Poll

How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?

under $1,000
0 (0%)
$1,000 to $5,000
3 (0.8%)
$5,000 to $25,000
19 (4.8%)
$25,000 to $100,000
73 (18.4%)
$100,000 to $250,000
132 (33.3%)
over $250,000 for things to change much
169 (42.7%)

Total Members Voted: 395

Author Topic: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?  (Read 11730 times)

Bracken_Joy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #50 on: October 31, 2019, 07:19:26 AM »
Very interesting question! It was fun to think about. I think somewhere around $75-100k would be our line. In that case, we'd be in territory for a good down payment and some "shit happens when you buy a house" buffer fund territory, so we'd probably move ahead with buying a house again much sooner than otherwise.

Freedomin5

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #51 on: October 31, 2019, 07:31:24 AM »
I selected over $250k. That would make us immediately comfortably FI.

Kazyan

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #52 on: October 31, 2019, 08:07:58 AM »
$80k would allow me to do any of the following, all of which are a big deal:

 - Pay off low-interest student loan and mortgage, which would make me debt-free.
 - Invest it to gain over $300 a month, which replaces my roommate.
 - Invest it but keep the roommate, and FIRE over 2 years earlier.

I'd probably pick the second.

nereo

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #53 on: October 31, 2019, 08:55:03 AM »
$80k would allow me to do any of the following, all of which are a big deal:

 - Pay off low-interest student loan and mortgage, which would make me debt-free.
- Invest it to gain over $300 a month, which replaces my roommate.
 - Invest it but keep the roommate, and FIRE over 2 years earlier.

I'd probably pick the second.

Says a lot about your roommate ;-)

Much Fishing to Do

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #54 on: October 31, 2019, 09:17:34 AM »
That question takes me back 20 years to when my parents gave me and my pregnant wife something around (cant remember exactly) $1k to pay our rent for the month after my temp job had ended and my wife had been laid off. 

If I hit a $1M lottery today it would not change my life nearly as much as that $1k did then.

Kazyan

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #55 on: October 31, 2019, 10:51:29 AM »
Says a lot about your roommate ;-)

Sure does!

...what does it say?

Catbert

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #56 on: October 31, 2019, 11:13:40 AM »
To be "wow, that changes things" at least $5 million, maybe 10.  That would have me always flying first class and inviting a sister to come free on vacations that DH didn't want to go on.


partgypsy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #57 on: October 31, 2019, 11:26:59 AM »
I would take anything lol

If I had in the 75K territory, I couldn't quit my job or anything, but all my debts would be paid off including my house plus have a healthy emergency fund. So while my life wouldn't change, def some peace of mind.

For me to go part time, I would need say another 300K in retirement funds. To fully quit, I don't know but a lot (I am risk averse and even going part time would increase my QOL to the extent I may not want to retire from work).
« Last Edit: October 31, 2019, 11:30:46 AM by partgypsy »

Altons Bobs

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #58 on: October 31, 2019, 12:53:44 PM »
I'm not sure if any amount of money could make a difference. But, if you could give me guaranteed health insurance not in an HMO network that I can choose whoever I want to see, whenever I want, that would make a difference. No matter how much money you have, you can't get a good individual plan in my state.

Bernard

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #59 on: October 31, 2019, 01:07:02 PM »
Every $1000 bill helps, but a milestone event would be the ability to pay off my mortgage $480K, which in turn means I would not have to sell the house,  move out of California, and to a LowerCOL area when I retire, so I'll go with $300K. The rest I could swing myself.

ohio4life

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #60 on: October 31, 2019, 02:59:53 PM »
I picked 100k to 250k, because I could pay off my home with 200k. That would noticably improve my budget/savings rate and thus my financial siutation. Any amount under that would also probably just go towards paying off my house.

