How to Know When You Have Enough

How do you know when you have enough? It’s a different answer for everyone, but not knowing it can put your investments in jeopardy.

Kurt Vonnegut related this story about fellow author Joseph Heller. The two were at a billionaire’s party on Shelter Island. Vonnegut asked Heller how it made him feel that the host may have made more money in one day than Catch-22 (Heller’s most famous work) did in its entire run. Heller replied that he had something the host could never have, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

Unless one inherits wealth, the most common way to amass significant wealth is by taking lots of risk. Being a risk taker who has known success can give you confidence in your ability to take risk. That confidence often creates the willingness to take risks. In addition, your wealth gives you the ability to take risk.

However, the ability and willingness to take risk are only two of the three criteria for an investment policy. There is a third (often overlooked) criterion — the need to take risk. A great irony is that the very people with the most ability and willingness to take risk have the least need to take it.

Those with sufficient wealth to meet all their needs should consider that the strategy to get rich is entirely different than the strategy to stay rich. To get rich, you take risks. To stay rich, however, you should minimize risk — diversify the risks you take and avoid spending too much.

When deciding on the appropriate asset allocation, you should consider your marginal utility of wealth — how much any potential incremental wealth is worth relative to the risk that must be accepted to achieve a greater expected return. While more money is always better than less, most people achieve a very comfortable lifestyle at some point. After that, taking on incremental risk to achieve a higher net worth no longer makes sense. The potential damage of an unexpected negative outcome far exceeds the potential benefit gained from incremental wealth.

Every investor has a unique utility of wealth curve, and yours will be a primary factor in how your portfolio is structured. At some point on the curve, additional wealth provides little, if any, additional happiness. Beyond this point, there is little reason to take incremental risk in hopes of achieving higher returns. Many wealthy investors have experienced devastating losses that could easily have been avoided if they had the wisdom to know what Joseph Heller knew.

Some risks are not worth taking. There are two important questions to ask yourself:

How much money buys happiness?
If you’ve already won the game, why are you still playing?

Once you have enough money to meet basic needs like food, shelter and safety, the good things in life (the really important things) are either free or cheap. For example, taking a walk in a park with your significant other, riding a bike, reading a book, playing bridge with friends or playing with your children/grandchildren doesn’t cost very much if anything. And the difference between a $10 and a $100 bottle of wine or a $50 or $500 dinner for two won’t really make you any happier.

When mapping out your investment plan, make sure you distinguish between needs and desires and carefully consider your marginal utility of incremental wealth so that you can determine if those desires are worth the incremental risks that you will have to accept. Knowing when you have enough is one of the keys to playing the winner’s game in both life and investing.

Beacon Hill Private Wealth is an independent, fee-only, fiduciary investment advisor providing evidence-based wealth planning solutions that simplify our clients' financial lives. We serve clients in the state of New Jersey and across the country.

Founder Tom Geoghegan, CFP®, CIMA®, CPWA®, RMA® is also a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and featured on the Fee-Only Network.

We welcome the opportunity to learn more about your unique circumstances and share how Beacon Hill adds value to our clients' lives. Ready to talk? Simply schedule a phone call or virtual meeting using our Calendly booking tool.

This material and any opinions contained are derived from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and the opinions based thereon are not guaranteed. The content of this publication is for general information only and is not intended to serve as specific financial, accounting or tax advice. By clicking on any of the links above, you acknowledge that they are solely for your convenience, and do not necessarily imply any affiliations, sponsorships, endorsements or representations whatsoever by us regarding third-party Web sites. We are not responsible for the content, availability or privacy policies of these sites, and shall not be responsible or liable for any information, opinions, advice, products or services available on or through them.

The opinions expressed by featured authors are their own and may not accurately reflect those of Beacon Hill Private Wealth LLC or the BAM ALLIANCE. This article is for general information only and is not intended to serve as specific financial, accounting or tax advice.