If you had £2 million, would you still work full time?

[Summerlovin99]

You obtained the money through early inheritance. You are married, have two very young children and your house is already mortgage free. And if you wouldn't work full time, what would you do with your time?

I'd volunteer for my local animal rescue. On a full time basis.

They do fabulous work and I'd love to support them more than I already do.

@TatianaBis

2 million will only yield around 60k per year.

Only if it was extremely poorly invested.

In this specific scenario the family concerned has to look at potentially covering their living costs for 60 years, assuming they're now in their 30s. On that basis, £2 million isn't really that much, especially when you factor in inflation, so I think I probably would carry on working.

However, if it were enough to provide a comfortable enough cushion for the rest of my life, I think I'd carry on working for my current employers because I work for a charity and enjoy it, but I'd work part time and on a voluntary basis.

Quit work in a heartbeat
Fill my time procrastinating & watching tv

I would as don't think 2 mill is enough to live on forever. I would consider part time, especially with young children but mine are in secondary and I have a job that doesn't work part time so isn't an option really.

@Summerlovin99

You obtained the money through early inheritance. You are married, have two very young children and your house is already mortgage free. And if you wouldn't work full time, what would you do with your time?

Obviously there are all sorts of other variables... personally I would move to a bigger and more expensive house; try to find someone to bring in to work with me on my business, cut my hours down to one or two days a week and spend much more time on my hobbies.

Yes if course. I like my work. I would need a reason to get up, hobbies and pottering doesn’t cut it for me.

@Summerlovin99

Also would you have elements of guilt if you didn't work full time after watching the people you inherited from, work extremely extremely hard to create such wealth and pass on to you

Not a teeny tiny teeny tiny bit. Not even a whisper of guilt.

@Londongent

Actually, to be able to spend £60k per year after tax from a £2 million portfolio, assuming you wanted that spend rate to grow with inflation, you'd need to earn returns on the order of 9% pre-tax. About 5% of that would go towards paying taxes and growing the portfolio value to keep up with inflation, at least 1% would go to asset management fees unless the asset towner is an effective DIY investor (which might lower fees towards 0.5%) , leaving 3% to spend out of that 9% return.

Do you think that a 9% return before fees and taxes would be a poor long-term investment return? I think it would be a pretty optimistic return assumption!

Whereas with a 2% spend rate (£40k after tax) the return would only need to be about 7% before fees and taxes (1% for fees, 4% for inflation and taxes, 2% to spend). That sounds more realistic to me.

I always think about this, and have decided I would do nursing part time. I would only need an additional training course to qualify and I think it would be good to give back, and obviously easier if I wasn't relying on the job for money.

Yes. I love my job.

Well, it would depend on the job, if I absolutely loved it and all my colleagues etc, maybe. It would also depend on being able to invest the money in an effective way to secure the future for the young children you’ve mentioned. But mostly, I think I’d study and volunteer more. Neither of which I have enough time or money to do right now unfortunately.

@Tarararara

I expect the OP has inherited a strong 'work ethic' as well as the money, and that makes such decisions harder.

I'm in a situation where I don't enjoy my 3-days a week job, we don't need the money (at all) and I can think of plenty of hobbies/volunteer work I could do to keep myself busy. But my inner work ethic (which I never realised was so vocal) keeps telling me that if I can work, I should work, and I feel guilty and 'spoilt' to be considering giving up what is a very well-paid, stress-free, WFH, flexible, part-time hours job that most people would give their eye teeth to have.

So OP, I understand why you are feeling the way you do, but two observations:

(1) you have young children - you don't need an 'excuse' not to work

(2) you're currently working full-time, which again, is more than most people with kids and no mortgage do.

So you're setting the bar very high in terms of your work ethic already - you're not in-line with how the majority of (wealthy) people with children live, even without the £2 million inheritance.

If I do give up my career, I'd like to work (very part time) in a farmshop/a cafe/a National Trust property, as I enjoy 'work' per se, but then I'd have the guilt of taking a minimum wage job away from someone who needs it more than I do.

I was going to say a similar thing! I know (or know of) a few families who are millionaires. One such family won the lottery, and neither husband nor wife have worked since. The others are self made and continue to work. I think there is something in that - if you are someone who has made a substantial amount, you are more likely I think to have an approach to work and life in general that means you won’t then give up work?

