Nobody really *needs* more than $5 million in assets, anything more is just being a greedy SOB

[Herman Munster]

Once you have accumulate $5 million in assets, there's no reason to make more money or to work for a living. You have reached financial independence.

You can set up a very conservative portfolio of 60% bonds and 40% equity in blue chip and high dividend yielding stocks that should give you an income of $200,000+ a year (not including capital appreciation) without every working.

There's no reason to want or need more than that.

And for many people the same can be said with a million dollar portfolio.....many people can live quite comfortably on $50,000 a year without having to worry about working.

[gollygee]

1. $5 million is my dream lottery number

if I won that much somehow, my husband could quit his job and we'd be set! But I don't actually play the lottery so it is even less likely to happen.

If I won more than that I'd keep $5 million for myself and give the rest away. And I'd enjoy figuring out how to give it away. To see how I could get the most good out of it.

[sweetheart]

2. F.U. money is higher than that these days... 10M

5m's not enough. The federal reserve has stolen a dollar for every 2 in
america these days by inflating the currency out from under you. Its rote
theft from the middle classes, and if you think 5million's enough, i have
a 5 million reichmark's note for you....

[Karenina]

19. Amis SO DON'T GET IT...

:shrug:

[sweetheart]

20. "fuckyou money" is when you can walk away

and never have to work again, flipping the bird and burning all yer bridges.

Fuck you money used to be 5 million dollars. But the federal reserve has so
inflated the value, that its now more like 10 million dollars. Such radical
inflation was very effective in helping hitler come to power, by destroying all
middle class political opposition before it could rear its head.

:hi:

[azmouse]

3. There is nothing wrong with accumulating money

as long as it's done honestly. My husband has a good education and a good job. We have a lot of money put aside and hope to put even more aside. We don't use the money just for ourselves but now have the means to help others.
Guess it depends on whether someone wants the money for fancy things or to help others.

[Warpy]

7. I just inherited

and, while it's not enough for me to consider myself a plutocrat, it generates more than enough income for me to live on.

It's a gas to be able to give some of it away.

[catmandu57]

14. Hey Warpy, old buddy, old pal

If you're in a giving mood.

I've always felt that nobody needs more money than they can spend in two lifetimesre you going to do with it? Pile it up and sleep on it like Smaug?

[Warpy]

16. Nope, I'm going to live within my means

and have the principal transferred on death to my favorite charity.

You?

[catmandu57]

17. The county is going to have to put me away

The only thing I'm leaving is my rotting carcass.

[Warpy]

18. I'll prepay my cremation

I agree with Frida Kahlo about that one.

[jwirr]

4. I think it should be profits that are shared more between the

haves and have nots. Assets could mean a US business that hires 1000s.

[sarcasmo]

5. Money is a state of mind.

I mean do you really need five million to be happy? I have had nothing and am perfectly happy with what I have now. My theory is that if you have everything paid off and you don't owe the Bank or Government a dime then you have total control of your life and your piece of mind.

[Warpy]

6. Dunno, I had an uncle who produced 10 kids

and, while $500K is a nice chunk of change, it won't provide for anybody's decent retirement. I don't think you can put "enough" into stone. What's enough in Mississippi wouldn't provide a down payment on an unfashionable condo on Manhattan, much less guarantee a mortgage would be paid.

I do think we need to rethink the tax structure. Clearly, concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands is not good for the country or its people. We need to revisit the progressive income tax, complete with a confiscatory rate for these CEOs who think they can loot their corporations to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

A million dollar portfolio, invested defensively, will provide about $30K a year.

[Nikia]

8. Should someone be forced to make their business a public corp?

There are many American businesses that are worth several million or more that are privately held. In some cases, that person (or family) wouldn't even be as rich as the example that you gave if the business wasn't taken into account. If they were forced to make it public, in some cases it would mean the company's death because a much bigger public company would buy the majority of the stock.
It would mean that in many industries that there would only be truly small businesses and very large already existing public corporations.

[mainer]

9. "Assets" can also mean the family farm

And absolutely no cash. You can't live off real estate property.

[Herman Munster]

10. sure you can

you sell the family farm to a developer and make a bundle and buy a McMansion somewhere nearby.

Obviously, this isn't desirable to a lot of people but if you need the money, you can always sell.

[Nikia]

12. But some people do want to work for themselves

Whether it is on the farm or their own business. Why should people have to work for large corporations or businesses that aren't allowed to get any larger than 5 million in value?

[bobbolink]

11. Not awfully long ago, millionaires were in the 90% tax bracket.

Funny enough... they *still* had their yachts, their multiple homes, their multiple fancy cars, their furs, etc etc etc.

[jmowreader]

13. Not this shit again!

Try starting a business with less than $5 million in assets. You can do it in one of two ways:

starting a very small business--and even then you've got to have quite a bit of liquid capital. You can't even start a burger joint without about a million-five in cash on hand if you want to buy a franchised operation.

or mortgage the thing to the hilt, which means you have to be super successful, right now, if you don't want to fail in the first year of operation.

I think I've used this before, but it's good to drag it out every now and then...

Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.
But open a fish cannery, and the whole town eats for a very long time. And you can't open a fish cannery with no money.

There are good uses of wealth and bad uses of wealth. If you hit the lottery and just become the Idle Rich, buying plaything after plaything and not contributing anything to society, that's a bad use of wealth. Hit the lottery and open a company, hiring people and making useful things for the betterment of mankind, and that's a good use of wealth.

Oh...and fuck that "worrying about working" crap. You should work. Everyone should work. It keeps the mind and body whole. What having money in the bank does for you is allows you to choose your employment based on what you WANT to do, not what will pay the bills.

[DocSavage]

15. does that go for

farmers, small business owners, out big donors? I am out to make as much as possible, take care of my family as good as possible.

on a world view, that would be like saying any one with more than 100K in assessts owes anything extra to the world poor.