Are you in the business of disappearing photos by any chance?
Ask HN: How much money is enough?
11–20 of 24 posts
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#12Probably 7 million after taxes. The first million will buy you a decent house. The next million will let you buy other materialistic goods and/or give away. The next 5 million can go into a very safe savings account which will net you 6 figures a year in interest. With 7 million, you should be set for life with a decent lifestyle.
OP does not need 1 million to buy a house unless he wants to live in New York or SF. One million for material goods is plenty but it will not be enough if he wants to live a very extravagant life. Assuming 4% return on the rest, next 5 million will give you around $200k which is way above US median income.
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#13When related to happiness, some have said (annually) $75,000: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2012/07/27/how-muc... Others claim $161,0000: http://www.cnbc.com/id/50027184 There was a good study about diminishing marginal utility of wealth I read a while back. I'll see if I can find and post it. Don't quote me on this, but I think $5M was a good number.
Yea, I believe the most common number was $70k/$75k per year depending on the report. After that, it's mostly diminishing returns.
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#14Probably 7 million after taxes. The first million will buy you a decent house. The next million will let you buy other materialistic goods and/or give away. The next 5 million can go into a very safe savings account which will net you 6 figures a year in interest. With 7 million, you should be set for life with a decent lifestyle.
The 100k+ yearly interest is what makes this so appealing as a minimum. By doing nothing, you earn close to the median full time software engineering income. Consider the interest a payment of 2000 hours per year to do what you want.
If you have a 7mm offer, and less than 1mm in net worth, take the deal (not, of course, before asking for more money).
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#15I actually retired at age 40 with less than 700k. My wife and I own a house. We both moved back to Canada, so we don't worry about health care costs. And, we really don't spend money on much. I figured our food/living costs comes out to $1000 a month. We don't have kids or any other big expenses. We're pretty frugal too. Anyways, it all depends. Some will tell you 7 million. That's fucking absurd. If that was true, h…
Thanks for answering. Out of curiosity, did the 700k include the house?
My company is quite small. It can maintain it and have a relatively stable income, but I'm not sure if I have the motivation to keep working on it due to other changes in my life.
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#16Don't forget to factor your age into the equation. The more years you have left to invest and/or earn more, the less you really need. And don't forget to think about your skill with money too. The younger you are, the longer time you will have to avoid wasting away your fortune. If you are smart with money then you will need less than someone who is not.
thanks
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#17What is the future potential of the business? Do you personally have what it takes to lead it to that potential? Are you a starter, who gets bored after the technically hard parts are solved? Would the proceeds, if invested in a combination of bonds and dividend bearing stocks, provide an annual income that you could live on in a modest manner for the rest of your life? By this I don't mean SF, NY or London but a nic…
I don't have the potential to turn it into a tremendously lucrative company without sacrificing some of the principles that are important to me: non-recurring billing, a non-aggressive sales channel, etc.
I'm not sure if selling is in itself a violation of those principles since the buyer would likely want to be more aggressive, which is why I am not sure about the prospects of a sale. That said, I have also been in the industry for about 7 years and am frankly getting tired of it, so I'm curious how people view numbers. Based on a revenue multiplier, the sale price would be high 6-figures, low 7-figures max. So not exactly move-to-Antigua, but certainly a break from struggling to pay rent while getting the company going.
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#18Are you in the business of disappearing photos by any chance?
No, nothing that lucrative I'm sure. :)
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#19you should think about life extension and plan things not for the common 100 but much longer if you are thinking of not working again.
in a general sense, id like to have as much money as needed to travel every month for two weeks to some nice destination without super luxury
Re: Ask HN: How much money is enough?
#20Probably 7 million after taxes. The first million will buy you a decent house. The next million will let you buy other materialistic goods and/or give away. The next 5 million can go into a very safe savings account which will net you 6 figures a year in interest. With 7 million, you should be set for life with a decent lifestyle.
I think I once decided I could live happily from £3 million.
To pay off the current house would cost me £50k, then spend half a million to buy a huge house to live in, along with all the gadgets, furniture, and solid wood you could need. After that spend 4x100k to buy four more houses.
That leaves £2 million to live off, plus the rental income of five properties, and a spare 100k to cover emergency repairs, and furnishings for the rental places.
If I won/earned/received £2 million I would probably need to keep working, unless investments did exceptionally well, but £3 would be sufficient for myself and partner.