I’m 29, inherited $2 million, and want to quit my good job to work at a juice bar – am I nuts?

A Reddit user inherited $2 million from his father and he’ll soon have full access to the funds. Given his inheritance, he wants to quit his “stressful” but fulfilling job that pays fairly well.

He is 29-years-old with no plans for kids, and he now wants to spend his life working a maximum of 20-hours a week at a low-stress job like a juice bar while spending time hiking and traveling. His only fear is, once he gets out of his job, he won’t easily be able to jump back in because it is a specialized niche position. 

So, should he stop working full-time and start enjoying low-stress jobs and a life of partial retirement? Or should he stick it out on the job for longer?

$2 million really is not enough to be set for life

While the Reddit user may be tempted to just quit because he has inherited a lot of money, the reality is that $2 million is not as much as it seems when you are 29-years-old and need financial support for the rest of your life. 

At a safe 3.7% withdrawal rate, a $2 million nest egg would result in the Reddit user having an income of around $74,000 to live off of if he started relying on his retirement money now. That’s a pretty generous amount of money, but when you factor in taxes, healthcare costs, and other life expenses, it’s not really a huge sum to live on. Yes, he could supplement a part-time salary with $74K and probably be comfortable, but this is not the kind of money that means you are set to do whatever you want for the entire rest of your life.

Medical emergencies, a change in his relationship or family circumstances, poor investment performance, or a host of other issues could still leave the poster really financially vulnerable — especially if he just stopped having meaningful employment at 29 and then something went wrong and he had to try to get back into the workforce in his 40s, 50s, 60s, or later. 

Invest the money and keep working to build real financial security

With the $2 million gift that his dad has given him, combined with his young age, the Reddit user is in a unique position to set himself to build real wealth — the kind that will give him the freedom to live the way he wants in financial comfort in the future. 

His best option is likely to work with a financial advisor to figure out a way to invest the money from his dad, continue to save and invest some of his own money, and determine what target amount of money he should aim for to really set him up for life. That will depend on things like what he wants to do with his time and how much money he needs to do it.

The power of compound growth can help his $2 million to increase quickly and, with the right professional advice, in a short period of time the Redditor should be in a position where he can quit and start working at a juice bar while spending time having fun. He just shouldn’t rush it and start doing that too soon while his nest egg is still small enough to make him vulnerable to bumps in the road, though, or he could come to regret it. 

The post I’m 29, inherited $2 million, and want to quit my good job to work at a juice bar – am I nuts? appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..