Anonymous
05/12/2026 16:54
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Because working is very easy. Office jobs aren’t difficult. Why would I spend down money when I can make it and be just as happy?
Once you get older you learn to play the game and if you’re well off, you likely earn a lot of vacation, can work some remotely and the holidays are down time too.
Also many of us have kids in school so it’s not like we could travel freely.
If you have that net worth or greater it often comes with a certain lifestyle that with kids includes summer camps, private school, fully funded college etc. You can’t make the math work on 5 million and retiring early.
Once you get older you learn to play the game and if you’re well off, you likely earn a lot of vacation, can work some remotely and the holidays are down time too.
Also many of us have kids in school so it’s not like we could travel freely.
If you have that net worth or greater it often comes with a certain lifestyle that with kids includes summer camps, private school, fully funded college etc. You can’t make the math work on 5 million and retiring early.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 14:13
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:“You can’t do anything with 5, Greg. Five is a nightmare.”
"Succession" has the following conversation:
Greg: I'm good, anyway, cuz, uh, my, so, I was just talkin' to my mom, and she said, apparently, he'll leave me five million anyway, so I'm golden, baby.
Connor: You can't do anything with five, Greg. Five's a nightmare.
Greg: Is it?
Connor: Oh, yeah. Can't retire. Not worth it to work. Oh, yes, five will drive you un poco loco, my fine feathered friend.
Tom: The poorest rich person in America. The world's tallest dwarf.
Connor: The weakest strong man at the circus.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 14:00
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DH still works, but I consider myself retired at this point. He has a very high salary, and it's hard to walk away from that when you have the opportunity to build wealth for the benefit of your children and grandchildren.
How do you "consider" yourself to be retired? Either you're retired or you're not. If you have a paying job or are caring for a minor child at home, you are not retired.
I have a high school senior and one in grad school. I am not going back to practicing law or any other kind of paid work. I can start collecting my DOJ pension in the fall. I'm retired.
When did you leave DOJ?
2016
Yea you didn’t retire you became a stay at home parent.
I’m retired. I’m not going back. I have an empty nest in three months and a pension in six.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 13:56
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Some people just have that dog in them despite being worth $5M or $20M or $100M or whatever.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 13:45
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:People want luxury, that’s it. You can retire on $5M just fine even with kids, but folks who earn enough to make 5 mil at a young age are accustomed to a certain standard of living that would be hard to guarantee on a mere 150k/yr or whatever.
You can easily blow 20-30k on a single international trip if you travel in style with a family. You can do that if you have 5 mil with an 800k HHI but not with 5 mil and $0 HHI.
I dunno, it depends for me on the mortgage. What you say is true for us right now. But in 5 years, we will have an extra 6k a month. I would feel very comfortable retiring with $5m then, maybe even a little less.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 13:42
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
55/56 yo with $17M NW and I still work because we live a very adventurous and expensive lifestyle and wouldn't have it any other way.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 13:15
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:People want luxury, that’s it. You can retire on $5M just fine even with kids, but folks who earn enough to make 5 mil at a young age are accustomed to a certain standard of living that would be hard to guarantee on a mere 150k/yr or whatever.
You can easily blow 20-30k on a single international trip if you travel in style with a family. You can do that if you have 5 mil with an 800k HHI but not with 5 mil and $0 HHI.
+1 .This for us. We want luxury and comfort. We have $6M (excluding equity and 529), DH wants to work till 55 and me till 53 (5 more years) , so we can retire with a few more million, hopefully closer to $10M. The kids will be in college and we can take extended international trips. We are taking more bucket list trips now, buying the expensive frivolous stuff - watches, bags, remodeling home so not waiting to live our life till retirement. Our fixed expenses are low, mortgage under 350K, so we know we can cut back whenever we need to. I still somewhat enjoy work, my DH less so - but he earns 70% of HHI (RSU jump), so we both want to continue for a few more years
Anonymous
05/12/2026 13:05
Subject: Re:People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Mid-50s and answers are it’s not enough bc:
-1M is in primary residence
-1M is illiquid in other RE
-college still ahead
-non workplace based health care too expensive
-not enough to maintain current income/goals
-would rather become pension-eligible
-like what I do and like making money and compounding more than I’d like drawing down
-possible LTC needs
-inflation. This number ain’t what it once was.
-1M is in primary residence
-1M is illiquid in other RE
-college still ahead
-non workplace based health care too expensive
-not enough to maintain current income/goals
-would rather become pension-eligible
-like what I do and like making money and compounding more than I’d like drawing down
-possible LTC needs
-inflation. This number ain’t what it once was.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 12:08
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:5 million is a lot at 70.
