Would you remain mustachian if you suddenly acquired great wealth?

[davisgang90]

I would cancel my life insurance, buy an acreage on which to build a house and travel more.

[2Cent]

Retire. Depending on how much would set up my family members as retired as well and keep a fund for family emergencies which are sure to end on my doorstep if everyone knows I have a lot of money. Would start a school for underprivileged kids in India.

[DadJokes]

It would just move up my FI date and plans. I would still adhere to the 4% rule (though probably a more conservative 3.5% or so) whenever I did stop working.

If it was even more than I needed for FI, I would probably also pay off my mortgage.

[Jesse@Papermonger]

I consider "great wealth" in this scenario to be >$10 million, because it's only at that point that I could see myself changing the FIRE plan. First, we'd spend a reasonable amount on a wealth management advisor to keep us from doing anything foolish. Other than that, we probably would practice "stealth wealth" and keep it a secret from everyone. We would probably adopt more children than we'd otherwise have, since we could FIRE immediately and completely devote our time to it. After the money has been allowed to grow for a few decades, we would probably start or buy a memory care facility, since that's an issue close to our hearts.

[jps]

I would remain pretty mustachian, as far as you mean by your question. The only thing I would do differently in the first year is probably pay off my mortgage. We have the house we want and the lifestyle we want - I can't imagine that we'd be happier by driving more or eating out more.

[A Fella from Stella]

It happened to us.  We went from having a few hundred thousand NW to a few million overnight, thanks to stock options. I wish I could say we remained mustachian, but we didn’t. We upgraded housing and I left work for almost 2 years to SAH. A few years later, we’ve settled down somewhat, but I would be beyond embarrassed to post our spending here.  I love these forums and draw a lot of inspiration from them. But I don’t practice as much as I used to.

Good for you! That's awesome.

If I was staying in suburbia, I'd probably replace the old van with a new one instead of trying to stretch it out until it dies (hopefully when we no longer need a van). I would leave my job and take my wife on a cruise from Paris to Budapest like she's always wanted.

$100k in everyone's college fund, but reminding them that what's left over is for their kids.

Something I'd love to do is get Tesla roofs for family members' homes. Less pollution while enriching those I love would be an awesome use of the money. Very anti-mustachian, though.

[J.R. Ewing]

I'd crank up the travel while I'm still young enough to enjoy it.  The rest would get donated. 

[Blue Skies]

It would greatly depend on the amount.  We are pretty far away from our FIRE number at this point.  If it got us just past that, retire immediately while maintaining the expected budget.  If not, it would just push up the expected timeline.  If it got us to more than 1.5x our FIRE number, the extra would allow for more travel and would be used to help our siblings and their children who are not as financially well off as we are.  I would love to plan some extended family trips as well.

In terms of material things... I can't really think of anything else I would buy.  I'm happy with our house and cars.  Our current lifestyle is great.  I do love travel though, so I could always plan more of that!

[FunkyChopstick]

I'd love to say that it would be business as normal but that would depend on the amount. Overall I would stay the same BUT my guilty pleasure would be taking a nice long vacation with my husband and buying a Tesla. No shame here.

....I would also do the grownup things for long term financial sustainability.

[MoneyTree]

I think it depends on where I am at in the FIRE journey after the windfall.

If I am still below my fire number after the windfall, nothing would change. This actually happened to me, and is exactly what I did, albeit for a MUCH smaller amount than you are describing.

if it pushes me a bit past my FIRE number, I'd downshift to either part time or freelance for a bit, to test the waters of RE and also to provide a little bit of extra padding to the number. aiming for a more conservative SWR.

If it pushes me well past my FIRE number, well into FAT FIRE territory, I probably wouldn't get MORE stuff, but I would slowly start upgrading the stuff that I already have to better, higher quality versions, but even so, I'd only do so in a way that allows me to remain within a conservative SWR.

