What is your number to walk away?
What is your number to walk away/retire at your current station in life?
No BS like $100-$250M, but something real/attainable.
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Probably infinite? I like my job, and I’d stay even with a few hundred million in the bank account.
You would stay crunching numbers in private equity while having few hundred million in the bank account? My god, some of you are really insufferable lol
How's that different from every HF and PE owner, CEOs, founders of medium to large sized businesses, and their children who also went into business? While they’re not making excel models everyday, people still have passions and goals they want to build towards, even though they're likely not doing so to pay their bills or to add another house to the collection
you really think partners are "crunching numbers"?
is that what warren buffett is doing. just crunching numbers?
or do u think that maybe. JUST MAYBE. the job is really fun at that level and you're just sourcing and sitting in IC like a Roman Emperor giving a thumbs up or thumbs down killing deals that others have worked hard to bring to you.
i mean...bob iger is 72 and still working. His net worth is prob like 200m+
$5mm liquid
If you can’t make $5m grow to sustain yourself and a family comfortably for the rest of your life you don’t know how to manage your money. My father worked a blue collar job all his life to support a family of four and will retire with much less than that in his pension.
God, THIS… if you assume 3% on T-bills you only need 3.33M to have a 100K salary. 2.66M to compound at 10% is still insane FV at the end of a few decades. Some people have no concept of money and think they NEED 10M or have nothing… not the case.
These figures work assuming you're young, have no kids and do not plan to reside in a HCOL area like SF, LA, NY, LON etc. If you want to raise a family in these cities or in a town nearby, 2-3mm may provide enough passive income to pay basic bills, but with the higher prices on housing and everything else currently, you'll feel the need to keep working to sustain your lifestyle rather than walk away and retire. With the current economic outlook, I would not assume a 10% compounding growth rate into perpetuity on market investments, and would lean closer to 5-8%.
I agree with the 5-6mm liquid figures stated elsewhere.
Five’s a nightmare. Can’t retire, not worth it to work. Five will drive you un poco loco, my fine feathered friend. Poorest rich person in America, the world’s tallest dwarf, the weakest strong man at the circus.
If it is to be said, so it be, so it is
Hahaha succession quote
5 is just a pit stop on the way to 10. Just keep working for another 7 years and let it grow!
This.
I look at it the same way, what kind of passive cash flow can I generate on a fixed amount, plus how much lump some money would I need.
Right now Tbills will get you about 5%, but that definitely won’t last. So let’s say 4% long term. That’s about $200k pre tax.
That sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t unless you already own a home outright and don’t need to buy big ticket items to live or generate more passive income.
I think the liquid number is $6.5 M now.
It currently seems like a decently nice house alone costs at least $1m-1.5m. By decently nice, I’m thinking 3beds, built in the past 40 years, safe neighborhood, and within an hour commute from a large financial hub.
1) that’s not true, I have friends living in $600-800k homes within an hour of nyc
2) why do you need to live within an hour of a large financial hub when retired?
To 1) - Where? Genuinely curious. My wife and I are looking.
You're definitely looking at +$1mn for a nice house in a good school district in Westchester (Irvington, Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Chappaqua, Briarcliff, Mt. Kisco/Bedford). It's north of $1.5mn for a good place in Rye, Scarsdale, Bronxville, or good areas of Fairfield (Greenwich, Darien, Rowayton). You can find your sub $1mn decent house in White Plains, Stamford, New Rochelle, but highschools won't be the best and you'll likely send your kid to private school
Because people have interests like arts, restaurants, flying internationally and don't put having a Costco within a 10-min drive on top of the list?
I don't see why $100-250M is BS. It is totally attainable. The majority of people in finance have knowledge of someone breaking the law.
My number is $279M like the SEC whistleblower.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-issues-279-million-whistleblower-award…
gunna would be proud
How fast do you think you'll get there?
If I could passively generate 200k-250k in cash flow after tax each year, I’m out
Discretionary earnings beyond that has diminishing marginal effects, just extra icing on the cake.
you would need $5MM and say conservative yearly return on that of 5% brings you to 250k per year. Pretty fucking hard to build that equity rn with all markets being saturated / too competitive only hope is agrressive investing, unless off course you climb rat race even then inflation might deflate that return by the time you can even accumulate $5MM which won't be till you get old when you factor just overall cost of living and trying to save that money while putting it in your typical retirement account that won't take off till you're 60 lol.
