FREE NEWSLETTER

How would you define “enough”?

Go to main Voices page »

Subscribe
Notify of
12 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jeff Wright
Jeff Wright
7 months ago

Those of strong faith cease asking the question of what is enough.

Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay
Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay
1 year ago

Enough is when you realize that, beyond your basic necessities (food, clothing, shelter), no amount of money or material possessions can ever be enough. Enough lies elsewhere.

Paul Goode
Paul Goode
1 year ago

Actually, you individually will be the only one who can answer this question, we are all different and when you have enough you will know it.

Buddy Romo
Buddy Romo
1 year ago

I would write down all of your monthly expenditures including home/rent, utilities, food, automobile payments and auto insurance, home insurance if home is paid off, cable, credit cards, and prescription and copay costs. I have done a 4 year look back on these to come up with a yearly cost. I then would look at pension (if you get one), social security if you can include that, and any other resources like 401K or stock divends and such. So, if income after retirement is enough to pay the bills…I would say that would be a confidence builder. You should always look for ways to cut the bills out to keep your income ahead of inflation. Inflation is the bear to your retirement.

Jack Hannam
Jack Hannam
1 year ago

I like Jack Bogle’s book titled “Enough”.

Adam Grossman
Adam Grossman
1 year ago

It sounds simplistic, but I define “enough” as never, ever worrying about paying the bills. Of course, there are two ways to accomplish that: by amassing more dollars, or by spending less!

Scrooge_McDuck88
Scrooge_McDuck88
1 year ago

John D. Rockefeller was asked, how much is enough? “Just a little bit more” he replied.

Last edited 1 year ago by Scrooge_McDuck88
Philip Stein
Philip Stein
1 year ago

I suppose one measure of having enough is when your sense of self-worth doesn’t require having more.

Purple Rain
Purple Rain
1 year ago

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

  • Lao Tzu
Mike Zaccardi
Mike Zaccardi
1 year ago

Enough so that if there are a series of unfortunate events (health issue, market crash, unexpected baby(??), job loss), then you are still fine. The younger you are, the bigger the distribution of possible outcomes, so I think older folks can have more confidence their “enough” is enough.

But you should also consider social aspects and mental stimulation when thinking about “enough”. Do you have enough social connections and activities? Maybe too much? That’s a delicate balance, too!

R Quinn
R Quinn
1 year ago

I think you have enough when you are confident the goals you have set for yourself can be achieved. Needless to say that means lots of variables. If we are just talking enough “stuff” then I suspect most of us have surpassed enough.

Rick Connor
Rick Connor
1 year ago

I think the answer to this is a version of “I’ll know it when I see it”. As I’ve aged and accumulated, the desire for stuff has definitely decreased. So decreased desire is definitely one indication.

Knowing when you have enough saved for retirement is more of a challenge, simply because you can’t predict the future. To me, the answer to that comes with a probability attached. Right now, I’m probably 90% sure we have enough to retire comfortably. But that 10% still nags at me a bit.

Free Newsletter

SHARE