[Herbert Derp]

I would keep my annual spending within 3% of invested assets. If I can afford to have a yacht, private jet, etc and still keep my spending at a sustainable rate then fuck yeah let's do it. "Underspending" is the same as just giving my money away. Does that count as mustachian?

I think the worst thing about having that kind of a windfall would be ego problems due to having money that I didn't earn myself. Part of me would probably be disappointed that I was not "strong enough" to have acquired the money on my own. It wouldn't stop me from spending it, though!

[DadJokes]

I would keep my annual spending within 3% of invested assets. If I can afford to have a yacht, private jet, etc and still keep my spending at a sustainable rate then fuck yeah let's do it. "Underspending" is the same as just giving my money away. Does that count as mustachian?

I think the worst thing about having that kind of a windfall would be ego problems due to having money that I didn't earn myself. Part of me would probably be disappointed that I was not "strong enough" to have acquired the money on my own. It wouldn't stop me from spending it, though!

There's certainly nothing wrong with giving money away, if it's going to be put to good use. I'd sooner give excess money to a charity I support than buy something I won't get much use out of.

[keepingfocus]

Reformed spendypants here who has made more life mistakes than she cares to mention and is still dealing with some financial fallout. If I suddenly had a million at my disposal I would get some long overdue house repairs and renovations done, and pay off all our remaining debts/mortgage (everything is at low interest rates but my personal preference would be to just see the back of all of it). We wouldn't move as we both love our home.  I can guarantee that DH would want to upgrade our 12 year old 196k miles on the clock car to a newer car and replace a few key household items with better quality/working versions. This would allow us to invest around 850k and put us in a really good place to start thinking about FIRE. We would definitely consider relaxing the budget and spending more on groceries, travel, and personal health related stuff, but this would depend on how the numbers worked out.

If we were talking multiple millions, there would be a LOT more travel.

[undercover]

I don't see why it would. Even billionaires don't live drastically different lives than the average person. You pretty much are who you are so your tendencies are going to be the exact same whether you have little money or lots of money. Money just exaggerates your personality so to speak.

First thing that comes into my mind is travel more but the mind and body can only tolerate so much travel (even if your tolerance is extremely high). I think most people value routine and having a place to wake up in familiarity and get things done without having the unnecessary external trivialities of having to settle into a new location all the time.

But I don't live under some stupid "spending" rule either. I think as long as spending is commensurate with income/net worth then you can spend whatever the hell you're comfortable in spending. Most products that cost more are not any more destructive to the environment if that's a concern. They're just pricier because they're "nicer". Consumerism/marketing does a fine job of convincing someone that what they have isn't as good as what they could have when in reality what they have is more than enough. I think Tesla is the master of this in the past decade. A Tesla does not fundamentally offer a different experience than a $2k beater yet people still think they need or want it due to the novelty or perceived value of it. So yeah, even though you can now spend on nicer things, it's not going to make you any happier or any more satisfied in life.

The only things in life that can make you satisfied long term are finding good work you enjoy, having people you enjoy being around, and having good health. Money honestly cannot buy any of those things. Health, to an extent, sure, but people are generally healthy or not as determined by genetics.

"Having" to find ways to spend $100k a year sounds extremely exhausting to me as it is, much less any more than that. I'd say my most content/happiest days are just lounging around the house.

[six-car-habit]

  reasonable wealth - enough to fire now - probably

  great wealth - enough for the whole neighborhood to fire - probably not - the flesh and the mind are weak, covetous, and would want to experience things i could not experience on a 'mustachian' lifestyle.

