It sounds like many folks here enjoy working so much they would actually pay for the privilege. Not so for me… isn’t there a saying that nobody ever said on their death bed that they wish they spent more time at the office?
Anyway, my first instinct was roughly 10 Million. However, upon further thought, I’d go as low as 850k. Why so low? Because the idea of early retirement appeals to me. I have plenty of hobbies to fill my days. And if you think about it, you’re risking the loss of a large sum of money if you get too greedy.
850k sounds like a small amount to a bored Billionaire and is low enough to tempt them to agree. The bored Billionaire might have enjoyed turning down everybody else’s million plus offers and probably laughed outright at 500M.
I have modest needs and I don’t believe in excess and overconsumption. As for the loss of freedom, in the back of my mind, I think the contract is unenforceable and I can always undo the contract whenever I feel like it. What judge would stop someone who wishes to work from working? Sure, I’d lose out on the $8,500 per year, but that’s okay with me.
While I know the distinction, I wasn’t thinking about it when I wrote the OP. No work FOR PAY. But you can do all the hobbying or charity work you desire; I suppose you could even work at a job that would usually be for pay if you made arrangements to have your salary given to charity or flushed down the toilet.
Hmmm, Dad always reckoned it was about a million to get him, in his forties, to quit work and do as he pleased. For me, in my late twenties in this day and age, perhaps two million (GBP £)
I guess GBP 5 million. Seeing as how I worked out I could be idle with 1m in a savings account getting 5% pa, 5m is the obviously adjusted amount here.
I have no worries whatsoever about going bonkers through not being productive. I’d be bloody productive, just not for money.
Incidentally the way I read the OP, you’re not prohibited from setting up a business or enterprise, just prohibited from earning money from it. Is that correct?
Ten million pounds sterling ought to cover it. Am I allowed to set up a business without taking any of the profits? - i.e. set it up as a trust or some such?
50 million. He’s a billionaire so it wouldn’t be too big a dent and it would be sufficient annual bucks to set up a serious foundation to do some philanthropic works. It’s what I’d do if I won a lottery, too. I wouldn’t be bored for one second; I’d take more courses and work with the foundation. In fact, being able to do something like that without needing a salary is my dream.
$20 million. I’m young and plan to live damned comfortable if I can’t earn money again.
However, if one of the stipulations of the contract is that I’m not allowed to work for free, I’d walk.
Of course, I could cheat by saving 90% of the income for a few years years (and traveling the world at the same time), then breaking the deal by investing it. She can’t take away the money she’s already given me.
Very interesting scenario. Sounds like something Roald Dahl would write.
Adam
Am I still allowed to do volunteer stuff? I’m bad at idling.
I’m his for 5M€. If the income didn’t come from eating principal I would have said less, but since it’s from eating the piggy, I need to take inflation into account.
Say, it’s 15 million if the principal does not increase over time (through crediting interest etc.). If it does not receive interest, then the amount will decrease over the years:
Year 1, I get 150,000 and the principal decreases, so the next year I get 1% of 14,850,00. And so on until in year 30, I get only 112,000 (while in the meantime inflation has made everything cost double or more what it costs now). I could mitigate that by underspending in the first few years.
If it does receive interest - let’s say it’s earning a conservative 3%, I’d be getting about 264,000 in 30 years. I could maybe get by on 7.5 million initially if so.
What about health insurance? I’d probably want extra to fund the health insurance. Say another 2 million , same terms. That would give me 20K a year initially decreasing over the years; or 1 million (if interest is credited) giving me 10K a year to start.
Investments are prohibited but what about real estate (primary and maybe secondary home). Or would we be expected to rent?
Same questions as others have said, regarding ability to do volunteer work, spouse able to work, etc. All these would affect my answer.
In addition to the information requested previously, I would also need to know what happens to any overage at the end of any fiscal year.
Say the fund pays me $100,000 in the first year - but my yearly expenditures only total $50,000. What happens to the remaining $50K? Mine to keep? Back to the fund? Or must I use every penny every year?
Also, do standard savings accounts = investing? Does real estate purchase? Interest-bearing checking accounts? How about purchasing CDs (not as a money-making endeavour, but rather as an inflationary hedge)?
I’d need more information before I could make a decision.
I’ve always wanted to open a coffee shop, but any way I run the numbers for this area it’s at best a break-even proposition, so no income. There have been around ten attempts in as many years here and I think one of them lasted more than a year.
And I have my productive hobbies that I would love to devote full time to.
Screw working. $15 million should be enough to allow me to be a career student at a good university for several decades. I think I could live more or less pleasantly off no less than $50-60K even with a family, and the rest can go into tuition for me and eventually my kids.
If the fund dispenses 1% of the beginning principal, $150K is more than enough to live comfortably, even as inflation rises, and it won’t reach insolvency until year 75, by which time I should have enough saved up to not care any more. Unless the dollar completely breaks, I doubt I’ll see $150K as a meager amount in my lifetime.
Even if the fund dispenses 1% of the existing capital, receiving $91,667.59 at year 50 (assuming I calculated this right) is still not insignificant, and plenty of interest from a check account would have been generated by then. That model wouldn’t reach insolvency even by year 100.
I would gladly spend the rest of my life learning in exchange for not working.
I’ll say $10 million. $100,000/year, at least at this point in my life, is well on the outer edge of what I can imagine knowing what to do with – especially since my retirement would be taken care of.
I could certainly fill the time. I already do large amounts of work for the NDP; independently wealthy, I could take even more time to do that. I’d also be able to work on my art projects, learn languages, and travel.
Unless the dollar completely breaks, I doubt I’ll see $150K as a meager amount in my lifetime.