What do you consider life changing money

saracelica

saracelica

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saracelica
What would change your life financially? You get $10 can almost buy lunch but we're pilots we've spent thousands of dollars on a hobby.

Would 100,000 change your life or how many more zeros you need
 
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Several years ago I read a study that was done on what is the perfect amount of money to win in a lottery. The answer was $25,000. It was the amount that would allow someone to do or buy something they have want or needed, but would not alter their lifestyle.
 
I have all that I need and am blessed to have it.
With more money traveling would be more frequent and exotic but that is all.
Which begs the question, why do I buy lottery tickets?
 
dbahn said:
I think that depends entirely on how much money you already have.
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agree and disagree. I think the actual person comes into play maybe as much as the money. if I won a gazillion dollars, not TOO much is going to change in my life (other than the scum that comes out of the woodwork when you suddenly have money.) well, besides buying a different plane for every day of the week, but other than that, not a whole lot will change for me. I'm not really a "thing" person. I don't need a whole lot of things that money can buy. sure the money will help, but "life changing"? I dunno. I would hire a maid to clean my house, other than that, and planes, not much else would change.
 
I'd guess most of us who have the disposable income to fly recreationally are pretty happy with where we're at. I have no desire to stop working, have a bigger house, or nicer cars. The "next level" would be being able to own & operate a cabin class aircraft of some kind, which would require being able to light a pretty big pile of money on fire. I think I'd have to have another 2.5-5MM to feel comfortable with that level of OpEx.
 
Interesting question. I’m recently retired, not worried about outliving my money given my current lifestyle, which is largely unchanged from my pre-retirement lifestyle. I’d think it would take a 30% to 50% increase in my nest egg before I’d do much of anything differently.

In my teens and 20’s, 10% would have done it.
 
eman1200 said:
agree and disagree. I think the actual person comes into play maybe as much as the money. if I won a gazillion dollars, not TOO much is going to change in my life (other than the scum that comes out of the woodwork when you suddenly have money.) well, besides buying a different plane for every day of the week, but other than that, not a whole lot will change for me. I'm not really a "thing" person. I don't need a whole lot of things that money can buy. sure the money will help, but "life changing"? I dunno. I would hire a maid to clean my house, other than that, and planes, not much else would change.
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Enough money to paint your airplane would change your life. :)
 
$5 million after tax, based on my war path and priorities.

It's mostly I don't want to have people owning me with work impositions anymore, it's not about getting rich. I don't want to wait until 60 for that freedom, 40 has been long enough.
 
Bell206 said:
Slam-dunk, don't look back: $5M.
But in reality an extra $450,000 would smooth out my retirement life quit nicely and add back the buffer I elected to forgo when I did retire a number of years ago.
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Solution: move into my basement rent free and be my personal mechanic whenever I need something done. No? Pass? I tried.
 
The irony being even though there's little I'm not willing to do for $5 million, there's actually a few people affiliated to my employment life woes I'd happily punch out for free. :D
 
Well, another million added to what I have would pretty much assure that I could continue to live my current lifestyle no matter what life throws at me.

But that's not what I would want more money for. Life isn't supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be full of decisions and trade-offs.

What I want to do is to be able to help people that really need help. Not like the government does and just throw money around, but to really help people that are down on their luck. Mostly kids. It pains me to see kids in America that can't buy lunch at school. Or kids that live with their parents in their cars. Or perhaps without their parents. But there is no amount of money that will be able to do that for everyone, so I might just limit it to my neighborhood and local schools.

That's what I daydream about when I see those multi-billion lottery payouts.
 
Life changing money for me would be family office level money, after taxes.

Less than that doesn’t really change anything for me.
 
TCABM said:
Life changing money for me would be family office level money, after taxes.

Less than that doesn’t really change anything for me.
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What is "family office level money"?
 
JOhnH said:
Well, another million added to what I have would pretty much assure that I could continue to live my current lifestyle no matter what life throws at me.

But that's not what I would want more money for. Life isn't supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be full of decisions and trade-offs.

What I want to do is to be able to help people that really need help. Not like the government does and just throw money around, but to really help people that are down on their luck. Mostly kids. It pains me to see kids in America that can't buy lunch at school. Or kids that live with their parents in their cars. Or perhaps without their parents. But there is no amount of money that will be able to do that for everyone, so I might just limit it to my neighborhood and local schools.

That's what I daydream about when I see those multi-billion lottery payouts.
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Not hookers n blow?
 
eman1200 said:
Not hookers n blow?
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I knew Henning.
Henning was a friend of mine.
But I don't chase all the same things he did.
But I do empathize with a lot of his outlooks on life.
Except for the one about using nuclear subs to provide mobile power to cities.
 
I read a statement years ago ( when 1M was considered something) I don't remember who the interview was with , but the statement left a mark with me " anyone that thinks 3 million is enough isn't someone with 3 million "
 
Bell206 said:
Slam-dunk, don't look back: $5M.
But in reality an extra $450,000 would smooth out my retirement life quit nicely and add back the buffer I elected to forgo when I did retire a number of years ago.
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Same here....I really want to downsize (the stairs are getting to me) but even the smaller homes I've looked at (Denver area) are more than what I'd make selling my house. I'm happy with the cherokee. $500,000 after taxes is sufficient. I've "retired" 4 times (I easily get bored) and go back to teaching college. That pays for the airplane. I think this retirement will take but if someone calls with a 6-figure offer, I'm there!
 