5 million for a 50 year old with three kids yet to start college, family medical plan, mortgage if you stop working you will blow through that money by 65.
I had that much at 59 and folks asked why do I work.
Two kids in college 80k a year, House cost, 48K a year, bills food, home repairs, cars, utilities 36K a year. Going on a good family plan with medical, dental and vision 36k a years.
Now add in roof, water heater HVAC, or one of many things that break on a house need at least 5 a year.
So I am now pulling from stocks and bonds to fund this. What happens if a bear market and I am selling stocks like in 2022, 2018, 2008, 2001, 2002 when stocks are low. But I am not putting in those years.
What happens if like 2020,2021 and most of 2022 when CDs, money market fall to near zero and interest income disappears.
I think I would have needed 10 million to call is quits at 59 with my expenses.
That's how I feel as well. We have $5m in investible assets, but that would leave me with $2.5m in a divorce, which isn't enough. We still have 2 kids to put through college. We still have a mortgage. My in-laws are still broke and rely on DH for almost everything. I would love to retire, but $5m is simply not enough.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 11:24
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Because our income needs are through the roof! If I were happy living on, say, $10k/mo, I could retire now in my 40s. But we spend money like water, so I keep working (so does spouse). I like my job reasonably well. I like the lifestyle it affords me. And my earning power is awesome and I've hit the sweet spot in my career. Took me years to get here and I don't want to walk away any time soon.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 11:15
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
As others have said, small child at home and it would not be retirement. Our net worth is $6M, early 50s. DH and I own separate companies and love what we do. Not every day is exciting, but it pays for whatever I want to spend on my kid. My kid has a great life with ample activities, lessons, experiences, travel and private school. DH is primary breadwinner, I look forward to retirement with him. I want to travel and explore with him when the time comes. Now isn’t the time to sit around and wait for DH while I can be making money.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 11:10
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We're at roughly 4m + pension. I now work part time because I appreciate keeping my brain engaged and being a productive member of society. I stayed at home when the kids were younger and it was fine for the first couple years but then the novelty wore off and I got bored so I went back. A little extra spending money never hurt either.
OP here. For those with part-time jobs, what do you do? I want to downsize to a part-time job, but I don't think my current job could be made part-time. Most part-time jobs out there outside of the healthcare field or working for yourself pay very little per hour, which makes it hard to justify switching to one when I have elementary school-aged kids whose schedules I would need to work around. My spouse is also very much like some of the people earlier in the thread who expect both partners to work and believe the more assets, the better.
This is your man issue and one you are not likely to overcome without a lot of resentment.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 11:05
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:“You can’t do anything with 5, Greg. Five is a nightmare.”
hahahahaha!!!
DH and I quote Greg all the time! We have $5 million and will work until we're at $7-8 million. We spend a lot of money every month and still have kids in 20s who need health insurance. Thankfully we like what we do.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 10:57
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
5 million is a lot at 70.
5 million for a 50 year old with three kids yet to start college, family medical plan, mortgage if you stop working you will blow through that money by 65.
I had that much at 59 and folks asked why do I work.
Two kids in college 80k a year, House cost, 48K a year, bills food, home repairs, cars, utilities 36K a year. Going on a good family plan with medical, dental and vision 36k a years.
Now add in roof, water heater HVAC, or one of many things that break on a house need at least 5 a year.
So I am now pulling from stocks and bonds to fund this. What happens if a bear market and I am selling stocks like in 2022, 2018, 2008, 2001, 2002 when stocks are low. But I am not putting in those years.
What happens if like 2020,2021 and most of 2022 when CDs, money market fall to near zero and interest income disappears.
I think I would have needed 10 million to call is quits at 59 with my expenses.
5 million for a 50 year old with three kids yet to start college, family medical plan, mortgage if you stop working you will blow through that money by 65.
I had that much at 59 and folks asked why do I work.
Two kids in college 80k a year, House cost, 48K a year, bills food, home repairs, cars, utilities 36K a year. Going on a good family plan with medical, dental and vision 36k a years.
Now add in roof, water heater HVAC, or one of many things that break on a house need at least 5 a year.
So I am now pulling from stocks and bonds to fund this. What happens if a bear market and I am selling stocks like in 2022, 2018, 2008, 2001, 2002 when stocks are low. But I am not putting in those years.
What happens if like 2020,2021 and most of 2022 when CDs, money market fall to near zero and interest income disappears.
I think I would have needed 10 million to call is quits at 59 with my expenses.
Anonymous
05/12/2026 10:51
Subject: People with $5M+ NW, why do you still choose to work?
Anonymous wrote:Our number is $8M in liquid assets.
So what? Why are you even posting here?