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Don't get me wrong, I like what I do for work. I enjoy my job. I like my career. And I enjoy the freedom of schedule that being my own boss as a self-employed individual provides. Would I work as hard as I do if I had a little more money though? I think not.
I'd certainly still work part-time, just because I'm goal-oriented and enjoy having something to keep me motivated and occupied. However, I'd say that an extra $500,000 in the family coffers would certainly make me rethink spending each and every day toiling at my chosen profession, that's for sure!
Why $500,000
I think $500,000 is a reasonable number for our lifestyle and living needs. It certainly wouldn't be enough to retire on at our age, but I think it would be sufficient enough to open up a number of options that we might not have otherwise.
I also think that $500,000 is a reasonably achievable number. It's not a dream sum or a life changing sum, but it's an amount that with some hard work, perseverance, and a little luck, we might one day be able to achieve. Paired with our current nest egg, I think that this amount would free us up a little in our ability to consider dumping our full-time gigs.
And I'm talking about a straight $500,000 here ... not $500,000 pre-tax.
Buying a Home
I'm certainly wary of the housing market since we lost a bundle on our recent home sale; however, with a little money, I wouldn't be opposed to considering re-entering the housing market. We are reasonable in our living needs and expectations, and a regular three-bedroom two-bath house would suit our needs just fine.
Since housing costs are one of the greatest expenditures in our regular budget, being able to eliminate this expense from our lives completely would greatly reduce the need for regular income. If we could buy a home outright, in the $200,000 to $250,000 range, eliminating rent/mortgage payments from our monthly expenses, this would still leave us with a decent amount of money leftover from our starting $500,000 and with much reduced monthly expenses.
Insurance Purposes
Since my wife is a type-I diabetic, health insurance is important to us -- in fact, it's pretty much a necessity. Therefore, leaving full-time employment would likely leave us without employer-sponsored healthcare. We would need funds from our remaining $250,000 to $300,000 to cover the higher costs of obtaining and paying for our own family health insurance, which would probably be somewhere in the range of $1500 a month.
Supplemental Income
Our regular expenses are fairly low already; however, without a monthly house or rent payment, but factoring in those higher health insurance expenses, property taxes, utilities, home maintenance and repairs, food, clothing, vehicle costs, and entertainment, we could probably live off of $35,000 a year.
This means that our "walk away" amount wouldn't be enough to carry us on its own until retirement. With interest rates on savings currently low, and not wanting to entrust the money to the stock market, we would have to (and want to) work part-time. We would want to work a little bit anyway just to stay busy and since both my wife and I enjoy our jobs. However, using our excess funds as a buffer and to supplement expenses would allow us to work two to three days a week, or for just several months of the year to cover our costs, travel, and relax and investigate new opportunities with the rest of our time.
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