How much money will I need really ?

[thibault]

Simple question :

I'm 24, a lot of my life is still ahead of me. Focusing on making money distracts from other things yet not having enough money in the future might slow my progress on my life's work. My current way to operate is to think about what my life looks like as far as I can imagine into the future, estimate how much money I need to get there and double it.

Have you found ways or mental frameworks to think about this problem ?

[MarkKol]

100k-250 a year max and that's already stretching it. diminishing returns start at 70-100k I'd say... 

 

If you're a immigrant or want to be one you better have more than 100k salary.

 

(Yearly)

[Yarco]

There are a ton of variables to consider.

Depends what country you're in, each has a different cost of living. Then within each country, the cost of living will vary hugely depending if you're living in a city or rural. Even city-to-city.

Then you basically need to think of all the must-haves and nice-to-haves in your life to figure out the kind of quality of life you want to have, and what it all adds up to. Mortgage, property tax, water, electricity, gas, hot water heater rental, phone, internet, car + insurance + maintenance + gas, groceries, clothes + shoes, animal food/litter, home insurance, cleaning supplies, gifts for holidays, dentist/medicine/massage, entertainment, meals out, emergency fund.... on and on.

Most importantly, inflation. Right now for $100k you can live a comfortable middle-class city life and pretty much buy whatever little toys and gadgets you want without thinking about it. But what you can get today for $100,000/yr would've only costed $35,000/yr in 1982.

In 2068 you'll need at least $270,000/yr to live the equivalent of a $100k/yr lifestyle today.

If you plan on having kids then you have to add at least an extra $200k per kid (in 2022 money) to raise them to 18.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Yarco

[thibault]

To be clear I'm not asking for a specific amount, that would be foolish. I haven't given you details on what my life purpose entails, if it involves going to Pluto then that is going to take a lot more than 100k/year. I'm asking how you think about money in the future.

With the imperfect information you have today, how do you best evaluate how much money you will need tomorrow ? What frameworks do you use ? Structure rather than content guys...

[universe]

On 30.4.2022 at 8:26 PM, thibault said:

Focusing on making money distracts from other things yet not having enough money in the future might slow my progress on my life's work.

Is that really true?

I wouldn’t focus on what I need in the future. Instead focus on what you can give in the future.

[thibault]

14 minutes ago, universe said:

Is that really true?

I wouldn’t focus on what I need in the future. Instead focus on what you can give in the future.

Let's say my life's work is solving some genetic condition. After years of research I find out this can be done by mining some minerals only found on asteroids. I am now stunted in my ability to give because I don't have money to fund the mining expedition. Obviously I'm simplifying but does that make sense or am I overthinking it ?

[universe]

There are a gazillion ways your growth could be stunted. At least your mind would come up with them if you think hard enough about it.
 

On the other hand you could put your mind to work to look for more opportunities to be resourceful and create something beautiful.

Which one sounds better to you?

[thibault]

12 minutes ago, universe said:

On the other hand you could put your mind to work to look for more opportunities to be resourceful and create something beautiful.

I love this phrasing and this is exactly how I think about doing good in the world !

17 minutes ago, universe said:

There are a gazillion ways your growth could be stunted. At least your mind would come up with them if you think hard enough about it.

I'm really glad you pointed that out. I had to sit and contemplate that for a few minutes. Now I realize that it is because I see so many people/companies/institutions being bullied through money and I figure that if one day it's my turn, I want to have enough that I can stand up for myself. It does seem irrational. My worst nightmare is to have my dreams crushed by money and my solution to that is to... get money. Saying it now, I'm realizing how much this has been weighing on me for years. Thank you for that nugget of wisdom !