[Villanelle]

You can be balanced.  I make a ton of money and I went through the "BMW" phase.  I still have the big house (well over $1M) but it's not outrageous considering my income and savings rate (about 75%).  I drive a Nissan Leaf and we spend less on food than food stamps provides.  My point?  Spending money doesn't always make you happy.  Some things do.  Like my house.  Very happy.  Worth every penny.  It's the utmost in anti-mustachian, but I fucking love it and every single day I come home I just have a big smile on my face.  Worth every penny.  My fancy cars?  No.  Felt wasteful and stupid.  Going out to eat all the time?  Same.  I found that living much more simply (call it mustachian) and frugal wasn't really about retiring early, it was about trying not to use money to make you happy constantly throughout the day.  Yes, we have our big house, but our daily life is pretty darn frugal and we don't do that with retirement goals in mind, we do it because it's a really great way to live and our happiness has increased substantially because of it.

It's an interesting topic, because there is a HUGE difference in mindset between people who have the money and those that don't.  We all THINK we know what we would or wouldn't do.  I started my adult life broke as can be, and used to tell my friend how I'd never buy a fancy car even if I had the money.  Sounds like a lot of posts here.... Yet when I started being very successful, I was driving an $80,000 car.  My friend pointed that out...  It took me some time to get that out of my system.  You really don't know what you'll do and FOMO can seriously set in and mess with your head.

Meh.  Sure, there's a difference between imagining it and assuming you'll act in a way perfectly aligned with your current values, and then actually doing it.  But plenty of people here spend far less than they make, so they have some fairly concrete evidence that they are capable of that restraint.  The 2000 Toyota Echo I just sold was typically a car that would be owned by someone really struggling financially.  I could have easily bought a car wither 20 times what that Echo was (and it still wouldn't have been an extravagant vehicle at that price--about $25,000!) but I didn't, in part because I just don't care about cars.  My only complaint about the Echo was road noise, although in a dream world I would also want keyless entry if I cold find it on an otherwise modest car. 

So is it likely I'd go out and buy a--I car so little about cars I don't even really know what to use an an example of luxury!--Tesla or high end Mercedes or a Ferrari?  No, it's not. 

Plenty of us here already fall into the "those who have money" category, rather than "those who don't" and we now we are capable of and inclined toward restraint.  Why would we assume that all of that would dry up if the number got bigger, especially sine the OP isn't talking about billions or even tens of millions?

[YK-Phil]

An unexpected event like this would not change my lifestyle, but it would allow me to build my retirement home on our fully-paid acreage now AND keep our fully-paid condo in the city. Right now, we enjoy having the condo as our pied-a-terre (really more like a glorified storage room but we cannot build our little country home until we sell the condo, so in the meantime, the acreage is vacant, not that it is a bad thing as its value has almost doubled since we bought it six years ago, and so it the value of our condo.

[Gerard]

I would stop taking flights that leave at 5 am.

[EngagedToFIRE]

You can be balanced.  I make a ton of money and I went through the "BMW" phase.  I still have the big house (well over $1M) but it's not outrageous considering my income and savings rate (about 75%).  I drive a Nissan Leaf and we spend less on food than food stamps provides.  My point?  Spending money doesn't always make you happy.  Some things do.  Like my house.  Very happy.  Worth every penny.  It's the utmost in anti-mustachian, but I fucking love it and every single day I come home I just have a big smile on my face.  Worth every penny.  My fancy cars?  No.  Felt wasteful and stupid.  Going out to eat all the time?  Same.  I found that living much more simply (call it mustachian) and frugal wasn't really about retiring early, it was about trying not to use money to make you happy constantly throughout the day.  Yes, we have our big house, but our daily life is pretty darn frugal and we don't do that with retirement goals in mind, we do it because it's a really great way to live and our happiness has increased substantially because of it.

It's an interesting topic, because there is a HUGE difference in mindset between people who have the money and those that don't.  We all THINK we know what we would or wouldn't do.  I started my adult life broke as can be, and used to tell my friend how I'd never buy a fancy car even if I had the money.  Sounds like a lot of posts here.... Yet when I started being very successful, I was driving an $80,000 car.  My friend pointed that out...  It took me some time to get that out of my system.  You really don't know what you'll do and FOMO can seriously set in and mess with your head.

