Anyone else as irrational, have 18 M net worth but want to keep working

[Anonymous]

I’m in a similar position. NW of $14M but making a much lower salary, having cut back my responsibilities in the past year. I don’t love working but am too busy to find many hobbies, and get health care. Planning to stop working in the next year or two, but the fluctuations in politics and the market give me pause. I keep waiting for the bottom to fall out of the economy, but somehow it keeps increasing.

[Anonymous]

Our family could live for 120 years on that, even not considering any interest. If I woke up tomorrow with that much money, you'd find me at the river with a nicer fly rod than I had yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family could live for 120 years on that, even not considering any interest. If I woke up tomorrow with that much money, you'd find me at the river with a nicer fly rod than I had yesterday.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family could live for 120 years on that, even not considering any interest. If I woke up tomorrow with that much money, you'd find me at the river with a nicer fly rod than I had yesterday.

Seriously. Our HHI is $120k right now, NW $1.3 million and 5 years from retirement. We’ll be fine. The mind boggles at not feeling safe and secure with 10x as much money.

If you like working, work! Nothing wrong with that. Purpose keeps us alive. But please find a way to recognize your safety and wealth. I think it will bring you more joy then you currently have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family could live for 120 years on that, even not considering any interest. If I woke up tomorrow with that much money, you'd find me at the river with a nicer fly rod than I had yesterday.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

I'm sure it's very hard being incredibly rich. Thoughts and prayers.

[Anonymous]

It’s kind of hard to believe you have this kind of money and waste time posting on DCUM…

[Anonymous]

I am in a similar position with a $9 million net worth, a paid off house, and an expected inheritance of around $2 million. I continue to work although my spouse went part time and our house-hold income is around $260,000. Some of it is about contributing to the world, some of it is that I’m not quite ready to be retired, some of it is that I enjoy my job and I’m good at what I do. All that said, it’s starting to feel a little ridiculous. Our lives are our own so I will never regret my decision to keep working but I have set a date of my 55th birthday to reevaluate if I have not done so already. Until then, I just push it out of my mind because this is what I am choosing to do now and there’s no point in expanding more mental energy when I don’t plan to make any changes. Best of luck to you. Make sure you are enjoying all parts of your life.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you want to retire? If not, why stop?

We are early forties, NW $10 million, not including house or kids trusts/529s. I don’t think we will retire until a typical age (60-something) but I might feel differently in 20 years.

It’s hard to conceptualize going from bringing in $$/adding to our retirement/savings to depleting them, even when I’ve run the #s.

[Anonymous]

We have around the same NW. Spouse and I are 49. We plan to work to 55. HHI is about $5 million (and likely to go up a bit more year by year), and one of us has a large pension that kicks in at 55, so we'll play out the string until then and hopefully will have $30 million or more by retirement.

[Anonymous]

How liquid is your $18m? I understand working if you love to work. I don't, and I'd stop at $10m.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It probably depends on your job.

If you are in a senior position and therefore don't have to do any "grunt" work anymore...then working doesn't feel so bad.

I think what's odd about your post is that you could easily remove all fear of a market crash by repositioning your holdings.

As an example, move everything into a 30 year treasury and earn 4.6% annually (state tax free and no payroll taxes). So, earn $874,000 per year entirely risk free.

I assume you are probably still saving a hefty portion of your current $780k salary, so you would likely keep adding to your savings.

DH who manages the finances has moved some to bonds. Spend is around 250-300K

So, then move most of it to bonds. I mean, you can decide to use your net savings of say $400k each year ($874k after-tax, minus your $300k spend) and go buy stocks...you will still likely keep building up your net worth to a much higher level.

[Anonymous]

Either you are troll or you really have 18M and then I don't care about your problems.

[Anonymous]

If your HHI is $700k-$1m, I understand why you keep working. That's a monumental decision to walk away from an income like that.

$18M would be a massive nest egg for someone who needs $100k to live comfortably, but for someone who is accustomed to living on high six figures? Doesn't seem crazy to me that you continue to work.

Now - can you retire? Heck, yeah. A 4% withdrawal rate will generate almost what you earn now, and then with social security, you're there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a troll post, but between investments and cash, we have a NW of 18M. I grew up with an immigrant mentality, do have a hard time believing it is enough. Also, with the stock market (majority of holdings) it feels like it can disappear/crash…how do you transition into feeling like you are ok?

What's your HHI? I wouldn't work at that NW but quitting would only mean eliminating 1% of my NW (gross). A rounding error. If you make $2M/year, then I could understand still working.

OP here. HHI is around 780k, used to be closer to 1M, but now a little less. Thanks, the "real" responses to this post are helpful.

OP here. I am 53 , DH 57

What jobs do you do that you don't hate them and keep working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a troll post, but between investments and cash, we have a NW of 18M. I grew up with an immigrant mentality, do have a hard time believing it is enough. Also, with the stock market (majority of holdings) it feels like it can disappear/crash…how do you transition into feeling like you are ok?

What's your HHI? I wouldn't work at that NW but quitting would only mean eliminating 1% of my NW (gross). A rounding error. If you make $2M/year, then I could understand still working.

OP here. HHI is around 780k, used to be closer to 1M, but now a little less. Thanks, the "real" responses to this post are helpful.

OP here. I am 53 , DH 57

What jobs do you do that you don't hate them and keep working?

OP here. DH is in medicine, was at a private practice and didn't like it. DH thought he was going to retire, but got bored and ended up taking a salaried job more specialized and less stressful. My background is in healthcare and I work for the federal government and enjoy the job because I like my colleagues, it feels purposeful, and is in the interest of public health.