Omy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #61 on: October 31, 2019, 04:10:43 PM »
We are fat FIRED with no debt, so none of the choices would "noticeably" improve our situation. $250k would provide another $800/month indefinitely. I wouldn't turn it down, of course, but it would probably just mean more charitable giving.

diapasoun

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #62 on: October 31, 2019, 04:37:12 PM »
With a sudden windfall of $25K, I could pay off all of my debts and actually start the countdown to RE.

I don't know that it would really impact my lifestyle at all, but it would definitely make me feel better.

Same here.

Also same here. I picked 5k to 25k because I have just under 25k of student loan debt left, and anything that lets me quash off a good chunk of that would make a real psychological difference (and, you know, seriously help open up cashflow for investments!).

ender

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #63 on: October 31, 2019, 07:30:51 PM »
In order to matter in the short term probably 500k.

But realistically any amount will impact the longer term, it just depends on what "noticeably improve" means ;-)

Bloop Bloop

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #64 on: October 31, 2019, 07:45:15 PM »
250k would let me retire 2 years sooner so I guess that would be a 'noticeable' improvement.

Besides pushing forward my retirement date, I don't think any amount of money would change my lifestyle, since I already buy everything I want. I suppose if I got a huge amount of money, say $20 million, I'd probably hire a personal chef, a personal driver and someone to follow me around with a fan all day, but I can't think of anything else I want that I don't have or don't plan to have.

soccerluvof4

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #65 on: November 01, 2019, 07:13:11 AM »
400k because thats the difference between the house we live in now and the house were moving in. This way all my withdrawals and stuff could remain the same. Basically a push other than house (paid for) being 25% of over all portfolio vs 10%

simonsez

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #66 on: November 01, 2019, 07:49:33 AM »
With a sudden windfall of $25K, I could pay off all of my debts and actually start the countdown to RE.

I don't know that it would really impact my lifestyle at all, but it would definitely make me feel better.

Same here.

Also same here. I picked 5k to 25k because I have just under 25k of student loan debt left, and anything that lets me quash off a good chunk of that would make a real psychological difference (and, you know, seriously help open up cashflow for investments!).
Same - I took the question in a 'mental health about your financial situation' type of view.  Coming into a five figure amount with no strings attached would be pretty rad!  Emotionally, the positive uptick might wear off before too long but I think it would be noticeable that something good had happened. 

Chris Pascale

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #67 on: November 01, 2019, 07:55:39 AM »
$25-$100k would noticeably change it to me. For it to be noticeably different to others would probably be more like $500k.

bluebelle

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #68 on: November 01, 2019, 09:41:04 AM »
To be "wow, that changes things" at least $5 million, maybe 10.  That would have me always flying first class and inviting a sister to come free on vacations that DH didn't want to go on.
+1
We're already so close to the dollar figure that we need to have my vision of a fat FIRE, that it would take a significant amount to really make a difference.  I like the idea of treating folks to vacations....and I'd want to pay off my brother's and niece's mortgages (not big amounts) and gift equivalent to nephew.   

Sugaree

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #69 on: November 01, 2019, 09:46:09 AM »
I'm at the point where $10k would pay off all my debt and free up a little money each month for me to do what I want with.  Aside from that, if we're being honest, what I want to do with my money is save it.  Maybe travel more.  Since I'm finally at the point where I'm maxing out tax-advantaged accounts and sticking a little aside in my taxable account and still have the money to buy the things I "need" and take a cool vacation every 18 months, it would take a fairly large sum to make any major changes to my situation.  Like enough to get me to FIRE.  Such is life in the boring middle...

norajean

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #70 on: November 01, 2019, 10:22:42 AM »
I have ten dollars in cash with me today, so $1 would make me feel "noticeably" better off.

What windfall would cause me to change my future plans?  I guess five or ten million, after tax.

Is that what you are asking?  Why?
« Last Edit: November 01, 2019, 10:25:01 AM by norajean »

Bird In Hand

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #71 on: November 01, 2019, 10:33:26 AM »
$250k+ in retirement accounts would change nothing for us right now.  Someday, years in the future, it could represent a nice bump in our retirement income, a lower WR, or a slightly earlier exit.

