What's the present value of your job? For a person who earns $50,000 per year after taxes, it would take approximately $1,000,000 invested in tax-free municipal bonds to replace their salary. However, (a) a job that earns $50,000 after-tax income is certainly worth less than (b) $1,000,000 for various obvious reasons:
- Compared to (a), (b) leaves you with at least 40 more hours of free time per week.
- (a) is somewhat fungible; if you leave one job , you can get hired to another similar job with varying degrees of ease. If you lose (b), it can take a lot of (a) to replace it.
- (a) generally ties you to a certain place. You can change jobs, but that will often necessitate many other changes in your life as well.
So how large of a lump sum would you require to quit your job tomorrow? I'd guess it would be less than twenty times your annual after-tax income, but how much less? If there are a lot of opportunities in your field and/or you don't like your job, you might quit for free... lots of people do, every day. So what about you? How much would it take to make you walk out the door?
