.

[EnhancedFujita]

For the first scenario it would be any amount that wouldn't replace my family's annual income for the rest of our lives. I would say the minimum amount would be $300,000 to pay off our mortgage, then we'd be able to invest our monthly mortgage payment and know that we always had a roof under our head.

For the second scenario, it'd have to be enough that my wife and I could both quit our jobs and never work again. This would mean 40-50 years of salary with an annual increase for inflation. I'm not sure what that number is, but I'd be surprised if it was less that 10 million. A million bucks doesn't go far much anymore it seems.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

I'm at a much different stage of life than most of you. $200K would pay off the rest of the mortgage and make the health insurance premium payments until we're eligible for medicare, enabling us to both retire a little early without cutting very deeply into our retirement fund. Other than not working any more, our lives would not change much since we're set to retire in about 4.5 years anyway.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

For the first scenario it would be any amount that wouldn't replace my family's annual income for the rest of our lives. I would say the minimum amount would be $300,000 to pay off our mortgage, then we'd be able to invest our monthly mortgage payment and know that we always had a roof under our head.

I'm not sure what the contractors in Johnston are like, but for for $300,000 you should be able to put a roof over your head.

Unless you're cool with:

 

[mdk2isu]

My dad, who is retired at 71, has always wanted a Corvette but he said he would rather save the money for some undetermined purpose and that's what made me think of this question.
If our house and all business debts (about 300k total ) were paid off in one fell swoop I don't think it would change anything in our day-to-day lives. If we got 2 or 3 million obviously our debts would be paid but i still don't think anything would change except for financial security. I wouldn't quit my job, my wife wouldn't quit hers, and we would probably just save that money in long-term accounts for college and a future inheritance. I don't know.. I think the more money you make the more you want to keep seeing those numbers go up. I don't know a single worker in that net worth range who just up and quit their job once they hit a hard number.

Don't you have a little one at home? You are honestly saying that if you got $2-3 million neither one of you would stay at home with your kid?

 

[coolerifyoudid]

My dad, who is retired at 71, has always wanted a Corvette but he said he would rather save the money for some undetermined purpose and that's what made me think of this question.
If our house and all business debts (about 300k total ) were paid off in one fell swoop I don't think it would change anything in our day-to-day lives. If we got 2 or 3 million obviously our debts would be paid but i still don't think anything would change except for financial security. I wouldn't quit my job, my wife wouldn't quit hers, and we would probably just save that money in long-term accounts for college and a future inheritance. I don't know.. I think the more money you make the more you want to keep seeing those numbers go up. I don't know a single worker in that net worth range who just up and quit their job once they hit a hard number.

I think age definitely plays a role in this question. Someone in their 20's or 30's is still pretty driven to increase that amount, regardless of need. Money = success early in your career. Someone in their 40's may want to increase that amount just to make sure that amount is comfortable to support themselves and their kids. Someone in their 50's and older is pretty much just looking for a way to retire and is much more comfortable knowing how much money they can live on.

Obviously there are exceptions, but my desire to accumulate money for the sake of accumulating money goes down each year I'm alive. I sacrificed enough of my life to my job. I'll leave that responsibility to you recent grads out there!

 

[dmclone]

All this talk made me look at my mortgage and see what it would take to pay it off early. Right now we have 11 years left. If I stuck an extra $200/month we would have it paid off 19 months earlier but only save $4k in interest. Doesn't seem worth it compared to saving for retirement.

 

[keepngoal]

Interesting topic, nice work OP.

1. $250k
2. $2 M

Need an address to send the check?

 

[Leidang]

1) 50k or so - Would top off our dream house fund and let that happen sooner.

2) $2.5M - I'd give my 2 weeks notice and retire

 

[mdk2isu]

yes, but we get insurance through my wife, she has said while she originally wanted to stay home she doesn't know if she would now, and net worth is one thing but income is a whole other beast. If we have 2 million and let it grow it will be worth far more in 20 years than withdrawing 4% ($80,000) and have her not work. My mom stayed home while I grew up but they make more retirement that we make working full-time. We need the income.

Lets say you received the $2 million. Subtract out $300k that you said earlier would pay off your debts and you still have $1.7 million. Now add the monthly expenses that you currently have for your mortgage, other debts, and daycare then subtract how much more it would cost you to get insurance through you or an independent plan. Compare the number you calculated to your wife's take home pay a monthly basis.

