How much money would be "enough"?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

During the tech stock boom era, my officemate would look up his portfolio on our office computer about 5 billion times a day, to the exclusion of any actual work being done on it. He actually had a pretty high PAPER net worth, for a while there... (I don't think I need to tell the rest of THAT story)

The whole investment thing was an obssession with him, and he wasn't a johnny-come-lately to it, he had put away money and been investing in stocks since the early 80's. Single guy, around early to mid 40's. We talked once about money.

My question was: how much money, if you had it, would you feel no compunction to risk any of it investing in equities or whatever, just be happy to let it sit in the bank and live luxuriously off the interest?

1 million? 5 million? 10 million? 100 million?

With him, I actually couldn't get to a number. See, if he had 100 mil, he could save 50 mil of it, and risk the other 50, etc.

I can see if you had a lot of kids, it'd be hard to make sure they were all wealthy or secure... But I see the value of money as primarily to provide security, so you don't have to worry about things. So if you had a huge amount in the bank that should cover any contingency, and would provide a luxurious amount of interest yearly, why do anything where you'd have to worry about any of it?

If you had, say, 100mil, it's unlikely you'd live long enough for inflation to make it "not worth that much", or for the interest to provide you with a paltry living.

Just my way of looking at it. Of course if you have a taste for homes all over the place, cars, and boats, and entourages, then any amount of money can be blown, Mike Tyson has shown that...

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. le kick

[swag]

2. $6,000,000

I'm 44.

Assuming 3% interest on the savings account, 3% interest,3% inflation, and an annual withdrawal of $150,000. Then I could retire fairly comfortably (though not in any opulence, unless compared to the average wage earner in the world) right now. But I'd be a damn site more well off than most of the wage earners in the US, it is true. I wouldn't be working, for starters. And I'd be making a lot more money.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. I think I'd feel safe with $100 million; maybe $50 million.

Sadly, being just a millionaire any more isn't worth shit. A million bucks is less than the average price of a 2 bedroom in NYC.