"$5 Million is a Nightmare... the Poorest Rich Person in America."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in the range of $5-10mil. Do we feel rich? No. Comfortable? Absolutely.
We plan to work for another 15 years, but don't worry about money at all for our current lifestyle.
So definitely not a nightmare as the thread title suggested.

I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!
$5-10M is a HUGE range. Do you not know how much money you have?

Not really. If your money is invested, it fluctuates big time with the market anyway. We could be up or down 500k whenever the market sneezes. I don’t live that but it is what it is.

Anyway, our lifestyle was the same at 5 mil to 8 mil. Nothing changed.

Because you are still earning. Someone who is retiring on $5M will not have as much disposable income as someone retiring on $8M. Some of you are so bad at math it makes me wonder how you got so rich to begin with. Clearly not in a math field.

Or maybe it’s your lack of common sense preventing you from being wealthy? As a lot of people said, we don’t notice much difference between 5-10mil on a relative scale. 0 to 5 mil is a big difference.

Just curious what your retirement goal is if going from $5M to $10M is meaningless to you? $20M? $50M? Whatever it is, having $10M right now will get you there twice as fast as having $5M right now, even without adding another penny to it.

Consider how much investments fluctuate. I’m at over +40% so far this year, so yes 5-10M is a reasonable range.

[Anonymous]

I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in the range of $5-10mil. Do we feel rich? No. Comfortable? Absolutely.
We plan to work for another 15 years, but don't worry about money at all for our current lifestyle.
So definitely not a nightmare as the thread title suggested.

$5-10M is a HUGE range. Do you not know how much money you have?

Not really. If your money is invested, it fluctuates big time with the market anyway. We could be up or down 500k whenever the market sneezes. I don’t live that but it is what it is.

Anyway, our lifestyle was the same at 5 mil to 8 mil. Nothing changed.

Because you are still earning. Someone who is retiring on $5M will not have as much disposable income as someone retiring on $8M. Some of you are so bad at math it makes me wonder how you got so rich to begin with. Clearly not in a math field.

Or maybe it’s your lack of common sense preventing you from being wealthy? As a lot of people said, we don’t notice much difference between 5-10mil on a relative scale. 0 to 5 mil is a big difference.

Just curious what your retirement goal is if going from $5M to $10M is meaningless to you? $20M? $50M? Whatever it is, having $10M right now will get you there twice as fast as having $5M right now, even without adding another penny to it.

It's not meaningless to me. It just doesn't change my lifestyle/how I spend money, as it can fluctuate a few millions in a year. My retirement goal is not all depending on a money target because I love my current job. But when I reach $20mil, I'll think very seriously about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in the range of $5-10mil. Do we feel rich? No. Comfortable? Absolutely.
We plan to work for another 15 years, but don't worry about money at all for our current lifestyle.
So definitely not a nightmare as the thread title suggested.

$5-10M is a HUGE range. Do you not know how much money you have?

Not really. If your money is invested, it fluctuates big time with the market anyway. We could be up or down 500k whenever the market sneezes. I don’t live that but it is what it is.

Anyway, our lifestyle was the same at 5 mil to 8 mil. Nothing changed.

Because you are still earning. Someone who is retiring on $5M will not have as much disposable income as someone retiring on $8M. Some of you are so bad at math it makes me wonder how you got so rich to begin with. Clearly not in a math field.

Or maybe it’s your lack of common sense preventing you from being wealthy? As a lot of people said, we don’t notice much difference between 5-10mil on a relative scale. 0 to 5 mil is a big difference.

Just curious what your retirement goal is if going from $5M to $10M is meaningless to you? $20M? $50M? Whatever it is, having $10M right now will get you there twice as fast as having $5M right now, even without adding another penny to it.

It's not meaningless to me. It just doesn't change my lifestyle/how I spend money, as it can fluctuate a few millions in a year. My retirement goal is not all depending on a money target because I love my current job. But when I reach $20mil, I'll think very seriously about it.

