GolfHos

say you could be given either :

1 lump sum today
or
a high fixed yearly salary (say you actually love your job and want to keep doing it)


At what point would MORE not matter to you ? (you could buy the house you want, the college fund for your kids, the retirement fund is locked up nicely, etC)

Interesting question. I have always thought $4 mil would be enough but I would prefer $10. I figure with 10 after purchasing a comfortable house (maybe $300,000) and 3 college funds we could life off the interest on what is left and would still allow us to have some fun (trips, golf, movies, etc.)

If I could stop working I would.

money.now.work.done.party   over

I can't answer that.  Who knows what medical crisis awaits.  So forth.

But if I had guaranteed "more than enough" I'd be one generous SOB with both my time and my money.  Golf in the mornings; charity work in the afternoons; wine, women and song in the evenings.

Lump sum for sure if that's on offer.  *fudge* work.

Be more specific.  What is the relationship between the lump-sum amount and the sum of the annual salary over the years I'd work?  (I'll assume that no health issues or disbarring event keeps me from working to when I decide to retire.)

Werd.

well, that's kind of my point.  i'm not talking  $200 Billion or something preposterously above and beyond your current/feasible life/future.     Just if someone (say bill gates maybe )  offered the 'lucky citizen charity'  or something.   Enough to make all your current needs met for the future with room to spare for luxuries/emergencies,.  There's no way to know what happens ahead.   Just you choose on the spur of the moment something realistic to your life.    How much would sway you either way?

Without waiting for the answer ...

Lump sum would have to be large.  Very large.

Annual salary would have to be large.  Very large.  (Even assuming good health, etc., 'til retirement.)


Honestly, I can't see a number that I'd call "enough".  The more I make, the more I can do with it.  Be more secure about my retirement.  Fund a scholarship at my alma mater.  Assure my elderly, fixed-income parents are taken care of.  Same for my wife's parents.  Same for my siblings and their spawn.  Same for my wife's sibling and spawn.  Donate to worthwhile charities and organizations.  Start a soup kitchen.  Buy a ratty building in a city and convert it to a shelter and help center for the homeless.  Give $32 million to the Virginia ICIC.  Fund some promising research into alternative energy sources.  The list is endless.

 [sm_laughatyou] [sm_rolling] :asshat:

I look at it as what would get you and your immediate family by. Forget charity or alma mater or inner city kids.

I'm greedy, it's my money. Everyone else can *fudge* off. Besides it's completely hypothetical anyway.

hard to say. i "made" 65,000 a year. at that rate given another 20 years to work, i would earn 1.3 mil and continue to eek out my meager existence. so, i'm thinkin the lump sum would have to be in the 4,000,000 range. the salary in the 200k range.  ;)

In that case, Mr. Gekko:

I can't think of a number that I'd call "enough".  I can't predict the market for the next thirty years, so anything I invest isn't secure.  I want to be comfortable, now and in retirement, and I want my offspring to be comfortable.

I agree with Clive.  It would have to be very large.

I'd estimate $5M for the stuff you mentioned (nice house, retirement, immediate family is taken care of).  But once I'd reached that level, my goal would probably shift toward something like $10M to take care of extended family.  After that, the next goal would be $+++M for things already mentioned (funding research, charities, etc.)

I think birdymaker's logic makes sense. 

Take your max income potential and multiple by number of years expected to work.  Since you can't really expect more than that then why not take it?  Obviously, insurance and market volatility are concerns so perhaps you might bump it a notch or two.

I can't make more than I'm making right now working for someone.  And I'm not inclined to start over with the entrepreneurship thing. 

I'm assuming the rules don't preclude me taking the lump sum and working to some extent anyway?  I'd probably keep my hand in the game just to keep my mind from seizing up and maybe keep the insurance rolling.  Golf and beer money really though; that's about it.  Purely optional.

Keep in mind the offer allows me to cut 20 years off my working life.  That's worth something (a lot!!!) and I'd give it some serious weight.