I chose $25k-$100k in the poll.  We could pay off our mortgage, fully fund a variety of replacement accounts (roof, HVAC, driveway, car, appliances, etc.), bolster the 529, and then start an earlier downshift before FIRE.

Money Badger

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #72 on: November 01, 2019, 08:31:11 PM »
It's interesting how nearing the FIRE finish line changes the game...   For folks with negative net worth, achieving $0 net worth is a mountain.   For folks with $3M in the bank, it's maybe another $Million...   Improving a financial situation by reducing lifestyle and cutting monthly overhead costs has been the most noticeable way to improve situation... Truly a dollar saved, is worth another $1.40 in your paycheck.

 For me, it's ~$300K after tax (again, this would be HUGE to someone early in the FIRE journey, but is now our last "chunk" remaining to FIRE and a smaller % of net worth).   But the result will be the most dramatic change possible of stopping work that over time I've come to hate, and moving to a part time "what I want, when I want" type of role on things I really care about.  Fortunately, this is on track...

@nereo,  Curious what your vote was?   Guessing you're not worried about a number, but curious about the forum worth-o-graphic?

APowers

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #73 on: November 01, 2019, 09:33:52 PM »
It's interesting how nearing the FIRE finish line changes the game...   For folks with negative net worth, achieving $0 net worth is a mountain.   For folks with $3M in the bank, it's maybe another $Million...   Improving a financial situation by reducing lifestyle and cutting monthly overhead costs has been the most noticeable way to improve situation... Truly a dollar saved, is worth another $1.40 in your paycheck.

 For me, it's ~$300K after tax (again, this would be HUGE to someone early in the FIRE journey, but is now our last "chunk" remaining to FIRE and a smaller % of net worth).   But the result will be the most dramatic change possible of stopping work that over time I've come to hate, and moving to a part time "what I want, when I want" type of role on things I really care about.  Fortunately, this is on track...

@nereo,  Curious what your vote was?   Guessing you're not worried about a number, but curious about the forum worth-o-graphic?

I have noticed myself looking at $100 items and thinking *that's not so expensive", when 3 years ago, a $100 BBQ grill may as well have been a $500 grill, because my budget was free-or nothing. I think it has to do with the relative sizes of absolute values vs percentages-- out of a $100 budget, $50 is an absolutely critical, life-or-death percentage; but out of a $1,000 budget, $50 is only 5%, which is material but not critical; out of a $10,000 budget, $50 is pocket change; and out of a $100,000 budget, $50 is essentially a rounding error.

I am so glad I have been able to live frugally and make this work on a low income-- it makes me appreciate how really well off I am that it'd take tens of thousands of dollars to move the needle for me-- even though I still am technically low-income, it doesn't feel like it now, and it's weird to feel rich all the time. I've managed to move up a social class, and sometimes feel a bit lost, as I'm still living the drive-for-FI lifestyle and habits. Before all my investments started paying off, it was pretty easy to relate to "the struggle" of other low-income people (even though I was still saving >50%), but in about another year, I'm going to finish the house remodel and be living the sweet part-time life in a 2400ft² fancypants house with a nice yard and looking to invest somewhere else to generate even more passive income.

fati31

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #74 on: November 01, 2019, 10:03:56 PM »
I'm FIREd, so another $100k probably wouldn't change anything.  Another $100k would just change the odds that I'll need to cut my spending or go back to work from some unknowable % (maybe 5%?) down to a slightly smaller unknowable (4%?).  So - even $100k doesn't do anything noticeable for me. 

