If I was a rich man...
 

It used to be said when I was a child that being a millionnaire was "rich".

What does it take now to be rich?
And how much would you need to give up work now?

I would want a city pad, house in the country, nice car, and a couple of million in the bank.

Then I would give up work..........

Chances of that however are slim unless I win the lottery.

No need for a city pad (who actually wants to live in London?).
Got a country house (that's where I live).
Got the world's best girlfriend.
Currently in good health (the most important thing actually).
I suppose about £2M would make an adequate "DIY pension" pot, if one loses all income at 50 and wants to keep flying 150hrs/year in a SEP.
But one would give up work only if one does not enjoy one's work. No intelligent person wants to just suddenly retire and take up gardening.
Cars mean nothing; you can buy a used 250HP tyre burner with aircon for £2k (I drive a 1995 Toyota).

If you want to buy and fly a TBM850 then you need about £10M :)

Me? A workshop and lab next to an airfield, money enough to keep designing, building and researching aeroplanes, and running a couple of interesting ones. That and never have to go to another management or finance meeting again in my life.

G

At my club I actually overheard this, from one of the senior people:

"You can't exist on two million these days. You can rub along on five million but two million just goes nowhere".

:sad:

Probably right. The assumption that you could live on £2m was with interest rates at 5% or so, they're now a tenth of that.

You don't have to keep £2m in cash. There are plenty of options for investments (medium/long term) that will give you well above 5% and still be comfortably safe. Index tracking springs to mind.

As for me, I'd be far from "going nowhere" with £2m (but I'd keep my job regardless).

Obviously, it depends on your age and lifestyle, but it also depends massively on the cost of your ex wife / kids. If you keep your trousers zipped up, and avoid marriage, you can live (and fly, at a low PPL-type level of capability) on suprisingly little money. But while marriage is entirely avoidable, keeping one's trousers zipped up makes for a very dull life. PROB99, the biggest financial hit you will ever take is a terminated marriage, and PROB50 it will happen to you. And you cannot plan for it, short of concealing assets.

Investment returns are not so relevant. The historically higher returns were also matched by a higher inflation.

Good health considered, Genghis echos my thoughts!

D SQDRN 97th IOTC - I'd be your new sugar babe and I would care for you tenderly until you (mysteriously) passed away in your sleep, having just signed all your wordly goods, especially the money and the aeroplanes, over to lil' ol' me :ok:

Depends what you mean by rich, money rich, time rich? I'm not a millionaire but I only work 4 days a week 36 weeks of the year in a job I enjoy and I have no hassle from anyone. My wife and I have a good relationship where I do what I want, she does what she wants, and when the he/she wants are the same we do them together.

I've done the work your balls off for good loot and I thought it was a con TBH. You don't need a Porsche or three foreign holidays a year which is how they suck you in. The most important thing is time and health, and money can't buy that. I have a month in Oz every year, the odd weekend away with mrs thing, enough money to go flying and the rest is extra.

I have a couple of friends who you would consider wealthy. One is retired but goes nowhere without his laptop so that he can worry himself about his investments and the other doesn't spend any of the money he's salted away. The problem with being rich is that you can't go back to not being rich. If you've never had any money then you don't miss it, and more importantly you don't have to worry about it. (Providing of course that you have enough and you're not in debt.) Of course if I won the lottery I would be cock a hoop but then I don't need to be a millionaire, but I wouldn't turn the money down obviously.


To answer the OP if I could retire on an income of £5000 a month then I would consider myself pretty well off. I don't know what lump sum you would need to service that but I'm sure a million in the right places would probably do it.

You've clearly not actually met him :{

NoD

What job do you do, Thing? That sounds like a good work/life balance to me, I work 4 days a week which seems about right but I don't take holidays.

Heard on the radio that to be classified as rich nowadays you need £8 million.
Above £3 million and Below that and your not rich just comfortably well orf.
But whatever the tax man will get it :(
£3 million probably a bit light £4to£5 million a bit safer

Pace

A little while ago there was something like £70000000 jackpot on Euromilions.
MrsStick asks why i would want that much money and I replied that I would buy every airworthy spitfire in the world and instantly become the world's only spitfire dealer! Now that's a job and a half!:E

Fenland: Peripatetic teacher. I teach music in schools.

NoD - you've clearly never met me :E:}:8

Rich?

That's when I can rock up to any job in the world in my own Piaggio P180 Avanti that I piloted there myself, not ever having to fly commercial again.

I am certain as IO540 so correctly states the only really important thing in all of this is our health.

I would rather be healthy in an old spam can than grounded and have the requisite 10M in the bank. I would not say no to both however (health and 10M) !

I can remember a politician who loudly proclaimed that money wont bring you happiness. His opponent stated that of course the politician was correct but added that he would rather be miserable and rich rather than miserable and poor :E

But again I would rather be unhealthy and rich rather than unhealthy and poor at least you can afford private health care!!!


Pace

I will consider myself to be the richest man on earth when I'll have a green field, a hangar and a Piper Cub always full of fuel.