How much money is enough?

HMTKSteve

I'm just curious so please humor me...

How much money do you consider enough to live on?

How much do you consider to be enough as a salary?

How much money would you need to win in a lottery to feel you would never *need* to work again?

Have you ever said to yourself, "man, if I was only making $xxx I'd be living better" only to discover that upon making that amount you suddenly find yourself saying the same thing as your expenses *magically* increased as your income did.

I ask this because when I first entered the work force in a print shop in South Boston the layout guys (a job I was in-line for after 5 years) were making $30+ per hour while I started out at $10 (This is 1990 money). I entered the service for a while but I now make more than that in the Telecom industry.

Before my daughter was born my wife and I both worked in high-paying jobs and dropping $100-200 on new army for WarHammer was not even worth discussing with my wife as we had plenty of money to spare.

Our money situation changed when my daughter was born and my wife "retired" from working. Though I make good money, having your income cut in half can cause big changes in your lifestyle!

She used to buy a new car every third year no matter what, both our cars are 6 years old now.

The point is the money I make now is great, if you are single, but it's "just enough" to raise a family on.

My ideal salary and lottery winning amounts have changed and not just with inflation.

Right now I could be "comfortable" again if my wife was working full-time and we had out income back over $140K per year. I could retire on as low as a million dollars as that amount of money, if invested properly, would be enough to take the place of my salary.

Kilarney

How much money do you consider enough to live on?

As much as I hate "non-answers," I'm about to give one. The amount of money you need to live on is totally subjective. Where do you want to live? What lifestyle do you want to have? All of those are variable and subjective.

How much do you consider to be enough as a salary?

Once again, it's subjective. For me, money isn't a huge factor. I've had times, as a graduate student, when I couldn't rub two nickels together. Now I make a good living. I got by fine either way. My threshold is knowing that I can provide for my family. Not spoil or indulge, but provide.

How much money would you need to win in a lottery to feel you would never *need* to work again?

Three million after taxes. That would give me $180,000 per year at 6%. I figure that 6% is pretty reasonable. I would not want to put the money into something risky. The downside is that if you didn't save some of the interest, you would never get a raise. Of course at some point you could start dipping into the principal. (Assuming the 6% stays the same.)

Have you ever said to yourself, "man, if I was only making $xxx I'd be living better" only to discover that upon making that amount you suddenly find yourself saying the same thing as your expenses *magically* increased as your income did.

This is absolutely true. While I certainly spend more if I make more, for me the major difference is that I've had children and purchased a home as my income has increased. These tend to wash each other out.

I think the short answer is that you probably don't need as much money as you think you need. Just a day or two ago, you said that you dropped $50 going to see a mediocre movie. Expenses such as this are easily avoided. There are plenty of things to do that are fun, but don't cost much money. But... we get used to a certain lifestyle, and it's not so easy to make changes.

It's actually one reason that I'm holding off on a Wii. By the time I get a couple of controllers and a few games, I'll be up in the $600 range with no trouble. While I enjoy video games, I haven't owned a console since the NES. That's because I like video games, but I really don't love them. There are many more things that I'd rather spend the $600 on. I'm also still getting a ton of enjoyment from my DS Lite. Even though it makes no sense for me to get a Wii at this point, I still had to spend some time talking myself out of the purchase. I suspect there are many such purchases that I don't talk myself out of. They all add up.

Next on my radar is cable tv. If I could just convince my wife... I'd drop that in a heartbeat. The few shows I watch are all available on bitorrent. There's an $80/month savings right there. The only reason my wife wants to hang onto it is for the DVR. I have to admit, the DVR is like crack for television. It's super handy, and thanks to time-shifting we haven't seen a commercial in months. We let the kids watch about 1/2 an hour of TV a day, and the DVR is perfect for time-shifting those shows.

Apreche

How much money do you consider enough to live on?

You can live with no money. You can also live with lots of money. If you have enough money to eat food, drink be sheltered, bathe, etc., then you have enough to live. That amount is incredibly low.

How much do you consider to be enough as a salary?

$1 is enough as a Salary for people like Steve Jobs. $1,000,000 doesn't seem to be enough for many professional athletes.

