# How much is "a lot of money"? (USD) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117 "2011-05-25T04:51:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FoundWaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@FoundWaldo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoundWaldo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/1 "2011-05-25T04:51:18Z")
How much does it take for you to say “that’s a lot of money”? This is for people in the US only, because I can’t figure out a way to set up the poll that would work properly across currencies. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/2 "2011-05-25T04:57:50Z")
I’ll be the wet blanket and go ahead and say that it’s context specific. For a brand new car, $50K+ is a lot of money, whereas $10K is not. But ten thousand dollars is a lot of money in general to just receive as a gift. $1,000 Is not a lot of money for a used car, but it’s a lot of money for say, a watch. And so on and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/5 "2011-05-25T05:28:31Z")
A lot of money is definitely more than you have. It might also be more than you want to spend, but that might be too much money, and not a lot. It definitely wouldn’t be an amount you wouldn’t notice missing. So the number is different for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/6 "2011-05-25T11:17:21Z")
I’m going to go with the “twice what mine is” rule here. In terms of income, I’d guess that most folks think that making “a lot of money” is roughly making twice what they currently earn (or in the case or retired geezers like me, more than what I used to earn). In terms of assets, twice what I’m worth sounds like a lot of money. In terms of cars, one that costs twice what mine did (when it was new) sounds like a lot of money for a car. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/7 "2011-05-25T12:46:39Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > I’ll be the wet blanket and go ahead and say that it’s context specific. > > For a brand new car, $50K+ is a lot of money, whereas $10K is not. But ten thousand dollars is a lot of money in general to just receive as a gift. $1,000 Is not a lot of money for a used car, but it’s a lot of money for say, a watch. And so on and so forth. What he said. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/8 "2011-05-25T14:16:15Z")
Yeah, sorry, I can’t answer this either. Am I buying shoes or a house? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/9 "2011-05-25T14:24:00Z")
I consider “a lot of money” to be the amount I could piss away at my current rate for the rest of my life without having to work or rely on compound interest. It would have to be on the order of 50 million. Anything less is just chump change. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/10 "2011-05-25T14:58:10Z")
It’s context specific in that $500 is a lot of money to me, if I’m carrying cash in my wallet. It’s not much to have in my bank account, just like $10,000 is a lot of money in my checking account, but not all that much in an IRA. In the broadest sense, I’d think “a lot of money” would indicate upwards of $1000 to most people. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/11 "2011-05-25T21:57:24Z")
$12 is a LOT of money for a crappy cheeseburger. $150,000 is NOT a lot of money for a nice house in Beverly Hills. Context matters. I wouldn’t spend $12 on a cheeseburger because that would be a lot, but I might spend $100 on a pair of new glasses and not think it’s a lot. ---
**Author:** ![TXCaveman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/58956e/32.png) [@TXCaveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TXCaveman)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/12 "2011-05-25T22:01:50Z")
$1,000,000 US. In general terms, give me a million bucks and I would say, “That’s alot of money!” Give me $999,999, and I would say, “Thanks, dude!” ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/13 "2011-05-25T23:02:21Z")
Depends on the context, but if someone told me something nonhouse/noncar costed 100,000 I’d bite. That is a lot of money. I’m willing to bet, by things said on this forum, most dopers don’t even make that in a year. I think a lot of dopers want to pretend they have more money they they really do by the recent threads that have been popping up. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/14 "2011-05-26T05:56:02Z")
I get that it’s context specific, but I also think we have enough context to answer the question. In this group, the first thing I would call a lot of money without qualifiers is $10,000. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/15 "2011-05-26T12:42:26Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I get that it’s context specific, but I also think we have enough context to answer the question. In this group, the first thing I would call a lot of money without qualifiers is $10,000. I didn’t agree with your statement so I graphed the numbers in Excel in order to try to figure out a context. Even so, my qualifier is that $10,000 is so close to all of the lower figures in comparison, that I’ll say that of the figures given, $50,000 is the first one that is a lot of money. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/16 "2011-05-26T12:53:38Z")
