When would you turn down $1 million?

[Independent]

I suspect a typo; he meant 60 hrs/week which translates to roughly 3,000 hrs/yr with 2 weeks off for vacation.

Thanks.

Yes, I meant 60 hour work weeks and assumed that people would figure 50 weeks per year.

 

[Culture]

I think I can answer very close to this question from actual current experience. I reached "the number" about one year ago. Given average investment earnings (assumed 4% real) and after tax savings from work, my NW is increasing at about $640,000/year (about 1/3 investment return and 2/3 saving), well short of your proposed $1M/year but still a very large number.

I was going to retire on May 1, 2014, but have made the decision to work one more year. Why?

1) I am still pretty young, a little under 50 yo.
2) My job is not stressful. Most would kill for my working conditions.
3) We started building our retirement house this year in anticipation of retirement and it is costing twice what I expected to spend. This will also result in double the property taxes I anticipated and somewhat higher operating cost (insurance, maintenance, etc). I feel the need to make up for this by raising "the number" a bit. This was likely the most significant part of the OMY decision.
4) I feel stupid walking away from $640,000/year. Rationally, this is a dumb decision, as we have never spent more than $100,000/year (not including taxes), ever, and are currently spending about $70,000/year (not including taxes). However, I am finding it very difficult to make this decision. I think things like, "if I worked one more year I could buy my parents a nice house. How selfish not to do so."

The current plan is to retire May 1, 2015, about the time the retirement house is completed. I think this will actually happen unless the economic environment changes significantly, i.e. 20% or larger market correction or hyper-inflation.

In summary, I guess my experience is pointless with respect to your questions because I have not actually given up the money yet .

 

[Dreamer]

I have to admit that I would jump at the chance to earn $1 million a year. I have never been in the same league with most of the people's salaries on this board. I would never ever be offered the chance to earn this amount of money, so I will never have to worry about it. However, I am planning on working my part-time, low stress job for a little over a year. I will be earning $11.00 per hour instead!

 

[LendingWire]

It depends on what I was doing for a living I guess. I have a pretty terrible job right now, so if I was somehow making 1M a year from that I'd do it for a year and live frugally for the rest of my life, or at least til the 1M ran out. I might just get a different job after a year. If I had a job I actually liked, I'd probably keep doing it until a pretty standard retirement age like 50/60/70. I guess it would depend on how I'm feeling in the future.

 

[Ready]

I have a book I am reading now that you might find find helpful. It is called What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better. It is by a director of the Canyon Ranch spa and his basic premise is that he works with extremely wealthy people and many aren't any happier than average income people.

Thanks for the book recommendation daylatedollarshort. I read the book this week, and I have to admit I had no idea how negatively my brain was wired for thinking and reacting to things. My conditioning clearly taught me to assume the worst and allow fear into my brain, rather than reacting to things the way the doctor recommends in his book. It was a great read and highly recommended to anyone who might be wondering why they don't think they are as happy as they would like to be.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

A million would be enough for me to retire but I am a simple man.

 

[Willers]

I too would jump at the chance, assuming normal work hours of course. I'd be able to offset any pain with my 1st class flights every weekend to fun locations around the globe and still have plenty left over.

Cake and eat it too?

 

[obgyn65]

I have not read all the posts under this thread but to answer the OP's question, I would work one more year for $1 million. For 5 years, the answer would be no. I am 49 years old, planning for a 45 year long retirement.