How Much Money Do you Consider a Lot?

[savage1]

I am not sure how this one is going to go over, because imo some might not answer it out of fear of not saying the "right thing" and/or fear of their response not being viewed favorably by other posters.
Anyways, here goes:
We have all heard of people winning through lotteries, gambling, receiving inheritance, etc. of the term "life changing money."
My question is what is the MINIMUM amount of tax free money in your own personal existence if received today which you would consider that would make a difference in your life, lifestyle/ what you normally do day to day or in any way in which you choose to define it?
Now obviously, your response is going to depend on how much money you already have, you age, married or single status, number of children if you have any and their ages, perhaps your health, amount of money you owe if any and a host of other factors.
I promise I will post my own response to this question if I get any responses to it from you folks.
I am not trying trick or embarrass anyone here, but rather just trying to get a look into the varying mindsets of the folks in this forum.
ps If you like you can also state what you would do with some of this new found money and/or to simply state why the amount you choose would make a big difference in your life.
ps If you simply want to use the criterion of what you would need to retire right away as life changing money, that's fine too.

[chibob]

$5

[savage1]

Originally Posted by chibob

$5

What would you buy with the 5$ or would you just put it in the bank?

[chibob]

Originally Posted by savage1

What would you buy with the 5$ or would you just put it in the bank?

a quarter pounder

leave balance for tip

but, get a free water

[secondbase]

When we first got our 401 k’s going ..we were late starting it.. but our financial expert so to speak figured that we would need a million bucks for retirement. This was about 25 years or so ago . Well, the downturns in the 2000’s hurt big time for that ... but

[savage1]

Since apparently no one wants to give a direct answer/amount as to what would be the MINIMUM amount of tax free money necessary for them to consider it life changing money, lets approach the issue from another angle and perspective.
Thus the new question is whatever the amount would be(without disclosing it), why/how would this amount whatever it is, change your life dramatically for the better.
Ok-since I started the thread I will go first.
Lets just state simply it would be substantial as I am retired, and at my relatively old age I already have the material possessions I want and/or could buy and the freedom do what I want whenever I want.
I wouldn't change my values and for example would not pay more for things than I thought they worth simply because I had more money.
I might splurge here and there and for example take some pricey vacations if I thought the price was fair.
All in all though, I wouldn't consider that really life changing money at my age.
However looking beyond myself, the amount I would choose would be such as to provide for my wife and son, both of whom are much younger than me in such a way as that they could also live very comfortably after I pass.
In addition the minimum amount chosen would be enough so that I could give more freely to charity.
That's it in a nutshell.
I hope that the new way the question is worded will provoke some responses and comments from some of you folks out there.

[epix86]

Life-Changing Money

To me, would be enough money to pay off all of my debts, and land myself and my family in a comfortably-sized, mortgage-free furnished home, with 2 reasonable vehicles for normal daily use.

Really, depending upon location, such cost for a home would vary greatly. So it would be difficult to stick a specific dollar value to "Life Changing Money". Someone living in Salt Lake City, UT would most-likely have a different baseline for financial considerations than someone living in Long Island, NY.

[BFDwager]

$2Mil would work for me. Move to Hawaii, Big Island or Maui and buy an old Altered Gasser or Ford Angelia to race on the weekends. Color me Happy!

Altered / funny car for Sale in lakeside, CA | RacingJunk Classifieds

[savage1]

Originally Posted by BFDwager

$2Mil would work for me. Move to Hawaii, Big Island or Maui and buy an old Altered Gasser or Ford Angelia to race on the weekends. Color me Happy!

Altered / funny car for Sale in lakeside, CA | RacingJunk Classifieds

Just curious-would say "just" a million or so do anything for you in making your life a lot happier and/or life changing or would it take a minimum of 2 million for you to get you there?

[BFDwager]

At $2M.. it would make it a no brainer..

[springjk]

Why does Northcoast always win?

[BFDwager]

Originally Posted by springjk

Why does Northcoast always win?

How does NC ever WIN? Oh, they fade their own plays and get paid in sucker bets. Cha-ching

[chibob]

Just need "Fuck off" money

that would be enough to tell others to "fuck off," and that isn't very much

[savage1]

Since the response to this question has been pretty tepid, I am going to rephrase the questions and look at things from another perspective.
The question is which would have a bigger impact on your life today, to be a given $100,000 tax free money or to lose $100 000?
Obviously this question assumes that you currently have $100,000 at your disposal.
My response would be that neither would have much of an impact on my life/day to day existence one way or the other.

[secondbase]

Losing it would hurt...bad

[Keith]

"Life changing money" means quit your job and retire money. Has to be a million dollars. Not that an amount less than that wouldn't make a HUGE difference in life, but at the end of the day, it needs to be seven figures (for me at least).

[Roma]

12 times what you spend in a year, liquid

thats the minimum

the amount will be different for everybody