Now an extra $500k or million or something, that's so much that we'd really have to figure out if there's anything we want in life that we didn't budget for in our FIRE plans.  I suppose we might buy a nicer house without neighbors nearby, or dump a bunch of money into our Donor Advised Fund.  I suspect that distributing more substantial amounts of money to the charities we support might feel pretty good.  But really we FIREd from one walmart after we passed the point where we thought more money would improve our lives.
I am going through the same situation
« Last Edit: November 07, 2019, 10:24:47 PM by fati31 »

LightStache

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #75 on: November 02, 2019, 07:53:19 AM »
$100K for me, but that's more on a subjective level. I plugged it first into my real estate portfolio and then into my pretax bucket. It moves my FI date by several months, so not a huge game changer, but $100K is an emotionally meaningful amount to me.

aGracefulStomp

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #76 on: November 02, 2019, 04:42:43 PM »
$100,000 - $250,000 would make me comfortable to cruise-FIRE. I'd go part-time immediately and would remain part-time until I was FIRE (which would take around 15-20ish years).

Without this windfall, I still need to save aggressively for another few years before I get to that point!
« Last Edit: November 02, 2019, 07:55:06 PM by aGracefulStomp »

Michael in ABQ

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #77 on: November 02, 2019, 05:28:36 PM »
$25- 100K.

That would be enough for a down payment for a house or a business if financed with an SBA loan. $100-250k would make a very substantial change, but even $25-100k would "noticeably improve" our financial situation as it would increase our net worth by 50-100% .

nereo

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #78 on: November 03, 2019, 10:10:31 AM »
I have ten dollars in cash with me today, so $1 would make me feel "noticeably" better off.

What windfall would cause me to change my future plans?  I guess five or ten million, after tax.

Is that what you are asking?  Why?

Follow up:
A number of people have asked about the reason for this post and my response (@Money Badger @norajean).  I wanted to wait to respond for a bit to see how others would vote, as to no

I explained a bit on my OP, but the kernel of the idea is that most people (and particularly non-mustachians) seem to think a shockingly small amount of money would make a big difference in their financial situation, and that seems to scale with both their income and their net-worth.  Talk radio games, scratchers, community raffles give out prizes of $500-$5k and I've been struck at how many recipients talk about what a huge difference it made in their lives (albeit typically much shorter lived than they might think).

I was curious how a community focused on early retirement might think about an unexpected windfall

Thoughts:  Overall most people who responded said nothing less than 6-figures would noticeably improve their situation.  This makes sense for those who are at or near RE, as $100,000 is just a small change in a WR if you've got a portfolio of >>$1MM.  What's surprised me is how many respondents who are fairly early in their savings still chose very high dollar amounts.  In a way it's comforting, as there is a focus on long-term planning.  But the high dollar amoutn did surprise me.  To use our own situation as an example, we are roughly halfway to your "FI-Number", yet I chose $25-100k, and my exact number would be somewhere around $60-75k.  Why?  Because with lower incomes we can manage to squirrel away roughly $15k per year.  So even though such a windfall would just get invested according to our IPS, it would represent 4-5 years of savings, and shave even more years off our required working timeline.  But even more importantly it would push us further into the wave where future contributions would start meaning less to us than market forces.  Which in turn would mean we could re-think whether we both needed to work and pay childcare. 

anyhow, thanks to all who have participated thus far.


robtown

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #79 on: November 03, 2019, 06:27:20 PM »
We recently bought our retirement home at the beach in FL for a decidedly unmustaschian price.    My wife agreed to return to work for two years to pay down the new mortgage and a third year go get her boat  (house has a nice dock.)   

About $150k  would allow me to stop working  Jan 2021 when I rejoin her in FL  and go a long way to paying off the mortgage.    It is a beautiful house and we can walk to the beach  or get to the cruise ships in under a half hour.    The windfall may come from the buyout of an investment we made in a local distillery several years ago  and/or an inheritance.    I don't expect (or hope in one case) that either will occur soon.

nancyfrank232

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How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #80 on: November 03, 2019, 07:14:55 PM »
It shouldn’t be surprising that, for a person who has more, that it would take more to “noticeably improve their financial situation”.  The more one has, the more it would take to noticeably improve. Vice versa
« Last Edit: November 03, 2019, 08:01:18 PM by nancyfrank232 »

SwordGuy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #81 on: November 03, 2019, 10:38:46 PM »
We're retired with a good sized stash and income.   So, honestly, we don't need the money.