I would walk if I had enough in savings and investments to passively pay for all general expenses with another 25-35k each year to spend on travel, leisure, drugs and hookers.
Currently 29 with $1mm.
Goal is to hit $5mm by 35 and $10mm by 40.
I’d say my walk away number is $10mm.
Could withdraw $200k/year (2%) to live off of and the money would still continue to compound in my favor so that I had something meaningful to leave behind. There are lots of different views on “generational wealth” but I’m really the first person in my family to ever get rich so want to leave a legacy.
How do you 5x in 5 - 6 years? How much of that is compounded returns vs. annual contributions?
5mm by 35 and 10mm by 40 are stretch goals, but I'll be close.
Currently able to save $200k/year (LCOL city). So let's assume I'm able to save $250k/year for next 11 years and am able to get 9% returns, I'll end up around 3.5-4mm at 35 and 8-9mm at 40.
$250k/year savings is conservative estimate as my income should increase significantly, and who knows, my returns could be better than 9% too.
Even if I come up short it’s a good spot to be in.
I used to be hyper focused on the numbers, but really just focus on having a good life now while still saving as much as possible.
First of all, what an accomplishment to hit $1mm in your 20s. Congratulations. If you do not mind me asking, can you give a rough breakdown in the "steps" (i.e. bonuses I presume) that took you to $1mm?
I am 25, 26 soon, with around $100k saved up + $50k in my 401k - albeit I joined banking a year after graduating college - 3 YoE total, 2 in banking (didn't get a full 1st year analyst bonus due to timing of move, long story). Associate 1 now. Almost feels like I am doing something wrong - live on base, bank my bonus might not work so well? Or am I just being delusional lol
Edit: See you noted LCOL city. Live in NYC which, while I absolutely love living here, feels like could be an L from building wealth like you have.
My dad raked together $20mm+ and we have several hundred acres of wineries and farms, multiple houses and investment properties, millions in equities and bonds, and a beautiful house. Paid all 3 kids through private colleges and grad school if pursued, and is generous with helping family and people in need. Also using influence to help family with visa sponsorship and landing jobs. He grinded for so long and sacrificed hobbies and family time to get there, but it really inspires me to do the same. I’ll inherit a lot of it one day but I want to prove that with all that he invested in the family that I will work my hardest to being even more successful and a positive influence. Also I love traveling, driving fast cars, etc, and I’m motivated to obtain these goals through my own navigation of the corporate world and hard work. People really respect the work you put in if you do it the right way, I’ve observed. So I’d say $25-50mm if I wanted a deep satisfaction, but in addition I’d want to do something that I cared about building or investing time and effort in.
What did your dad do for a living?
Made it to F500 C Suite from the bottom and made good/lucky subsequent investments.
When did your dad retire?
Still going but as on PE portco/board side with friends. From F500 craziness & politics at 55.
Is he adopting?
Is your dad single?
Is your dad single?
Some of you guys are idiots. Unless want to live in NYC, my COL hovers around $20,000 with rent, food, and leisure. Save ~$200,000, earn a little less than your COL in a bridge period for some years. In that time period, actually do something you like lol. And then turn that into a business.
Or maybe just move to another country for a bit. Amazing people will throw away 20 years of their life to sustain some completely unreasonable lifestyle and pay-to-win their retarded kids to the same cycle of drudgery and private schools.
Life is really simple, but people insist on making it complicated.
Which area are you based in, and what is the break down of the 20k? Even people without kids in HCOL cities (where most people in finance are based) easily run past 50k per year in living expenses.
I live in NYC now. My COL is *significantly* higher than that. This was in the midwest suburbs. I just don't think people ever even consider this option. $400 rent. $70/week food. $10/week gym membership. Then friends and a computer for doing work.
All the careers people are in ultimately make you a W-2 employee and on a linear pay scale. If you want to be rich, start something or start compounding at a greater rate than the SPY. If you want to live a peaceful life, just do it. People instead ride this in-between path because they lack any form of conviction or belief in themselves.
It's not as simple as I say it is and I'm an idiot in my own ways. Hope to at least give some people some alternative perspective.
I guess 5mm, but as I’m still young, this number will likely have to rise due to inflation by the time I’m of retirement age. Also I have no idea what I would do after retirement, so I’d probably continue working just to have a sense of purpose in life and keep busy
Exactly, retiring at 40 seems a little bit premature to me, 45-50 seems better, you have more money and less worry that you're gonna run out of money
.
It's more than most people think. The problem with a lot of the passive income answers here are that they do not account for inflation.
