[nugget]

I'm curious what the author and others think is a reasonable "freedom line". Silicon Valley is pretty expensive and it's hard to know exactly what's implied when someone says "never have to work again". Of course everybody is different and has different expenses, but it's a worthwhile data point.

[w3pm]

I believe it's about the money your money will earn that buys you the freedom. Consider having $5 million in the bank. You buy some conservative Pimco bonds earning 5% per year and bam, you've got $250k in yearly income (pre-tax) doing literally nothing and never spending a dime of that 5 million. If that's not freedom in any city in the world then I don't know what is.

[mhb]

What are these conservative bonds that return 5%?

[CurtMonash]

Inflation says hello.

[StavrosK]

Living in Greece, I just calculated it at $35k per year. Now to find something that will allow me to make that kind of money without working (too much)...

[adestefan]

If I ever got the freedom line, the first thing I would do is sell my house in the Baltimore/DC metro area and move to the middle of nowhere.

Different strokes for different folks though.

[mesozoic]

It's probably around $5m in the bank as that's around when you can draw a reasonable income from fairly safe investments without it decreasing.

[rdouble]

Even in Silicon Valley, one could do it for $5M after taxes.