An extra $50k would fund renovating two houses I'm funding now, so that would make me happy.
An extra $147k would pay off our 2.75% mortgage on our home, which would make me happy, even if it would be "better" to invest that money.
An extra $1M after the above two items  would go to a non-profit foundation we would set up to fund halfway houses for foster kids aging out of the foster system or low-cost housing for college students.   That would let us do a house every other year at current prices.  More would let us do more.

elliha

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #82 on: November 03, 2019, 11:28:09 PM »
Around 50 000 would make it easy to buy a house (with a mortage) that we would like to live in, perhaps even in an ideal location compared to "wherever we can afford to buy a house" so I picked the 25 000 to 100 000 category. 400 000 would allow us to buy a house without a mortage.

MayDay

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #83 on: November 04, 2019, 04:53:51 AM »
I guess 100k+ but really that would just make us feel richer. We have plenty of money now. But h dislikes his job and that would be enough cash sitting in the ban the bank for him to say F it and quit.

But a year from now? Meh. We wouldn't notice the blip.

Davnasty

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #84 on: November 04, 2019, 07:42:31 AM »
It's interesting how nearing the FIRE finish line changes the game...   For folks with negative net worth, achieving $0 net worth is a mountain.   For folks with $3M in the bank, it's maybe another $Million...   Improving a financial situation by reducing lifestyle and cutting monthly overhead costs has been the most noticeable way to improve situation... Truly a dollar saved, is worth another $1.40 in your paycheck.

 For me, it's ~$300K after tax (again, this would be HUGE to someone early in the FIRE journey, but is now our last "chunk" remaining to FIRE and a smaller % of net worth).   But the result will be the most dramatic change possible of stopping work that over time I've come to hate, and moving to a part time "what I want, when I want" type of role on things I really care about.  Fortunately, this is on track...

@nereo,  Curious what your vote was?   Guessing you're not worried about a number, but curious about the forum worth-o-graphic?

Off topic - just wanted to let you know that someone has trademarked your name.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/11/03/michael-badgley-trademarks-money-badger-nickname/

I'm not entirely sure how this stuff works but since he's not involved in personal finance, you may still have claim to it :)

Omy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #85 on: November 04, 2019, 08:19:18 AM »
So I entered a free roll football contest, and if Dallas wins today I have a good shot at winning $1000. I am positively giddy about this. Should I revise my number down from $250k? : )

OtherJen

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #86 on: November 04, 2019, 08:28:21 AM »
So I entered a free roll football contest, and if Dallas wins today I have a good shot at winning $1000. I am positively giddy about this. Should I revise my number down from $250k? : )

Apparently not unless it would register as something other than a blip in your finances.

talltexan

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #87 on: November 04, 2019, 08:52:41 AM »
In the process of moving into a new house that we just bought and selling a different one. The $25,000 wouldn't have affected which house we chose. $100,000 might have. I still have to smack my PJM when I think about the houses that were available for an extra $100,000.

Davnasty

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #88 on: November 04, 2019, 09:24:37 AM »
So I entered a free roll football contest, and if Dallas wins today I have a good shot at winning $1000. I am positively giddy about this. Should I revise my number down from $250k? : )

Good luck, I like your odds. Is the "good shot" based on a total score tiebreaker?

By this metric my answer might be more like a quarter though. It makes me irrationally happy to find a quarter on the ground. And I say irrational not because it makes me super happy, but because it should have essentially no impact on my mood. All the quarters I'll find on the ground during my lifetime probably won't add up to the cost of a restaurant meal.

Villanelle

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #89 on: November 04, 2019, 12:19:44 PM »
So I entered a free roll football contest, and if Dallas wins today I have a good shot at winning $1000. I am positively giddy about this. Should I revise my number down from $250k? : )

If I found a $10 bill on the sidewalk, I'd be pretty happy.  That's not quite the same as "noticeably improving my financial situation" though!
 