Also, if you only had $100k in NW, it would take a HUUUGE fluctuation or a LOOOONG time to get to $5mil. From $5mil to $10 may just take a couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to admit that we are at $5M and related to the dark humor from this scene in Succession.

We know we're in good shape, especially in our 30s, but we don't feel like $5M is enough to retire on and are still ambitious to achieve more in our careers and financially.

Part of this is because we are in a VHCOL where we hope to stay, and our current net worth and salary barely gets us an old condo that needs a lot of updates. We're also in a high achieving peer group from college and work, and we feel just average among (successful!) peers. Rich people problems, I know.

This isn't part of it. It's all of it.

5-10 million is objectively enough tho set yourself up for life, set your kids up, never have to worry about money again. If my DH and I had 5 million, he'd quit his job (which he hates) and get a job working less than full time doing something he enjoys (he knows what it would be, it's a low paying but rewarding career). I would continue in my job, which I like. We'd invest thoughtfully to ensure income. We'd upgrade our home, but not to a mansion -- we'd buy one of the 1-1.2m homes in our desired neighborhood that we cannot quite afford now, or potentially buy something cheaper and renovate. We only have one kid and have no desire for a huge house.

We'd make some small lifestyle upgrades (regular house cleaners, slightly nicer vacations, buy some items we now deem too pricy for us like an electric vehicle) but would not vastly overhaul our lifestyle. We'd still cook at home a lot, because we like to (though it would be thrilling not to worry about budgeting for groceries and to have a nicer kitchen to cook in). We would not change our friends, who now vary from MC to UMC and where incomes probably top out around 500k (and most well below that).

Kid might go to private school -- we could afford it on that income but we are aware it could change our peer set and our kid's peer set, so we'd really think hard about it. I could see us sending her to a private that is more UMC crunchy liberal families than super rich. But I could also see us just staying in public, especially if we could afford to ensure we were in bound for high quality public schools.

If 5-10m is "a nightmare" to you, that's entirely because of your peer group, personal ambition, and values. It's objectively "enough" money for most things that matter to most people. But if you belong to the subset of people for whom "owning a private jet" matters, then I'm not really sure any amount of money will ever make you happy. Good luck.

Not sure how old you guys are and how much money you make individually to be able to make this assessment. We are mid-50s, one of us doesn't work, net worth about $6.5 (excluding primary residence), HHI about $250K, one kid in expensive college ($80K/yr) and another in public HS, likely headed to a $50/yr. college. Our house (about 50 years old; could sell for about $900; mortgage balance of $300) could use some work to make it 'nicer', probably about a $100K.. Our cars are 20 and 12 years old and the 20 y.o needs to be replaced with an SUV, another $40-50K (don't care for electric).. We just are not able to bring ourselves to spend on these things.

Seriously.. I would like to borrow your 'thinking' and be able to spend to upgrade our life but just can't seem to bring ourself to do it!

Read this:

https://www.amazon.com/Die-Zero-Getting-Your-Money/dp/0358099765

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

You're a single mom with one kid, so you have no use for a big house. Some of us have spouses and three kids, so that larger home in a good school district, college savings for three kids, food, clothing, activities, etc. for three kids costs a lot more. We have a NW of just over $5M and no way DH could stop working now without downgrading our current lifestyle. If I was a single mom with one kids in MS or HS, then sure I could stop working and make $5M work too.

[Anonymous]

I feel like this thread is focused on housing prices and buying nice stuff but it’s totally different. My family members with tens of millions just have a totally different outlook on life. It’s not that they have nicer “stuff” it’s that they aren’t stressed about things the same way I, or I imagine other people, are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

You're a single mom with one kid, so you have no use for a big house. Some of us have spouses and three kids, so that larger home in a good school district, college savings for three kids, food, clothing, activities, etc. for three kids costs a lot more. We have a NW of just over $5M and no way DH could stop working now without downgrading our current lifestyle. If I was a single mom with one kids in MS or HS, then sure I could stop working and make $5M work too.

