So, I'm going to say that, yes, I really could retire and not work again with a $5-10M payout. I calculated some time ago that ~$4M would be enough for me to n

So, I'm going to say that, yes, I really could retire and not work again with a $5-10M payout. I calculated some time ago that ~$4M would be enough for me to never think about money again. I could do anything that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. A key point, of course, is that I could do anything that I wanted to do--I don't want a Maserati or my own private jet or any of the other customary extravagances of the idle rich. I'd say that most people who couldn't retire on $4M would not be able to retire on ten times that amount--you could give them $1M a year and they'd find a way to squander it. It's amazingly easy to spend money if you have expensive tastes.