Meh.  Sure, there's a difference between imagining it and assuming you'll act in a way perfectly aligned with your current values, and then actually doing it.  But plenty of people here spend far less than they make, so they have some fairly concrete evidence that they are capable of that restraint.  The 2000 Toyota Echo I just sold was typically a car that would be owned by someone really struggling financially.  I could have easily bought a car wither 20 times what that Echo was (and it still wouldn't have been an extravagant vehicle at that price--about $25,000!) but I didn't, in part because I just don't care about cars.  My only complaint about the Echo was road noise, although in a dream world I would also want keyless entry if I cold find it on an otherwise modest car. 

So is it likely I'd go out and buy a--I car so little about cars I don't even really know what to use an an example of luxury!--Tesla or high end Mercedes or a Ferrari?  No, it's not. 

Plenty of us here already fall into the "those who have money" category, rather than "those who don't" and we now we are capable of and inclined toward restraint.  Why would we assume that all of that would dry up if the number got bigger, especially sine the OP isn't talking about billions or even tens of millions?

I hear ya.  But something to consider.  Which is our situation.  You ALREADY have FIRE money but don't have any interest in FIRE since you are already FI basically semi-retired running your business that you love doing.  Are you not more likely to splurge on some things?  I get that you don't like cars, but maybe something that you do like?  My point was that when you don't have the means, it's easy to say you wouldn't splurge a bit.  I was exactly the same way as well.  I think what is more likely is people act mustachian relative to their income.  In other words, we are very mustachian considering our income (save 75%).  But we are pretty extreme spendypants compared to MMM levels.  I'm sure some people would like to live at ultra mustachian levels, but I think that's probably the exception more than the rule.  If most of the people here came in to substantial funds and hit all of their FIRE goals, I think they'd be more than happy going on spendypants trips, or buying a dream classic car, etc. etc.  Why not?

[Cookie78]

What I would really enjoy is to give more. Depending on how many millions it would be nice to set up an ongoing fund of some sort.

I'd sell my houses ASAP without a single care about the craptastic prices I could get for them right now.
I really like one of my houses, but not the location, so I may buy something else in a rural area closer to family (and build a bigger greenhouse). But probably not right away.
I'd quit my job immediately so I could focus on multiple hobbies and goals I don't have time for.
I don't think I'd do anything else differently.

[Villanelle]

You can be balanced.  I make a ton of money and I went through the "BMW" phase.  I still have the big house (well over $1M) but it's not outrageous considering my income and savings rate (about 75%).  I drive a Nissan Leaf and we spend less on food than food stamps provides.  My point?  Spending money doesn't always make you happy.  Some things do.  Like my house.  Very happy.  Worth every penny.  It's the utmost in anti-mustachian, but I fucking love it and every single day I come home I just have a big smile on my face.  Worth every penny.  My fancy cars?  No.  Felt wasteful and stupid.  Going out to eat all the time?  Same.  I found that living much more simply (call it mustachian) and frugal wasn't really about retiring early, it was about trying not to use money to make you happy constantly throughout the day.  Yes, we have our big house, but our daily life is pretty darn frugal and we don't do that with retirement goals in mind, we do it because it's a really great way to live and our happiness has increased substantially because of it.

It's an interesting topic, because there is a HUGE difference in mindset between people who have the money and those that don't.  We all THINK we know what we would or wouldn't do.  I started my adult life broke as can be, and used to tell my friend how I'd never buy a fancy car even if I had the money.  Sounds like a lot of posts here.... Yet when I started being very successful, I was driving an $80,000 car.  My friend pointed that out...  It took me some time to get that out of my system.  You really don't know what you'll do and FOMO can seriously set in and mess with your head.

