About $140K would pay off all debt, but since the building we’re living in is designed as a garage, I’d need another $120K to buy materials to build a nice house. Another $40K to pay someone to do the foundation and roofing would be nice, as I’m not getting any younger.
Once that was paid off, I’d be set, as I make a decent wage. It just sucks that right now over half of my pay goes directly to making rich bankers richer.
$70,000 gets me completely free of all debt, so that’s the number I’ll say.
Soon I’ll have all debt paid off except my mortgage, which is 5 years into a 15 year mortgage (4.25% - wouldn’t really pay to pay off early). I have work I’d like to do to my home, which is 160 years old, under insulated and lacks central heat and air. Say $15K for that (insulation, central heat and air, and maybe and enclosed back porch so the dogs can use a dog door). If we go to universal health care, I could probably afford to cut back from full-time to part-time work. At the minimum, I wouldn’t have to worry about losing my job - I’d have enough of a cushion to support myself.
For the big picture, again, hoping for UHC, I could live on $15K take home per year. $350K would allow that, on interest and investments. I don’t care to live an extravagent life, just let me feed me and my animals and buy the occassional book.
StG
$140,000 USD would pay off my last bit of debt (mortgage) and let me split my salary between retirement savings and home renovation. So I’ll take that.
$5 million.
Any less than that and I’m still working to prepare for retirement in 25 years. I could pay off all my bills with $150,000 (including house) but that’s not changing my life all that much, just reducing my debt … Don’t get me wrong, things would be far less stressful with $150k, but it’d be the same house and same car and same 8-5 job. $5 million and I could step back and seriously rethink my life.
About $150,000 would satisfy all my outstanding debts and obligations (read: alimony). An extra $50,000 would give me a satisfactory start on a CD ladder for emergencies.
So, I’d say $200,000.
Eh, I’m fine. Now that my wife and I have a house with payments we can afford, we don’t really need much of anything. We both like our jobs and we don’t really have expensive tastes. If we had more money, we’d probably just stick it in savings to cover catastrophic situations or maybe retire early down the road. Chances are good it would just end up going to charity when we die.
All of it.
Seriously, it depends on what you mean by significantly. About $200K would pay off my house and student debt, but that wouldn’t really change anything except give me a place to live if I suddenly lost my job, which is very far down the list of worries that affect my quality of life.
Triple the number to $600K, and I could buy a nice house and car. But again, what difference does it make? My life still wouldn’t change since I already have both of those, just not as high quality.
The only thing that would significantly change my life is freedom from work, which would cost a lot more. Assuming the $600K to cover housing and various debt, I figure $100K per year for the rest of my life. Just to be safe, assume I live to 150. I don’t really think I need that much, especially with no mortgage to worry about in this scenario, but inflation could get ugly over such a long timeline. So, $1.8 million. My wife would need a similar deal to quit.
If gas prices stay low, I’m fine. Seriously. I don’t need much.
My current goal is 3.5 mil
With USD 500K I could pay off my house, do a nice little remodel on it to make it a bit bigger and a LOT more energy efficient, then even at 3% I could live off the interest on the rest since I wouldn’t have a mortgage payment to worry about any more–if/when interest rates go up the picture would get even better. This would mean that I could work at anything I felt like without being compelled to chase the higher paycheck. Or not work, if I chose. That would do it for me, especially if we get UHC covered. I don’t need much, I’m a pretty simple person.
Interesting question.
Given where I am and what I want to do, a check for whatever amount would leave me about $500k after taxes would change my life significantly.
A bank outside of the US no doubt. ING in Australia have savings accounts with 5.25% interest.
Right now? Nothing. I’m sweet I am just fooling about on the 'net.
Tomorrow? A few bucks for lunch maybe, but I have some leftovers I could heat up. Yeah I’ll go for nothing again.
Thursday? $14. I will meet a mate at the club and we will have two beers and dinner. Usually costs about $14.
Friday? Oh that’s like science fiction, surely no-one can see that far into the future.
After that? Does not compute.
AU$100,000 would keep me happy for about five years, which is a good amount of time. But to really change, or set me up comfortably to do what I really want, it would have to be at least AU$600,000.
I am quite confident such amounts will not be coming my way any time soon.
Lowest amount would be $42,000. That would pay off my student loans, which would enable me to throw that money elsewhere to get out of debt before I’m 55.
I’m in graduate school and my husband is currently unemployed (and has been for the majority of the year). Even $1000-$10,000 right now would really increase our quality of life, and a random check for a few hundred would be pretty thrilling! If it were up to me I’d choose around $40,000-$50,000 to be even safer for the next four or five years.
Wow, that paragraph made me feel like I am on a commercial for a charity or something!
G’morning!
Personally, I hold to the belief that God provides us with what we need if we lean on Him, therefore I must already have what I need.
How much I would like may yield a different answer. 
- Jesse.
About $7000 would pay off what debt I have.
$10,000 would pay off my debt and would give me a nice savings in case of emergency.
If I chose to stay in my current living situation (with my sister and her family) forever, I could easily live on $500 per month with no debt. Since I do eventually want to move out, more would be needed to save for that day. I make more than that.
I have no interest in big, expensive toys. I have no interest in a big house. I’d be perfectly happy in 500sf or less. The trouble is finding a place small enough for my tastes. So, oodles of money isn’t really important.
My wife would like to move if only our house was payed off, so $40,000 would make that much of a change. Otherwise I’m in the camp of the people who say “only being able to retire would make a big difference”. One million would do it.