This is the view from my tennis court (taken just as the house was almost ready to move into). Which neatly brings me to Budgets are Sexy, who asks: “do you you still want to live in a mansion?”
D’uh, yeah!
The problem is that the example that he cites is so far away from being a mansion, that it barely qualifies as my second house which, BTW, I am still trying to get rid of!
On the other hand, this guy is carrying a monthly mortgage payment of $2,200 which, at 4.75%, means roughly a $450k loan, plus his equity of $500k (now) to $1.2million (pre bubble) means that his idea of a ‘mansion’ is a house b/w $1 million and $2 million. About the same value as my house in the USA.
Oh, and I paid cash for both of my houses.
The point here is not to brag, that would be unseemly and [AJC: I know it’s hard to believe from what you read here] is a little out of character. The point is to set your expectations, particularly if your Number points you to a similar $7 Million 7 Year lifestyle.
Look, a $1 – $2 million house is nice, and in a poor area, where land and building costs are cheap, it may very well qualify as a ‘mansion’ …
… but, in a reasonable area, I don’t even think that my new house qualifies as a ‘mansion’ – well, IMHO, barely – yet it cost $5million+ and has a tennis court, heated swimming pool, home theater, sauna room, and each bedroom has it’s own study and en-suite!
Having said that, I agree that the running costs are huge: you can’t wash this many windows and glass balcony panels yourself (we spent $50k+ to install the glass panels plus another $70k on glass windows and doors, alone); you can’t clean a house this big yourself (we have a cleaning lady almost 2 full days a week); you can’t garden a place this big yourself (well, you probably could, but I hate gardening); and, imagine the cost of heating, cooling, and lighting the damn house.
But, if you have the money to live your Life’s Purpose (without ever needing to work again), you give back in more ways than one, and you still have enough money left over to buy the house of your dreams … then I can highly recommend getting the mansion …
… so far, it’s everything it’s cracked up to be 🙂
“Oh, and I paid cash for both of my houses”
Just Beautiful~
you can’t clean a house this big yourself (we have a cleaning lady almost 2 full days a week)
Therein lies the reason I don’t wish to have a mansion. You have to hire someone to take care of it. I am a hands on type person,and don’t wish to( need to hire someone else to keep it up).If its too large to do the work myself, then I have no desire to own it.
As you get older, you don’t wish to be tied down to all that work. Your more inclined to want to spend more time being free to do fun things like swimming in the ocean,or attending auto races or whatever.
we should organize a 7m7y nascar or f1 weekend — montreal anyone?
Call me crazy, or call this intuition, but I’m guessing that Illiquidity’s Number is larger than Steve’s? 😉
I am also guessing that each will be equally happy when they reach their Number ….
I’m not so sure his is larger, just,perhaps spent in a different way. Mine more for travel and helping others, his maybe more on more physical things.
Island paradise? Nascar weekends? On top of his ‘regular ‘ living expenses … I’ll take odds on that 😉
But, my point is that as long as you are living YOUR Life’s Purpose, then the absolute value of your Number is probably not greatly relevant to one’s happiness.
What do you think?
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This would definitely not work for me 🙂 I travel way too much to settle down anywhere, and I am currently in an extra large hotel room and I find it way too large, so a house like yours would be a palace for me *LAUGH*
Looks nice though.
What’s the point? Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe it’s because my assets are in the 7-figure range and not the 8-figure range. But why spend $X Million on a home?
I live debt-free in a home that cost $300K. I could have bought a $2M+ home, but it seems so impersonal, pretentious, and secluded. I want people to come over and feel comfortable drinking beer with their feet up on the coffee table, or to let their kiddos run around carefree after coming inside on a rainy day. Even now, some people feel uncomfortable in my house because it is “so nice” for the area in which we live.
@ Josh – Why climb Mt Everest? 😉
Josh, very good point.I think once you become rich(and have that big home)most will fell uncomfortable coming in and really enjoying themselves. the home ,as you say, is much nicer than they are used to being in,and they will kind of fell out of place. I have never felt a large ,expensive home is really needed.And this is just once of the reasons why.You can still have fun with your hard earned money without all the trappings,that would make your friends feel on the outside.
Good points, and maybe when I’m older I’ll have a different opinion (it’s hard to feel good about spending money when I’m 33, even if I have plenty of it to spend).
Maybe it’s just the way I was raised – I have grandparents who had a net worth well into the 8 figures, yet lived in a tiny little rancher and shared a 50 year old car. Right before they passed they gave it all away and left nothing for us – which we all knew would happen and thought was pretty cool.
Josh,as long as you have reached your number/date,there should be no regrets about spending. Money is meant to be spent after all.Maybe giving some to the charity of your choice(while spending some ) will remove some of this guilt.
It’s definitely not guilt … I just don’t enjoy spending it. I’m basically an anti-consumerist, and hate waste. I got to the point I am not because I made a lot of money or made sound investment decisions, but more because we spend VERY little.
Plus, I see what a high spending lifestyle does on my friends’ children, and I don’t want the same for my own.
@ Josh – “spending very little” is as much a sound “investment decision” as any other!
The whole point of this blog is this:
1) if you have enough money to live your Life’s Purpose STOP … stop stressing about money/spending/etc.
BUT
2) if you DON’T have enough money to live your Life’s Purpose, decide what you need to do to go out and get it!
If 1) describes you – or, will describe you, within your desired timeframe – then keep doing what you’re doing.
For me 2) described me until I reached $7 million (it took just 7 years) then I … well … stopped 🙂
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