Meh.  Sure, there's a difference between imagining it and assuming you'll act in a way perfectly aligned with your current values, and then actually doing it.  But plenty of people here spend far less than they make, so they have some fairly concrete evidence that they are capable of that restraint.  The 2000 Toyota Echo I just sold was typically a car that would be owned by someone really struggling financially.  I could have easily bought a car wither 20 times what that Echo was (and it still wouldn't have been an extravagant vehicle at that price--about $25,000!) but I didn't, in part because I just don't care about cars.  My only complaint about the Echo was road noise, although in a dream world I would also want keyless entry if I cold find it on an otherwise modest car. 

So is it likely I'd go out and buy a--I car so little about cars I don't even really know what to use an an example of luxury!--Tesla or high end Mercedes or a Ferrari?  No, it's not. 

Plenty of us here already fall into the "those who have money" category, rather than "those who don't" and we now we are capable of and inclined toward restraint.  Why would we assume that all of that would dry up if the number got bigger, especially sine the OP isn't talking about billions or even tens of millions?

I hear ya.  But something to consider.  Which is our situation.  You ALREADY have FIRE money but don't have any interest in FIRE since you are already FI basically semi-retired running your business that you love doing.  Are you not more likely to splurge on some things?  I get that you don't like cars, but maybe something that you do like?  My point was that when you don't have the means, it's easy to say you wouldn't splurge a bit.  I was exactly the same way as well.  I think what is more likely is people act mustachian relative to their income.  In other words, we are very mustachian considering our income (save 75%).  But we are pretty extreme spendypants compared to MMM levels.  I'm sure some people would like to live at ultra mustachian levels, but I think that's probably the exception more than the rule.  If most of the people here came in to substantial funds and hit all of their FIRE goals, I think they'd be more than happy going on spendypants trips, or buying a dream classic car, etc. etc.  Why not?

It seems like most of the responses here have mentioned a few splurges.  More travel, a nicer house, better flights, charity.  So yes, I think we are more likely to splurge on things, but to me that's not the same as abandoning mustachianism. 

[js82]

It's all relative(I'm assuming "great wealth" here means at least a ways into 7 figures, possibly low 8 figures).  My spending rate relative to my income/total assets would almost certainly be lower on a percentage basis, but substantially higher on an absolute basis.

Would I buy "nicer" stuff?  Absolutely, in certain cases.  Fly business class on occasion instead of shopping for the lowest coach fares?  Yep.  Would I drive a Bugatti around town because FU I'm Rich?  Nah.

This topic comes up from time to time on other threads in these forums - on some level being "mustachian" isn't about being ultra-frugal, so much as it's about being mindful about how you spend your money(and time!) and what truly brings happiness/meaning to you personally.

The only things in life that can make you satisfied long term are finding good work you enjoy, having people you enjoy being around, and having good health. Money honestly cannot buy any of those things. Health, to an extent, sure, but people are generally healthy or not as determined by genetics.

I'd amend this statement slightly:  replace "finding good work you enjoy" with "doing things you enjoy/find meaningful".  I'd also submit that while there are many things money can't buy, it can very much help you buy one thing in particular:  TIME.  At some level that's the FIRE movement distilled down to its most basic essence - earn enough wealth such that you have the freedom to dictate the terms of your own life and do what you want to do, and not be forced to do things you'd rather not do due to financial constraints.

[EngagedToFIRE]

This topic comes up from time to time on other threads in these forums - on some level being "mustachian" isn't about being ultra-frugal, so much as it's about being mindful about how you spend your money(and time!) and what truly brings happiness/meaning to you personally.

This!  I think too many think of mustachian as simply being super frugal, but if you actually read all of the posts, that's not really what it's about at all.

[Mini-Mer]

I'd have an easier time spending great wealth, weirdly.  I remember a profile of a lottery winner who decided to fund major theater projects with his winnings, and he struck me as an extremely sensible person.  His passion isn't mine, but I can think of a number of non-profits that might do interesting work with stable infrastructure or capital-F Funding.  I would set up a vehicle to funnel money to those, and spend myself down to just plain 'wealth'.

