How Much Money Would Make You Retire?

[Sir Topham Hatt]

How much money would you have to win to retire from working?

For me, I'd probably quit my job if I won ?5 million but after a couple of years I'd get a part time job. . . maybe. It sort of depends how much interest the money would get me. If it was enough for me to comfortably live on (maybe double my current salary), then I would think about it. If not then I would simply use it to buy/build a new (but old due to my tastes) house and stuff to go in it.

[Dick Montage]

See, I'd never stop doing what I do - I'd just do it on my terms. I Can make enough from DJing to live my life, and web development is a passion too - so I'd probably take the freelance jobs I wanted. I'd never "retire". However, I know what you're getting at so I'd say yeah about ?5m. A million quid is nothing these days - my parents are millionnaires but they are not "rich".

Look at the numbers. If I were to stay on my current salary, ignoring tax rises and so on, I say I've got like 30 years more work left. That's gonna only come to about 1.5m - and if I were to retire I'd want significantly more than that.

[AbandonedTrolley]

I'm currently 35 that gives me say another 40 years in work. Not lets say I earn an average of 40k a year that means I would ideally like ?1.6 million to make up for my salary, now lets say I may get to live for another 20 years from retirement age, given my health etc I would assume a lower need of expense and let's say 30k a year, that's another 600k, so ?2.2 million for a nice steady income compairable with a decent wage. Now if we factor in buying a nice house for ?300-400k this then gets rid of any problems in later life with a mortgage etc and gives my children a little nest egg when I pass away.

How much money would you have to win to retire from working?

For me, I'd probably quit my job if I won ?5 million but after a couple of years I'd get a part time job. . . maybe. It sort of depends how much interest the money would get me. If it was enough for me to comfortably live on (maybe double my current salary), then I would think about it. If not then I would simply use it to buy/build a new (but old due to my tastes) house and stuff to go in it.

I don't understand why you would need double you salary, do you not earn enough to live currently, if so, then why would that not be enough to live on if you weren't working?

[Dick Montage]

then why would that not be enough to live on if you weren't working?

More free time = more expenditure

[AbandonedTrolley]

More free time = more expenditure

True but I still feel that some people have strange expectations of what they feel they would need.

[Japlabot]

I would want at least 2 million dollars, because if I only had 1 million dollars, then as soon as I spend any of it, I would no longer be a millionaire, and 1 million dollars is probably what an average person goes through through their entire lifetime, so by the time I'm dead I probably wouldn't have ended up much better off than working other than having more free time. I would not spend excessively, just life comfortably, invest, and leave the rest as inheritance for my children if they can be trusted (otherwise give it to charity). There would be a charity component involved anyway, it is plain greedy to have more than enough money to make ends meet and not help those who need it more than you do.

[SnoopZ]

You can easily retire on less than ?5 million, after you have bought a nice house car/cars etc unless those are costing you millions then you would easily have enough left over to invest and have a very comfortable life style.

[TheLegendOfMart]

I don't think I'd be able to just sit around and not work all day, money can't buy you a sense of pride about what you do. The money would supplement my lifestyle nothing more.

If I had too much time on my hands I think I would blow the money on all sorts of crap I don't need and eventually you would get bored of having all the money if you have everything you want and have tried everything you want to try.

?1m would be more than enough for me.

[GrayW]

Between ?7/9 Million would be quite a nice figure to retire with although in reality a lower figure would probably make me retire as well. I would however end up doing work on my terms like nic said further up.

[Gerowen]

$1 million.

I'd put $500,000 in a normal savings account and let it build interest. I'd invest $100,000 in the stock market (with guidance because I don't know enough), I'd use about $200,000 to build a nice huge house on my land out in Kentucky so I could get out of Washington, $100,000 would be put back for kids' college, and the other $100,000 would be fun money.

[Detection]

A Tenner

[Dapen]

1 Million would allow me to buy a small house, Ford Raptor SVT :D, clear our debts and start my web development business back up again to pay bills/fuel/food/etc.

[Shaun N.]

Anything over 1 million pounds. I'd work but only a couple of days a week ti give my day to day life some structure. I start forgetting the day of the week when I go on holiday and don't work.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

Between ?3 - 6m. I would keep working because I like the job I'm at. However at the same time I would invest a fair portion of it in high-interest ventures/savings accounts/bonds until I could live off the interest.

[anthdci]

1.5 million would be a nice sum for me. But I don't think I would fully retire. I would move into property, buy a collection of houses for about 1 million and rent them out so I have a constant stream of income for doing very little work. Then have the other 500,000 to buy my own house, a nice car and live comfortably.

[threetonesun]

In reality, I'll probably need a few million to retire. That said, if I had a million in a lump sum, I'd buy a house somewhere inexpensive but enjoyable, invest the rest, and work part time doing something I enjoy more.