You can say that the 3% yield from T-Bills on a 5m investment gives you 150k per year that covers all your expenses. However, you are only getting 3% because inflation is near or maybe even above 3%. That means your annual expenses of 150k will grow by 3% per year compounded and your principal (post-expenses) needs to grow by (Expenses * Inflation) / Yield to cover that.
While it's impossible to get a generalized solution for this equation as you need a good estimate of your annual expenditures, long-term inflation and also your expected long-term portfolio returns, we can take a look at a simple example. Let's say your annual expenses are expected to be 100k (reasonable if you think you will have a mortgage, daily cost of living expenses, two children to educate etc.), your net worth is 5 mil, long-term inflation is 3%, and, given the decent investor that you are, you can generate 4% yield (for a 1% real return). In year 1, you generate 200k of passive income vs 100k of expenses leaving you with 100k excess that can be reinvested into the principal. You might think you're sitting pretty for life, but if you model out how your assets will grow in this scenario versus your expenses when accounting for inflation, you'll find that from year 14, your excess annual income begins to shrink. By year 42, you're actually bleeding money per year as your expenses outpace your income and by year 61 you're broke. Obviously there's an assumption here that your annual expenses (in real terms) do not change/decrease as you age and your children finish their education, but it's worth looking at it from a downside perspective, especially given how life expectancy is presumed to increase over our lifetimes. If you want to be more scared, simply changing the yield from 4% to 3% (i.e. you're neither beating nor losing to inflation in your investments) means you're bleeding in year 17 and broke in year 41.
Now, let's inverse the scenario and say you invest in T-Bills for 3% (0% real yield) for perpetuity and your annual expenses will start at 100k and grow with the 3% inflation rate. How much do we need in terms of assets such that we can live for another 80 years without going broke? Around 7.8 mil. What about without bleeding any money for 80 years? 11.2 mil. Goes to show how much of a silent killer inflation can be, especially if you ignore it.
Being a decent investor means you probably should diversify a bit into other assets / investments rather than put 100% into 3% T-bills. How does this look if you have yields of 5-6% from a diversified portfolio?
It's less than most people think. Unless you are literally not willing to take any risk of having to work again, you don't need to invest in T-Bills. Obviously you aren't ever going to be able to live passively without a shitload of principal if you are assuming 1% real returns.
im never capping myself to a ceiling. 100M+ net worth or bust. just my young and stupid opinion though.
your mom's number
“More”.
Let's say you get your number. You walk away. You enjoy it for a while: You do everything that you couldn't do because of your working hours, you also manage to travel the world, you also buy a nice home, buy whatever you want, etc. Then what? How much leisure can you bare? Is your existence pure leisure? There are people that in the blink of an eye would retire on an island with a warm pussy and live happily for the rest of their lives, but it's quite tragic to aspire to this lifestyle if you're in your 20s or 30s. Isn't there anything in life that makes you energized? Obviously, crunching numbers is a far cry from this energized spirit that I'm talking about. But it's a long game, you start somewhere, and eventually, once you have the proper knowledge, proper network, and proper access to capital, you start to understand the fun of finance. If not, if you don't "get it", then why are you even doing it?
There are 2 people that want to escape finance: (1) The guy who got it because of money, prestige, or followed the recruitment pipeline of their college, and (2) The guy who liked finance but now wants to exit. Regarding the 1, I wouldn't even address him, he is too irrelevant for my analysis, but regarding guy 2, think it in the following way: When you were rested and with a lot of free time in your hands, wasn't finance what you wanted to do? Wouldn't you agree that the exhaustion of those years is what makes you want to retreat into something more relaxed (e.g. Corporate Development or selling flowers (depending on how fucked you were))? But I'm sure that once you relax for a while, you'll have the same thoughts as you had previously. Some people just reject those thoughts because of complacency with their present, but others may regret the change, a change that was emotional (exhaustion) and not rational (as a decision taken in leisure). If not, look how many successful people managed to "quit" i.e. sell their business, exit the industry, etc. but after a while, they come back. When you found your "call" (be it finance or even gardening) you can't leave it like that. It's what keeps you energized (for it may surprise some lesser minds around here to see people that are still lawyers in their 90s, but those guys had a happier and more relaxed life - and still do so - than your anxious 20-30s ass will ever have).
