How much would someone have to hand you today to retire?

[the_fixer]

I suppose we could retire now with what we have as plenty of people live off much less than we could generate off our savings just depends on how fancy we want to get.

An additional 440K beyond what we have now is the goal for FIRE.... Seems far away but I am guessing 3 - 5 years.

[MrMoneySaver]

About 42 cents. At least that's how it feels some days. And I'm nowhere close to FIRE. Just sick of the rat race.

[Nangirl17]

$320,000 would have me putting in my contractual 4 months notice.

For $3MM I'd burn my bridges and quit tomorrow. (It's a small town and I love my coworkers and it would really put them in a tough spot to give no notice...but everybody has a price, and that is mine!)

[BGordon]

$500k and we sell the house and move to Europe.

With regards to the lottery, I've never had any interest in buying tickets and always thought cartoons that described it as a tax on stupidity where quite funny.  However, when I worked in an office that had a lottery pool I always participated.  I didn't view it as an opportunity to win anything but insurance against "feeling stupid."  Because if my coworkers had won and I hadn't been participating, I would have felt very stupid.

[Exhale]

MrMoneySaver's "42 cents" made me laugh

[dbm]

About 42 cents. At least that's how it feels some days. And I'm nowhere close to FIRE. Just sick of the rat race.

I'm sure we could crowd fund that.  I'll kick in 10¢ to start you off

[Step37]

I think 250k would really tip the scales. Probably could even make it work without that with the side income, future company dividends and basement rental, but not quite confident enough to walk away yet. Oh, also, CAN'T walk away until I find someone to replace my position at the company I own a piece of. It's sort of like golden handcuffs... feeling a bit frustrated at the moment. Not good at letting go of control, but really, really need to!

[Dicey]

Um, $0.00, 'cuz I'm already retired?

OTOH, even if DH won $1 million net of taxes in the lottery, I still don't think he'd retire any earlier than he has planned. He has a defined benefit pension and only about three more years to go to max it out. He likes his job. His mom has Alzheimer's and lives with us, so it's not like we'd be able to travel anyway, so he might as well work.

[MM_MG]

$2-2.5M and I'd probably walk away. Then again, I might just keep working and give away all my earnings. 

[Villanelle]

I'm currently not working, though I don't really consider myself FIRE.  (We moved overseas for DH's work.  I have no idea what the future holds WRT my career.) 

For DH, I am not sure there is a number right now that would get him to retire.  He's on the cusp of a lifelong career goal and is really looking forward to it.  Realistically, if it was "$20million, but only if you quit tomorrow", he'd probably do it, but even with numbers like that, I think he'd feel torn and there would be disappointment.  I'm not sure I'd encourage him to take $20m.

In our (or his) case, it's not just about the number.  The amount that we'd need to get to our goal for FIRE isn't really what is driving keeping him in the work force, at least for now. 

[JG in Hangzhou]

About 42 cents. At least that's how it feels some days. And I'm nowhere close to FIRE. Just sick of the rat race.

Send me an address and I'll mail it to you in pennies. 
Quit and start working for yourself. 
In five years you will thank yourself for your sanity. 
In ten years you will look back and wonder why you ever worked for someone else.

[Davids]

$1M. While I need less than that left to be FI I would not feel ready to pull the RE plug but if I received $1M then I think I would.

[MrMoneySaver]

About 42 cents. At least that's how it feels some days. And I'm nowhere close to FIRE. Just sick of the rat race.

Send me an address and I'll mail it to you in pennies. 
Quit and start working for yourself. 
In five years you will thank yourself for your sanity. 
In ten years you will look back and wonder why you ever worked for someone else.

This is exactly what I have in mind, actually. Need to get my stuff together, figure out my timing and plan, and overcome my doubts.

[wenchsenior]

1.5 million would do it to walk away completely, since we are roughly one-quarter of the way to our goal of 2 million (equivalent).  In 9 months, that will drop to 1.25 as a small pension kicks in.  The number should drop rapidly over the next few years as pension and our stash increases.

If we knew we were going to stay here (we hope not to), then it would be 1 million to walk away right now, or 750K starting in 9 months.

[Tabaxus]

Assuming it's post-tax, $1.5M would do it.

[Exhale]

This question got me thinking. I realized is that what I worry about most is good health care. I'm happy living on very little and don't need to own a house, etc. It's the health care that's the big concern for me.

[o2bfree]

This question got me thinking. I realized is that what I worry about most is good health care. I'm happy living on very little and don't need to own a house, etc. It's the health care that's the big concern for me.

