How much money is enough?

[TomUK]

Not sure if this should be in time out, but just wondering what sort of money you'd be happy with your companies making a year?

For me if I was making 100k a year I'd be happy at this point.

 

[Beneddie1112]

£64bn , Seriously, probably turning over about £1m, £400-500k net profit .

 

[asonda]

Seriously, I'd like there to be enough to provide enough money for what I want to do.

so a good 100k a year would be nice.

 

[SpeedyExpressCouriers]

whatever guys... if/when you guys are earning that much you would want more.

 

[Beneddie1112]

If I was on half a million a year at 15 I'd be bloody chuffed!

 

[TomUK]

Thats probably true, but I was thinking more; what would you be happy with from your current business, in a realistic manner.

I would be happy if my business makes 100k a year, becuase i feel it has the potential too. When it does I will probably want to make more. But just focusing on your current situation

 

[redlion]

When you can make more money, then you cost will higher; So you need to make much more, then the cost much higher; so..., then....

 

[GreatSEO]

300k per year is what I aiming for by this time next year ideally.

Hope this helps

Regards

Dave

 

[CKG]

A steady wage of £2k a week would be pleasant.

Doesn't sound that hard to achive whan you put it that way does it?

 

[SenditOver]

£30k per day would suit me just fine.

would also keep it all in a non-eu bank account to stop the gvnt getting their grubby mitts on it!

its mine!! mine i tell you!

 

[Dan Matthews P&FM]

£1m turnover in year 3 (currently year 1 ).

Me personally: enough to not have my flat repossessed...

 

[Ashley_Price]

This is a fun thread and I know a lot of people's figures are put down in jest (but, then again, many a true word spoken in jest).

However, you should not have your sights set too low. I seriously believe that if you put goals in place and then work towards them you will get anything you desire.

The problem is too many people mistake goal setting for wishful thinking - they say "£1m turnover in year 3" (to nick Dan's post), but that is only achievable if Dan actually works towards that and makes the right moves and decisions. There's no point in sitting there saying "I want to make £1m by year 3" and then just carrying on as you have before as nothing will change.

For a perfect example, BananaOffice is pretty much ready for launch (technically we have launched, we're just waiting for the website to be designed) and my burning desire is to turn it into a multi-million pound business. Currently, it has a £10,000 loan to help it get started. But I am a month off my 38th birthday and I reckon if I work hard and do the right things, for the next 20 years this business could easily be worth several million.

 

[Beneddie1112]

If I may ask, What does Bananaoffice do Ashley?

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Ashley_Price]

Hi Ben

Of course you may ask. (I am assuming this isn't a tongue in cheek post as you are new(ish) to the site).

Basically, as you can see from my signature, APA Secretarial provides outsourced office services. Well, for 10 years it was just known as a typing/transcription service, so a lot of the people who have heard of APA when it was just the typing service seem to have difficulty in understanding that we do all the extra services.

So I saw a business advisor and he suggested that APA goes back to providing the typing service and we set up a new business for the outsourced office services, therefore BananaOffice (why does everyone forget to put it in bold? It's like the exclamation mark in Yahoo! it's part of it's identity! Grrr.)

 

[Beneddie1112]

Thanks for taking the time to explain! So is BananaOffice a sort of virtual offices? If so, I may well be intrested in one of those when I finally get the start up cash together for my business . By the way, That post wasn't meant to sound tongue in cheek, sincere apologies if it was construed that way.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Ashley_Price]

Hi Ben

No problem at all, it's just I'm banging on so much about the service that I'm surprised if someone hasn't heard of it.

I've sent you a Private Message.

Ashley

 

[Cornish Steve]

Money doesn't bother me one iota. As long as we generate enough for the team to work only on this venture, I'll be happy. We have a mission statement that we take seriously, so, in the long-term, we'll be ploughing almost everything into educational initiatives in the Third World.

 

[ups2007john]

£3000 per day would suit me

 

[SillyJokes]

£100K p.a. is not enough for what I plan on doing. I should think £200K will cover it

 

[Stephen Berry]

I learnt a long time ago that "enough" is enough - rather than "just a little bit more" is enough.
I resolved to desire the 'self employed lifestyle' rather than the cash.
The problem will soon be upon us as to what to do about secondary education - if we go private (I have 3 children), the "enough" may raise significantly!

 

[SillyJokes]

I learnt a long time ago that "enough" is enough - rather than "just a little bit more" is enough.
I resolved to desire the 'self employed lifestyle' rather than the cash.
The problem will soon be upon us as to what to do about secondary education - if we go private (I have 3 children), the "enough" may raise significantly!

We have four kids and this is a large part of my problem. And when did school trips start costing £1,800?

 

[RedEvo]

I recently turned down an offer of circa £50k so it would be nice to pull a £50k salary from the business - at the moment I can't. That said as others have pointed out many of us do this for the lifestyle and because we can.

A recent chat with our mortgage providers was enlightening.......

Any outstanding loans sir? - eh......no
Any outstanding credit card balances sir? - eh.......no
Any store cards sir? - eh........no

All from my own endeavours, it made me smile anyway

d

 

[Cornish Steve]

We have four kids and this is a large part of my problem. And when did school trips start costing £1,800?