The main idea is that no amount of number kills one's drive/interest/curiosity. I fully embrace what the first guy said: If you like something, no amount of number will make you walk away. The CEO that laughs at that guy just shows that you don't need to be extremely conscious to succeed in finance. He is mediocre compared to someone that fits the person that I may talk about in my first paragraph (maybe a Dimon, Blankfein, or Milken). If you don't have this drive, then no amount of words will make you understand it, and you'll continue in your mental cage: "You like finance? My gOd sOmE oF yOu ArE rEaLLy InSuFfERAable LoL". Because yeah, he entered from the first day and became CEO - crunching numbers is something totally foreign to him.
The final take is to do it because you like it and you won't need to quit to get that number, you'll get that number (and maybe even more) by staying where you belong. Kudos to everybody that found finance their calling - all critics are just from people that didn't find theirs and envy/can't understand those that did; and to everybody that gave a number - my most sincere condolences.
This thread is starting to get interesting. I also need something more meaningful than simply "leisure".
For me some of the hobbies/sports I do have a competitive component though I don't think they alone could fullfill me beyond a couple of years. Also I will need to have a big mindset shift when I'm not physically able to do the more demanding sports I currently do.
I don't think finance will give you meaning. Those that are comfortable in finance have a game approach to the field (that's why athletes are more suited for it). There's no innate meaning in what you'll do. The "I help to finance businesses and projects that have an impact worldwide" loses power after 2 months (2 weeks if you're not delusional). What keeps one in this field is just looking at it as a game, and every game is enjoyable if you're good at it. I mean, I don't know if it's ignorance or what it is to think that someone that works at GS/BX/Citadel has a superior moral and philosophical foundation in their life or work. The best way to filter what they have to say is to portray them as a Wal-Mart cashier that is also extremely good in finance; he isn't there because he found the meaning of life, he is there because he is extremely good at finance and worst-case scenario, he even sacrificed developing other aspects of his life just to succeed in finance and make it financially (in other words, he is even more stupid than the average person). So you don't care about his underdeveloped life philosophy, you only deal with him because of his technical skills (analogous, you don't care about his opinions, you care only about his work). So I never cared about what advice someone may give about the plausibility of pursuing a career or the meaning of it; you crave your path and you decide for yourself on how to interpret it. If you don't have enough critical thinking to think for yourself, then you risk being a boat that is carried on whatever wind may blow that day and that's the worst place to be mentally.
You don't get it. I love the field of finance, what I don't like is office/team politics, bureaucracy, being micromanaged, getting stiffed on my bonus, getting stabbed in the back, fear of being laid off, etc.
This is not specific to the finance industry, but Corporate America at large.
keep seeking until you find a place where there's no office/team politics, bureaucracy, micromanagement, getting stiffed on your bonus, getting stabbed in the back, fear of being laid off, etc. I don't believe there's no such place. If not, key phrase: Corporate America; so maybe look at other parts of the world.
Can't find one? Found one. I'm sure you'll attract A LOT of people that share the same values as you (I repeat: A LOT of people). Many people around here throw around the word entrepreneurship, but there's an opportunity below their noses to replicate basically what other firms do while offering something extremely valuable for candidates: A culture totally different from corporate America and also totally different than the Silicon Valley-esque fake hype and hypocrisy (which, again, more than 2/3 people are tired of).
Any other excuse?
100% true in the first paragraph. One of my relatives had a $20M+ payday in the early 2000s. Retired for awhile, got bored and has been running a lifestyle business for 15-20 years now. Recently, he's been considering opening up a restaurant / bakery with his wife. Some people are naturally busy bodies.
I don't think is necessarily a 'busy body' thing. The rule of humans is to always be in motion and do things (look at history). Leisure is something you would expect from a 60+ years old, but even among them, some people are still as restless as in their 20s.
Anyway, the way I look at people that have no energy/no drive and prefer leisure resembles the way I look at 70+ years old: People without vitality; and I just hope I never get to such a point in my 30s-40s-50s or even 60s.
I don’t have a number. I own a multifamily firm with three other partners and we’re all friends and each enjoy different parts of the business - so it works really well. I’m about to spend 2 weeks on vacation and I know I’m probably going to get bored. This may sound sad to some of you, but what I do is super fun for me. I’ve had plenty of shitty jobs before, so I’m super lucky. If I had a huge number, I’d just do bigger and nicer deals. I’d get more involved in small business acquisition. That sort of thing.
I think between $1 to $2 million would do it for me.
However, that is to walk away from finance. Too many people on this thread are thinking of a permanent walkaway from work number. I would continue working but just do something much more laid back like working for charity, the park service, teacher, professor etc.