I started out on the simple living side of things, so I expect wealth would give me a slightly more expensive life that looks a whole lot like my current one.  I could see upgrading my home to a better floorplan for aging in place and/or electric vehicles and/or gardening, maybe?  Maybe less optimized for a job commute.  On the high end of 'wealthy', I would hire someone to clean the bathtub.  Luxury!  And as another poster already mentioned, airplane flights that don't require getting up in the middle of the night sound lovely. 

[HenryDavid]

My motivation is environmental, not financial. Being frugal and retired-early came about as a by-product of trying to reduce waste of all kinds--transportation, housing, food, clothes etc. When you aim to use half to a quarter of the natural resources most North Americans consume, but you still have a normal job . . . you instantly save GIANT PILES OF CASH. And also lose interest in spending more. So you "retire."

To answer the question: I would use my new sudden wealth to fund climate change mitigation stuff. Enormous reforestation projects to start with.
Because climate change is gonna change all of our lives. It already is. And life "as we know it and live it today" simply won't go on as it has. One thing I can do as a private citizen is to live a little bit more like _most humans_ live. And most humans don't get to spend the resources North Americans do!

[FIREstache]

This topic comes up from time to time on other threads in these forums - on some level being "mustachian" isn't about being ultra-frugal, so much as it's about being mindful about how you spend your money(and time!) and what truly brings happiness/meaning to you personally.

This!  I think too many think of mustachian as simply being super frugal, but if you actually read all of the posts, that's not really what it's about at all.

Some of us don't even claim the word mustachian or concern ourselves with its various definitions.  I was very frugal and investing way before I ever heard of MMM, as I mentioned earlier.  Nothing changed here for me.  I would give more to charity and not splurge at all.

[EngagedToFIRE]

The funny thing is, OP's example of "great wealth" is a BMW and a $500k house.  If that's the type of wealth we are discussing, I'd put it all in VTSAX.

[FireHiker]

If I suddenly had a really large windfall where I could retire tomorrow and still have extra money to splurge, I might buy a Tesla. I'd stay at nicer places when I travel. I'd give to charity more, help out people close to me with college, etc. I might eat out a little more. I think I would move from mustachian-lite (where I currently consider myself) to Boglehead in some things, after careful consideration. I wouldn't do anything drastic or all at once, but realistically I'd expect some lifestyle creep if I suddenly acquired a large influx of cash and could retire with extra to spare.

[Just Joe]

Pay off the house and buy something to take to the lake. Maybe replace car #2 with something electric and drive it more than the other car. Focus on hobbies for me, travel with the family. From the outside ti would look pretty much the same. Already love where we live.

Whether we quit working or not depends on the size of the windfall.

[Cranky]

To be honest - I don't think MMM is all that frugal. He has a pretty nice house in a pretty nice neighborhood, and does a ton of traveling, even if he counts that as a "business expense". Frankly, his lifestyle has always been a lot flashier than mine.

He's frugal about food because it seems like that's something he doesn't care much about to begin with.

[EngagedToFIRE]

To be honest - I don't think MMM is all that frugal. He has a pretty nice house in a pretty nice neighborhood, and does a ton of traveling, even if he counts that as a "business expense". Frankly, his lifestyle has always been a lot flashier than mine.

He's frugal about food because it seems like that's something he doesn't care much about to begin with.

I think MMM is "realistically frugal" or "practical frugal" - and that's pretty much what all his writings are about.  That it shouldn't be crazy or frowned upon to be responsible and practical.  Not spending all of your money on a car is not an extreme concept!  I've never thought of him as LeanFIRE or extreme.

[Cavechild]

It happened to me.  Company I helped start grew, then went IPO, then took off.

For the decade prior, we had nice things, but not crazy nice.  Took 2 nice vacations.  Saved a lot.  Could have been more, but we both liked our jobs so adding a few years until we could RE didn't matter.

