anything up to 100 grand - meh.
A million bucks – cool! Half on hookers and blow. A quarter into savings. Waste the rest!
10 million – Give $900,000 to charity. for the rest – see the million dollar answer.
$1,000 - no Change
$10,000 - Add it to the “Buy a New House Fund” - Still in the same market. (Level 1)
$100,000 - Add it to the “Buy a New House Fund” - Upgrade to new market. (Level 2)
$1,000,000 - Convert to Part Time - Still go with Level 2 house.
$10,000,000 - Quit work after setting up my partners with a replacement
4,550,000 for hookers and blow, is my math right?
At the 100k level, I’d pay someone else to paint my house instead of doing it myself.
1m- 2 new cars
10m- new house, screw the paint!
IIRC, many Dopers are fairly wealthy.
I’m assuming taxes are already paid, right? Because otherwise you can chop these amounts by 36% or so before you get them.
$1000 - into checking account. No change.
$10,000 - into savings account. No real change, just another trip or two around the West.
$100,000 - into retirement fund. No real change to lifestyle.
$1,000,000 - into retirement fund. We are already planning for a possible move when I retire in 5 years, so why spend on the mortgage or upgrades until we know where we will end up?
$10,000,000 - retire tomorrow. Condo in San Diego, property elsewhere. Travel a lot and fuck everybody else. Donate heavily to Democratic candidates.
With that much blow, I’d probably die, but I’d die real happy! Isn’t that the point of living?
Wow.
I wish I was in this position-able to live comfortably on 15K/yr. I would like that.
Congrats 
I hear you. I am not in that position-I am retired and have the buffer you speak of. In the last few years I have come to realize that most people are in the situation you describe. For the last couple of decades I had my head down in day to day work and didn’t see what was happening. I read about it. But didn’t understand it like I am beginning to. The Republicans just learned the hard way that the US isn’t super conservative nor is it all Silicon Valley. Everyone needs to recognize that people deserve not only a decent standard of living but security for that life. And in a democracy folks are going to do what they can to get what they deserve.
$1,000= something fun and impracticable.
$10,000= Hmm, down payment on a car, or pay down mortgage? Tough call.
$100,000=buy a car, and pay down mortgage
$1,000,000= buy a car, pay off mortgage, set aside for retirement.
$10 million= buy a car, pay off mortgage, retire now.
$1,000 - Pay off the latest car repair
$10,000 - Pay off the vinyl siding we put up to try and sell the house
$100,000 - Pay for my daughters pending BA degree
$1,000,000 - Buy a new house before the old one sells + 1, 2 & 3 above.
$10 million - Retire.
With 10M I would make whoopee.
With 1M I would put most of it in the bank to pay for university for my nephew and niece and to help them not the housing ladder
100K - education as above.
10K pays for next year’s eclipse trip.
1K pays for a trip to a friend.
I’d wager that those of us who are financially comfortable and without debt have worked hard to get to that point. My wife and I put money away even when we had debt to pay off and it wasn’t comfortable to do. We doubled down on mortgage payments and refinanced to a shorter term to lop off interest. We refused to rack up credit card debt that couldn’t be paid off monthly. So yes, it’s “nice”* to have a buffer, but it came at a cost.
*Sorry, but that word always evokes my ex-wife, who used to say it sneeringly about anyone who had been successful at something.
**$1,000: ** No effect.
**$10,000: **Virtually no effect, but I suppose it would be a bit of a boost toward saving for a down payment on a house.
**$100,000: ** Not much of an effect on my lifestyle, but I could either pay off a significant chunk of student loans, or use it as a down payment on a house.
$1,000,000: Even this probably wouldn’t have much immediate, significant effect on my lifestyle, but would be a huge boon to my long-term financial health. Only in this range do I start being able to completely pay off student loans (made the mistake of going to med school,) plus buy a house for cash and/or really jump-start my retirement savings.
**$10 million: **This is really the only amount on the list I’d consider life-changing, in that it would cause an immediate, drastic change in my lifestyle. I’d quit my day job in a heartbeat and sit on the beach for the rest of my life.
I’m actually surprised at the number of posters here who say they’d stop working on $1 million. With that kind of principal, invested conservatively, you could get what, $50k per year? I know plenty of people live on that much, I’m just surprised to see so many people who’d apparently be content with that. I’m nowhere near “quit your day job” territory until closer to the $10 million mark.