If you have $2 mil in the bank plus a laid back or part-time gig making $50K, you're in a pretty good spot.
$8M liquid is my number. I can easily generate a 5% return. I don’t have much of a mortgage and my wife will work until she dies and makes good money. Nice cars are really my only vice.
I have to ask, as someone with the same vice, what are you driving?
6M - 8M. Potentially go walk away from a W2 income around 5M and do side projects.
Am i literally not allowed to work? If i got $100M I would likely open up my own business. That would likely demand even more hours tho
I had a college friend whose Dad was a partner at a large consulting firm. He retired at around age 50, when his portfolio of residential properties made more money than he earned. I think that would be the goal, work long enough to feed my real estate portfolio until it makes more than I do. I'm not a real estate hype beast, I just think in the long-term it is very safe while having real upside as well.
Anyone who thinks they can walk away from work with $5mm in the bank would have to accept a significant erosion of lifestyle by the time they have kids etc vs their colleagues who stayed in banking. The golden rule is that you can generate a 4% return post tax and inflation. That's only $200k of post-tax gains / income at $5mm of savings. One kid going to undergrad + living expenses is already over 100k. You do the math....
Currently making 175-200 pre-tax, but am saving ~60k of that. My expenses are around 75-80k/yr (with a mortgage, kids who arent in school yet). That said- I think if my drawdown was 150-200k and I didn't have to save any of it, it would enable me to live very comfortably. In theory, the additional 75-125k would go to travel, golf, dining out more often, a 2nd residence in FL for the winter (doesn't have to be fancy- inland golf community would be great).
I would want to ensure that my money continues to grow, so I'd cap my drawdowns to 3%. If my target is 150k-200k I'm looking at $5-7m invested.
In practice- I wouldn't want to be wintering with school-age kids, wouldn't want to leave my current location until they are grown. Healthcare costs are a big unknown. Additionally, I enjoy my job, the stress is really manageable, hitting VP in the next 10 years seems inevitable, a C-level role (eventually) seems like decent odds. I think if I woke up with $5-7m in my account, I would keep working- just stop saving and take nicer vacations, join a nicer country club, dine out more often, pay people to do my yard work rather than doing the damn stuff myself. Then look to retire when the kids are older.
As someone who is pretty serious about trying to "retire" in my early 40s, I have thought a bit about these kinds of questions. A few things to consider..
Most retirement formulas are not particularly applicable here or are at the very least suboptimal for various reasons. They mostly consider shorter timeframes, they mostly assume fixed real withdrawals, they mostly assume relatively conservative investment. If you can't handle cutting spending at all in a bad market or every doing ANY PAID WORK ever again then you are going to need a lot to retire. However, most people here probably don't want to walk away and live in a shack in the woods subsisting on rice and beans. If you've budgeted for a comfortable, upper-middle class lifestyle, you should be able to handle cutting spending a bit if the market tanks in year one. Or getting a job to cover the difference (ANY income whatsoever will drastically lower the amount of principal you need).
Relatedly, most people here are probably not looking for 100% leisure for the rest of their days. You want the freedom to do what you want. It's not a prohibition on ever earning another dollar. Most "early retirees" will earn some more money, this cuts the amount you need.
Both of the above flexibilities (in spending and in possibly earning income in the future) will allow you to invest more aggressively which will raise expected returns and will lower the amount of principal you need.
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My number is somewhere in the neighborhood of $6mm measured in 2023 dollars. This should fund an upper-middle class lifestyle in a moderate COL area (moving away from NYC area but staying in the NE) with a couple of kids and a fair amount of buffer. This *should* work even if I never earn another dollar, never inherit any money, and never get any social security. But given that I should inherit some money and I will almost certainly not go to $0 income on a permanent basis I think it's more than enough.
Yeah exactly this. It's not about abandoning everything to live on a beach 24/7. A doctor friend I know semi "retired" and just picks up locum contracts when he can be bothered - maybe on average 1 or 2 days a week. This gives freedom to pretty much do whatever he wants and he still makes 150-200k which is enough to cover life expenses and enough to not cut into investment portfolio which allows it to still grow. Probably the sweet spot to be honest as working 15 or so hours a week really isn't difficult and gives enough life purpose to not want to kill yourself out of boredom.
When I was in college I probably would have answered this question with $5-10m.
Solidly in that range now and hard to see myself walking away at anything less than $25-50. So maybe the real answer is just “more”.
