Some new research from LV= has found that most people believe a windfall of £1m is enough money to be able to give up work for good.
£1m was the ‘trigger figure’ for giving up work permanently for every age group, with the exception of the over-55s who would down tools for good in exchange for £500,000.
In most cases, those surveyed believed their best chances of getting such a windfall came from winning the lottery.
Another finding from this survey revealed that the early retirement intention could be unrealistic, even with £1m.
48% of respondents said they would splash out on a new property and 37% would go on holiday or travel the world.
Is £1m ever ‘enough’ money to give up work for good?
It’s certainly a significant sum of money and, for most people, would represent a life changing amount.
In terms of the real magic number needed to retire today, in our experience this varies massively between different people.
When we take clients through our LifeWealth Design financial planning service, we find in some cases that our clients already have all the assets and income they require to give up work immediately.
In other cases, sums which are considerably higher than £1m are required.
The benefit of completing a comprehensive financial planning exercise to determine this number is that certainty can be achieved, rather than plucking a random figure like £1m out of the air.
The exercise also includes a sensible conversation about how such wealth might be accumulated, assuming that the lottery will not be the answer for 99.999% of people.
Of course having sufficient wealth to give up work forever does not necessarily mean this is the right course of action.
Emotional as well as financial factors need to be considered before making such a life changing decision. We often find that our clients who are in this fortunate position instead choose to continue working, often reducing hours or introducing voluntary work to their lives.
What is your number? Could you afford to give up work tomorrow if £1m appeared in your bank account?
