To get so rich that you are not in need of anymore money

Question

I wonder if there is an informal idiom to say that someone made so much money that became needless of any more money and retired themselves (meaning that from then on they work only for fun / pleasure and not for the sake of earning money)?

Example:

• He is really a clever guy. He entered to this market just three years ago; just focused on his job and payed no attention to anything else. As a sociable person he managed to connect to the market's most influential people and the big shots in his own field and after awhile he ................. selling silk carpets and retired by the time he was 40.

I used to think that, "make a pile" is the only possible term here, but Cambridge Dictionary says that it means just: "to earn a large amount of money", which has no hint to getting needless of money (becoming very wealthy so that you don't need to try too much to earn any more money).

I wonder if there is any better idiom encompassing all the explained information?

Answer 1

The phrase set for life was the first that came to my mind. It doesn't necessarily imply making a lot of money, but with some additional words you can make some idiomatic phrases.

If you make it big on Broadway, you'll be set for life.

You'd be set for life if you'd invested in the month after their IPO.

Another possibility is to strike it rich. This usually but not always means a person is set for life, but rather that they made a lot of money doing one thing or another.

By the Great Horn Spoon! uses this phrase a lot in the context of people migrating to mine gold. Example from the summary (likely many more in the book text):

They pick a beautiful spot, but then, as they hit bedrock, Jack and Praiseworthy find gold and strike it rich.

How these two relate to other answers suggestions:

• Anecdotally, make a pile is rarer than other suggestions here, even when spoken. The Ngram supports this notion, but make a pile's search results (18.5 million at time of writing on page 1) are greater than strike it rich's at 1.2 million. Then again, "make a pile" can refer to making a physical pile of objects, so it's hard to tell how many of these results are being used in the context this question is asking about, and paging to the end of either phrase's search results yields two more numbers (220 for "strike it rich" and 167 for "make a pile") which exclude similar results.

• make it big does usually refer to money, but "making it" can refer to a more general notion of success, with "big" simply amplifying it

• Here's sources for make a fortune versus make one's fortune. Making a fortune simply refer to making a lot of money. In context, this could be a smaller amount than needed to be set for life. On the other hand, "one's fortune" is all the money someone needs to be set for life.

• independently wealthy is a little tricky, and it is in with financial independence. It suggests something similar to set for life, that one's needs do not depend on someone else's wealth. However, the exact implications are different. Set for life seems grander and might suggest more money. Being independently wealthy or financially independent means that you do not have to work for money. See Reddit's r/financialindepence for a starting point on the connotations of these two phrases.

Ngram viewer with a few of these phrases

It's possible none of these phrases have the exact connotations and usage you're looking for. But if you combine them together and give enough context, you can build your own idiomatic phrases. For example,

He struck it rich selling carpets and was set for life by 35, but he kept working until 40.

What this says is:

1. He made a lot of money selling carpets.
2. He could have retired at 35.
3. He continued working despite not needing to, presumably for reasons other than money.

Answer 2

I would use the term independently wealthy, though I don’t think it’s considered an idiom:

(of a person) Possessing enough wealth that one does not need financial support from another person and does not require income from employment.

-YourDictionary

Answer 3

I can't address the idiom "make a pile" as I am not familiar with it, but maybe some else can. Here's what came to mind for me:

• make it (big)
  infml to become famous or successful:
  By the time he was nineteen, he had made it big in the music business.
  (Cambridge Dictionary)

• make it big

  • To achieve great success and/or fame.
    My dream is to make it big on Broadway.
    You're never going to make it big if you don't put in the hard work.
  • to become successful, especially financially. I always knew that someday I would make it big. My brother made it big, but it has just led to tax problems.
    (TFD)

However, this also doesn't necessarily mean they're no longer in need of money and retire. In any case, "... and after a while he made it big selling silk carpets and retired by the time he was 40" sounds like a perfectly idiomatic sequence to me.

Anyway, there might be an idiom out there that captures exactly what you want. Let's see!

Answer 4

I'd use the phrase to make one's fortune, which means to become wealthy.

(None of the references spell it out, but I've always heard it in reference to making enough that money is no longer a concern.  Of course, people who make a fortune through their own efforts are rarely the sort to stop working at that point, but I'd certainly assume that to be an option.)

Answer 5

As you say, make a pile simply means that you have made, or are making, a lot of money: it doesn't carry any implications that you don't need any more money.

Once you have reached the stage where earning any more wouldn't make any difference to you, you could use the informal expression filthy rich.

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Note that, while anymore is acceptable as a single word in American English, it is not in British English.

Answer 6

"Financially independent" is a common term for this. Specifically, it means that you don't depend on anyone else for your money, because you have enough money yourself.

The term is sometimes encountered in the idiom "Financial Independence Retirement Early", or FIRE (see this blog, e.g.). That seems to match the exact example you gave, so: "He achieved financial independence selling silk carpets and retired by the time he was 40".

As an example usage, one financial advisor wrote:

Athletes’ maximum earnings period are relatively short. Building financial plans that help them remain financially independent is extremely gratifying. (Source)

Here is another such usage of a similar, related phrase:

The transaction made Bush independently wealthy — he put in $606,302 and later sold his stake for $14.9 million. (Source)

Answer 7

F*** You Rich is one used in internet circles. The definition can be described as "So wealthy that you can say F*** You with no cause for concern or fear of financial reprisal".

As one comment notes, this is also sometimes called F**k you money. A 2016 article at Money.com reads:

In some circles, the wealth required to burn any bridge you want has a name: “f–k you money.” The term pops up often in popular culture—for example, memorably employed by the actor John Goodman in the 2014 film The Gambler.

For many people, f–k you money is the essence of success. “[If] you have, as performers will call it, ‘f–k you’ money,” Johnny Carson once said, “all that means is that I don’t have to do what I don’t want to do.”

Answer 8

The idiom that works here is:

make a fortune. In this case, "made a fortune".

It's that simple.

Answer 9

I would suggest 'Rolling in it' as an alternative.

Used in the example context:

As a sociable person he managed to connect to the market's most influential people and the big shots in his own field. He was rolling in it by the time he was 40, after selling carpets, and decided to retire.

When used in the context of money it means to have so much money you can afford to lie around all day surrounded by your money.

It also has the connotation of having a lot more money than you need - this can apply to the very wealthy or can also be used in other contexts if someone has more money that expected.