According to BBRef, he's made more than $40M in his career. If I had made a tenth that much, I'd be retried. But I also obviously don't have the drive/determination/talent of a major league athlete.

When he does retire, I'll throw my chair in his honor, probably giving myself a blood clot.

When I hear "blood clot in shoulder" the name that flashes by is James Rodney Richard.

According to BBRef, he's made more than $40M in his career. If I had made a tenth that much, I'd be retried.

Since the only way you could ever see that kind of coin is through some illegal operation, this is possibly true.

this is why no matter how much i try i won't never understand men

even if he had only 1/4 of that left after taxes, why not spend that raising your kidz? they gonna be grown and gone so fast.

even if he had only 1/4 of that left after taxes, why not spend that raising your kidz? they gonna be grown and gone so fast.

Yeah, if you're lucky. Sometimes, those bums stick around until they're 30.

why not spend that raising your kidz? they gonna be grown and gone so fast.

Yeah, but you can always have more, right?

Since the only way you could ever see that kind of coin is through some illegal operation, this is possibly true.

Hey now, since when is fixing the lottery illegal?

Plus there's always the chance I get hit by a UPS truck or something and have some kinda recovery from my eventual lawsuit.

And the there's no possibly about it. I get $4M after taxes, I'm out. You'd have to get ready to see me at every Braves game behind home plate.

Home and away. (That'd probably break me pretty fast, I bet...)

If I somehow cam into possession of $40 million my life wouldn't change that much. Instead of drinking Belgian beer in Canada I'd drink Belgian beer in Belgium. And upgrade to the PREMIUM mlb.tv.

...maybe buy a stake in a Belgian baseball team too.

EDIT: oh yeah and buy a new computer so I can play Civ 5 when it comes out. The bill really adds up the more I think of it.

this is why no matter how much i try i won't never understand men

even if he had only 1/4 of that left after taxes, why not spend that raising your kidz? they gonna be grown and gone so fast.

First, I don't think this is a man/woman thing. It is applicable largely only to men because there aren't a lot of female athletes pulling in that kind of coin, but I'm sure there are a handful.

As for why they don't retire to raise the kids, it's because if that was their first thought, they wouldn't be MLB players to begin with. As #1 points out, you need an insane amount of dedication and drive, and no matter how much they love their kids, it's not easy to just shut that off and be rational about it.

Also, FWIW, I've heard Andy Pettitte say one of the reasons he keeps coming back is that as his children get older, they appreciate what he does more, and want him to keep doing it.

Plus there's always the chance I get hit by a UPS truck or something and have some kinda recovery from my eventual lawsuit.

But where would you be able to find a lawyer? They are so scarce around these parts.

oh yeah and buy a new computer so I can play Civ 5 when it comes out

I picked up Civ IV for $10 on Steam when it went on sale a few months back. Now I'm really tempted to pay full price for Civ V. >.<

Also, FWIW, I've heard Andy Pettitte say one of the reasons he keeps coming back is that as his children get older, they appreciate what he does more, and want him to keep doing it.

I have to think that \"#### yeah, my dad's a professional baseball player" is a lot cooler that "Yeah, my dad used to be a professional baseball player." And certainly cooler than "Yeah, my dad quit playing professional baseball because of me."

Civ5 is coming out? holy crap.

If I somehow cam into possession of $40 million my life wouldn't change that much. Instead of drinking Belgian beer in Canada I'd drink Belgian beer in Belgium. And upgrade to the PREMIUM mlb.tv.

...maybe buy a stake in a Belgian baseball team too.

EDIT: oh yeah and buy a new computer so I can play Civ 5 when it comes out. The bill really adds up the more I think of it.

This is a superlatively excellent plan. I want a honkbal team. Somewhat because I like baseball but
largely because I want to have "Honkbal Proprietor" on my business card.

Don't get a new computer or Civ V. Boot up Steam and spend $5 to get X-Com: Enemy Unknown. Best, most addictive, most _everything_ game ever. Sweet jesus it'll eat your life.

About $1.7 mil in 30-year T-bills. I could live very comfortably on the interest, and do whatever I wanted (I'm thinking lots of pro bono criminal defense + months-long hikes across the U.S.).

I remember, it must have been the mid-90s some time, my dad took me to a Mac store to get my Christmas present and I asked the nerd behind the counter if they had any historical games.