Our children go on a fair number of trips, and there's usually a cost, but it's not obligatory. The school pays for any family that can't afford it. Not sure where the money comes from, but it's probably from the PTA funds or from the school foundation (a non-profit that raises money for special equipment or other initiatives in the school - this year they paid for a full-time school nurse, I believe).

In high school, it's a tradition for the senior class to go away on a trip together. My older daughter joined her class on a Disney cruise in the Caribbean. My two oldest sons went on a senior trip to Florida. Friends of ours are teachers at a school, and they just returned from Costa Rica. In this case, the cost is more - but still not as much as you are quoting. For more than a year in advance, the class works together on fund-raising projects to subsidise the cost: selling Christmas trees, running a car wash, and the like. This can reduce the price by as much as half.

I'm flabbergasted that your school expects you to pay £1,800. It's unfair, and it's outrageous.

 

[JonM]

Interesting question for me because (although I own a business as a fundraiser) I work in the charity sector. Arguably every penny I earn is a penny taken away from a person that needs the help of a charity I work for.

At the moment this question doesn't apply because my business is new and my rates are reasonable. However if my venture takes off and I start employing staff, I could potentially really be quids in. If that happens, an ethical pricing policy is something I'm really going to have to consider.

Jon

 

[Cornish Steve]

Is anyone familiar with the concept of a 'social business', as defined by Muhammad Yunis, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and creator of the microloan concept for the poor in Bangladesh? If not, I recommend finding out about it. His idea is that some companies could set themselves up not as for-profit business but as social business. They are run to make a profit, but all the profits must be used to support a social cause. Investors would buy shares in a social business not to earn a profit but to support a cause.

We thought seriously about taking this route, but in the end we concluded that, in some countries, the model is just too naive to work. We'll achieve the same goals but without writing them into our company articles. I know that means we're relying on people instead of legal process, but we plan to hold ourselves accountable to be sure it really happens.

 

[amaze]

whatever guys... if/when you guys are earning that much you would want more.

I agree! Enough is never enough...

 

[30two Design]

In high school, it's a tradition for the senior class to go away on a trip together. My older daughter joined her class on a Disney cruise in the Caribbean. My two oldest sons went on a senior trip to Florida. Friends of ours are teachers at a school, and they just returned from Costa Rica.

I went to the Lake District on my school trip! Actually, thinking about it - I' d probably still prefer to do that than go on a Disney Cruise


Kids Eh...they don't know they're born!

 

[maxine]

I agree that enough is never enough as you can always find a use for more money even if you dont really need it

 

[thebluntmancom]

no matter how much you earn.....it will never be enough!

 

The correct answer children is the amount that you are happy with.

this applies to most things in life .

Earl

 

[TomUK]

The questions wasn't how much are you happy with in life, just basically how much do you want achieve with your current operations.

 

[formerguest]

Stamp Out Suicide! receives no funding, which is unfortunate given the number of things that could be done to drive things forward (the ideas are there). We are looking at the possibility of establishing some form of social enterprise but it remains to be seen whether or not this will be possible.

I will be walking part of a marathon in May (and will encourage some others to do the same) and hope that this helps to raise some awareness. I must be clear and say we are not a charity but hope to seek sponsorship, making it open and transparent what will happen to any money raised.

Expressions of interest for sponsorship are most welcome and we might even use a page on the website to give the generous folk a mention!

 

[RSQU]

Well I couldn't post what I really think as people would just think I was being stupid and OTT so I'll say £100,000 pa.

Oh to hell with that £1bn per year minimum, I have my reasons!

 

[Jezclayton]

However much money you've got, there will always be someone with a bigger boat next door.

Personally, I'd like just enough money not to have to worry about what it costs, but not so much that I don't consider the cost.

I couldn't imagine reaching that goal on less than £10k a month net of tax (about £200k a year gross).

Fighting on.

 

[Cornish Steve]

The trouble is, the more money you have, the more money you want. It's a bit of a vicious circle.

 

[Reflections]

There is no limit.
Because
Money money money, brighter than sun shine and sweeter than honey.

 

[cherry chen]

haha , enough for me to buy what i want to buy.

 

[wildhaggis]

For me, it's simple:
My first goal is to achieve a positive cash flow. Then I can concentrate on growing the business.

Then, I will be looking at profit, not turnover. It's easy to get business, its not so easy to get GOOD business.

 

[acee]

My online trade peaked about 4 years ago and has seen a steady decline since then, to the point where I'm currently at less than 1% of the peak.

It hurts!

What was great was the build up to the peak over about a 2 year period. Seeing your income totally eclipse anything you could dream of earning in a salaried job, and then go on to increase by up to 20% per month over 2 years is pretty amazing.

I just can't believe how difficult things have become now!

 

[simonswords]

For the business I want/need enough income to generate a clear 25% net profit.

To get the business to this stage I've had to live on 12k per annum and rely on credit cards to see me through tough times. This has forced me to respect any amount of cash in the bank no matter how small.

My credit cards are now clear and my annual income is now "acceptable". If in three years time I'm on a salary in excess of six figures I'll be very comfortable indeed and can't imagine needing more for the next couple of decades.