You made it to $10mn savings as a HF analyst without making PM? Damn! PMs must be raking it then lol
Stopped feeling pressure at $3M and <28. $8M and <32 currently. At the point where I understand that we will never run out of money and do not flinch at what anything costs within reason; <$1k bottles of wine, 3 Michelin Star Meal, most vacations (though not all), Audemars, Birkin Bag, concert/sports/event tickets. But not yet spending money on the next tier of experiences/services/items that we'd like to reach; significant help once/if we have children, personal driver, occasional private jet travel, season courtside tickets, seasonal rental, education opportunities for children (if)...We would be perfectly happy with our current lifestyle, and would still spend on family help, the driver, and education even if we dialed it back and clipped along at a lower rate in the future. At $75M I'm not going to want to my schedule dictated by anyone other than my family. I think it is close enough to $100M that it could be reached within 5 years of stepping back. Allows to provide very meaningful philanthropic contributions, pass along generational wealth, and have any experience desired (ex. Monaco GP done right, courtside seats, no limit on wine).
Curious how you've saved and grown your NW at a young age. Cheers.
Wife and I have buried ourselves since the day we left school. She works in finance, though not in a high-beta role (paid well, job security, will never "crush it"). I got lucky. Learned a lot and have benefitted from shared success of people I have worked with, who are best described as forces of nature (professionally, not personally). I was top bucket in banking. Next, private capital investing was fine, but I was drawn to the thesis that operational talent is more scare and valuable than investing talent with respect to private capital. Joined a company pre-instutional capital that has now grown to the size of a typical S&P 400 midcap. Plenty of other details along the way. Mostly summarized as we sacrificed our lives for work (still do). People think we are good at our jobs. I have benefitted from luck and working with some really outstanding A+ professional talent.
I live in a developing country so my number will be much lower than some of the posters here.
I would need an equivalent USD 3-4k/month (assuming moderate inflation rate) to live comfortably without sacrificing lifestyle choices and quality of life.
Calculating those cash income into capital needed translates into roughly USD 500k. Let's assume i wanted to stay living in HCOL city, add 50% and i would need roughly USD 750k to walk away.
Certainly not as much as most of the people here since having USD 5-6 Mio in my country would qualify you as the top 0.1% which IMO doesn't differ (in lifestyle) a whole lot from USD 1 Mio.
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From what I’ve seen, people really are miserable with nothing to do. I like what I do on the buyside and have good W/L balance for now so I’m not interested in retiring now like I thought I would in 40s. I don’t think that volunteering and some other endeavors will even remotely fill the gap on keeping active and keeping my mind sharp.
before I came to this realization I felt like 15mm would be reasonable. I’m getting close to this on paper, obv paper is not liquid.
I will say that I think a transition to teaching as an MBA Prof at a top institution could be a good bridge post WS career and semi retirement
What’s yours?
I think I can add a slightly different perspective to this conversation, I guess almost as someone from “the other side,” so to speak. I realized a few years ago that I was lucky enough to not have to pursue the rat race in order to be comfortable in life. Within the next ten or so years, I’ll come into an inheritance somewhere in the seven to eight figure range, and in the meantime have family members happy to provide every level of creature comfort i.e. travel expenses, luxury hotels, whatever.
So I decided to pursue the most fulfilling job I could, I joined the military. I’m pretty sure my yearly salary is less than many of these commenters monthly income, but I’m not here for the money. I joined because I wanted to serve the country, and ensure that my kids and grandkids could enjoy the freedoms that come from being citizens of the greatest country in history. I don’t think I’ll ever hang it up and go spend out my days on an island, I will spend the rest of my life working to ensure and advance American interests.
I’m only able to fully commit to this because I have that financial security, and I thank God every day for that. And I encourage anyone who hits their “walk away number” to really think about what kind of good they can provide to others. It doesn’t have to large scale, geopolitical interests like me, it can be as simple as putting your money to work in your town to ensure your neighbors’ lives are better everyday.
Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. Would love to hear more about your geopolitical interests and how you serving lets you indulge in that? Where are you serving/in what capacity?
Would be cool if you were pro democracy and are posting a few miles north of Bahkmut haha
I think people vastly overestimate how much they need. At my age of mid-20s I’d take $2mm and find a nice chill job paying low 6 figures that can sustain my current lifestyle. That would allow me to compound my way into a $10mm+ net worth when I’m in my 60s assuming I can double my savings every 10 years which is very doable.
