[gduffy]

So if "happy" == "completely happy", it's somewhere around $2E6 for me. Enough interest to cover the basics so I can work on anything I like. Anything after that is just icing on the cake, and it's still fun whether I win or lose (the bills are already taken care of).

I imagine answers to this question vary wildly, but tend to cluster around 3 points: $0, something like my rough calculation, and some large-ish percentage of the GDP.

[paul]

So what would you do if you had your $2E6?

[gduffy]

How very Socratic of you :) I would:

Mainly

- Spend more time with my wife (including doing some of the rest of these things together), when she's not working to achieve her goals

- Hack on several ideas that I have, work with/invest in interesting startups (what I would normally save or put into less risky investments)

Also

- Help my friends out of the rut

- Read more math, physics, sci-fi

- Learn to fly planes

- Keep my thumb on what's going on in the tech world via the web

- Build cool stuff: electronics, etc.

- Buy cool gadgets and hack on them

- Maybe some political stuff, EFF or atheist issues

- I like the OLPC project, I think they should work with American kids too.

- Pick up the piano and violin again, maybe travel a bit

- Say what I think more often

- Some normal leisure stuff now and then

Of course, this would be after 2 weeks of sitting around in awe that I had arrived at what I dreamed of as a teenager.

I can do many of these things in some capacity right now, but I can't really dig in to most of them. I do my current job in hopes of freeing up a half-of-my-waking-life time slice so I can, but that is definitely a gamble. Self-determination is an enticing thing.

I imagine that, even though I've done a fair share of it, there is some introspection to do when you arrive. I wish I had more time to think about this question. What's the view like from there?

[eru]

"Of course, this would be after 2 weeks of sitting around in awe that I had arrived at what I dreamed of as a teenager."

[Just quoted - to upmod it individually.]

[gduffy]

Just curious -- why?

[eru]

I like the mental image of a guy sitting around in awe. I don't know why.

http://xkcd.com/354/

[kirubakaran]

Or sit around eating Doritos :-)

http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/

[gduffy]

The main difference is that, except learning to fly planes (although I've looked up nearby flight schools, know how much time+money it requires, read up on the basics, and learned what is required to get a private pilot certification) and working with OLPC, I have done these things in my free time already, even concurrently. And when I had more free time (just a couple of years ago), I did them more often.

There is just very little doubt in my mind that the choice afforded by a nice passive income would help me do more things that make me happy.

Also, I hate Doritos. :-)

Know thyself, I guess.

[gduffy]

I also wonder if an entrepreneur who already has their $2E6 could focus more on what the user wants. You don't have to worry about what the landlord or electric company wants.

[pg]

You can if you hate to fail.

[staunch]

Check out Max Levchin.