PP here. Not a single mom, I'm married. But yes, I chose to just have one kid, and that means I don't feel as much pressure regarding money. It was a choice, because I didn't want to be sitting around thinking that FIVE MILLION DOLLARS was not enough for me to relax about money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

You're a single mom with one kid, so you have no use for a big house. Some of us have spouses and three kids, so that larger home in a good school district, college savings for three kids, food, clothing, activities, etc. for three kids costs a lot more. We have a NW of just over $5M and no way DH could stop working now without downgrading our current lifestyle. If I was a single mom with one kids in MS or HS, then sure I could stop working and make $5M work too.

PP here. Not a single mom, I'm married. But yes, I chose to just have one kid, and that means I don't feel as much pressure regarding money. It was a choice, because I didn't want to be sitting around thinking that FIVE MILLION DOLLARS was not enough for me to relax about money.

Then stop telling everyone how you're smarter than the rest of us. You just have different needs, but most of us with more than one kid would strongly prefer the second or third kid to early retirement. Plus we figured out how to amass $5M+ even with more expenses, so we're way ahead of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

You're a single mom with one kid, so you have no use for a big house. Some of us have spouses and three kids, so that larger home in a good school district, college savings for three kids, food, clothing, activities, etc. for three kids costs a lot more. We have a NW of just over $5M and no way DH could stop working now without downgrading our current lifestyle. If I was a single mom with one kids in MS or HS, then sure I could stop working and make $5M work too.

PP here. Not a single mom, I'm married. But yes, I chose to just have one kid, and that means I don't feel as much pressure regarding money. It was a choice, because I didn't want to be sitting around thinking that FIVE MILLION DOLLARS was not enough for me to relax about money.

Why not just have zero kids and live in your car to save money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

You're a single mom with one kid, so you have no use for a big house. Some of us have spouses and three kids, so that larger home in a good school district, college savings for three kids, food, clothing, activities, etc. for three kids costs a lot more. We have a NW of just over $5M and no way DH could stop working now without downgrading our current lifestyle. If I was a single mom with one kids in MS or HS, then sure I could stop working and make $5M work too.

PP here. Not a single mom, I'm married. But yes, I chose to just have one kid, and that means I don't feel as much pressure regarding money. It was a choice, because I didn't want to be sitting around thinking that FIVE MILLION DOLLARS was not enough for me to relax about money.

Then stop telling everyone how you're smarter than the rest of us. You just have different needs, but most of us with more than one kid would strongly prefer the second or third kid to early retirement. Plus we figured out how to amass $5M+ even with more expenses, so we're way ahead of you.

You are weirdly defensive about this. The title of this thread is "$5 Million is a Nightmare." Some of us are pointing out that it is no, in fact, a nightmare. But because some of you are argumentative and difficult, you are refusing to acknowledge this obvious fact and keep insisting that a person could not possibly be comfortable with less than 10 million dollars, preferably more.

This, despite the fact that the vast majority of people in this country, including almost everyone who has more than 1 kid, somehow figures out how to survive on way, way less than that.

No one is saying they are smarter than you, and it's weird that's how you interpret these comments. The point is: sure, 10 million will make you more financially secure than 5 million, but at 5 million you are pretty financially secure even if you have multiple kids. You might not get everything you want, but it's not a nightmare. That's all anyone is saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

You're a single mom with one kid, so you have no use for a big house. Some of us have spouses and three kids, so that larger home in a good school district, college savings for three kids, food, clothing, activities, etc. for three kids costs a lot more. We have a NW of just over $5M and no way DH could stop working now without downgrading our current lifestyle. If I was a single mom with one kids in MS or HS, then sure I could stop working and make $5M work too.

