Reinventing yourself with just you and a wad of cash

In My Humble Opinion
1

At the end of the movie Trainspotting…our hero, Mark Renton, walks off into the dawn with a strong compulsion to disappear, no real ties, and £14,000 (having given I think £2,000 to Spud)I’ve always wondered, “Ok, now what’s he going to do?”

For those avoiding the spoiler, and I highly recommend this film for those who haven’t seen it, here’s a scenario. You have:

-Money £14,000 / $21,000 US / $25,800 CA / EU16,600 (sorry, don’t know how to denote Euros)
-Youth & health
-No real ties to your current location
-No employment
-Minor criminal record (probation only for petty theft)
-Resolve to enter the mainstream, having put irresponsibility behind you

What would you do?

If you’re in the US You can get a decent and reliable used car for $2,000 (you’ll most likely need a car in the US) and it’s going to run you, say $750/year for liability only insurance. Depending on where you land, rent is going to be $700/month for a no-frills 1 bedroom apartment. Let’s say the landord is a prick and you have to pay first month plus 2 in reserve. You’re on the cheap so let’s spend $1,000 for furniture. So once you’re settled you’ve got:

-Car ($2,750) for one year
-Living quarters ($10,800) for one year + furniture
-Utilities-power/water/phone-($1,200) for one year
-$6,250 in cash for food & clothes (dirt cheap at 2nd hand stores)
-Internet is available at the public library for free so you can surf the intarwebs and get a free hotmail account.

What would you do? I’d answer first but I’m going to have to think about it. I’ve got no imagination for this kind of thing.

2

Enroll in school and pick up college babes.

3

I don’t have to imagine, that’s my life. I write screenplays in hopes of selling them and play video games, more or less.

4

We don’t have enough left over to enroll. We’re just going to have to hang out on campus.

$15 for a backpack.
$20 for random hardback books to fill it.

Hooking up with college babes… priceless.

5

if you skipped the car you could do education instead prob’ly
you could save money on housing if you had roomies too

6

Spend the two grand on a van instead of a car and you can travel for quite some time on that money–stay in campgrounds for eight bucks a night, go to Baja California and just park it on the beach for a while, fishing. I could probably make that money last for a year of just travelling around, picking up part time jobs here and there in towns I like and want to explore a bit more until I find the spot I want to actually settle in. That’d be fun!

7

Do I get to keep my experience and resume?

If not, I don’t want to play, because that’s not enough money.

8

Yeah, you keep your mind. It’s just you as you are today, a past you can’t go back to, a bagful of cash and the world laid out before you. I suppose you can keep your work history to back you up if you want to re-enter the workforce.

I’m partial to SmartAleq’s idea. I’ve been in insurance for so long I’ve begun to lose my imagination.

9

Well, yeah, then I definitely would do something like SmartAleq. Maybe even write about it or something. Of course, Blue Highways-type books have been done to death…

I’d like to see lesser-known, oddball places, the kind that you wouldn’t have time to explore unless you were in this type of situation, unless you wait until retirement or something.

10

Education. No doubt. Skimp on the others, get a PT job, and get a degree.

11

$21,000 worth of pizza and hookers.
If I may be so bold as to reference the immortal Al Bundy