It’s fascinating to see how differently they can be treated. Those who won the money are often expected, by other family and friends, to ‘share the wealth’. They’ll be expected to pay for meals out, have bought substantial gifts for friends - who have not always been overly grateful (for example wanting a more expensive car!). I don’t see the same expectations towards those who made it. I think this is because there is something about people winning money as having not ‘earnt’ it?

For me, I think I’d be bored if I didn’t work, and would lack a sense of purpose. I think OP may be similar - Given that she currently works full time when she doesn’t need to, I presume it is not purely financial motivation that keeps her working. Certainly with kids still in school, that means I can’t be off travelling or doing too much massively exciting to fill the time. But I enjoy my job and feel I make a difference - I may not feel the same in a different job. But I’d definitely be making sure i was achieving a more balanced life - maybe dropping to 3 days a week or something, and would probably then plan to retire earlier than I would have done otherwise. I’d also be keen to ensure I made the most of the opportunity to ensure my children were set up as well - not so that they didn’t need to work, but so they could also have the same opportunities. So I’d rather continue working (albeit with changes) to ensure they could then have the same balance in adulthood. The children of my lottery winner friends - whilst I am sure they will be given an excellent financial start to their adult life - are never going to be able to live the life they see their parents living. It’s pretty much the only life they’ve ever known (they were nursery age at the time of the win) and I wonder if they really understand that.

I would work but doing something I love - probably related to my hobby - and not need to worry about the pay being low

I wouldn't work at all... I'd wait till the small children were in school and then study or volunteer or whatever took my fancy. Half of that inheritance would be put away for the children though!

I'm not really sure £2 million is enough to support you for the rest of your life (depending on lifestyle).

I probably would still work, but probably part time.

I don’t work full time at the moment and have no money so I sure as hell wouldn’t work full time with that in the bank.

No.

I'd invest it to give me an income and then I would travel the world.

Would I fuck!

I would invest in a property portfolio/stocks and live off the profits.

Life is for living and not continue to mentally struggle through 40 hours a day when I don't have to.

@Sinkmyship

TatianaBis Always someone sucks the fun out of a good thread with their bragging! Only mn

This. There’s something badly wrong with someone who couldn’t manage on £60k a year with no mortgage. And “but London ...” Why would anyone want to live in London if work didn’t come into the equation?

I'd do voluntary work and let someone else have a paid job. So many charities that need all he help they can get now, you'll meet lots of people, and it's flexible to some degree.

@Daphnesmate05

bakingdemon and blacksax

I've just finished writing that book. It's doable. It took me five years around looking after baby/toddler during nap times (them not me).

Yes, I've got the main character sorted - if only I could think of a plot...

[quote YankeeDad]@Londongent

Actually, to be able to spend £60k per year after tax from a £2 million portfolio, assuming you wanted that spend rate to grow with inflation, you'd need to earn returns on the order of 9% pre-tax. About 5% of that would go towards paying taxes and growing the portfolio value to keep up with inflation, at least 1% would go to asset management fees unless the asset towner is an effective DIY investor (which might lower fees towards 0.5%) , leaving 3% to spend out of that 9% return.

Do you think that a 9% return before fees and taxes would be a poor long-term investment return? I think it would be a pretty optimistic return assumption!

Whereas with a 2% spend rate (£40k after tax) the return would only need to be about 7% before fees and taxes (1% for fees, 4% for inflation and taxes, 2% to spend). That sounds more realistic to me.[/quote]
I must have missed the part where the PP said it was 60k after tax

I guess maybe it depends on age to a certain degree, I'm late 20s so I'd continue working as I am now - flexible hours, mostly from home. I like working and I'm lucky that my job is generally enjoyable and offers flexible hours - I'd probably chase a different role with that flexibility if I was still doing a 9-5, office-based role, though. I'd take my foot off the gas a bit, though, I guess and wouldn't allow it to stress me out as much as it does. If I were in my mid-50s then I might take early retirement.

2 million is a lot of money, but it wouldn't go that far across a lifetime and I wouldn't feel comfortable giving up work and relying on that alone. Mine and my DH's salaries now allow us a good, comfortable lifestyle, and that kind of windfall, backed up by our salaries, would enable us to achieve all the things that are slightly out of reach now, without over stretching us.

I have thought about this in the context of a lottery/ premium bonds win.
I currently work part time (although part time in my world is more than 35 hours a week as three long days and weekends on call twice a month) in a stressful job but one I enjoy and am very good at.
I would continue in this but have ALL the help that would make my life wonderful and my partner would drop to three days too. That would be amazing and would mean that we wouldn't have to use up the money to maintain our life style rather enhance it !