You would have significantly reduced the outgo, therefore reducing the need for the majority of her income as well. You could live the same lifestyle, with her having considerably less stress and being able to raise her own child instead of paying someone else to do it while still investing $1.7 million and not touching it.

 

[MNCYWX]

50k. Enough to pay off student loans. I can snowball the rest... and plan for the future.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Lets say you received the $2 million. Subtract out $300k that you said earlier would pay off your debts and you still have $1.7 million. Now add the monthly expenses that you currently have for your mortgage, other debts, and daycare then subtract how much more it would cost you to get insurance through you or an independent plan. Compare the number you calculated to your wife's take home pay a monthly basis.

You would have significantly reduced the outgo, therefore reducing the need for the majority of her income as well. You could live the same lifestyle, with her having considerably less stress and being able to raise her own child instead of paying someone else to do it while still investing $1.7 million and not touching it.

Mild observation. I worked when my boys were young because I wanted to, not because I had to. I celebrate the women who choose to stay home (my mother, one sister and 2 DILs did/do). It simply was not my skillset.

Please don't fall into the trap of shaming women who decide (for whatever reason) to continue working after their children are born. Unless you are going to also shame mtown for not quitting his job and being a stay-at-home dad.

 

[EnhancedFujita]

I'm not sure what the contractors in Johnston are like, but for for $300,000 you should be able to put a roof over your head.

Unless you're cool with:
View attachment 44214

What I meant was that we have a current mortgage that would take $300,000 to pay off and doing so would mean we owned a home, sure we could always buy something cheaper. But the question was what is the minimum amount it would take to impact long-term financial stability but not change day-to-day life. For us, anything less than that would be nice, but it wouldn't really effect long-term financial stability. However, having one major expense accounted for sure would be nice.

 

[BCClone]

Mild observation. I worked when my boys were young because I wanted to, not because I had to. I celebrate the women who choose to stay home (my mother, one sister and 2 DILs did/do). It simply was not my skillset.

Please don't fall into the trap of shaming women who decide (for whatever reason) to continue working after their children are born. Unless you are going to also shame mtown for not quitting his job and being a stay-at-home dad.

Agree, parenting is not just a female thing. I actually changed jobs so I could pick up some of the child rearing duties. My wife stayed put.

 

[Tre4ISU]

1. 1 million
2. 10 million at least.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Sounds like most people on here wouldn't buy a new house.

Did that 13 years ago. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a mortgage to pay off at my age!

 

[mdk2isu]

Mild observation. I worked when my boys were young because I wanted to, not because I had to. I celebrate the women who choose to stay home (my mother, one sister and 2 DILs did/do). It simply was not my skillset.

Please don't fall into the trap of shaming women who decide (for whatever reason) to continue working after their children are born. Unless you are going to also shame mtown for not quitting his job and being a stay-at-home dad.

Nobody is shaming anyone KC. From my personal experience, most women continue working after having kids due to financial need, not desire to work. Personally, I haven't met a mother who, if they truly had the option and it wouldn't affect their family negatively financially, wouldn't choose to stay home and raise their kids.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Nobody is shaming anyone KC. From my personal experience, most women continue working after having kids due to financial need, not desire to work. Personally, I haven't met a mother who, if they truly had the option and it wouldn't affect their family negatively financially, wouldn't choose to stay home and raise their kids.

Well, you haven't met me personally, have you? My ex was faculty. We weren't rich, but we weren't struggling either. I worked out of necessity when he was in grad school. I worked out of choice when we came here.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

And yes...your comment is shaming women, AND men, as it assumes that people who work don't love their children.

 

[DeereClone]

a couple million would allow me to quit my town job and be comfortable farming full time

I won't/don't plan to retire from farming at a certain net worth, more likely will be when I physically can't do it/have an heir that wants to farm.

 

[Mtowncyclone13]

And yes...your comment is shaming women, AND men, as it assumes that people who work don't love their children.

As the comment was directed at me and my situation I didn't take it offensively at all. I never said I wanted to quit my job but did mention my wife wanted to quit hers at one time. I said my wife's insurance is X and we'll need X from income to accommodate that