Same here. I have $1.4M in my retirement accounts, and I'm 54. That's more than enough to meet my usual expenses, but the past couple years I've had some unexpected medical issues pop up. I've taken care of myself, but am experiencing the fact that things can still fall apart, and that's spooked me a little. So I'm wanting to pad my account a little more.

If I could work part time at my current job for a few years, I'd switch to that immediately. Or if someone handed me $300K, I'd cut the cord completely right now.

[Paul der Krake]

I'll know when I see it.

[skip207]

£500k would be my bottom number, I wouldn't like a king or anything but it would do. 
2x that for a decent lifestyle with plenty of travel etc. (which is my goal)

[Acorns]

Probably about 2.5 mil, in addition to what we have got right now. I would earmark at least 1 mil towards my kids future education. I know paying for college is controversial on this board, but it gave my spouse and I a big boost not to have school loans ( we had scholarships, parental funding, and jobs) and I would feel really uncomfortable kicking back in my mid 30s and expecting my kids to take out student loans.

[Goldendog777]

About $260k....only because we want a pad of $100k for whatever happens to healthcare.  We really wanted to retire at the end of the year but that's on hold just because the healthcare is so up in the air. 

[KT's Stache]

About 42 cents. At least that's how it feels some days. And I'm nowhere close to FIRE. Just sick of the rat race.

Considering I am sitting at my desk on a gorgeous sunny Sunday, preparing taxes for people who procrastinate, I am also with MrMoneySaver.

17 more days..... till I am done with tax season, but a heck of a lot longer until I can fully walk away!

[Prairie Gal]

About 42 cents. At least that's how it feels some days. And I'm nowhere close to FIRE. Just sick of the rat race.

Considering I am sitting at my desk on a gorgeous sunny Sunday, preparing taxes for people who procrastinate, I am also with MrMoneySaver.

17 more days..... till I am done with tax season, but a heck of a lot longer until I can fully walk away!

I work in accounting too, and I just don't know if I can take another tax season. I definitely know I don't want to. Here in Canada the deadline is April 30, so we have another month to go.

$500K and I would call the Mariachi band.

[Monkey Uncle]

Probably about 2.5 mil, in addition to what we have got right now. I would earmark at least 1 mil towards my kids future education. I know paying for college is controversial on this board, but it gave my spouse and I a big boost not to have school loans ( we had scholarships, parental funding, and jobs) and I would feel really uncomfortable kicking back in my mid 30s and expecting my kids to take out student loans.

What the fuck happened to this place?  All these people who think they need multiple millions of dollars to retire?  How much are you spending?  Or are you just buying the "80% of final salary" bullshit?

Sorry, Acorns, I don't mean to pick on just you - reading this thread, it looks like you are in good company.

But I guess I can't really throw stones, as I was no where near FIRE when I was in my mid-30s...

[matchewed]

As the concept of FIRE got more mainstream what it meant became more of a reflection of typical affluent members of developed countries rather than a rejection of those same things. 

[sentry]

$650,000 and I'm out. Except I'm military and have 6 years left... so I'd be AWOL.

For me, the $650k would allow me to pay my bills and not worry about work. I would most definitely be doing some activities that I enjoy that bring in some side cash. Don't think I'll ever be 100% "retired," as in the do nothing and go play golf version. I've got too many things I want to do.

[Khan]

Probably about 2.5 mil, in addition to what we have got right now. I would earmark at least 1 mil towards my kids future education. I know paying for college is controversial on this board, but it gave my spouse and I a big boost not to have school loans ( we had scholarships, parental funding, and jobs) and I would feel really uncomfortable kicking back in my mid 30s and expecting my kids to take out student loans.

What the fuck happened to this place?  All these people who think they need multiple millions of dollars to retire?  How much are you spending?  Or are you just buying the "80% of final salary" bullshit?

Sorry, Acorns, I don't mean to pick on just you - reading this thread, it looks like you are in good company.

But I guess I can't really throw stones, as I was no where near FIRE when I was in my mid-30s...

Dunno about Acorn, but part of it for me is the "mana falls from the heaven" part of it. I don't know if I'll hit 1.5-2 million, honestly, not really thinking too hard about what my FIRE number is because I'm too busy thinking about a pre-FIRE break... but I interpreted the question as what amount makes you stop looking/hustling. I might glide into that amount of money, but I'm probably not going balls out to reach it. Between 600k-1mil I'd take it slow from there onwards.

[Livingthedream55]

$100,000 would do it for me.

[Retire-Canada]

What the fuck happened to this place?  All these people who think they need multiple millions of dollars to retire?  How much are you spending?  Or are you just buying the "80% of final salary" bullshit?

