you want to live the way you currently live... but i dont.
if i wasn't going to work at all for the rest of my life.. i want to live comfortably.

this is a hypothetical situation... maybe you want to live for the rest of your life on $20000 a year..

i want to live on 1 million/year.

my life.. my choice.

who gives a fuck at projecting their future earnings.

If you ask any person on the street "how much would it take .. right now.. for you to give up working for the rest of your life" .. do you really think they're going to say "well.. i make $45k right now. and that's enough for me" .. no way... they're gonna say "if i live nice on $40k a year... imagine how well i will live on $400k a year"

Everyone wants to live the life of the rich.

Nobody is "content" with being middle class

anyone that says they don't want to be rich and well off and not have a care in the world is lying.

I can tell just from this post that you're a giant dick IRL.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner
I can tell just from this post that you're a giant dick IRL.

why? cuz i'm not a pussy like you and put up with bullshit?
i say what's on my mind, and if you dont like it... go sit on a fence post and rotate, cuz i dont really give a shit.

i'm not a 20 year old kid.

i dont coddle people or put up with "woe is me" crap.

and do i really care if you think i'm a dick?

the answer is no.

if that hurts your feelings.. i dont give a shit.