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Comment by hiddencost | Hacker News Reader

$10M doesn't go as far as you'd think in the Bay Area or NYC.

$10M is never work again money literally anywhere in the world. Don't kid yourself. Buy a $3.5M house outright and then collect $250k per year risk free after taxes. You're doing whatever you want and still saving money.

The problem is if you are the type of person able to get to $10M, you'll probably want more, since the motivation that got you there in the first place will keep you unsatisfied with anything less. You'll constantly crave for more in terms of magnitudes.

No. Know lots of people in this bucket.

Of course there are some who want $100M.

But most are really happy that they most likely don’t ever have to do anything they don’t like.

Assuming they're 40, how far do you think $250k will go 20-30-40 years from now? It's not a stretch to think dollars could be devalued by 90%, possibly even worthless, within 30 years.

If portfolio is diversified enough it can be enough for decades? If dollar goes down some other things will go up. gold, Bitcoin etc.

The original comment was premised on them being income-generating assets, which gold and btc are not

They obviously don't keep it dollars. Diversify into equities, property etc.

I love how the comment I'm responding to literally says "then collect $250k per year risk free after taxes," and then you all pile onto me with downvotes telling me that's he's not just going to invest in treasuries (which is exactly the implication of HIS comment and not mine).

With 3.5M house just taxes, utilities and maintenance cost will ruin your remaining 7.5.

The neat part is that for a 3.5M house in the Bay area, the only maintenance required is changing the rain fly every year and the ground pad every couple.

And who is going to fix your shower when it leaks, and install solar panels, or redo your kitchen because your parents are living with you now and can't bear to leave their traditional cooking behind?

A whole new shower is less than $200 at REI, and solar generators ship directly to your house.

(And on a serious note - if your parents are both still alive and moving in with you while they have hobbies and self-actualization, you're way ahead of the game)

And labor is free, right?

I mean, you can pay someone to hold the sprayer up for you if you want. That is probably nicer when you've got soap in your hair.

Buy a house on a private beach in Florida and rent it out for $25k a week during the hottest months.

NYC and SF both appear to have ~1% property tax rates

Utilities are an order of magnitude less than being taxed ~$35k/yr and hardly worth worrying about while discussing eight figures

Maintenance can vary, but all 3 costs you mentioned combined would be 2 orders of magnitude lower annually than that net worth, which seems easily sustainable?

Which is why smart retirees don't fucking live there.

Maybe it doesn't if you think you're just going to live off $10M in your checking account... but that's generally not how that works.

at 5% rate that's a cushy 500k a year.

Only if you have runaway expenditures due to the lack of self-control and discipline.

hilarious logical end progression of all those idiotic articles about $600k dual income households in the bay living "paycheck to paycheck"

...the only two places on Earth.

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