I was thinking the same thing. If I had $2M I'd quit working twice! ;)

[Linea_Norway]

I have been recalculating the numbers. I think 366.000 USD would do the trick.

[MishMash]

What the fuck happened to this place?  All these people who think they need multiple millions of dollars to retire?  How much are you spending?  Or are you just buying the "80% of final salary" bullshit?

I was thinking the same thing. If I had $2M I'd quit working twice! ;)

I'd say for us, the big reason for the 2million number is health care and senior care uncertainty.  That's followed by living currently in a HCOL area where my mortgage is 2600 a month.  I'd rather be overly cautious and plan ahead for those things and then have more money then I need vs getting caught off guard after not working for a decade.

[Just Joe]

~$1M (spoken like Dr. Evil!)

Still need to get two kids through school and into adulthood, uncertainty of healthcare and assisted living costs....

$2M and I don't even bat an eye - I'll just fight off the maniacal laughter and try to fit into the mainstream quietly.

[wenchsenior]

What the fuck happened to this place?  All these people who think they need multiple millions of dollars to retire?  How much are you spending?  Or are you just buying the "80% of final salary" bullshit?

I was thinking the same thing. If I had $2M I'd quit working twice! ;)

I'd say for us, the big reason for the 2million number is health care and senior care uncertainty.  That's followed by living currently in a HCOL area where my mortgage is 2600 a month.  I'd rather be overly cautious and plan ahead for those things and then have more money then I need vs getting caught off guard after not working for a decade.

We spend ~65k/yr in a LCOL area. We don't want to stay here. Also, we're partially supporting parents, and that could continue another 15 yrs easily.  But mostly, health care health care health care health care, which I think could very easily run us 15K or more per year.

[druth]

202k.

Currently I have a NW of -122k.  I would like to pay off all of that and then my expenses are about $3200/year after that. 

Paying off 122k plus SW to make 3200/year is 202k.

[dodojojo]

I actually think about this almost once a day.  If a sack of money fell on top of me, I would yadda, yadda, yadda.  Now I actually get to put it out there.

1M-FIRE

750K - Semi-retire, work part time

500K - Work a few more years but quit current job and find another that has better benefits and vacation/PTO policy in likelihood of exchange for salary cut.

[Chairman]

500k maybe. 750k better. 1m in a heartbeat.

[retired?]

What's the value of a lifetime annuity of 60k for a 46 yr old female?  Inflation adjusted.

Plus the value of a cushy healthcare plan and LTC.

[limeandpepper]

$500k should be adequate for me as I spend under $20k/year. I could get by with less, and more would allow for extra luxuries, but $500k is pretty comfortable, so let's go with that.

[geekinprogress]

We're talking how much we'd want post-tax, right?  :D

To walk away today (or, more likely, with 1-2 months notice), I'd want $500k; it'd be less if there wasn't the uncertainty around healthcare, and maybe a bit more if I wasn't planning on working either part time (<30 hrs a week) or part of the year full time after FIRE. 

[mwulff]

At about $1 million I would walk away instantly. Even at $700.000 I would probably make the jump and see how it goes.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

Interesting thread, incredible responses.  I sometimes wonder if people 'on the hunt' oversimplify, that hitting a number is all it takes to enjoy life happily ever after.  Especially in modern times (insert technology, social change, or politics).  Feeling satisfied and content is my goal.  I can understand, in the short term, that MMM can sell that because he writes from a perspective where he keeps making  money off his site and his investments, and he's now free to smoke pot in CO to mix in with his 'work'.  Hopefully he's not totally checked out from posting, but this site is nothing like it was when it drew me in.  And that is what worries me about ER, that I get complacent and stop doing things that I don't enjoy, just because I can afford to.

Yeah, handing me money and telling me to retire will just piss me off at this point.  I have enough money, but I love my work.

[VolcanicArts]

1million on top of my current stash approx 200k and I'd be golden. I'd probably still work part time and just travel a lot. I like the structure work brings to your life and if I had nothing but free time I would get bored. Maybe start my own business?

[limeandpepper]

Interesting thread, incredible responses.  I sometimes wonder if people 'on the hunt' oversimplify, that hitting a number is all it takes to enjoy life happily ever after.

Sounds to me like you're oversimplifying people purely based on their responses on a fun thread. Feel free to discuss this further, complete with life stories, internal motivations etc. in a new thread if you want to delve deeper into the innermost thoughts of forum members?

Yeah, handing me money and telling me to retire will just piss me off at this point.  I have enough money, but I love my work.

No one is "telling" you to retire. But a windfall means that it becomes *possible* to retire, if you so wish.

