If you had a million pounds, would you carry on working?

[theveryveryhungrycaterpillar]

I know a lot of people will reply they love their jobs and would no matter how much money they have but if I’m honest I don’t enjoy mine at all (teaching, if that’s relevant!)

Interested to know.

At the moment I am still at the stage where holidays are more hassle than they’re worth! Maybe I’ll change as they get older. I’m sure some experiences would be nice but on balance I would say an amazing education would benefit them more (not suggesting you’re wrong, it’s just about different people and priorities.)

We moved to an area with good state schools and went on amazing holidays.

Right, but I’m guessing holidays were a real priority for you?

I have to agree - I think if you have to compromise and pick one an education would always be better than holidays!

Out of curiosity - why are holidays a hassle? Completely nosey question. But I love holidaying and all my family and friends are the same (apart from my mum - but that’s for another thread) I’m wondering why you consider them a hassle?

At my age of 43 I doubt that would be enough to retire on but least we'd be more than comfortable.

I would keep working. One million wouldn't be enough - heavy London mortgage, 3 kids etc. b
But would be nice to have a few nice holidays and finally do the house up and have a few nice treats!! And put some aside for the kids for later.

I think I'd switch to a part time job - maybe 2-3 days a week. Or maybe move somewhere expensive and then carry on with this job but I reckon I could retire nice and early if I had that much cash even if I did move.

Yeah, definitely. That isn't enough to retire. I'd fund getting into a role I actually want and/or a project I want to set up, but would definitely work. After a long holiday or year off(!)

I’d probably retire earlier and invest some and pay my mortgage off and have some great holidays
I don’t think it would be enough to stop work all together.

I love it when people say one million isn't life changing...

So you've paid your mortgage off and still got 700k left, do you know how much interest that could generate?

Even paying your mortgage off is life changing, no?

I don’t think anyone is saying 1m wouldn’t be life changing. What they are saying is it isn’t always enough to quit work and live off. Two very different things.

No (and yes)

There are a lot of posts that heavily allude to ‘well no we’re so rich £1 million is nothing, so we’d need to carry on working to keep up with our extremely rich lives.’

And despite me asking not to in the OP, a lot of ‘absolutely not as I simply love work!’

It is true though that there is a middle ground. I’m struggling to find that middle ground, though!

Like hell Id stay at work. Im 2 years off retirement. Id buy a bigger house, not massive just a bit bigger and retire immediately. Ive worked in medical for 46 years and I'm beyond knackered.
As it is Ive got to work an extra 2 years because I havent got enough to retire on because of divorce.

Absolutely, a million pounds isn’t very much! I could pay off my mortgage and have some left over. That would make a nice cushion. Kids would have a bit more freedom to do activities they love, though we prioritise that already. We’d do a bit more travel as a family. I’d be able to afford that horse trainer for my horse.

But I definitely wouldn’t stop working. Nor would Dh. But we like what we do (self employed) and we have good quality of life and work life balance. We never miss anything at school because of work. We don’t hate life because of work. It wasn’t always that way, but the way it is now was a very intentional choice many years in the making.

Think it very much depends on just how old you are and what outgoings you still have, late 40s onward with bulk of mortgage paid and no massive loans , yes, 30s with bulk of mortgage to pay off alongside the car etc many people have, probably not

Nope!

But - if I was at a different life stage/in a different situation I would have to work out how much a year a would need to have to live comfortably and divide it by that. I know you would get interest in the capital, but prices are going up all the time so that would account for most of that. And if you're not working you're not paying National Insurance so your pension would be hugely reduced. £1m really isn't that much when you work it out that way!

No, I'd go part time though primarily to continue building my pension as had little pension building due to life changing illness until i was 40. It would reduce an awful lot of my pressure and stress as i'd pay off mortgage, put aside for child's education and then actually buy another house and rent it out or live in it and rent out my current house - which would become my child's over time.

No, I wouldn’t be bothering. There would be no point although perhaps I’d volunteer at a charity. I would buy a three-bed house, rent out two rooms on and off, and invest the remainder of the million which would give a nice lifestyle. But it’s just me to think of.

At the moment I am 0.4. I always thought I’d work more with both children at school but inclined to stay at 0.4. (Still hate it though!)

I’m the same age as OP.
I quite like my job, so I’d probably just go part time for 10 years while living off the interest, then retire.

If I hated my job, I’d retrain, or just find a part time admin or retail job for the next 10 years - I’d work in our local supermarket and enjoy the staff discount.

My teacher friend retrained as a speech and language therapist at 50 and walked straight into a job after qualifying(though they were scarce), all that teaching experience, they were biting her hand off!

No, I’d probably do some volunteering instead

Its an interesting question with clear polarisation of replies - those who would happily keep on working versus those who would not.

You have to reflect what is most important to you. One million sounds a lot, but for perspective it is the level of sensibly invested money likely to be required to cover 10 or more years in a decent care home further down the line.

But having one million in savings gives you choices many others do not have, and its worth having a partner/family conversation that establishes whether you are all leading the life you want, the best life you can and whether that involves work, or not. Just so you are not sleepwalking through every day life thinking it will all be fine, with vague plans for the future.

This thought comes from someone who was recently widowed pretty young, long before official retirement age. Now there is no one to spend our savings with, and money has become less important, relatively, to time spent and memory making. I am very sad we eill not have the opportunity to enjoy spending our savings as we intended, but I am more grateful we had made a prescient decision to retire very early despite having enjoyable high-paid jobs, realising we would be less well-off, but have more time. The right decision for us, as it turned out.

I’m not enjoying my current job so I’d leave immediately, however I would go back after a break once I’d found something I enjoy more. Most of it would go on purchasing a house.

I would reduce my hours a bit more but I am planning to do that next year anyway. I’m not sure about this business of spending less when you are retired, my working costs are negligible (about £10 a week commuting, I don’t have special work clothes and don’t buy coffees/lunches at work, coffee is free and I take packed lunches), I think I will spend a lot more going out for lunches, coffees, shopping. travel once I retire.

Yes I’d still work. I’m late 30s and I find my job satisfying but I’d probably drop my hours slightly.

I’d hope my husband would keep
working too because I’ve seen how bad it is for him when he doesn’t have that routine and focus but he doesn’t love his job so
maybe he would retrain or start a business doing something he loves.

It would be a lovely dilema to have!