It's like choosing a wife when you've only met one woman.  

If you live in Lima Ohio like Ben.. you probably don't need as much as if you live in Bay Area like Brian.. ( don't know were serge lives)... and we all have to work.... at something .But those I know that are retired generally own everything free and clear.. and live off of surplus rental income or interest income.. then we all have the things we like to do.. if its just living in a home somewhere never eating out never travelling hoarding your money that's one thing.If you need a budget for travel.. bling for wife... credit card for wife.. school for kids or grandkids. etc etc... so it really depends as they say.I do see many on BP that have a quasi magic number that they can then quite their day job and that is 10k a month off of positive cash flow.... so for whatever that's worth...

For instance, I can eat out with my wife for under 7$ a person at a sit down dinner..that includes $2 for tip.

My wife and I are located in Oxnard as well. 

My wife is from the southside and her father has run a carpentry business primarily serving the southside for the last 20+ years.

So my friend and I are sick and tired of paying ridiculous rent in beautiful Vail, Colorado.

I was also considering alternating mortgages with my wife to max out our # of allowed loans.

Good Call @Matt Wiberg, is beautiful business to be in and let me know what ever you want.

That's awesome and speaks volume about the beauty of leveraging real estate.

So, today, my wife gets a call from an ex boyfriend that she dated before we met.   10 years ago or more.