Also, there is nothing wrong with people who enjoy not working, just as there is nothing wrong with people who have a job they enjoy.

[marielle]

Yeah, handing me money and telling me to retire will just piss me off at this point.  I have enough money, but I love my work.

If you could find me a job I love with my degree, then maybe I'd be inclined to agree with you. Also, make sure it gives me more than 8 PTO days too, because that just isn't enough right now even if I did "love" my work.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

Interesting thread, incredible responses.  I sometimes wonder if people 'on the hunt' oversimplify, that hitting a number is all it takes to enjoy life happily ever after.

Sounds to me like you're oversimplifying people purely based on their responses on a fun thread. Feel free to discuss this further, complete with life stories, internal motivations etc. in a new thread if you want to delve deeper into the innermost thoughts of forum members?

Yeah, handing me money and telling me to retire will just piss me off at this point.  I have enough money, but I love my work.

No one is "telling" you to retire. But a windfall means that it becomes *possible* to retire, if you so wish.

Also, there is nothing wrong with people who enjoy not working, just as there is nothing wrong with people who have a job they enjoy.

Very fun thread.  Hope I didn't give the impression that there's anything wrong with not working, I do think life is better not having a number.  Just being busy and enjoying what you are doing is a great life, everything else seems to fall in to place...

[dodojojo]

Yeah, handing me money and telling me to retire will just piss me off at this point.  I have enough money, but I love my work.

If you could find me a job I love with my degree, then maybe I'd be inclined to agree with you. Also, make sure it gives me more than 8 PTO days too, because that just isn't enough right now even if I did "love" my work.

Yeah, I have 10 PTO days and all of it is used to visit family in another state and internationally.  The latter takes about 45-50 hours of flying roundtrip and if I'm not flying over a weekend, it eats into the PTO stash. Since 10 PTO days aren't enough, the family visits are interpersed with working remotely half-days and full days.  I'm never really away from work for too long. I haven't taken a purely international vacation since 2008 and I used to travel overseas a fair bit.

I want to take a cycling trip this year and I'm already nervous about asking for an entire week off--no working remotely.  It's not just the dearth of PTO days, but also the work culture. My manager doesn't take much time off himself (he has at least 20 vacation days and 4 personal days).  For the 5 years I've worked with him, the longest he's been completely off-line was about 4 business days.

[marielle]

Yeah, handing me money and telling me to retire will just piss me off at this point.  I have enough money, but I love my work.

If you could find me a job I love with my degree, then maybe I'd be inclined to agree with you. Also, make sure it gives me more than 8 PTO days too, because that just isn't enough right now even if I did "love" my work.

Yeah, I have 10 PTO days and all of it is used to visit family in another state and internationally.  The latter takes about 45-50 hours of flying roundtrip and if I'm not flying over a weekend, it eats into the PTO stash. Since 10 PTO days aren't enough, the family visits are interpersed with working remotely half-days and full days.  I'm never really away from work for too long. I haven't taken a purely international vacation since 2008 and I used to travel overseas a fair bit.

I want to take a cycling trip this year and I'm already nervous about asking for an entire week off--no working remotely.  It's not just the dearth of PTO days, but also the work culture. My manager doesn't take much time off himself (he has at least 20 vacation days and 4 personal days).  For the 5 years I've worked with him, the longest he's been completely off-line was about 4 business days.

Yeah, that doesn't sound fun. I've been working here for 7 months and have not taken a single PTO day yet. I only get the 8 days after working for a full year, so it hasn't been enough yet. There is a slight increase every year, but you don't get the days ahead of time so it's still pretty much nothing.

I'm sure I'd love my work a lot more if I got 4 weeks paid vacation, 10 sick days, etc...

[dodojojo]

I'm sure I'd love my work a lot more if I got 4 weeks paid vacation, 10 sick days, etc...

I had that in my previous job, it was nonprofit so I made a lot less money but the benefits were absolutely gold standard.  I cry if I compare them to what I have now. Sure I make about 30% more money but now I don't have time to use that money.  Which I suppose for MMM purposes is a good thing!  But yeah, 20 vacation days, 10 sick days, 3 personal days, two weeks of half days over Christmas/New Year's (you could work one full week and take the other off as an option), every Friday off in August and there were at least 2-3 unscheduled days off each year to boot (we're moving departments--easier for everyone to be out of the office so movers can do their job was one excuse).  I left that job with vacation days on the table...oh the stupidity. 

[amyj05]

$900K. I live in a LCOL area and don't plan on moving. That would be enough to pay off my house and cover my yearly spending with about ~4K per year of wiggle room.

[Padonak]

a 2yr severance package :)

A 1 year severance package (fat chance)