Alternatively I think most people’s definition of “walk away” doesn’t entail working a 100k/yr w2 job until they’re 60.
$2.5-$3mm of liquidity. I'm buying very rural land to hunt on and going off the grid when I retire (hopefully w/in next 5 years), so my expenses will be extremely low.
I’m in one of the “rich” countries in Southern Africa, 33
Had quit my job (PM) to develop real estate 2 years ago (had been moonlighting since 2019). Had to get a job because government changed the law which delayed my selling of the property. Got my old job back last year.
Developing is really profitable. I spend $0.5 and sell for $1. Or buy 1000m2 piece of land for $20k, subdivide into 2 portions, sell each for $15k.
Anyway, after selling the properties that I have now, I will have enough to build c. 32 studio apartments, which will bring in total rent of $5k per month, which matches my current salary. Average civil servant salary is about $500)
I believe I can take it to $10k per month within 3 years, at which point I’ll quit my job. (i) The most expensive primary school costs $10k/year. I want to take my son there when he starts school in about 5 years ii) The payback period is about 3 years for studio apartments!!!) There’s a massive shortage of accommodation and the city is expanding rapidly). For perspective, bank CEOs make about $30k per month.
I will then go into full time property development and investing. If I’m blessed with a long life like Charlie/Warren I’ll be a billionaire.
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To hedge the risk, I am studying LLB through a UK university. I got bored during the time I had quit my job and I was done building and just waiting for processing of sales etc. I would practice in property law to “occupy” myself, while my main job will be investing and compounding my money.
(I was inspired by the ASEAN contributor above. Thought I should add an African perspective for variety)
Why would anyone pay $15k for 500m2 of land if you can get 1000m2 for $20k?
Good question.
Plots in tribal land (periphery of the city) are held under a certificate. Banks don’t take certificates as security, only title deeds. So I buy 1000m2 with certificate, paying cash, then subdivide and get title deed, NOW bank funded buyers can buy, at a premium.
This is the change in law I alluded to above. Going forward all land titles will be title deeds.
But the model will still work. Somebody could have $15k to buy 500m2 and not $20k to buy 1000m2 lot because they’re on a tight budget.
same way people buy 300ml coke when they could buy 500ml, or 5kg or sugar while 10kg would be 50% cheaper than 5kgx2, iPhone 12 mini when they could add a couple hundred bucks for max, or entry level BMW when they could add $10k or $20k for M models.
Aiming for 1 billion. No more, no less.
Probably $5m for me with my home paid off. I already live super comfortable in NYC on 120k a year but like 40k goes to rent and a bunch to taxes, which many don’t seem to consider. 150k / year in pure spending power would give me anything I ever need (not incl. potential family obviously). I also think most of us could probably make another $100k / year easily if retired. Some board seats, teaching an MBA class at a somewhat reputable university, doing some consulting work every now and then, etc.
Personally, I think $5M would be my general cutoff, but because I’m in HCOL I might wanna be closer to $6M since housing costs are definitely more than 20% higher compared to MCOL and LCOL areas.
This is going to sound awful but 50mm after charitable donations / family support etc and I think it’s doable by 52/53
15mm in real estate (can earn c175k renting second home when not there)
10mm earning me 500k in after tax passive income
Seed my merchant bank in investable capital. I think 10 bets average 2mm but really two 4mm bets I actively manage. Some of which would be tech for the industry I cover as a banker, some of which would be franchises etc that generate cash. I would also keep a small team doing IB deals for clients but not for cash fees, rather for promote / coinvest.
Probably $5 MM and get some chill work remote job at a cool start up or NGO that is like 10-20 hours of actual work per week for the healthcare and other benefits and move to the mountain west to Ski and Fish.
MD I work with days “do you know how much money is enough? Just a little bit more.”
That said, my number is 7MM, assuming I can pay off the remaining 450k of my mortgage and be debt free. I’m in my 40s now, wife but no kids, and think I can get to 7MM in 18 years. With just normal expenses like food, phone, etc and no mortgage or debt, 2% on that 7 will suit me just fine.
Actually man I'm not interested in banking for the money
I'm not retiring on salary/bonus alone. I keep most of my net worth in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Had a milly+ in the last bull market (2021) and continuing to DCA for the next presumed bull market in 2025.
