Bull session topic that came up the other day and I thought I would bring it on board here.
We’d all like to have screw-you money, enough loot where if your boss pissed you off, you could say “Screw you!” and walk off the job, and then decide whether you want to go get another job at all or just sit on the porch and drink lemonade.
For me, having a financial portfolio that would bring in $75-100k after taxes each year would be sufficient. That way, my job then becomes a lot more fun because I have the freedom to walk away from it. I could actually quit it and run my Taekwondo school fulltime and that would be even more fun.
Sure, we could all say that if Bill Gates gets flattened by a truck tomorrow, we’d like to find out that he left it all to us in his will. But what is a realistic level of screw-you money for you as your life stands today?
And as an afterthought, how much more screw-you money would you need in order to consider yourself rich? For me, the income level from my portfolio would have to go up to at least $300k a year after taxes.
I think if the expense of rent could be written off (since it would vary depending on where I was living, some places I would need $5k a year for it, $10k other places), I could survive quite nicely on $15k a year. I’d still want to have a job but I would take something part time on a volunteer basis, like working at a library reading to kids.
I could live for like five years on $100k, with rent included. Holy hell that is a lot of money to me.
My dad died in February, and I’ll come into just barely enough money to quit my job and hit school overtime with just my wife’s income. (Yea, it’s fair- we made a deal where once I get my degree and a higher paying job, it’ll be her turn to mooch and get her degree.) It won
My dad died in February, and I’ll come into just barely enough money to quit my job and hit school overtime with just my wife’s income. (Yea, it’s fair- we made a deal where once I get my degree and a higher paying job, it’ll be her turn to mooch and get her degree.) It won’t be a “screw-you” situation, as my current job isn’t that bad, but I can’t wait till the fall semester when I’ll be the envy of all my current cow-orkers!
Wow. I could quit my job if I made $20,000 a year, no problem. If I came into a portfolio where I culd take home $60,000 a year, I’d consider myself very wealthy. $40,000 a year would make me feel quite happy.
Well, my current salary is approx. $60k, and I couldn’t make any less if I wanted to maintain my current standard of living. But almost 1/2 of my take-home goes toward my rent: along the lines of what continuity error said, if I could get that taken care of I wouldn’t have to earn anything more to feel quite rich.
That said, $100k has always struck me as a nice, round salary.
I have “You’ve Been Screwed Money,” enough money to pay the bills for @ 6 months after a lay off. Since my company has been laying off people for 5 years now, it’s good to have it even if I haven’t needed it yet. I do plan for my wife and I to retire when I turn 50, and theoritically not have to work unless it’s enjoyable.
I’m only 27, so I’d need quite a bit of cash to get through the rest of my life without taking another job and still provide my family with everything they need. I have two little girls and that’s two college tuitions, and potentially two weddings to foot the bill for too. 10 mil ought to cover it. I take cash, cashiers check & paypal.
For me to have a realistic level of screw-you money, I’d not only have to be able to easily pay all my current bills, but have enough to do things with all my new found freedom and time. Like travel. Not excessively, but maybe one or two really nice trips (international) a year, with a couple more little (national) trips in between. I’d say that figure would be about $50-60K/year, net.
Believe me, this is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
Assuming a 5% return, if I get my investment portfolio up to $1million, that’s a $50,000 income just from interest, which is my “screw you” point. I’d keep doing my part-time wedding job that I really enjoy, so that’d be an additional $20,000 (maybe more, since I’d have more time available, but not many people get married during the week). Altogether, that’s plenty to support me and my family comfortably.
I don’t know when I’d feel “rich”, but I guess around $200,000 a year without having to work would probably do it. Being able to travel whenever we felt like it, buy things we think would be nice without worrying about making the bill payments.