Even for regular everyday stuff, you have to aggregate multiples of $100 before I even notice it in my bank account, so even something tiny that costs $100 cannot cost “a lot of money” to me. And $1000 isn’t even enough to realistically live on for a month, and I save up a lot more than that per month, so that’s not it, either. I’d say $5000 because at that level, it would truly make a difference in terms of my planning and goals. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/17 "2011-05-26T16:17:41Z")
I think people are mixing up “a lot of money” and “a reasonable amount of money for a certain item/service.” Yea, I know $100,000 is impossibly cheap for most houses in the US, but that doesn’t change the fact that $100,000 is a fraking boatload of money to most people. My position is that $1000 is “a lot of money” to an average Joe walking down the street. I could shift that to $10,000 for upper-middle-class. Phrased in another way: In terms of an somewhat unexpected expense that was not strategically decided upon for long term use\*, $1000 is “a lot of money.” \*a house, a car, a home renovation, Apple computers ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/18 "2011-05-26T17:20:53Z")
I didn’t vote, because the real answer is “it depends”. 10 dollars is “a lot of money” to spend on a soft drink. 1000 dollars is “a lot of money” to spend on a hotel room (10 on the other hand, is too little). 1,000,000 is a lot of money to spend on a house (even here in price-crazy DC metro). 100,000 is too little around here but would be a lot in other parts of the country. 50,000,000 is a lot of money to have on hand for retirement. 1,000,000 is too little. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/19 "2011-05-26T17:59:22Z")
As a person who has taken The Official Vow Against Fighting the Hypothetical, I’d say that, in the complete abstract, a thousand bucks is a lot of money. I’d be happy if I won that at the casino, and I’d be sad if an unexpected expense for that much came up, and I’d think for a while before spending tha amount on almost anything. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/20 "2011-05-26T18:44:35Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > I’ll be the wet blanket and go ahead and say that it’s context specific. > > For a brand new car, $50K+ is a lot of money, whereas $10K is not. But ten thousand dollars is a lot of money in general to just receive as a gift. $1,000 Is not a lot of money for a used car, but it’s a lot of money for say, a watch. And so on and so forth. Exactly. If someone wants to give me $500 for a short after-dinner speech, I’d say, “that’s a lot of money!” even though it would make little impact on my life: nobody in their right mind would pay me $500 to give a talk. If someone offered me $75 to give the same talk, I’d just shrug and say, “let me check my schedule.” If my wife told me she found $27.52 in loose bills and change when she emptied out her tote bag, I’d say “that’s a lot of money!” even though it wouldn’t even buy dinner at a restaurant for the two of us. If she found $6.77, I’d say, “that’s nice, dear.” If my next-door neighbor sells his house for $450K this summer, I’ll say “that’s a lot of money!” because it would be the most any house has ever sold for in our neighborhood, and WAY more than any house here has sold for since home prices went south a few years back. But if he sells it for $350K, which he’d be lucky to get in this market, I’d just congratulate him on the sale. So it all depends on the context. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/21 "2011-05-26T18:50:16Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A lot of money is definitely more than you have. It might also be more than you want to spend, but that might be too much money, and not a lot. > [@The Cocoanuts](#): > > Hammer (Groucho): (thinks) You know what a lot is? > > Chico: Yeah, itsa too much. > > Hammer: I don’t mean a whole lot, just a little lot with nothing on it. > > Chico: Any time you gotta too much, you gotta whole lot. Look, I explain it to you…sometimes you no got enough, it’s too much, you gotta whole lot. Sometimes you got a little bit. You no think it’s enough, somebody else maybe thinks itsa too much, itsa whole lot too. Now, itsa whole lot, itsa too much, itsa too much, itsa whole lot…same thing. If that doesn’t settle the matter, I don’t know what will. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117/22 "2011-05-26T18:56:55Z")
I answered $100,000, based on “how much money, if it materialized out of nowhere, would make a significant/lasting difference in my day to day life.” Owning my home and car free and clear and thus going from “catching up” to “getting ahead” would make a nice difference. Less money would help me move towards that goal, but not get there, so it only enters “Nice chunk o’ change” territory. However, since clicking, I’ve thought it through in the other direction: if an amount of money disappeared suddenly, how much would it change my life. $10,000 would hurt pretty bad, but with a li’l help from friends I’d be recovered and living approximately the same life within a year. $50,000 would be devastating and have a long-term affect. I think I should have clicked $50,000, and may Fate accept my humble apologies for tempting her so with my fickle optimism. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-lot-of-money-usd/583117.md?page=2)