PP here. Not a single mom, I'm married. But yes, I chose to just have one kid, and that means I don't feel as much pressure regarding money. It was a choice, because I didn't want to be sitting around thinking that FIVE MILLION DOLLARS was not enough for me to relax about money.

Why not just have zero kids and live in your car to save money.

Yes, those are the same thing, I can see where you are going with this argument.

So on the other side, why not have 10 kids since more kids is always better than fewer? But now you need 8 billion dollars to be even remotely comfortable, sadly. That's just how it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not debating there can’t be wide swings. I’m just saying at the end of the day, when you’ve worked your last day, sitting on $10M is meaningfully different than sitting on $5M. I’m utterly baffled that several posters are disagreeing. If we had $10M, we’re set, could quit tomorrow. Not true at $5M. I get that others want more and that’s fine. So would you also say that $20M isn’t that different from $10M? It’s literally twice as much money!

I don't think anyone is saying that.. Everyone knows that $10M is 2X $5M based on simple math. Folks are only saying that $5M is nothing to scoff at and for many it would be enough to retire with. And for those that peg their expenses to a $5M base (say $150K @3% withdrawal), the additional $5M is just extra moat and not something they need and would not make a subjective difference.

+1, and might not be worth the additional work and stress to make.

Something a lot of people in this thread don't seem to get is that there are many people who can make themselves happy with less (especially when it is more than the vast majority of people on the planet) in order to save themselves time, energy, and effort. There are many things people are willing to give up in order to retire earlier, or even just downgrade to a lower stress job.

I would never work for the second $5m. It isn't worth it to me. I want to relax. I don't need a big house. I only have one kid to worry about helping out. I want to be able to take a couple great trips a year. I don't have expensive hobbies. I'm just a pretty content person and $5m would allow me to live exactly the life I want to live and never worry about money, and still probably leave quite a bit to my kid.

I get that $10m is twice as much as $5m. I'm not an idiot. In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life. I think I've figured out some things they haven't. But they obviously think the same in reverse. Ah well, such is life.

You're a single mom with one kid, so you have no use for a big house. Some of us have spouses and three kids, so that larger home in a good school district, college savings for three kids, food, clothing, activities, etc. for three kids costs a lot more. We have a NW of just over $5M and no way DH could stop working now without downgrading our current lifestyle. If I was a single mom with one kids in MS or HS, then sure I could stop working and make $5M work too.

PP here. Not a single mom, I'm married. But yes, I chose to just have one kid, and that means I don't feel as much pressure regarding money. It was a choice, because I didn't want to be sitting around thinking that FIVE MILLION DOLLARS was not enough for me to relax about money.

Then stop telling everyone how you're smarter than the rest of us. You just have different needs, but most of us with more than one kid would strongly prefer the second or third kid to early retirement. Plus we figured out how to amass $5M+ even with more expenses, so we're way ahead of you.

You are weirdly defensive about this. The title of this thread is "$5 Million is a Nightmare." Some of us are pointing out that it is no, in fact, a nightmare. But because some of you are argumentative and difficult, you are refusing to acknowledge this obvious fact and keep insisting that a person could not possibly be comfortable with less than 10 million dollars, preferably more.

This, despite the fact that the vast majority of people in this country, including almost everyone who has more than 1 kid, somehow figures out how to survive on way, way less than that.

No one is saying they are smarter than you, and it's weird that's how you interpret these comments. The point is: sure, 10 million will make you more financially secure than 5 million, but at 5 million you are pretty financially secure even if you have multiple kids. You might not get everything you want, but it's not a nightmare. That's all anyone is saying.

You literally said "In fact, I think I'm actually smarter than some of the people on this thread who seem to think $5m isn't enough to live a good life." As we've already explained to you, the nightmare comment was a line from a show. We don't think it's literally a nightmare, but it's not enough for both parents to stop working at 40 years old with 3 young kids and keep the same UMC lifestyle.