[geeks] Lottery (was informal survey)

[Peter L. Wargo]

On Mon, 10 Sep 2001, Joshua D Boyd wrote:

> I think that $2M is probably not enough.  Sure, $50k is fine now.  But
> will it be fine in 20 years?  On the other hand, if you only need $40k
> now, then you can send the other $10k back for compound interest, and that
> will likely get you up to the amount of annual interest you need in 20
> years.  

Considering that $50K post-tax is about $81K pre-tax, it's not all that
bad...  You can live pretty damn well in New Mexico on that kind of
salary.  (Let's put it this way - I made less than that when we lived in
New Mexico, and Chandra didn't work, and we had a decent house, and we ate
quite well.  Considering that our mortgage payment was $1200/month (14,400
per year...), which came out of post-tax earnings, we were doing well on
way, way less than $50K/year. (My $2M includes paying for the house/land
out of the first $1M and still having plenty left over.)

It's all a matter of perspective...

-Pete