$1,000,000 is the bare minimum I will need to properly live off of. Keep in mind, that even if I was to get $2,000 – I will lose my SSI benefits, and will have to spend the money down to below $2,000 before I can reapply for SSI. Even if I was to acquire my benefits back in 1 month, the $2,000 will likely not be enough for me to live off of one month. Let’s assume that I don’t have to pay my $2,500 rent for my apartment – covering the basics will be relatively hard to deal with. Right now, I am living off of $1,000 per month (net) and with that said – $2,000 is not worth acquiring only to lose my benefits.
So why am I noting $2,000? Well this is the most I can have in bank assets before threatening my SSI. This is $2,000 total. It’s not an average daily balance. It’s not a monthly amount. It is my total cash net worth. Simply put, if someone handed me a $5,000 winning lottery ticket, I will not be able to keep it. Simply put, losing all of the benefits and resources is not worth $5,000.
$1,000,000 is the absolute minimum. I would set aside $500,000 in an investment fund, and hopefully have enough net income to live off of. Accounting for a 9% ROI, and monthly after taxes, I will have about $2,800 per month to live off of. As you might guess, if you live in the United States, I am sure you can understand the tight margins that less than $3,000 will have. Since I will have no benefits, I will have to buy a house, and what ever significant purchases I can afford. I will then scrape by with whatever savings I can build up in case I should need to replace my significant purchase (such as buying a new computer).
Now, one might say that $500,000 should be the minimum. As you can see, I am able to get a reasonable amount of money to live off on $500,000. However, I will have nothing else. No house, no new computer, no savings, no telephone numbers. Nothing else. As mentioned, my rent for the apartment if I don’t qualify for subsidized housing will be $2,500 which will give me $300 for everything else. Food, medical, utilities, bills, bus fare all will have to be paid out of that $300 which as you might guess is impossible. With $1,000,000 – I can get a good footing before having to rely on a reasonable amount of money.