If I had $2 million, I guess I could match my current income on investment returns. But there’s no way i’d quit with just $2 million.
What if a bad investment breaks me 15 years down the road and i’m now a 52 year old who hasn’t worked in 15 years? I’d be screwed.
I’d need at least $8 million, after taxes, before i’d begin to feel comfortable quitting work.
How much would you need to feel safe enough? Remember that by quitting work, you’re seriously jeopardizing any future chance of decent employment if things go wrong.
There are some specialised careers that could survive an extended blank period. Or maybe your career is also your hobby and you would never ‘quit’ work.
If you fall in that category, this thread is not directed to you. It’s for my fellow working stiffs.
If I wanted to live a jet-setting lifestyle, I would need $100 million. Invested at a guaranteed 2% return, that would be $2 million per year of interest, half of which would be taxed, thus $1 mill/year.
If I lived modestly, I would take $10 million. Same equation as above, $100k/year after taxes.
Are you offering to give me money to quit my job, and this is just the negotiation? I’ll take ONE HUNDRED BEELYIN DOLLARS! Diversify, man! If you have a wide range of investments there’s no reason to worry if one tanks. As for me, I’d quit my job over as little as $200,000. Then again, I hate my job so that’s probably too low for reality. I make around 50k now.
I want enough to live nicely on interest, more or less. At 5%, 4 million after taxes would yield 200 K. That’s plenty. If I could invest 2 million, to get 100K, I’d quit in a heartbeat.
ETA : Obviously, I know nothing about investing. Put me down for “Any amount that would give me 100 grand yearly with relatively safe investments.” And frankly, if I were single, cut that by 1/2, at least.
I’d also retire with 2 million, but I’d keep my license to practice law. If disaster should strike, I could return to the fray with relatively little delay to get current in my practice areas.
Yes, I’m thinking £3m would be a good figure for me. I think I’d spend £1m just getting a house and its contents. That leaves £2m to invest and provide a good annual income for me, allowing me to both live well and do some good in the world.
My job doesn’t pay the greatest compared to others in my field, but I work for the government and get insane benefits–awesome health insurance and an actual pension. I’d probably feel comfortable quitting if I had $10 million. And like Oakminster, I’d use some of that money to make sure my law license was kept up to date, just as a fallback.
I guess $ is wasted on me because I’d always be trying to work at something. The day you quit working is the day your new job is dying. There’s some insane % of people who die w/i 2 years of retirement.
It can’t All be a mob war between the Gambinos and AARP…
Wait a minute, you guys are lawyers! Shouldn’t you already have like millions of dollars? What’s a paltry 2 million?
As for me, at my current income level, I’m on track to only earn 1.25 million dollars if I work every year until I’m 100.
Granted, I’m self-employed, and have a lot of different gigs, and I assume that obeying the spirit of the thread it would mean that I would have to stop taking new gigs, not just quit the ones I currently have?
2 million at even 3% a year more than triples what I’m currently earning. That seems like a very comfortable place to be for a long-term retirement.
Historically, the S&P 500 make somewhere near 10% annually, with the risk-free rate of return being right around 1% during the 20th century. I’d assume that bonds and other stocks are less than that 10%, so let’s say that I can expect 7% annual rate of return.
I’d want somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 annually to live on. 150k is 7% of a little less than 2.2 million, and let’s round that up to 2.5 million just for grins.
I’d probably want a 50% cushion, so 3.75 million, more or less would be enough. That gives me enough for my wife and I to have our current lifestyle, and a little more, as well as a large cushion for investment downturns and for large purchases (homes, cars, etc…) when the interest rate is higher than whatever my rate of return is.
Of course, I’d have my funds managed by professional money managers and diversified like crazy, so that it would be relatively protected from the failure of any one segment. (Believe it or not, there are people who came out of the 2008 investment crash better than they went in.)
The OP says “quitting your job,” not “retiring.” Which is it? Because if I came into $250,000 right now, I could quit my current job and have plenty to operate on while I looked for a better one. I wouldn’t expect to retire on it. That also would be enough for me to get an advanced degree, which could help my future employment chances.
If we’re talking about “retiring,” make it at least $3M.
I think for most people, the idea of ‘quitting your job’ means basically quitting and not going back to work anywhere, unless they want to.
But if you’re talking how much I’d need to quit and just use to find a new job, that would probably be in the 250k range.
If you’re talking about how much I’d need to quit and start my own company(microdistillery), I’d think an even million (after tax) would be about right.
Remember to plan for your death. You don’t need to live on the earnings of your millions for your entire life. You can also start to dip into the millions so that you have almost nothing when you die.
I would spend a maximum of $1 mil on a home and furnishings and a car. $1 million would go into 2 bank accounts, one for me and one for mrAru. The balance would go into various investments, part of the income from which would pay the legal/accounting firm. I would also hire staff, a maid and gardener/handyman for the house, and a personal assistant for mrAru and I.
Interestingly, assume you retire at 65 and make 3% raises every year until then, you will probably only earn about another $2 million in your lifetime.
I would need to crunch the numbers, but I think you will find that your money won’t last as long as you think if you are spending it on this entourage.
Don’t forget you need to have your nest egg grow in addition to the spend - just to keep up with inflation. We figure “spend 4%, reinvest 4% - hope to average 8%” That should keep us with an income that keeps pace with inflation.
For us, about $6M invested (i.e. after taxes on our windfall) to pack it all in and take the risk. We would not be living a champagne and cavier jet setter lifestyle.
One thing to keep in mind is that it’s often a better idea to carry a note on things like houses when you can afford a big down payment than to buy outright.
The thinking goes that if you spent your hypothetical $200,000 outright, you’d be out $200,000 and have a house.
If instead you bought the house on a 5% mortgage with 20% down, you’re only out 40k right away, and you’re paying 5% interest on the remaining 160k. However, if you’re making 8% on your investments, you’re actually netting 3% on that 160k that you owe, but haven’t paid yet. If you’d bought the house outright, you’d be completely out of that 3%.
