If I had a million dollars . . .

[W2R]

Sorry to hear that, Gary. Divorce is a nightmare.

However, I am happy to report that there is life after divorce... it does take time but you can recover. You can recover your assets, and find someone, after a while. First your heart needs time to mend.

 

[haha]

Love it! I need help identifying what will be my "semi retirement gig". I'm just south of 2 million in savings... I am 46, single (but have my spousal equivalent... she has her own finances and we share a household budget of about 3K a month), with no kids.

I make $45 an hour as an IT consultant... if I could find something that pays $20 an hour and I enjoy doing it full time... I would blow this popsicle stand.

If you make $45/hr, and you have ca. $2mm saved, you are one advanced saver. Congrats.

Ha

 

[haha]

You got THAT right. DW and I have well over $1MM between us, with savings and real estate. We were getting to the point where we would have been reasonably comfortable once our teenagers got through college.

But DW recently decided she didn't want to be married to me any more, and she's walking with at least half our net worth. Plus now I have to look at setting up my own house &etc., enough to house 2 teenagers half-time. And I may be looking at a lonely retirement instead of spending my golden years with my best friend. So not only is my heart getting ripped out and stomped on, my finances and my retirement dreams have taken a major hit as well.

At least from now on, you will tend to fold 'em instead of holding them.

My divorce in my 60s was a bummer in every way, but it sure has cleared my head about a number of confusions that I formerly held.

I refuse to even do a sleepover with a woman lest I get attracted to that whole domestic thing.

Ha

 

[veremchuka]

Has anyone come up with a better phrase than "if I had a million dollars" to express this sort of thinking?

Yes - if I had 5 million dollars...

If I had a million dollars I'd have twice what I have now and I'm doing just fine so a million would last me 3 retirements!

When I was a kid we'd say "if I had a million dollars I'd buy a new hinney cuz mine is cracked", 10 year olds jeesh!

 

[SteveR]

Divorce at any age is rough but especially after many years of marriage. My divorce was bad in 1991 but it finally gave me the freedom to enact my financial desires which allowed for ER. Otherwise, I would still be w*rking well into my later years or die of a heart attack along the way. Divorce with kids really sucks and the scars will be there on everyone for a while. Hang in there...things will eventually look much better.

 

[kumquat]

Love thread evolution. Where in the OP is the "D word" mentioned?

 

[obgyn65]

If I had another million dollars I would use more of this money to help those in need. For example, I would buy a few used RVs to be used as mobile clinics or shelters in Central America.

 

[Purron]

If I had another million dollars I would use more of this money to help those in need. For example, I would buy a few used RVs to be used as mobile clinics or shelters in Central America.

Ever considered setting up a charitible organization to do this? Who knows, you might get used RVs donated. I bet the RV market is depressed and the chances of someone wanting to unload one for the tax deduction, or to help the cause, is quite possible.

 

[kaudrey]

I usually say, "if i win the lottery"...which of course won't happen, since I don't play.

 

[GaryInCO]

GREAT idea, Purron. Obgyn, there's no reason you have to do this by yourself. Open it up to others and you may find you can multiply your results far beyond what you could do with another million.

 

[Danmar]

There's a song "If I had a million dollars " and it rattles off a bunch of crap they would buy (fur coat, lama, .....) at the end the singer says "If I had a million dollars, I'ld be RICH." Everytime I hear the song I insert BROKE for RICH - yelling into the radio (infront of the wife/kids). Obviously anybody buying all that crap would be broke.

You got it by not spending.

If you have a million dollars ... stay the course.

good one. I have thought the same thing. That band (Bear Naked Ladies) broke up recently after the lead singer got into some drug related legal problems. I suspect that for those guys a millon would still be a lot.

 

[Andre1969]

good one. I have thought the same thing. That band (Bear Naked Ladies) broke up recently after the lead singer got into some drug related legal problems. I suspect that for those guys a millon would still be a lot.

Well, at one point they did suggest living below their means. Wasn't one of the verses "I'd buy you a K-car?" I forget what year that song came out, but the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries had been out of production for awhile by then, and never were expensive cars, so perhaps they were advocating buying a cheap used car?

 

[haha]

If I had (another) million dollars I would upgrade my lifestyle.

Ha

 

[Andre1969]

If I had (another) million dollars I would upgrade my lifestyle.

Ha

Same here. $1M, on top of what I already have in my portfolio, would make me think seriously about pulling the plug and retiring right now.

 

[youbet]

If I had (another) million dollars I would upgrade my lifestyle.

Ha

+1.

Put another way, if we had additional financial resources appear as a windfall, we'd add additional discretionary spending to our budget right away! International travel, local dining out and entertainment, a nicer camper, fly-in fishing trips, well you get the picture. We're doing OK now, but definitely have room on the calendar to squeeze in some additional activities.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

+1 (including replacing my now 20-year-old mattress set); and I've already worn out my oldest pair of athletic shoes, now that I am exercising more in ER.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

+1 (including replacing my now 20-year-old mattress set); and I've already worn out my oldest pair of athletic shoes, now that I am exercising more in ER.