Omy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #90 on: November 04, 2019, 01:07:20 PM »
So I entered a free roll football contest, and if Dallas wins today I have a good shot at winning $1000. I am positively giddy about this. Should I revise my number down from $250k? : )

Good luck, I like your odds. Is the "good shot" based on a total score tiebreaker?


Yes. Right now I have guessed all games correctly. If others have also guessed correctly it will be based on the total score of tonight's game. 42 is my number. The top 30 winners usually get something between $100 and $1000.

I agree about found money. A quarter can (irrationally) make my day.

partgypsy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #91 on: November 04, 2019, 01:08:09 PM »
So I entered a free roll football contest, and if Dallas wins today I have a good shot at winning $1000. I am positively giddy about this. Should I revise my number down from $250k? : )

Good luck, I like your odds. Is the "good shot" based on a total score tiebreaker?


The answer is 42, so you are SET.

Yes. Right now I have guessed all games correctly. If others have also guessed correctly it will be based on the total score of tonight's game. 42 is my number. The top 30 winners usually get something between $100 and $1000.

I agree about found money. A quarter can (irrationally) make my day.

The answer is 42, so you are SET.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2019, 08:36:35 AM by partgypsy »

LonerMatt

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #92 on: November 04, 2019, 01:31:32 PM »
10k+

I save $15k in a year so that's 6-9 months of savings :)

2sk22

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #93 on: November 05, 2019, 05:22:56 AM »
It just occurred to me that Prospect Theory may explain many of the responses to this intriguing question. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_theory

The value function is highly non-linear. In particular, the convex nature of the curve suggests that as wealth increases, the amount of money you need to increase the perceived value increases much more.

SansSkill

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #94 on: November 05, 2019, 05:34:16 AM »
Working on the assumption that my answer is given in cash (or some other highly liquid asset), 25k-100k
This would allow me to buy my own place within one year of accepting an average entry position.
Below that it would take years of saving, which is also what it would take if I didn't get free money out of nowhere.

Phenix

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #95 on: November 05, 2019, 07:55:30 AM »
I chose $100k-$250k.  That would allow me to go part time when the opportunity becomes available.

talltexan

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #96 on: November 05, 2019, 08:43:46 AM »
It just occurred to me that Prospect Theory may explain many of the responses to this intriguing question. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_theory

The value function is highly non-linear. In particular, the convex nature of the curve suggests that as wealth increases, the amount of money you need to increase the perceived value increases much more.

I wonder if the average Mustachian personality wouldn't be much more sensitive to small wastes of money, i.e. Losing $30 needlessly would dramatically decrease my psychological satisfaction.

nereo

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #97 on: November 05, 2019, 09:10:12 AM »
It just occurred to me that Prospect Theory may explain many of the responses to this intriguing question. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_theory

The value function is highly non-linear. In particular, the convex nature of the curve suggests that as wealth increases, the amount of money you need to increase the perceived value increases much more.

I wonder if the average Mustachian personality wouldn't be much more sensitive to small wastes of money, i.e. Losing $30 needlessly would dramatically decrease my psychological satisfaction.

In general humans are more sensitive to loss than gains (roughly 3:1 IIRC).  As an anal-retentive optimizer it drives me bonkers when I find unnecessary leakage in my budget, like when I failed to notice that one of my bank accounts had changed their terms and started charging me $3.95 every month.  It wasn't very frequently used, so it took me a few months to catch on.  In the end I lost maybe $12-15, but I was mad as hell - mostly as myself - for allowing it to happen.  That same time period the markets raised our NW by an additional $5k or so, plus another ~$3k of our additional contributions.

Omy

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #98 on: November 05, 2019, 12:33:40 PM »
Yes. Losing $100 upsets me more than winning $1000 would please me. That's messed up.

ender

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Re: How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?
« Reply #99 on: November 05, 2019, 12:35:15 PM »
Yes. Losing $100 upsets me more than winning $1000 would please me. That's messed up.

I actually wonder if this is why so much FIRE material focuses heavily on the spending side and not as much on the saving side.