Now, we take 3 nice vacations a year.  Paid off house.  Fully funded college for kids.  I skillfully transitioned my job to one with little responsibility and flexible hours.  Only 2 splurges.  I bought an executive demo Cayman for my daily drive and wife bought a 8 year old convertible for sunny days.  I live in a neighborhood of Tesla's, so my Porsche is still the least expensive car on the block.

I'm still won't pay for upgraded seats, economy plus is fine with me.  I hate 5 Star hotels.

[CindyBS]

I would be hesitant to go over the top mostly because I wouldn't want it to get weird with friends and family.  This is assuming the fact I became mega wealthy was not known by others.

I would probably hire a cleaning service and go out to eat more.  I'd definitely take more vacations.  But to go from not very materialistic/consumeristic to a spendypants overnight.  Nope - I hate shopping and too much "stuff" (clutter) causes anxiety. 

[bacchi]

I'm still won't pay for upgraded seats, economy plus is fine with me.  I hate 5 Star hotels.

Yeah, that's actually something that I will spend on: economy plus seats for long flights. My knees can't take being cramped for so long. I'm starting to travel more by train now anyway.

Agree about the 5 star hotels. Not impressed.

I'd also accelerate energy efficiency improvements, like installing solar panels on a rental house and installing a heat-pump water heater.

If I had transformative money, I'd sprinkle it around to charities. Work on solving the homeless population with something like this:

https://kbzk.com/cnn-national/2019/03/26/a-suburbia-for-the-homeless-exists-and-they-can-live-there-forever/

And make that concept more viable for non-homeless as well.

[CNM]

Depending on how much we're talking, I'd want to do the following in this order:
1. Retire
2. have my spouse retire
3. buy a nicer house
4. get a nicer car for my spouse to use

[Drink Coffee And Stack Money]

If we were handed $1MM today, on top of what we already have, I can see three things happening.

1) I'm sure my wife would give a 90 day notice and retire. (90 days because she loves the company she works for and wouldn't want to leave her boss hanging)
2) I'd buy the restored 1968 Dodge Charger R/T I've been dreaming about for a decade but am to frugal (cheap) to buy.
3) The wife and I would finally take that month long vacation to Switzerland/Germany/Austria that we've put off for far too long already.

Other than that, I think life would probably go on as normal. I definitely have no desire to stop working, although I may explore my options a bit.

[ericrugiero]

I don't think our day to day spending would change that much but we would have a few splurges.  We would probably own nicer cars but still nothing outrageous.  We would take more vacations.  The biggest immediate difference for us is that I would RE.  We would give a lot more to charity and would still be reasonably frugal.  I just don't like to waste things.   

[Villanelle]

Amending my answer to say i would 100% pay someone to clean the results of my basement flood!   At the moment, that would feel life changing!

And while I'm being somewhat glib, that's actually exactly the kinds of changes we would make.  Buying three pairs of the  incredibly comfortable pair of Clark's I got on sale and love, so I have them when these wear out.  Buying plane tickets out of the close airport (15 minutes away) instead of the far airport (an hour) even if the overall costs is slightly more (but not hundreds more).  Hiring a house cleaner before my mom visits :lol. 

Probably a couple thousand dollars more per year in small things. 

[Fishindude]

Great wealth to me would mean a windfall of at least $5 mil.   I'd probably square away the kids and immediate family that needed it so they would have less long term concerns and be able to retire, then I would buy a bunch more land and possibly tear down and upgrade the house.    I'd really like to buy out all of my neighbors, bulldoze their houses and let it go back to farmland or nature, owning a vast area with no close neighbors.

[2Cent]

Or something like this:
https://www.demilked.com/couple-replant-forest-sebastiao-leila-salgado-reforestation/

[BudgetSlasher]

Does mustachian mean living on a set amount of money (for example, $30,000) or does it mean living on significantly less than one's income (for example 50%)?