How much money would you need to win in a lottery to feel you would never *need* to work again?

I don't know about you, but I want to work. I'm not really working right now, and it sucks. I just want to do work that I actually care about. With $1,000,000 I could easily buy land, a house, fill the house with stuff, get a pool, pay off my debt and start my own business. If I got more money the size and location of the house might change and a Ferrari might appear in the garage. Less money and the pool might go away. To never need to work again I just need an amount of money that I could live off the interest. I have to do math to figure out that amount.

Have you ever said to yourself, "man, if I was only making $xxx I'd be living better" only to discover that upon making that amount you suddenly find yourself saying the same thing as your expenses *magically* increased as your income did.

Nope. The only significant improvements to my life right now would be the acquisition of a dishwasher and a dryer. I can afford both those things right now. The reason I don't have them is because of other restrictions like living in a rented house and not having enough space to fit the dryer. Even if I suddenly made a hojillion dollars a year, my standard of living wouldn't go up. I already buy whatever I want. I already have more entertainment than I can possibly consume. Just yesterday I bought 6 books for $2! The only thing I would do with more money is have better versions of the electronic equipment I already own and no debt. If my income decreased, then I would lower my standard of living accordingly.

She used to buy a new car every third year no matter what, both our cars are 6 years old now.

Why would you replace your car every third year? Even if I was Bill Gates and I had a Ferrari, I would drive it until it died. My car is almost a year old now, I expect to be driving it for at least 10 more years, hopefully more. Even if I win the lottery, I wouldn't replace it. I might buy a car for racing or something, but my everyday car would be driven until it cost more to fix than to buy a new one.

Right now I could be "comfortable" again if my wife was working full-time and we had out income back over $140K per year. I could retire on as low as a million dollars as that amount of money, if invested properly, would be enough to take the place of my salary.

What it comes down to is that everyone is comfortable with different standards of living. Some people are only comfortable with fancy jewelry. Some people are comfortable in a cardboard box. What someone is comfortable with changes over time based on many factors. You either have to live within your means or increase your means to accommodate the way you live. I choose the former. Whatever my means are, I live within them.

HMTKSteve

Comfortable in a card board box? Yeah if that box was on some beach front property in Aruba!

Apreche, the idea is to give your opinion on the matter not to pontificate on what you think "other" people might say on the matter.

Also, the idea behind the lottery question is *need* to work not *want* to work.

My job is very boring. I look forward to days when things break because most of the day I sit my ass in a chair and babysit equipment. I do a lot of reading (you can put a book down fast when you hear a door open) but I would much rather be doing something constructive than reading books all day.

EsonLinji

I'm just curious so please humor me...

How much money do you consider enough to live on?

Food, rent, bills, and maybe a little for entertainment. Experience has shown that while sharing a house this is about Au$200 a week.

How much do you consider to be enough as a salary?

The above, plus a moderate amount for entertainment and a moderate amount of savings. Under the same conditions as above, about Au$500 a week.

How much money would you need to win in a lottery to feel you would never *need* to work again?

To never financially need to work again, probably the ball park figure Kilarney mentioned sounds reasonable. It's more than I've ever had and would allow me to do pretty much whatever I wanted. This would probably include doing some kind of work or setting up my own business. I like the idea of one day running a bookstore or maybe some sort of consulting thing.

Have you ever said to yourself, "man, if I was only making $xxx I'd be living better" only to discover that upon making that amount you suddenly find yourself saying the same thing as your expenses *magically* increased as your income did.

Once my income goes above the basics, it tends to split about 60/40 to entertainment and savings. Savings tend to be spent on computers, travel, and getting by while in between employment.

All this is based on my current situation, where I share accommodation with friends, and don't really have any debt (thank you Australian education system) or desires to accumulate debt (cars or houses). As this changes, the amounts will probably go up.

Cremlian

Some people are comfortable in a cardboard box

Reminds me of the quickly cancelled show "Profit" The main Character was this cut throat businessman who everynight would go back to his multi-million dollar place and curl up in a cardboard box in a hidden room.