JOhnH said:
What I want to do is to be able to help people that really need help. Not like the government does and just throw money around, but to really help people that are down on their luck. Mostly kids. It pains me to see kids in America that can't buy lunch at school. Or kids that live with their parents in their cars. Or perhaps without their parents. But there is no amount of money that will be able to do that for everyone, so I might just limit it to my neighborhood and local schools.
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So if you're passionate about that, what are you doing about it right now? You don't have to wait for a gazillion bucks to help people; you can make a difference with whatever you already have.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I have all that I need and am blessed to have it.
With more money traveling would be more frequent and exotic but that is all.
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Pretty much the same here. I'm happy with my lifestyle, I don't really long for anything I don't have (or can't have), so I doubt a pile of money would be "life-changing."

More money might change the way I do some things, but probably not the things themselves, so I don't think my lifestyle would change radically. Maybe I'd fly a newer, fancier plane, but I'd still fly. Maybe I'd stay in 5-star hotels instead of 3 or 4-star when I travel, but I'd still take the same trips. Maybe I'd have a couple of more cars, but I can only drive one at a time anyway. I would do more pro bono projects with Engineering Ministries than I do now, but two a year is about the practical limit anyway.

About a decade ago, Wes Moss wrote a book called You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think. https://www.amazon.com/You-Retire-S...t=&hvlocphy=9060296&hvtargid=pla-493259108818 . One of the really interesting tidbits in the book was a study that Wes did which involved surveying retirees and asking them to rate their degree of happiness. He found that happiness does increase with the size of one's nest egg, but only to a point. The increase in happiness levels off, and it does so much lower than you might think.

Now this graph is dated, and no doubt the dollars would be higher today, but maybe not that much.

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Once a person reaches the point where they can do the things they enjoy (travel, dining out, flying, charity work, whatever) at some level, they enjoy life. When they're not able to do the things they want, they're frustrated and unhappy.

IMHO, one of the keys is to understand oneself and what's really at the core of the things you enjoy. Once you understand that, you can find ways to satisfy yourself at a financial level you can afford. For example, I really love high performance vehicles, the acceleration and most especially the handling. A Ferrari or Lambo might be a blast, but would be a stretch financially. I can (and do!) afford a sport bike that matches or beats that car performance, and costs a small fraction as much. I'd bet I have at least as much fun on my Triumph Daytona as I would in a Ferrari, and the bank account didn't even say "ouch," much less "boing."

In my younger days, acquiring a pile might have made a bigger difference if it let me clear debts and stop working. But would life have been better? I doubt it.
 
Half Fast said:
Pretty much the same here. I'm happy with my lifestyle, I don't really long for anything I don't have (or can't have), so I doubt a pile of money would be "life-changing."

More money might change the way I do some things, but probably not the things themselves, so I don't think my lifestyle would change radically. Maybe I'd fly a newer, fancier plane, but I'd still fly. Maybe I'd stay in 5-star hotels instead of 3 or 4-star when I travel, but I'd still take the same trips. Maybe I'd have a couple of more cars, but I can only drive one at a time anyway. I would do more pro bono projects with Engineering Ministries than I do now, but two a year is about the practical limit anyway.

About a decade ago, Wes Moss wrote a book called You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think. https://www.amazon.com/You-Retire-S...t=&hvlocphy=9060296&hvtargid=pla-493259108818 . One of the really interesting tidbits in the book was a study that Wes did which involved surveying retirees and asking them to rate their degree of happiness. He found that happiness does increase with the size of one's nest egg, but only to a point. The increase in happiness levels off, and it does so much lower than you might think.

Now this graph is dated, and no doubt the dollars would be higher today, but maybe not that much.

​
Once a person reaches the point where they can do the things they enjoy (travel, dining out, flying, charity work, whatever) at some level, they enjoy life. When they're not able to do the things they want, they're frustrated and unhappy.

IMHO, one of the keys is to understand oneself and what's really at the core of the things you enjoy. Once you understand that, you can find ways to satisfy yourself at a financial level you can afford. For example, I really love high performance vehicles, the acceleration and most especially the handling. A Ferrari or Lambo might be a blast, but would be a stretch financially. I can (and do!) afford a sport bike that matches or beats that car performance, and costs a small fraction as much. I'd bet I have at least as much fun on my Triumph Daytona as I would in a Ferrari, and the bank account didn't even say "ouch," much less "boing."

In my younger days, acquiring a pile might have made a bigger difference if it let me clear debts and stop working. But would life have been better? I doubt it.
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Yep, substitution value. It's the reason I enjoy the RV line very much.
 
JOhnH said:
What is "family office level money"?
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Where the investments annually return enough to live off of plus pay 3-4 full time staff who do nothing but make sure you don’t have to worry about not being able to make the impact you want to make.
 
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