Comment on A reminder
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 4 days agoA millionaire is still never have to work again money. Its not life of luxury never working again, but its easily a comfortable life of never working again. £500k or so is probably roughly the starting point of never work again but living very frugally.
Rule of thumb for a retirement portfolio is to withdraw 4% per year. 4% of $1M is $40k. People survive on 40k/year, but you’d be considered pretty low income in most areas.
Big point being that in the US we have many cost of living expenses that the UK does not (or rather, you get it via your taxes)
merc@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
The fact you’re using pounds instead of dollars says you’re probably talking about having 1 million pounds and living in the UK rather than the US.
1 million pounds is still a lot more than 1 million dollars, despite Brexit. In addition, if you live in the UK you’re covered by the NHS so none of your million has to go towards health care / health insurance. The cost of living is also lower in the UK than the US. So, as long as you don’t try to live in London you can get by with a lot less money.
The point is, John Rogers was trying to draw a distinction between two extremes. On one end you’re homeless and extremely desperate. On the other end, you’re a millionaire and are set for life. At this point, $1m USD in the USA really isn’t “set for life” anymore. Someone hitting age 65 with no pension and a total net worth of $1m is really still in the same “class” as the people who work 9-5 every day. They shop in the same stores, have to budget very carefully, worry about the price of gas, etc.