LBYMers, Could You Spend $300k A Year?

[RetiredGypsy]

Since these threads were started

http://www.early-retirement.org/for...ay-7-million-not-enough-to-be-rich-55188.html

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/scraping-by-on-250k-year-55203.html#post1047613

I've been trying to fill my head with all the ways I could spend $300k a year. No matter how hard I try, I just can't do it. I'm too comfortable with my life to want to rush out to drastically change anything with such a large influx of money. I still wouldn't want to get satellite television, I still wouldn't want a smart phone or a hanger full of toys. Even the most expensive things I want to do wouldn't require more than $10-20k over what I have now, and that's if I did everything over again yearly.

I'm reminded of the businessman in The Millionaire Next Door, who turned down a Rolls-Royce because it didn't fit his LBYM lifestyle. That's how I feel.

Could you? Have you been LBYMing so long that you couldn't see yourself changing much? Would you run off with $300k a year and never look back? Could you do it with half that much? A quarter?

 

[traineeinvestor]

This reminds me of Brewster's Millions.

If I really had to, I'm sure I could find ways to constructively [-]waste[/-] spend USD300K pa (or more):

1. first class travel staying in 5 star hotels (a private jet would be too expensive)
2. buy a yacht and race it
3. elite school fees for my two children
4. drink a bottle Lafite 1982 every week
5. redecorating the home
6. upgrade the car I don't have
etc

It wouldn't be hard, but it wouldn't be me either.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

I've always wanted to be a wealthy philanthropist. I'd give to help my favorite causes. Or perhaps run an apartment building with cheap rent for refugees.
I don't THINK I could spend that much on myself. I hope not. There are too many people out there who didn't have a chance to get a good start in life, through no fault of their own. Especially overseas.

 

[JJ1960]

2. buy a yacht and race it


It wouldn't be hard, but it wouldn't be me either.

You might want to check Larry Ellisons yacht, $13,000,000 just to maintain it each year! This isn't his racing boat.
Rising Sun – Larry Ellison’s yacht

 

[bbbamI]

I voted all that plus a bag of chips...shoot and a side order of cole slaw!

 

[Katsmeow]

FWIW, when DH and I were both working we did have a relatively high income but didn't have yachts or do anything that seemed that luxurious. Taxes and retirement savings took a good bit of it. Child related expenses were a huge, huge part of it especially since we had a child who needed a therapeutic school that was quite expensive. We had a house that wasn't a mansion but was large (we had 6 people living in it when we moved in) and required a lot of upkeep and was another huge expense. Just the expenses I just listed totalled well over $200k and that is not even considering food, clothing, travel, recreation. We could have cut that by a smaller house (which we are working on doing now since we are down to 4 people in the house) and the child related expenses have gone way down with kids getting older but we didn't actually live all that luxuriously

 

[youbet]

I voted all that plus a bag of chips...shoot and a side order of cole slaw!

Me too! We'd have no problem spending $300k and we wouldn't even appear pretentious doing so.


There's a nice home plus extensive shoreline for sale on the lake we visit twice every summer in northern Minnesota. It's beautiful up there and we just love it. The owner has divided the extensive shoreline into several lots plus one lot goes with the home. I think the total cost for the home and all the lots would be in the range of $2 mil. Purchasing that property with a 15 yr mortgage plus paying someone else to maintain it while I'm away at my condo in Florida for the winter, taxes and the associated expenses for both places would pretty much chew up $300k once you added in a couple of international vacations a year.

While I'm waiting for the annual $300k to show up, I guess I better finish getting our little camper and the kayaks ready for summer...... Sigh......

 

[Nords]

LBYMers, Could You Spend $300k A Year?

On what?!?

Seriously, though, I think the trick is to set up huge recurring expenses-- a McMansion with staff and lots of amenities plus more contractors to maintain them. Expensive cars. High-cost city. Then let your accountant send you a spreadsheet once a month. As long as net worth is going up then you find it hard to care.

The book "Richistan" is an amusing look at what it takes.

I had a little taste of it last week-- moving my Dad and his vehicle to the big city and then returning to the small town. After the week (and the 250-mile drive) that I'd had, I wasn't going to repeat the journey in a rental car with a drop-off fee-- I took an $80 cab to the airport and spent $575 for a one-way last-minute ticket. A few days later I went into an REI store to outfit myself properly with the remaining gear needed for our upcoming Haleakala hike (no REIs in Hawaii)-- 70-liter backpack, water bladder, pack cover, rain poncho, to the tune of $400. I'd made the hike last year on rental gear that was approaching the razor's edge of endurance & safety.

It was an interesting feeling solving all these logistics and material problems by waving a magic plastic card in the air. It didn't matter that safety was enhanced or that we had the budget to afford these conveniences. Just being aware that there was a cheaper way to do things was enough to take the thrill off.

So I guess it takes practice, too.

 

[sheehs1]

My husband and I together make over that now. Married 18 years, blended family with 3 children between us. During the years of raising the children, buying, furnishing and improving the house and yard.....I would look at him..and say..."it does not FEEL like we made that"...."how can that be"? Further along, we had 3 in college at the same time. And we did not live luxuriously either. No full time maid (once a week while I worked), no boats. Most expensive hobby was/is my husbands golf. We lived well and provided for our children, took family trips every year.......but not over the top or how some might imagine. Or some might say it was. Don't know. All I know ..is it didn't feel like we could blow money without a care. And we didn't.
BUT ...now with 2 of the 3 children out of college and on their own..with the last to graduate this May....I can say I definitely feel that the financial pressure has lifted..and I can feel the big buffer in the budget. Still can't spend it...as we are saving for retirement.