Let's call it $2.5-3 million.  To be honest though, if you were to show up with $1.5 million tomorrow I'd jump at it.   ;)

yup, birdymaker and spanky got more at what I was  hoping for with this thread

Cheap hobbit *trollop*

You would prefer $10 over $4 mil? [sm_scratch] ;)

:raisehand:

Think about it.  At 10% that's $150K without raising a finger.  In a bad turn of the market you might dip into principal, significantly even, so it is admittedly borderline.  If you bump to $2.5-3 million it's a slam dunk for me and mine.

Plus I can still earn. 

Yep, $1.5 million with the opportunity to still work to some degree and I'm all over it.

I'm with UB.  A few million I can buy a house I'll be happy with, pay for private school and let my wife cut hair to pay the bills.  She actually loves what she does and would do that no matter what kind of money we had.  We'd open up a salon and I'd probably "work" there, play *feces* loads of golf and what not.  Obviously the more the better, but I could easily be bought off and say *fudge* it all.  Move next to the golf course and not look back. 

I've thought about this scenario a couple times and I would like to add a question or two to the general populace.

What kind of house would you buy (level of luxury)?
What cars and how often would you buy?
Pastimes and frequency?

What I'm getting at is if you continue to live like you do now, maintain what is comfortable then like UB you can get by with less. If you decide that you want more luxuries in your life then more is needed. I originally said $4mil. I also said I would prefer $10mil (and not $10 as our resident literal expert so astutely pointed out). That would allow some better luxuries but not going overboard.

Just doing my job. ;)

I'm late to the party and my scenario has been mentioned but....

$2M and I wouldn't show up to work Monday. But my wife and I would need to do something for the insurance, especially with two kids.

I couldn't drop out of society though. I'd need to volunteer or  part-time it at something that interested me.

anyways, dystopia asked me this in chat alst night and i thought a while before answering

$4M (and anything above)  for sure,  and $3M likely.   those answers are a bit higher than most in this thread perhaps, but I'm just getting started in life, and need to stretch that $ out over 40 years at least (hopefully)

No question.

(http://static.flickr.com/65/227560922_f95acf67af_m.jpg)

the karaoke industry would collapse
 [sm_shock]

LOL

He could open a traditional Asian Karaoke sake bar in Chaska.  ;D

Isn't this a simple present value calculation?

Use the "Present Amount of Ordinary Annuity" calculator here (http://www.uic.edu/classes/actg/actg500/pfvatutor.htm).

For example (using BM's salary):
Payment: $65000
Interest: 5%
Number of payments: 30
PV: ~$1M

Didn't think of that. O.K., I may need another mil or two.  ;)

You might be on to something. Or on something. Either way, there are ideas that I've thought were dumber that succeeded so??

Getting $3M lump-sum now would be the equivalent of earning $174834.48 annually for the next 40 years.

Pepsi's used to only cost a nickel.

There are many investment instruments with growth exceeding the rate of inflation.

Assumes 5% earnings which is fair (conservative) enough.  Doesn't take into account inflation though.  Forty years from now $174,834.48 will have the buying power of $30K or so.

I think the crux of the question is how much do we value the intangibles.  Freedom from work.  Concern about catastrophic medical bills.  Risk tolerance.  And so forth.  $3M over 40 years is close enough to the $1.5M I said I'd accept over 20.  I'd take $174K annually in today's dollars for the next 20 years.  I could afford health insurance at even individual rates.  But I don't think it's a slam dunk given inflation.  It's a tough call.

Really what I'd be looking for is whether retirement and education funding is sorted.  If so then I can pretty much do whatever the hell I want for the next 20 years.  Work a bit to cover the basic bills and get insurance but the stress levels would be close to zero.  That's golden.

I'll stick with gambling and prostitution.   Maybe hops.

Really that those answers are a bit college than a lot of in this cilia perhaps.



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Purple monkey dishwasher much?

I'd stay in the same house, maybe add a master suite though downstairs.  We'd have one family car, a motorcycle and I'd have a few bicycles.  I'd keep a set at each of the courses I play and ride my bike there.  Volunteer for an United Way agency in some fashion.  Hang with family.  I mean I'd make my house nice and all but we as a family of soon to be 4 would be quite happy in our house with an extra 500 or so sq. ft.  No need for the 3,000 sq ft mcMansion. 

Ice makers are all the rage these days.

A new poster choses to open a 16 month old thread?   :asshat:

BTW, give me $2 million and I'll retire now.