My Husband Won’t Let me Stop Working, Even Though We’re Worth $7 Million

Dear Scott,
 
My husband is in his 60s and happily retired. I am in my mid-50s and still working. We are childless. We have nearly $7 million in assets (including a paid-off house worth about $1.5 million), our dividends are about $500,000 a year gross, and I want out. He is concerned that we’ll run out of money if I stop working. I just don’t know how to sit down and work out when ‘enough is enough’? How do I get my husband to see my point of view?

Christina

Hi Christina,
 
Your question reminds me of a legendary story by John Bogle:
 
“At a party given by a billionaire, author Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds: “Yes, but I have something he will never have – ENOUGH”.’
 
The same could be said for your husband. You could stop working today! With no debts, and $500,000 passive income a year, you have more than ENOUGH.
 
It sounds like you need a Barefoot Date Night. And if he still doesn’t listen to your concerns, you could gently tell him you could live off $250,000 a year … which is what you’d get if you divorced him. Not that you ever would, of course.

Scott.