As one gets older (and starts/continues to exercise), skimping on a good mattress and box spring is NOT a good idea. Quality sleep is critically important.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

As one gets older (and starts/continues to exercise), skimping on a good mattress and box spring is NOT a good idea. Quality sleep is critically important.

Yes, I agree. But I'm still trying to figure out whether I'm a soft or firm mattress kind of guy. I need to go out there and do some field research, after doing a bit of online research, including here.

 

[W2R]

If I had more money right now, I'd just put it in Vanguard and sit on it, most likely (and pay more taxes because of having it). There is a danger in upgrading one's lifestyle excessively and losing oneself in the process.

As Thoreau put it, "My greatest skill is to want but little".

I do enjoy the things that I buy, though, like my desk that I bought recently. I just wouldn't enjoy going overboard.

 

[Walt34]

We probably wouldn't do much of anything different except increase discretionary spending some although at the moment I'm hard pressed to think of anything we'd rush out to buy. I already have too much stuff as it is.

We already have everything that's important - good health, friends & family, nice home, reliable vehicles, enough cash on hand to meet any reasonably foreseeable need, etc.

Maybe a class C RV for me, but I doubt DW would want to go much.

We do buy two lottery tickets a month, and what we're buying with our $2 is a month's worth of daydreams. If we hit a large payoff we'd set up two trust funds for a niece and a nephew who have learning disabilities. A local guy here won a $300 million lottery and he's giving most of it away to various local charities. He's smart enough to know that after the first couple of million, more doesn't make you any happier.

 

[Danmar]

Well, at one point they did suggest living below their means. Wasn't one of the verses "I'd buy you a K-car?" I forget what year that song came out, but the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries had been out of production for awhile by then, and never were expensive cars, so perhaps they were advocating buying a cheap used car?

good point. I think the song was around 1990. the K car seemed a little out of place with all the expensive stuff" like John Merrick's remains(all them crazy elephant bones)

 

[Danmar]

@W2R "losing oneself in the process" Wow. I think when you get to our age after a lifetime of prudent fiscal management it is pretty unlikely that $1million would accomplish that difficult task. Maybe a $billion?

 

[RunningBum]

When I blew past $1M (stock options were doing really well in the late 90s), I decided that if/when I hit $2M I would buy the Honda S2000 roadster I'd been drooling over. When I hit $2M, I decided I really didn't like that car so much and didn't want to pay $35-40K for such a toy, and instead paid $14K for a used Miata. I still have and enjoy the Miata. A splurge, but not an extravagant one.

I've never played the lottery, because I think a $300M jackpot would ruin my life. I think I'd enjoy up to another $10M. Beyond that I think it'd be more of a burden.

 

[W2R]

@W2R "losing oneself in the process" Wow. I think when you get to our age after a lifetime of prudent fiscal management it is pretty unlikely that $1million would accomplish that difficult task. Maybe a $billion?

I dunno. It's pretty scary to read about what happens to some people when they come into money. Seems like they go on a wild spending spree and blow it all on fast cars or whatever. I think that is pretty sad.

When I blew past $1M (stock options were doing really well in the late 90s), I decided that if/when I hit $2M I would buy the Honda S2000 roadster I'd been drooling over. When I hit $2M, I decided I really didn't like that car so much and didn't want to pay $35-40K for such a toy, and instead paid $14K for a used Miata. I still have and enjoy the Miata. A splurge, but not an extravagant one.

I've never played the lottery, because I think a $300M jackpot would ruin my life. I think I'd enjoy up to another $10M. Beyond that I think it'd be more of a burden.

Your thinking is similar to mine on this. You bought a used Miata and felt happier with that, even though you had 2 million dollars.

Thresholds are different. I have less than you but don't think I'd find much use for any more money. But then again, maybe the experience would be different than I think.

+1.

Put another way, if we had additional financial resources appear as a windfall, we'd add additional discretionary spending to our budget right away! International travel, local dining out and entertainment, a nicer camper, fly-in fishing trips, well you get the picture. We're doing OK now, but definitely have room on the calendar to squeeze in some additional activities.

See, none of those things really do much for me. We already dine out a lot, but the rest of it? I don't even like travel and so obviousl I also don't want a camper. My Wii and my new access to digital TV provide more entertainment than I have time.

 

[Andre1969]

Same here. $1M, on top of what I already have in my portfolio, would make me think seriously about pulling the plug and retiring right now.?

I just thought of something...if this little fantasy did happen and I decided to retire, I'd make it a point to call into Suze Orman, tell her I got out of the rat race at 41 and ain't looking back, just so I can hear her say "AAAHHHR YOOOO KIDDINGME?!"