A million is a lot when you’re retired with no mortgage or perhaps a small one or cheap rent and no big expenses on the horizon.
If you’re under 50, you probably have a significant mortgage if you own a house and if you have kids or parents, those may need some financial assistance. You probably have more things you may want to spend the money on: setting up a business, more extensive travel. Last but not least, the money has to last longer so you’ll have to spend it more conservatively. All of this means that a million isn’t really enough to stop working. Two million might do it, though.
I am sort of financially comfortable – not paycheck to paycheck, but I couldn’t be unemployed for six months without major disaster – but I do have some manageable debt. That debt was incurred when unforeseen circumstances arose at a time when I did not have $1000 in savings, or even enough money leftover in my paycheck each pay period to siphon off even $20 to a savings account.
I resent the implication that the 90% of us who have no buffer at all do not work hard. That’s bullshit and you know it. Not everyone has the same educational opportunities, not everyone was raised in a family where people knew how to manage money responsibly. Most people I know, who are not struggling, are one bad car accident away from ruin. Or one dreaded disease diagnosis. Shit happens and it can happen to anyone.
Let’s pretend I get into a horrible car accident on the way home. My car is totaled and I’m in the hospital for six weeks. First, there’s going to be a huge dog kennel bill IF my poor dog doesn’t starve to death waiting for me to come home while I’m recovering. (Assuming I was conscious enough to send someone to go get her and take her to the kennel.) Then, I have insurance for the car, and even have the gap insurance policy (which is a privilege to be able to afford), but I’ll have to get a new car and will probably have to rent one for a while. But then I’ll have to cover all the medical bills that my insurance doesn’t cover and meanwhile, while I’ve been laid up in the hospital, all my other bills have been going into arrears because I’ve been unable to pay for them. I could lose my house, all the utilities could be cut off, and things like my cellphone (I mean, life line) and credit cards go into collections. Now my credit rating is tanked. Let’s say I ran out FMLA and all possible sick and vacation and short-term disability leave and I still can’t work so I’m fired and now I’m out of a job. Or my company loses a contract and starts a round of layoffs and my number comes up. That’s only one crisis away from living in a cardboard box under the freeway (it might take a year or more to get to that point, but it only takes one crisis to start that ball rolling) and again, I’m educated, and have a stable and secure professional position, with an excellent credit rating and higher than median salary. Also, I’m single and have no children.
People find themselves in all manner of fucked up financial positions through no fault of their own and certainly not because they were not willing to work hard, or they were irresponsible. People get laid off or their mothers start dying from cancer and need care… There’s all kinds of reasons that hardworking, responsible adults find themselves in deep financial shit. I’m just trying to ask us all to try to dial back the judgmental crap a bit.
It would be nice to make more than that. But last year, I made the most money ever in my life. No major medical, no missed time at work, got 3 of 4 quarterly bonuses. I didn’t gross $50,000. So that much after taxes is a pretty good sum.
50% state and federal taxes is too much. With ten million dollars all of your income is going to be dividends or, after the first two years, long term capital gains. You’ll pay no more than 33% even in California, which looks to have the highest rate.
$1,000 - no impact.
$10,000 - no impact.
$100,000 - no significant impact. Put in savings with the rest.
$1,000,000 - starting to have an impact. Not enough to retire on just yet, enough to perhaps upgrade the house, plus put aside enough for the kid’s education.
$10 million - significant impact. Enough to retire on, and establish funds for the education of the kid and his cousins.
$1000 - $100,000 – no impact. Just mix this money into my other money. Maybe I’d take a trip to NYC (with $8,000 and up).
$1,000,000 – take a 3-week vacation somewhere.
$10,000,000 – buy a slightly bigger house, closer to work, but keep working. This would have SIGNIFICANT impact on my life. I would have a craft room where everything would be organized and accessible. It would be beautiful! Being closer to work means 30 minutes on the road every day instead of 2 hours. Ooooohhhhh, the stuff I can do with that extra time (plus an organized craft room.) I dream about this every day. (Note: $1M doesn’t buy squat, house-wise, in Silicon Valley. I definitely need $2-4M for the kind of thing I want.)
$20,000,000 – buy slightly larger house and retire.