Would it depend on income? Like if you are making enough that it's silly to walk away?
I don't spend much
I enjoy work but my job is all consuming. I don't think I'd want any other type of job though, since I really care about autonomy and being responsible for outcomes
Evidence says NO. Bill gates had $120B and didn’t retire. Jeff Bezos had $100B and didn’t reire. Same with Musk.
And less not forget Warren Buffett. He enjoys what he is doing.
Anyone who says no is either lying, already has/makes more than that, or really, really likes their job! You could put the $20M in a federal money market mutual fund, and it will currently yield over $1M per year in interest.
Since the question is whether or not to retire, it's a no-brainer unless you're already making more.
What do you and your spouse do that you make 2 million a year? That is rarefied air for someone in their 30s. My wife and I are both physicians and we make around 850k a year combined (me 700k, her 150k part time). My best guesses would be:
I think that one thing that is overlooked is, based on what you do and where you work, how would your work situation change if everyone knows you have that much money at age 38, and do they know you can walk away?
If you work in a very successful law firm, surrounded by people with some or great wealth, it might not matter.
If you work in a rural or inner-city high school, no matter how much you might love the work, the dynamic is going to change so greatly that continuing in that environment might not be so easy.
What do you and your spouse do to make almost 2 million a year?
We make north of 600k and unfortunately in the DC area feel solidly upper middle class although I know this is not the case, especially nationally. However, we dont send our kids to private schools, drive fancy cars or take extravagant vacations. I would love to become a snow bird in my 50s, splitting time between Florida and the Jersey Shore but those days are at least 10+ years to go.
I think some people are addicted to working and it validates their sense of being (see football coaches working well into their 70s). 20 million is absolutely enough to retire on and live a wealthy lifestyle while still passing wealth down to your kids. You keep working if you want generational wealth I guess where your grandkids and their kids are also set for life.
I’m in my early 40s with > $20M liquid (in my brokerage account) and no mortgage on my house. My family’s burn rate is pretty high, and my job isn’t miserable, so I still work. I’ll probably retire before I turn 50.
Liquid, absolutley. Just at your standard 5% CD rate right now, you could earn 1 million just in interest alone. Not to mention when you are above a certain threshold money wise (deposit) some places give you a higher rate. Not saying this is the correct decision, but just merely showing what is possible currently.
Of course it would depend on the individual. It is probably best for the mental health of most people to work some, or at any rate to have a purpose. So you should probably do something productive some of the time, whether you got paid for it or not.
I agree with this. $20 million is a lot, most people will never get there in a lifetime, and you can certainly manage on that kind of money. But, if you still like your job, I would keep working, unless you have something suitable to replace the intrinsic positive feedback that your work gives you. A lot of people who retire early become lost as they just don't know how to fill their time positively. Sure, travel, golf, take up some new hobbies, but there's something about working that we are wired for, as long as you aren't miserable.
Or just work part-time. Maybe let that $20 million grow for a few more years before you start tapping the income it can generate. But, if you're asking if $20 million is enough, yes, it is, unless you live a ridiculously exorbitant lifestyle.
My wife and I live in DC and we are lowly civil servants with combined income of about $275K. Out net worth is $3M. We estimate that we will retire early in our early 50s with a net worth of $5M. If our income was $600K, we would be at $5M already.
You obvioulsy are not good at saving. Normal people with that income would be able to accumulate $20M in a shot period of time. The 5% withdrawal doesn't mean withdrawing 5% of the principal. If you earn 8% and withdraw 5%, your principal continues to increase forever.
I absolutely would retire. We are only on this planet for so long, and you never know how long that will be.
$20 million is more than enough to do a ton of traveling...as someone already said, if that's invested, you can easily take 5% a year ($1 million) while still allowing it to grow each year, so you'd never run out of money.
A lot of people see work as a necessary thing for them to do. I have tried and tried to understand that, but I just can not. However, I do recognize that those people (and it's a lot of people) exist. Only you know if you're one of those or not. You have more than enough money to retire for good. Do it if you want. I would have at 38 in a heartbeat.
You sound like you're in high school. You can't figure out how some people think working is a necessary thing to do? Not all of us were born with silver spoons in your mouth like you apparently were.
Would it depend on income? Like if you are making enough that it's silly to walk away?
I don't spend much
I enjoy work but my job is all consuming. I don't think I'd want any other type of job though, since I really care about autonomy and being responsible for outcomes
You obvioulsy are not good at saving. Normal people with that income would be able to accumulate $20M in a shot period of time. The 5% withdrawal doesn't mean withdrawing 5% of the principal. If you earn 8% and withdraw 5%, your principal continues to increase forever.
Yes. Because obviously our income has been static over our entire adult life. We save just fine. Our income head steadily increases from around 150k combined income 10 years ago with a combined net worth in the negative mid 6 figures to around 2m expected in 2024.
You are also an idiot. Run a Monte Carlo simulation on FireCalc and look at the return scenarios of a 20m portfolio invested for 45 years with different draw down rates. 1m will fail 50% of the time if you look at all market scenarios over the preceding 100 years. And yes… that assumes market growth of the principal coinciding with withdrawals. 4% has historically been the commonly espoused “safe withdrawal rate” for young retirees but that has shifted to be a bit more conservative in recent years.
What do you and your spouse do to make almost 2 million a year?
We make north of 600k and unfortunately in the DC area feel solidly upper middle class although I know this is not the case, especially nationally. However, we dont send our kids to private schools, drive fancy cars or take extravagant vacations. I would love to become a snow bird in my 50s, splitting time between Florida and the Jersey Shore but those days are at least 10+ years to go.
I think some people are addicted to working and it validates their sense of being (see football coaches working well into their 70s). 20 million is absolutely enough to retire on and live a wealthy lifestyle while still passing wealth down to your kids. You keep working if you want generational wealth I guess where your grandkids and their kids are also set for life.
I think you and another dude are missing that it isn’t like that income has been sustained over a long time. We are just entering our prime earning years and the opportunity cost of quitting now is too high. Additionally, the the path to 20m is significantly influenced by vesting schedules which takes us out at least another 7-8 years (at which point we would likely still be leaving mid-high 7 figures or stock on the table to bow out).
Agree on your comments about 600k and feeling decidedly middle class. We live in a slightly more expensive location and have made everything from 600k to our current salary as we have added kids. Only at our current income bracket so we feel truly “well off”.