1.5 million would pay off the house, put aside enough to pay for both kids’ college, and leave enough of a nest egg that could supplement their income once we’ve gone to the great beyond (both kids are likely to have trouble earning enough to survive on; we’ve got trust funds set up for them but neither trust fund has any money in it).
The rest would bring our retirement savings up to a level where I wouldn’t have to worry so much about it. We couldn’t quit our jobs - but with the savings in mortgage and the retirement in better shape, we could take pay cuts, not worry so much about layoffs, etc.
10 million MIGHT be enough for us to both quit our jobs and plan on retiring as long as we lived reasonably frugally.
In order to erase all of my debts, purchase free & clear a furnished, modest home and a new car for me and my wife, plus a few toys I’d like, I’d need about… $200-250K after taxes.
In order to be able to never have to work again… take that $250K and add a million (which, wisely invested, could return about $40K per year in interest/dividends; more than enough to live on around these parts, especially if you’re debt-free).
Basically enough to be able to retire on now, and get enough income from my retirement money to last forever. I’m only a few months from being able to withdraw from my 401K without penalty, so, I bet $500K would do it nicely. At the moment I’m lacking time, not money, and retiring now would buy me that. However, I enjoy work enough that I’m not sure I’d even quit.
$1 million would let us splurge on expensive vacations, but that isn’t really life changing, and we could off my son-in-laws law school debt, but that is more life changing for him, not us.
This thread is interesting, because it shows marginal utility in action.
I just looked at the statement for a closed end fund we have, and it is paying a consistent 8% - 10% interest. I think you underestimate how much money you can make off investments if you have enough money to qualify for high end investments.
I wonder if the investment industry is trying to scare people (though a lot of people should be scared about retirement.) If you have $10 million, you don’t have to worry about living frugally, trust me.
I forgot to mention that the only reason I posted in this thread was on the off chance that some vastly wealthy philanthropist might be out trawling for worthy causes to donate to. So, hi, vastly wealthy philanthropist! I’m working on basic biological research that will help improve our understanding of life itself, with unpredictable consequences on various medical fields! And I have a cute little baby, and a teenager that needs braces and wants to go to college! And my small little house needs new windows and a roof!
Probably around $250,000. But bear in mind that I’m older than most of you, do don’t have to spread that windfall over as many decades. If I were younger, it would take a larger amount to have the same effect.
I know this is just a “fun,” hypothetical exercise, but I think most of you are saying numbers that are too low to fit the original criterion, i.e., making a “noticeable and lasting difference in your life.” For those who said just enough to pay off their mortgage or buy a new house in the $300K range (and the several who said much lower amounts than that!), I find it hard to believe that you would in reality find that amount to be “life-changing.” Your house would be paid off, but you’d probably live in the same house you live in now, do the same job you’re doing, etc… So where’s the real “LIFE CHANGE?” Sure, yI jou’d probably have less stress on you (as a result of the reduced financial burden), but that easing would allow you to live somewhat more comfortably, thereby spending more, and after a few years you wouldn’t be noticeably better off than you were before. So I think the “lasting” part of the definition would not be met.
I actually gave this a lot of thought today, even before reading this discussion. The Megamillions pot is over $300 Million. The cash value is close to $200 million, so it would be over $100 million after taxes. That would obviously be life changing. However, I gave some serious thought to how life changing it would be if I won it in the pool I’m in with 10 co-workers. Now we’re talking about $10 million after taxes. As someone above mentioned, at 8% a year ($800K), you can live pretty comfortably off that without worrying about working. That 8% is hardly a guarantee, so in my mid-40’s now, I would use 5% and be a bit safer, so the $10 million would give me about $500K to live off of. To consider my life drastically changed, I’d do some pretty extravagant spending on travel, gifts, etc., so my answer would not go much below the $10 million number, maybe $5 million at the lowest. Below that i could still be very excited, but I don’t think I’d consider it Life-Changing, from a “Lasting, Noticeable Difference” perspective.
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So just to make sure I understand, if you had a 10 million dollar windfall, your plan would be to live on part of the interest? In 4 years, you want to die with 15 million in the bank?
Nope. I really do think that $500,000 would make a material difference in my life. It would put retirement back in my plans for one thing. Right now, that would be impossible.
3k. My husband and I got that much on our tax return, so now we are getting a second car for the first time ever. We are going to have 2 cars. I’m so excited. I think it will significantly improve our lives.
Nine months’ salary would make a huge difference to me. That’s how much debt I have at the moment, and currently it just feels like a big weight over my head and uses a lot of my income paying it off. I don’t struggle to pay it off, but I just think, I could be almost £1,000 a month better off if I wasn’t paying off debts.
You’re right, and you’ve convinced me to play. If I wanted to maintain my current lifestyle now through death with some basic assumptions, I figure I’d need about $2 million. The “noticeable and lasting difference,” though, would be that I’d not have to work. But I absolutely love what I do, and I can’t just see myself being leisurely for the rest of my life.
So, let’s call it $3 million. That gives me my needed nest-egg and guaranteed quality of life money for the rest of my life, as well as about $1 million dollars to go into business myself without significant risks if the business(es) tanks. I’ve always wanted to have my own microbrewery. And chain of taco stands. Not collocated, though.
$12, 000 would get me out of all but mortgage debt and basic living expenses, which would massively drop my stress level. That would change my life.
$112 000 would pay off my mortgage and kill the other debt.
I like my job, except I took a paycut for it, which has slowed my debt repayment. Having no bills except utilities and food would mean a huge difference in my life, but not enough that I would quit working. Just an extra bit out of every paycheck to pay for nice trips and things. That’s why the one lottery I always want to win is Cash for Life, which promises 1000 or 2000 a week for life. It wouldn’t change my day to day patterns but my life would be more pleasant and happy in other ways.
About 5 years ago, my now-wife and I sold our house (and most of its contents) and used a chunk of the money (less than 50k) to travel around Europe for 9 months. It was live-changing. We got a massive education in history, art, and architecture. We experienced other cultures and made new friends (a lot of couchsurfing and other homestays). And when we came home (sooner than planned because my wife got the chance to go back to her old job), our outlook, priorities, and plans for the future were very different.
$26,283.77. Would rid me of all my debt. Then the money I use to pay those bills could then go towards a mortgage payment. Of course more would be nice but that’d get me out of “treading water” territory and into “moving forward.”