I wish I knew who that guy was so I could thank him for setting off what I'm sure will be a lifelong love affair. (well...aside from that whole Civ3, Civilization: Call to Power fiasco)

1.7MM in 30yr T-Bonds would cash flow 68M/yr -- pretax -- while exposing your entire nestegg to significant inflation and duration risk. Even with your very modest expectations, that's a bad trade.

But where would you be able to find a lawyer? They are so scarce around these parts.

I am a lawyer. Though not the kind that sues people. I know people, though. Oh yes. I do.

This is a superlatively excellent plan. I want a honkbal team. Somewhat because I like baseball but largely because I want to have "Honkbal Proprietor" on my business card.

Wiki sez "According to the 2006 United States Census, more than 5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage." Why not form a honkbal league right here in America?

"Coming up on ESPN4...it's a Dutch treat with game one of the American Honkbal Series, live from Holland, Michigan!"

There are perfectly valid ways to legally make $40M without working in entertainment fields. I am just entering the world of hedge fund sleeve management and I can assure you that if the market goes up like it did in 1996, 97, or 98 that I'll make that type of change in 2011. The crazy thing is as the new guy I have the worst arrangement. The guy managing the fund will make $40M next year if the fund rises a mere 8.5%.

My gut tells me that one bonus check over $20M and I'd love to be retired. But my brain tells me that if I make $20M one year I'll stick around figuring if I do it for a decade I could be a significant owner of a baseball team when I quit.

Don't load up all your investments in long-term treasuries at the moment. Somewhere in the not-so-far-off future the fed is going to have to change its inflation target in order to balance out the structural issues in the economy which political leaders are unable to solve due to the need to chase votes. If you want to get a similar return with limited risk buy a dividend ETF which is spread over multiple sectors (MLP's, commodities, financials, industrials, whatever). There is no single magic bullet or the uber wealthy would have already loaded up on it and sucked the surplus value out of it.

There are perfectly valid ways to legally make $40M without working in entertainment fields. I am just entering the world of hedge fund sleeve management and I can assure you that if the market goes up like it did in 1996, 97, or 98 that I'll make that type of change in 2011. The crazy thing is as the new guy I have the worst arrangement. The guy managing the fund will make $40M next year if the fund rises a mere 8.5%.

I'll give you "legal," but "valid"?

So, uh John Reynard is it? Any openings?

Traderdave Posted: July 28, 2010 at 06:13 PM (#3601998)
1.7MM in 30yr T-Bonds would cash flow 68M/yr -- pretax -- while exposing your entire nestegg to significant inflation and duration risk. Even with your very modest expectations, that's a bad trade.

I don't care. Traderdave, can you buy me $170k worth of those magic bonds? I'm sure I'll be happy living off $6.8M of cash flow a year no matter what inflation does...

I might have an opening for someone to take the algorithms I'm writing and code them into the trading server. I have to see what sort of budget I have for hiring assistant(s) before I can make an offer on anything of course.

What is the best way to retire early? How much money is necessary?

A zillion usually does it.

Is that the same as a million billion?

No, that's a megabillion

Any top ten film list should include Tremors and Big Trouble In Little China so I'm guessing my lists would fall into the "idiosyncratic" camp.

But where would you be able to find a lawyer? They are so scarce around these parts.

really? I thought Lawyers were in extreme excess in the US? Taiwan on the other hand.... is where lawyers become Presidents / Presidential candidates

The idea of early retirement is nice, but the reality is, whenever I'v had blocks of time off, I got bored insanely quickly. It's hard to generate your own intellectual stimulation. And I'm a fairly sedentary/intellectual person. I can imagine, that for a world class athlete, the loss of that competitive/active outlet is horrible.

PLASTICS.

The idea of early retirement is nice, but the reality is, whenever I'v had blocks of time off, I got bored insanely quickly. It's hard to generate your own intellectual stimulation.

That's what BBTF is for!


Seriously, I agree: I would change my working patterns if I won the lottery -- the word "commute" would no longer be in my vocabulary -- but I'd keep working.

As an academic, I can pretty much retire in place. I'd shift my teaching load completely to one semester (have colleagues who do this), work like a dog for 4 months of the year and then spend the other 8 travelling and dropping into the occasional conference well tanned and taunting my non-lottery winning colleagues.