Plan is to cash out in the $3-5M range and move to Puerto Rico for the Act 20/22 tax treatment (no dividends/interest or capital gains taxes), work a few more years from there in a remote capacity and try to run up the $3-5M into $20M+ (buy the BTC/ETH bear market lows in 2026 > sell bull market highs in 2029) with all gains being tax free.
From there, I would think about a more semi-permanent retirement somewhere in Europe or South America (Ecuador/Portugal). Wife is European so I'll eventually get the permanent resident visa there and also looking into permanent resident visa options in New Zealand and El Salvador.
At this point I don't really care about status/prestige or residing in a high COL city. There's a lot of world out there to explore and life is too short to stay in the grind any longer than necessary.
I can not tell if this is a troll post or serious but whenever I hear someone shilling crypto, I automatically know they a RE TARRRD
You’re going to get entirely different numbers based on desired lifestyles and people’s risk tolerance. I’ll offer some perspective as someone who actually decided to go ahead and retire before obtaining absurd amounts of wealth…
First, SO many people live happy and fulfilling lives on amounts that are a fraction of what finance people believe they need. The lifetime earnings of someone who makes a very reasonable $100k/year is what, $4.0M - $5.0M before tax? People easily support entire families on this level of earnings.
Second, the absolute key is managing expenses and expectations. Your target number goes down a LOT if you adjust your expectations so that you don’t need to send your kids to private school, you don’t need to fly business class, you don’t need to own a closet full of brand names clothes, you don’t need a $20,000 watch. All of these things and more chip away at your savings and pushes retirement back.
Third, where you live is important. There is certainly no requirement to live in a HCOL city after you retire. I’d argue that a huge appeal of these cities is the employment and networking opportunities — so once you are retired and no longer value these things as highly, the benefit of HCOL cities diminishes greatly. Of course some people choose to live in these cities after retirement, but note that you’ll pay for it by needing to work incremental extra years of your life to account for the cost difference.
I’m actually just going to stop here because I could literally write about this for days. I think the people who feel they need $20M, $50M, or even more have fallen victim to lifestyle creep and will unfortunately struggle to find happiness. They’ve set the bar so incredibly high for themselves that I cannot imagine they’d be content with anything less. For those who really feel $50M is the appropriate number, I encourage you to do some more reflection and truly assess what it is you value in life and what it costs to obtain this.
Exactly my thoughts. Obviously it is always a good idea to play it safe and have some cushion in case of low real asset returns due to maybe high inflation in coming decades for instance. But ignoring that to keep things simple, even something as low as $2.5m should provide a life long yearly inflation adjusted annuity of $100k. That is more than 98/99% of the world population will ever make in their best year. Certainly puts things into perspective…
All of this is true, but life isn’t just about what you need, it’s also about what you want, and what is possible. Now, finance (and while this hugely varies) offers the possibility to earn and save considerably more than average. And for those people, it’s parfectky reasonably to weigh work against wants not needs.
I didn’t put the 50mm number out there because I “need” that remotely that much money to be happy (building a happy family needs basic financial stability and nothing more), but it’s what I will probably end up with if I work until my early 50s and a) I enjoy my job enough to work until then and b) want a second career so that gives me the time and financial independence to pursue my interests.
And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to live in a nice house in an internationally important city, sending your kids to private school, having the means to take of care of family and pursue philanthropic interests and enjoying luxury travel, and planning ones career in a way that allows for this, Similarly, nothing wrong in retiring early and living more simply. It’s an individual choice but finance allows you to make that choice or some variant in between.
Whatever it takes for my wife to leave her boyfriend
You idiots don’t realize that life expectancy is only increasing and money runs out very quickly. You can spend upwards of a million on senior care/health related illnesses.
My goal is to stay in the game as long as possible. Rather work my whole life and not work as much than retire at 45 and run out of money in my 80s
20m is my current target number. This is in current terms so will grow with inflation. That will get me a 5m property and 15m liquid that I can distribute across a variety of asset classes to generate 5-7% per year with a relatively conservative portfolio.
Currently at 5m at 29 so conservatively I won't hit that number for another 5-8 years, at which point it will be 25m inflation-adjusted.
Also, I agree with one of the comments before that 5m is a really annoying number to be at. It's the mid point between two very different lifestyles and stopping here will always irk you.
Sitting at $16M liquid and $4M in real estate and tempted to walk away despite 7-figure comp, but $5M (hit that around 40) is where I started to feel like I could walk away.
However, at your age I was broke and about to get divorced for being a loser. Well played. In my case, without the divorce, I'd probably still be broke. It was the wakeup call I needed
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