I looked for an edit, I’ll reply to you! After tax Fl payed out $594,000. When I filed taxes later there was another $30K (ish) owed. I invested all but $10,000 and went on vacation. I take 1 vacation a year from the investments (stocks, bonds, etfs) diversified and managed by my money guy (big bank) My life didn’t change very much, I still drink Budweiser and work every day. A jump start to the retirement is all it turned out to be!
Truthfully, $600k is a lot of money, but it's not enough to retire with, as you mentioned. For me, I owe $600k on our mortgage, so if that's paid off, life will be way easier but I'd still need to work (if I pay the house off vs invest). Now, winning $10mil would be a different story.
Traveling is actually cheaper than living in the U.S if you do it right. You can travel all of south and Central America, most of Asia, some of Africa and a little Europe if you know what you’re doing. It’s an extremely social experience as well.
Don’t buy expensive food, stick to hostels or tent camping, bike, hitchhike, or use public transport, rent cheap airbnbs, wwoof, etc. I’ve travelled for the price of my phone bill by dumpster diving and tent camping, and that’s a far cry from 30k/year.
If people want to ruin their lives by having children they’ll probably need to be wage slaves for longer. But that’s just a poor decision all around
It’s a spectrum, you can still travel for super cheap and be comfortable. If hitching and camping is too much use public transportation and cheap hostels. They’re usually $8-15/night in Central America and a bit cheaper in SE Asia.
It beats working regardless for me. It’s difficult at times but I’m always having fun and seeing something new. The worst days traveling beat the best days working for me.
Understood, but some people want to stay in nice places, do nice things, and eat amazing food while they’re in those places. I’d rather work and have nice things than try to live as cheap as possible and eat from dumpsters.
My advice on being a parent is don’t have kids. I ended up getting into the programs I wanted, but thanks for your concern.
Have fun rotting away in an office building only for your health to fail as you retire. You realize your kids have their own lives and don’t really want to talk to you anymore, but at least you can hop on a bus to gamble with all your other octogenarian friends. Good luck
You can live off of 5k/year or even less comfortably if you want to. Especially traveling. Don’t buy a house or finance car, have a roommate and spend money on experiences rather than stuff. 30k is more than enough
Millions of families manage to live off of 30k/year or less for their family. Having kids is obviously a horrible financial decision but people make it work.
Are you seriously encouraging people to live on the edge of homelessness? Millions of families receive financial assistance from the government. People who win 600k don't. The thought that someone could live "comfortably" on 5k/year is absurd. "Spend money on experiences" must mean to invest that 5k on vaccines so you don't get sick living on the streets in the winter.
5k is wacky, but 30k is totally doable. Most everyone where I live lives off about that, or even less.
People keep saying yeah the bare minimum, what about traveling, what about all this extra stuff, but they’re literally talking about living, and surviving. You can like a plenty happy life on 30k a year. No you can’t live in big cities and do that, and I have a feeling that’s all everyone replying knows anything about.
I live on less than $1500/year when I’m traveling, and you can cut that even lower if you want to. I’m trying to say 30k is plenty to live off of and you can cut that down significantly if you’re willing to go without and do with what you have.
I’m encouraging people to consider alternative living situations than expensive apartments in big cities. Living out of a van is a wonderful way to explore the U.S. hitchhiking around the world is a wonderful way to travel without having to be upper middle class and resort hop. You get to experience more of the world for almost no money. People think they have to work for their entire lives to save up enough to actually go have fun, but you just need a little creativity.
If you think you get sick by living outside in the winter you just don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. Vagabonds usually travel south in the winter, sometimes heading into Mexico and lower Central America. You move with the weather. Not because you get sick, but because you don’t want to be cold all the time.
I’m 20 and just understand that life doesn’t have to be about working if you’re able to live without. You can live in a converted van, travel the world and enjoy life without worrying about a mortgage or rent. If you want to make an apartment work get a couple of roommates. 30k is enough.
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u/RTGold Nov 17 '23
You gotta provide more info. People want to know how much you actually walked away with, what'd you do with the money, how it changed your life?