Sat 2 Feb 2008
Congrats, you just won a modest lottery that pays an annual pension as long as you live! It’s not megabucks, but you’ve got a few tens of thousands of dollars after taxes, every year, forever.
In other words: you don’t have to work for a living. What would you do with your time? With your life?
Posted by Josh Millard9 answers so far!
A lot of followup tangents present themselves, too. Biggies:
- Are you there now?
- Are you you trying to get there (aggressive saving/investing, 80hr workweek now to finance 0hr workweek in ten years)?
Hey, I never noticed that “One! One answer!” statement before. Can I really only give one answer?
I’ll take the first followup tangent first. I am not there now. And the second followup tangent: I am incapable of working 80 hrs/week. I’d kill myself after a few months; it’s just not worth it to me. I do save and invest, but it’s not going to liberate me from working any time soon.
Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to my answer. I work 20-30 hours/week now, and I like it that way. I’d rather work this amount until the day I die than work over 40 hours/week to ensure “retirement.” I like to do some work, and then to have some time to travel. I seem to think I’ve been put upon the earth to see all of it. So if I suddenly had the opportunity to have, say, the same income I do now, but for free, I’d take it, and then I’d *keep* working about 20 hours a week so I’d have some extra and so I’d feel productive. And the rest of the time I’d travel.
First of all, I’d buy my husband an iPhone and that super-thin Mac that fits in an envelope, because he really, really wants them and it would make him happy.
Second, we’d buy a house near or on Mt. Desert Island. A few extra rooms for office space, bigger kitchen, guest room, art studio and a special room for plants, knicknacks, and any kind of decorating kitsch I deem necessary for my soul. A girly den, if you will. He can have a flatscreen TV in the living room and a huge display case for his knives and knives and more knives. Enough land for a garden and some privacy would be cool.
After that, I’d help out family members within my means. I might set up the money in something secure so it could only be tapped into every 3 to 6 months (CD’s? Mutual funds?). Oprah had a show on windfalls recently and even people with partial-payout lottery winnings had managed to blow it all to the point where they were looking at going back to work after it stopped paying out. A lot of the money-blowing came from giving away lots to friends and family and not setting enough aside for the future.
Personal growth: I’d go to art school, probably the one on Deer Island if I lived up there. Or pick a university and go for botany with a focus on controlling invasive species or plant pathology. Or both. Then I’d do something with one or both degrees, hopefully for money to add to the pot if the annual income wasn’t huge. Oh yeah, a writing retreat here and there would be in order as well.
Charity: I’d do something charitable, not sure what right now. We had people donate to Seeds of Peace when we got married. I’d like to do something more hands-on than just donating though, like advocating for rooftop gardens, forming some sort of co-op to give fresh produce to low-income people, or even something really fun like volunteering at one of those historical villages as an interpreter. I did an article on one of those places once and it was like I’d landed in Happyland. Apple cider, the smell of wood shavings from the carpenter, a free lucky handmade horseshoe from the blacksmith, no TV’s, no cellphones, fun costumes, and then you get to go home and use your modern conveniences like plumbing and heating at night.
Not there yet, but a lot of that stuff is part of our goals, and it involves him running his business out of the house, part via phone and ‘net and some in-person. He’s taking a class this month toward that and more later this year. I’m taking a photography class after I pay for some dental work. After that, a painting class. Not working or sitting around doing nothing at all is fun for a little while but eventually becomes a boring hell. Ask any retiree.
I’d work at a coffee shop or bartend or some kind of job I enjoy a few nights a week (if only they paid more money, I’d be doing that now). I’d probably move someplace like WA or NY that’s not dictated by my job (I hate where I live, but it’s because of a job & now school again).
-I’m not even close to being there. I work in a Catholic school…not the place to work for retiring early.
-And really, I don’t care that much and am not aggressive enough. I enjoy my job, so all’s well there. Working mega hours and going cut-throat to climb up some corporate ladder is just me. I think working 60-80 hour weeks while waiting tables back in the day burnt me out from working extra overtime.
Ahhh, now I see, the “One! One answer!” thing had to do with counting the number of answers so far. It’s not so clear when there’s just the one. :) Maybe it needs a “so far” at the end.
Marie Mon Dieu answered in a way that suggests the level of income would be much higher than it already is. If I won a few million dollars, my answer would be totally different than if I simply “didn’t have to work” anymore, which to me meant, I keep my current salary (or thereabouts) but don’t have to work for it. Which for me is a decent living, but I can’t go buy bigger houses or give money away. If I didn’t have to work *and* had tons of money, I’d give away boatloads. (First to relatives and friends, then to charities.) And then I’d buy my perfect home, and then some vacation homes all over the world, and I’d spend a lot of time traveling between them. Any work I’d do would be charitable, or random, such as, working as a “something” in “some strange land,” just to get a feel for what it’s like to live and work there. Less sightseeing-travel, more living-it-travel.
I was thinking $50-$75K per year. I could get a house in the Bar Harbor area for anywhere from $150K to $300K (forget the million dollar properties). I’d go for something in between and get a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Then I’d escrow the taxes and insurance and have it paid out of a special account once a month.
This is the place I was thinking of taking art courses. It’s pretty cheap if you don’t have to pay for room and board.
Depending on the total income per year, my monetary gifts to family members would go up or down. Maybe one domestic vacation alternated by a foreign one every other year.
Hmm. I would definitely spend a few years living totally frugally to save up a decent nest egg/to prepare for whatever big purchases I might need in the future (car, house, etc.)
That said, I would draw, a lot. I would write, a lot. I’d play guitar, and I’d listen to music, and that’s all I would do. I don’t think I’m an uncreative person, but I’ve almost lost interest completely in any form of creative venture since I opted for intense academic programs that would “pay off sometime in the future”. I always joke that I’m sacrificing the present for the future, but really, if I even had a year off, I would love to learn that hard acoustic guitar song I’ve been lusting after, or finally get the couple of ideas I’ve got jotted down fleshed out and solidified, or get started on scrapbooking like I’ve been wanting to do, or learn more claligraphy scripts….
Eventually though, I imagine I’d get bored. I really enjoyed working in Coles; there’s something about being in a setting where people are obsessed with reading. So maybe I’d get shiftwork at a indie bookstore, or even at a major bookstore. If possible, I’d look to see if I could turn my projects into solid goals - I do enjoy pressure, and I love doing commissions for other people if it’s in a field I enjoy.
Tangentially: I think the main reason I’m in a field I mostly dislike (comemrce) is in anticipation of the 80 hour work week that would let me attain this level of idyll sometime down the line. Marketing might not get me there as quickly as, say, financial banking, but it’s a pretty fine line between living to work and working to live, here.
For myself, I would travel more.
The rest of the time, I figure out something to do that would make the world a better place. It would probably start somewhere basic, like helping soup kitchens, because eating is basic necessity of life and without that, people can’t do much. Hopefully from that and other experiences, I’d gain a larger view of how to help those who weren’t as fortunate as me.
I could keep myself occupied 16 hours a day on projects in the wood shop or car shop, or here on the net or in visiting friends. So I’d be more than happy to just kick back.