Do you feel financially secure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I can't believe that someone with a $1m net worth would feel financially insecure. My/our net worth is a negative number (still paying off student loans), I'm 37, and I sleep fine at night. Just freaking relax. Life is not all about money.

+1

I do sometimes feel financially insecure but then I remind myself that I have lived on much less before and I could do so again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have disabilility insurance, life insurance and health insurance you are protected from many of the worst case scenarios PPs have mentioned.

If you are employed, insurable (and thanks to the ACA/Obamacare, everyone should be insurable for health insurance), and have over $1 million in investible assets, then I think objectively speaking you are pretty secure, but I also understand that in money matters things are rarely "objective".

Do you realize that "employed" and "insured" is not really permanent status or a guarantee, especially in the worst case scenarios? You lose your job, with this goes your insurance usually. If you have illness and cannot work due to this, you not only have no income and must live off savings, but you also have no health insurance. Not sure if Obamacare can protect you if the only way you can get insured is by paying premiums equal to your mortgage, e.g. things you cannot afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have disabilility insurance, life insurance and health insurance you are protected from many of the worst case scenarios PPs have mentioned.

If you are employed, insurable (and thanks to the ACA/Obamacare, everyone should be insurable for health insurance), and have over $1 million in investible assets, then I think objectively speaking you are pretty secure, but I also understand that in money matters things are rarely "objective".

Do you realize that "employed" and "insured" is not really permanent status or a guarantee, especially in the worst case scenarios? You lose your job, with this goes your insurance usually. If you have illness and cannot work due to this, you not only have no income and must live off savings, but you also have no health insurance. Not sure if Obamacare can protect you if the only way you can get insured is by paying premiums equal to your mortgage, e.g. things you cannot afford.

Under Obamacare you will likely be able to buy decent insurance at a decent price. The insurance companies have very limited ability to charge you more for age, and no ability to charge you more for preexisting conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, sorry for your loss. Financially you have a good cushion though, try to feel good about that.

I don't feel financially secure. When I think about what it would take to truly relax, to feel as though I could sail through any catastrophe, it's about $5M. I am no where close to having that at 35 and doubt I will have it when I retire. So I'm never going to feel 100% comfortable. All I can do is live below my means and save consistently.

I agree. I could allocate 6 million in one sitting.

[Anonymous]

I think I will feel financially secure when our mortgage is paid off. We have a good emergency/investment amount and we are consistent about retirement. But, until we get out of debt and can stop making these monthly mortgage payments, there will always be pressure to keep our income high.

[Anonymous]

Now that I'm 50 I've come to realize that I will never feel financial secure in the context that I grew up in. My dad worked for decades for the same company in an office and when he was 50, he had a stocks, plus a nice pension locked up as well as lifetime health care and a paid off house. I love my wife and kids but those choices ran me off the rails financially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now that I'm 50 I've come to realize that I will never feel financial secure in the context that I grew up in. My dad worked for decades for the same company in an office and when he was 50, he had a stocks, plus a nice pension locked up as well as lifetime health care and a paid off house. I love my wife and kids but those choices ran me off the rails financially.

I agree. My parents were middle class, but after age 50, they never worried about money: house paid off, kids out of college, savings, pension lived in a much lower cost area. Here, unless you bought early, the mortgage just keeps on coming.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you are still anxious with $1m in networth your daily routine expenses are too high. If you are spending $10k a month it makes sense to be anxious. If you have regular expenses that are closer to $2 or 3K and are still anxious I'd recommend therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are still anxious with $1m in networth your daily routine expenses are too high. If you are spending $10k a month it makes sense to be anxious. If you have regular expenses that are closer to $2 or 3K and are still anxious I'd recommend therapy.

2k-3k for everything? That's super low and not realistic isn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are still anxious with $1m in networth your daily routine expenses are too high. If you are spending $10k a month it makes sense to be anxious. If you have regular expenses that are closer to $2 or 3K and are still anxious I'd recommend therapy.

2k-3k for everything? That's super low and not realistic isn't it?

I agree.