How much to change your life?

[TVC]

We have paid off the mortgage, have no debts and no kids, so given our ages, £1million would be enough for us not to have to work again. £10million would mean we could chase the sun for the rest of our lives.

 

[Drago]

Being a sad git I've done all the calcs, so if I win the lottery I won't waste a moment deciding what to do.

To live as I am now, same house, possessions etc, but not go To work, and live to be 80 would take about £900k. If want s couple of Mill before I stated looking at mansions or Lambos.

Problem is, I wouldn't buy a mansion or a Lamborghini, I don't need any of that shizzle, so I'd bank it for the kids. To not have to work but have the income I do now would be my level of Nirvana.

 

[vernon]

Most pay cuts or redundancies significantly changes lives without the need of a windfall.

 

[Beebo]

How much is the going rate for a hit on the missus?

My wife often reminds me that I am worth lots more dead than alive.
She would be mortgage free, along with my life insurance and pensions.

 

[gavroche]

I am semi-retired now, no mortgage and my wife is retired. I still get bored sometimes and don't mind it. Why should one always be on the go? Money wise, not rolling in it but can have a meal out without worrying about how to pay for it. Maybe two holidays a year. I am not one to chase money all the time as it is not my number one priority. 50k would be enough for me. If I was to win millions , most of it would go to my family.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Right now, to change my life... about £10k is all that is needed. That would give us the 10% deposit we need to save up to get a first mortgage so we can purchase a bungalow to help me out (not having to do stairs and the likes). Sadly I think the house I had my eye on may have been sold, which is a real shame. Nothing needed doing to it and it would have been ideal for us in all aspects except its location. It was in a cluster of houses rurally, but there were about 15 houses there... I prefer to be a little more remote than that. Nothing wrong with a neighbour or two, but.... Oh well.

Otherwise for a life long change... I guess around £500,000 would do it.

 

[cyberknight]

no mortgage is all it would take to be honest

Same her no mortgage would mean i could get out of the job thats killing me slowly before i get hurt permanently.

 

[jonny jeez]

I have to work for a living. I'm lucky though, that the job I do I love. So it's not really work. However, it doesn't pay the bills. So Mrs R also has to work. She hates her job, but it pays really well...so the bills get paid....so I don't have to go and get a job I hate to pay the bills so Mrs R could have a job she loves........swings and roundabouts.....we've been in the opposite position before with me hating work and she loving it......this year our summer holiday is going to be camping in Salisbury with tesco vouchers to get cheap entry to Longleat, visits to Stonehenge and Avebury, perhaps a wander over to Legoland (nectar points r us), and generally wandering around the Ridgeway, Devizes, and other places we can be nuisances in........

Don't miss the new forest. One of my favourite parts of the British isles.

 

[jonny jeez]

The answers show a common thread.

Its doesn't take a huge amount to really make a massive change to most peoples life...perhaps only a years salary for some.

I am amazed when I watch programs like the kardasians that the characters in that family are all so full of angst and worry....and utter boredom. Its almost like a version of depression except these kids Cant show excitement over anything, not through a mental condition but because, to them, its no big deal.

Or worse still they have to pretend its no big deal.

I am convinced that no amount of security would make me want to stop being active and challenging myself every week, if only for my own self esteem

 

[swansonj]

I was reflecting on a similar question while reading my company's annual report, specifically the Directors' remuneration section. These guys all earn a million plus. I actually have no problem that - I and the odd other twenty thousand employees have done pretty well out of the way they have led the company, in that I still have a job and the shares they give me sometimes instead of money do pretty well, and if paying a million is what it takes to get the people who can lead the company successfully, well, it's well worth it.

But they're are all on significant performance-related incentive schemes. E.g., if they fail to deliver any targets, they just get a million or so on core salary; but if they deliver all their targets, they get another two or three million in bonuses. So I fell to wondering: what is the incentive of earning an extra million or two when you're already earning a million? Especially when they all work all the hours there are, so it's not as if they're living off the money in the south of France? Does it actually make a difference to their lifestyles, or is the money the attraction in itself?

 

[screenman]

Money is not the only motivator, if it was I would still be living in London running my car sites, as I did until I saw the light.

 

[User10119]

A better job would probably change my life more than a 10k windfall.

Paying off the (small) mortgage and moving to a house with a bit of garden and a room each for my two kids (probably about £50k?) would be pretty life changing. Mind, an extra 50k income this year would mean no tax credits and a deficit budget this and next year, so I'd need to put enough aside to cover that which would possibly put me over the savings threshold for the year after too - so it wouldn't really make a difference since I'd not be able to move.

So a better job would be a much better option!

 

[srw]

Does it actually make a difference to their lifestyles, or is the money the attraction in itself?

I suspect that among them there are several who are simply motivated by the love of the job and the desire to do a good one. The ones you want to be really wary of are the ones who either claim they "need" the money (which normally means they've made terrible choices in the past) or the ones who genuinely are motivated by the money.

I'm lucky in that I've got a much larger income than I ever anticipated having, we can easily satisfy all our wants and needs and I'm enjoying my work (which is a bit of a change from half a dozen years ago). We also both have a puritanical streak that means we're not just spending money because it's there to spend.

We have no dependants, no mortgage and a reasonably modest lifestyle. Which means that we can help others who need our help, and also indulge whims like buying expensive bikes and thinking about buying a holiday house in an underpopulated part of France - but using it to create work for locals and a cheap place for others to go rather than just treat it as a business.

 

[User10119]

I suppose it all depends on your starting point, wealthwise...

Yup. If you haven't got a home, then the few hundred quid deposit on a rental property is life changing.
If you have debts, then enough to be debt-free is life changing.
If you're in expensive rented accommodation so can't spare enough to save for a deposit on a house then 10-20% of a typical purchase price for a suitable home in your area is life-changing.
If you've had enough of the daily toil then enough to stop work and retire now is life changing - although how much that is would depend enormously on lots of factors!
If you haven't got anything for tea then a few quid to buy grub is life changing.

I'm fortunate. Out of that list the only one that would be significant is 'enough to stop work' - but, in my early 40s, that would be a fair bit of dosh!

 

[classic33]

There was a national survey on this recently.

I guess one would need to determine what a significant life change is.

How much does it cost to go to Mars? That much.

68 Billion!!