How much $ would noticably improve your financial situation?

[Davnasty]

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.

Maybe. But I think the idea of losing money evokes a very different emotion than the idea of spending it. Some people actually enjoy spending money.

[Metalcat]

There was a similar thread not too long ago and I answered along the lines of something like 60ishK would noticeably improve my situation because that's what I had left on my previously mortgage sized student loan.

Well, I just profited 60ishK from selling my townhouse.
Neat-o.

The impact is profound as without my minimum payments, this cuts our baseline annual spend in half.

This allows me to make a major career shift that I would have had to wait on because it will take a few years to build up the work, and I didn't want to risk an unpredictable and substantial drop in income while still servicing 3K/mo in payments on an already highly variable self-employed income.

I gave my 3 month notice (normal in my industry) that I'll be dropping down to very limited services at my main job, only one day a week.

So yeah, how's that for a concrete, real life answer to a theoretical question?

[talltexan]

That 3:1 may be an average across all humans. Among MMM crowd, it could be different. Way different.

[ender]

This poll also depends on where the money comes.

$100k-250k in cash would immediately change our situation. In our pretax IRA? not as much.

[nereo]

That 3:1 may be an average across all humans. Among MMM crowd, it could be different. Way different.

Yes, it's definitely an average.  Some people have very little problem with loss - others experience one bad event and are scared for life.
It's used to explain why so many people avoid investing in the market after a big loss, up until there's been a huge run-up, at which point they are tempted to finally dip a toe back in (basically resulting in 'buy high, sell low' results).

[Just Joe]

Would love to pay off our mortgage. That's our only debt. It would still take a fair bit of additional money to fund FIRE as we had a late start in professional life. In the end we'll be comfortable but we won't RE earlier than about 60.

[Bracken_Joy]

This poll also depends on where the money comes.

$100k-250k in cash would immediately change our situation. In our pretax IRA? not as much.

This is so true. Another $16k in retirement year before last would have meant nothing in terms of day to day life. But my grandma gifting that in cash toward our second IVF cycle? Very different situation.

[jeroly]

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.

That's probably a small piece of the puzzle, but the more important reason why spending is a bigger focus is that, based on the 4% rule, spending $1 less in one's annual retirement budget reduces one's savings needs by $25.  That's on top of boosting one's annual savings amount by $1 (assuming it's also trimmed from the pre-retirement spending budget), leading to $102 saved after 30 years at 7%, which will generate another $4/year in available income. 

[ChickenStash]

In the near-term, it would take quite a bit for me to notice a change. I'm currently in a phase of life where things are relatively stable and the primary goal is just saving to reach my FI number. Until that point, my financial situation will remain pretty much the same.

From a long-term view, any additional money I stumble across now gets thrown into savings and brings FI closer so while I may not notice an improvement today, I'll see some benefits later.

[Arbitrage]

Right now, to 'noticeably improve' our situation would mean cutting a year (or more) off of our working time.  Since we have elementary-age kids and are planning to relocate, the FIRE target date is somewhat dependent upon school calendars.  Right now, the goal is two more school years (including the current one).  A tax-free windfall of ~$200k would most likely allow us to trim that to just finishing out this year.

[middo]

To make a significant change would be enough to pay off the mortgages on our investment properties.  $800K AUD.  But realistically, enough to pay off even one of them would allow us to snowball the next so much quicker.  Maybe $160K then?

[WGH]

My plan as a government employee is based on working long enough for PSLF as well as being pension vested.

To give that up and quit today would require a lot more than $250k.

[talltexan]

My wife tries to be frugal, but she has her vices. An extra $2,000-$3,000 would probably add one more Disney World trip to the calendar.

[martyconlonontherun]

Modified the above:
25K, Would get rid of car loan/student loans. Free up a ton of investment, less burden of "if I got laid off and couldn't find a job" back of mind

100K, I would set be able to quit in 12 years instead of 14.

500K, I would quit, take a break while doing paternity leave for 6 months and look for a job. It's about half my FIRE # but I would save $8k in daycare over 6 months.

1M, I would quit and FIRE as this amount would bring me almost exactly to my FI number. I would probably be the default stay at home dad but probably still do daycare part-time to pursue other activities

(Let's be real, scenarios above are if the money went into my retirement accounts and wife would have a big say and she would be the one taking leave and I'll be working.)