If I came into multiple million dollar and invested like my existing money the income (interest and dividends) could easily exceed my current income.

So, if my investment income suddenly became triple my current income does spending only 50% of that investment make me mustachian even if that is a 3 fold increase in my current spending?

In reality (assuming it is enough to retire me and increase my income) I would spend more (compared to today) but still below the income and I would still save the income to make big purchases. And being retired and not needing to save I might make some spending increases.

[Sibley]

Daily lifestyle would remain pretty much the same. I would use a chunk of money for various house or other projects. Depending on the amount, switch to part time at work.

[blackomen]

Yes, although I'll likely increase my spending subject to the 4% withdrawal rate.. as long as my new level of spending can be sustained on a 4% withdrawal rate, it's fair game.

[KBecks]

I would still value a simple life, but probably spend more on the basics to be higher quality and more aesthetically pleasing.

[Bernard]

Depends on the money.

First up, buying a $500K house would mean moving into a run-down 890sqft shack in the ghetto part of town. Would not want to live there. What YOU consider a $500K house is probably a $2,5M house here in my neighborhood, so a beautiful 1-acre property, with a charming 4 +3 and a 3-car garage.

Sure I'd buy that, but in order to spend $2,5M on the house and then $30K per year in property takes, the windfall would have to be at least $5M to $6M. If I get a million tomorrow, nothing changes. If I get 2M, my wife would stop working. Above that, we'd upgrade our house, take a few vacations, and be less stressed knowing that we'll be okay for life.

I hate BMWs. If I got $6M, I'd probably invest a bit of it in a 4-wheeled toy as well.

[Money Badger]

Ahhh, the classic dilemma "If we had a huge windfall from inheritance, lottery, etc...."    In general, with age comes wisdom with a desire for LESS stuff based on how my 50-something old peers all seem to lean.    Experiences and personal comfort win over stuff.

@WynnDuffy73,  First off, I hope it actually pans out.   If you aren't participating in the family business, I certainly hope you have the right legal basis, paperwork and/or relationships with the family that are running it to actually receive a share.   Funny how inheritances work with siblings.   What the parent or uncle/aunt intended suddenly becomes secondary to "the business" when the chips are down and equity distribution occurs.   More importantly to consider assuming all this settles to your benefit, people who are successful create businesses or work on a mission that is constructive.   A great example would be Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation created by someone who transformed from a "for technology profit" mission to a "for humanity" mission.     So what "constructive mission" would you have if you were a "made individual" without concern for money?   Buying "stuff-for-stuff's sake" is usually just a band-aid on that gaping self-inflicted wound on your soul caused by ignoring your mission.

[Metalcat]

Does mustachian mean living on a set amount of money (for example, $30,000) or does it mean living on significantly less than one's income (for example 50%)?

None of the above.

It means living a better life through less wasteful spending.
It means realizing that the way that most people do things is expensive and not particularly rewarding.

It's figuring out your own happiness.

What that means in terms of numbers is up to you.

[BTDretire]

I would acquire a fairly large building, put in lots of power tools, including machining tools, lathe, mills, drill presses and more. Throw in some woodworking tools. I would also have a science section for building and doing any of the neat physics, chemical, mechanical experiments you might see on Youtube.
 I would hire a machinist, physicist, electronics guys, analog and digital and whoever I needed to do the work/play that I was interested in. All these people would be interested in training me, because I want to be in on all the fun.
  But I expect I'll just continue with what I have. :-)

PS. My son is just about to graduate with a chemical engineering degree, I would give him a few years to poke around and see what it is he wants to do, and then set him up with what equipment he might need.

[NorthernMonkey]

I hate driving. If I had ~£10m, I'd hire someone to drive me about while I napped in the passenger seat

[DadJokes]

I hate driving. If I had ~£10m, I'd hire someone to drive me about while I napped in the passenger seat

Fully autonomous self-driving cars can't get here soon enough.