 

[traineeinvestor]

You might want to check Larry Ellisons yacht, $13,000,000 just to maintain it each year! This isn't his racing boat.
Rising Sun – Larry Ellison’s yacht

I was thinking of something a little more modest, but if you give me the money I will, very reluctantly, undertake to spend it.

 

[FIREd]

Sure, I could.

 

[flyfishnevada]

Part of the advantage of LBYM is not paying for a bunch of junk you don't need and saving the cost of replacing and maintaining said stuff to maximize the money you do have for things that are important to you. You bet I could spend the extra money. I'd buy things I don't need, a big house I only use half of to store all that junk in and I'd pay people to maintain and clean all of it.

I think that's called being wealthy. I may live on much less than that, but I didn't take a vow of poverty. I may not need it to be happy, but I could have a ball with it if I did have it.

 

[haha]

It's very simple. There is almost no area of life that cannot be upgraded, if you have the needed money. If you have any taste and understand yourself, most of these upgrades to some extent will enhance day to day life.

Doctor has no time to hear you out? Join a concierge practice.

Tired of keeping your car going? How about trading in that old Accord for a nice new 911? If you think there is no difference, you have never driven a 911.

Most of us could only have something like this by stressing our security needs, and some of us could not enjoy this or something similar even if we had plenty of money, just because we would always be feeling something that would detract from the simple enjoyment. Maybe we have a self image that just wouldn't allow this much change.

But for the rest, if we had a large enough surplus to handle our security fears, we would love every minute of it!

Ha

 

[obgyn65]

Ditto. It's just not me.

It wouldn't be hard, but it wouldn't be me either.

 

[clifp]

I have spent enough time hanging around with people that spend way more than 300K/year to know that I won't feel comfortable doing it. I am sure with the 'right' wife I could do it and be comfortable with it.

 

[Ronstar]

I've spent $300k in a year before, but my purchases included a condo. I'll (hopefully) get that money back someday. But I wouldn't feel right blowing $300k on stuff I couldn't get money back on - unless I made about $1m a year - and I don't see that happening.

 

[52andout]

think of what you could do if you had that much when you are used to living on 1/4 or 1/5 of that- if you gave the rest away. Our local soup kitchen (that serves a lot of single moms, homeless mentally ill and homeless vets) would love a donation. I could fund 529's for a bunch of kids. I could give a bunch of money to the local YMCA who is trying to build a new huge facility.

the list goes on and on. now if I had to spend that much on "stuff", well I would get bored quickly (after I gave DH a chunk to get a fancy sports car).

 

[Dawg52]

Sure I could. And if I had 300k a year to spend, I would be like this guy.

YouTube - Who Gets DIRECTV in the Will?

 

[deserat]

...
Tired of keeping your car going? How about trading in that old Accord for a nice new 911? If you think there is no difference, you have never driven a 911....

Damn straight - the Porsche responds immediately - no lag. It the physical feeling of a spring constant in the Honda - takes awhile for the energy to finally move the thing.....the Porsche - 6th gear, step on it and you get immediate response...plus the extra gas bill I consider my mini a poor-man's Porsche - my German neighbors are still impressed with the mini - go figure.

Hmm, $300K, could probably spend that in the first or second year, but after that? I think Nords point of the 'it only costs this much a month' lifestyle would do it for the long-term. Now, I spend most of my life avoiding the 'monthly revolving costs' for anything. I try to either own it, borrow it (free) or don't bother.

 

[RunningBum]

I sure don't need it but I could spend it. I worked and saved long enough to finance the life style I want, and no more. Having more would give diminishing returns, but would have some value.

For example, I'm running the Boston marathon next month. I used to think running was cheap, you just throw on shoes and go. But once you get into it, you wear through shoes more often, want high tech clothes that don't chafe over 26 miles, pay entry fees for races, and travel costs where they jack up rates for big events. I'm taking the train to Boston and staying at a motel in South Boston for $150. It would be nicer to fly first class and stay at the finish on Boston Common for $300-400, and I'd certainly do it if I had $300K to spend. But doubling the cost wouldn't double the pleasure. Getting there and staying in a comfortable and safe enough place is all I really want.

 

[brewer12345]

300k would be easy. There was a time when I worked in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country. I still lived a blah middle class lifestyle, but without the slightest effort it would have been easy to be "infected" by those around me and blow 300k or more a year.

 

[Silver]

Yep.....I could easily spend that and more. And oh what fun it would be!

 

[FANOFJESUS]

I could spend a little more a year but I could take 95% of 300k and start a charity. Now that would be fun to me.

 

[Independent]

I'm with Ha, I could upgrade in every area. I live in the upper midwest, and my kids are in this general area, but I'd love to spend part of the year in the mountains, and part in Hawaii, and part in a city, and .... That kind of moving around will burn $300k very quickly.

Then there's the 911, and I've read about housing developments built around a private racetrack, that's an interesting idea....

 

[MasterBlaster]

Perhaps a more interesting question is...

If your income was formerly $300k/year could you then really downsize.
With a paid off mansion and property taxes covered, could you live on $30k a year ?