How much $ would be life-altering for you?

[disneysteve]

I just listened to a rerun of an Oprah episode talking to lottery winners and other people who had suddenly come into great wealth and what effect that had on their lives. The term "life-altering" got used several times and I started thinking how much would constitute a "life-altering" amount for me and what life-altering would mean or look like.

My first thought of life-altering would be the ability to quit my job and never need to work again. I figure I could do that on about $3 million, though realistically, I probably wouldn't actually do it on less than $4-5 million because I'd be afraid of outliving my money.

So how much would be life-altering for you, and what would your version of life-altering be?

[thekid]

Interesting post Disney Steve.

I would define "life altering" in the same manner as you (ie. ability to stop working and living off investment income). I would think that 2.5M$ would do it (100k$/year of interest based on very conservative and risk free 4% return).

A "life enhancing" amount would be different. Just about anything is good, but for it to be significant, I would say 100K$ and over (I would be able to clear mortgage and have a "mean" E/F when combined with what I have). This would get me alot of financial flexibility.

For the record though, I think reaching the "life altering" goal of being able to stop working -especially at a young age- is wayyyyyyyy overated. I would gather it would be quite hard to find the motivation to work and a life without proper work is a bit of a waste in my mind.

[PauletteGoddard]

I re-reread Your Money or Your Life two weeks ago and arrived at a number of $883,125 as "enough." As in "if I had this 'enough' I would stop working."
So receiving a lump sum of $883,125 would be life-altering for me.

[Scanner]

Since you can double your money every seven years, I think as little as $80,000 (after taxes) could be life altering because if you double every 7 years it becomes a million before I retire.

[disneysteve]

Since you can double your money every seven years, I think as little as $80,000 (after taxes) could be life altering because if you double every 7 years it becomes a million before I retire.

By life-altering, I meant immediately life-altering. Otherwise, I had the same thought as you - money to invest so I could retire a few years earlier than planned but not changing my life today.

[safari]

For me it would be $7 mil (after taxes).

[PrincessPerky]

well..altering means different right? so in that regard a nice 1k a month raise is altering......

On the other hand if you mean for my husband to quit work.....I think since he has other skills we would be happy with 1 mil....not to quit, but to reduce time and work on those other skills (writing mainly) without reducing the life style.....

[PRICEPLUS]

Hard to say. I have never had a large sum of money and I suspect I am better off that way.

I have heard as Steve mentioned that Lottery winners oft times go broke or have serious difficulties in their lives. I'd like to think that I would handle it differently but how would I know.

I guess for me as little as 1 million would be life altering. Hell, I'd be afriad to spend it or lose it I think! I know my wife would love to spend it! In any case I don't think I have any reason to worry about coming into that kind of money. Maybe that is for the best.

There is an old saying about watching what you wish for because youjust may get it!

[kealina]

to be truly life-altering it would have to be a something like disneysteve mentioned... 3 millions would be a good amount...
i say this mostly because COL is so high here that the avg home cost 1/2 Mil already... having a nice house, which my DH and I dream of, would cost even more... that's the biggest life-altering thing right there... being able to afford a home and owning it outright...
then we would put the rest of it away and live off interest... maybe eat out a bit more (right now we average once a month), take a vacation every year, buy a newer used car, etc etc...

we saw that lottery show too and discussed it... it really is hard to tell what you would do if you suddenly had that much money...
i think the biggest problem for us if we ever came into a large sum would be the demands of others... we wouldn't even have to tell them we had more money, they would be able to tell simply by the fact that we would relax our agressive savings and enjoy our money a bit more knowing we can afford a home... and of course, there is the fact that we would like to help our family and good friends out so we probably would give them some money...
lots of interesting food for thought...

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$1 Million right now after taxes would be enough for us to not retire, but it would let us retire early for sure.

To fully retire now probably around $6M after taxes.

[tinapbeana]

boy, am i going to sound strange:

100k would be absolutely life altering for me and DH. we would be completely debt free (house, car, current debt, old debt), which means we could save 50% of our salaries, live on about 20%, and splurge 30% every month guilt free.

don't know about you, but i call that life altering...

[disneysteve]

boy, am i going to sound strange:

100k would be absolutely life altering for me and DH. we would be completely debt free (house, car, current debt, old debt), which means we could save 50% of our salaries, live on about 20%, and splurge 30% every month guilt free.

don't know about you, but i call that life altering...

I don't think that sounds strange at all. Just another point of view.

Enough to pay off our home (our only debt) would free up over $900/month that could be used for other purposes. That could certainly be life-altering, though I know myself well. I wouldn't change my lifestyle one bit. What I would do is sock away every penny of that money into savings which would allow me to retire around 58 or 59 instead of 62. So it would alter my life later, but not now.

[JanH]

I'm with tina. Life altering for me would be enough money to be debt free. And enough to finish the house repairs. Would be nice to have more to help the kids with school and DS with school debts. I'm not sure Hubby could retire now. He'd go nuts.

[tinapbeana]

I'm with tina. Life altering for me would be enough money to be debt free. And enough to finish the house repairs. Would be nice to have more to help the kids with school and DS with school debts. I'm not sure Hubby could retire now. He'd go nuts.

i just turned 29, and while the thoughts of not working for anyone else the rest of my life is nice, the thoughts of not working AT ALL the rest of my life is in fact maddening!

being able to save for 2 months and then take a 2 month trip to argentina does sound nice, though

[pearlieq]

A net windfall of $50,000 would be the first point at which a cash infusion would have an appreciable affect on my life. That would clear out our student loans and leave a bit to round out our emergency fund. That would free up just over $400 a month out of the monthly budget and clear up some of the feeling of debt hanging over our head.

$400,000 is where our life would start to be radically changed. That would pay off the mortgage, student loans, and leave a large cash cushion. We would be able to approach the world a bit differently, have many different options about where we want to live/what we want to do, and feel quite insulated from daily ups and downs.

A net gain of $3,000,000 would be the minimum point where a windfall would be "life-redefining". That would be the point where we'd consider quitting work or radically changing our work habits. We would likely move, and would have a very different daily life.