# What would you do with 50 Grand? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 27, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758 "2006-12-27T16:29:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/21 "2006-12-27T18:06:48Z")
I’d share some of it with our kids, and use the rest to improve the house. I want a covered breezeway (or something) between the house and the garage. The kitchen needs everything – cabinets, flooring, etc. – and I’d like to move the laundry room to the second floor where the bedrooms and clothes are. If there was anything left after that, I’d pave the driveway and do some landscaping. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/22 "2006-12-27T18:09:40Z")
[QUOTE=Book Monster] I’d probably call in the repairmen and decorators and finally fix up my house and sort out all the niggling cosmetic and repair jobs that I currently have to budget for. [/QUOTE] I’d do the same thing. Crap – I must be a grownup now ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/23 "2006-12-27T18:26:08Z")
Treat myself modestly (20%) and whack the rest into a pension fund. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/24 "2006-12-27T18:32:10Z")
I’d pay off my debts and have about $4000 left over. That $4000 would probably get sucked away in taxes on the $50,000 windfall or winnings, but if there was any money left, I’d put it into savings or investment. Maybe I’d open a Roth IRA and put the money in there. Sorry to give such a boring answer, but that really is what I’d do with the cash. ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/25 "2006-12-27T18:49:09Z")
I’d take 5k or so and get a new car. I don’t want a fancy one with all the bells and whistles, just transportation. I would like to take about 5k to invest in stock (I don’t know what, but I like to gamble). The other 40k would be put into a high interest savings if possible. I’m a pretty boring kid, huh? Brendon ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/26 "2006-12-27T18:54:42Z")
Pay bills, put some away for my son, maybe buy a car, put money down on a house. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/27 "2006-12-27T19:17:49Z")
Get out of debt, buy a new car, and go play poker in Vegas with some friends. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/28 "2006-12-27T20:13:37Z")
[QUOTE=Winston Smith] Pay off my debt. Just barely. [/QUOTE] A big chunk goes to taxes. What’s left would almost pay off my debt. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/29 "2006-12-27T20:19:39Z")
Pay off my debts (about $15k), set up a college fund for my baby, get new flooring for the whole house, finally finish decorating the bedroom, have a new back patio put in (just stamped concrete), and do general maintenance on the house. Then, go on a cruise (aft balcony, please!) and save the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Don26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Don26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don26)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/30 "2006-12-27T20:22:35Z")
Most likely waste it ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/31 "2006-12-27T20:29:42Z")
I’d probably use it to buy each of my kids a car when they turn 21 or get out of college. Or give it to them to to help them out as they get started after school. A third of $50G would mean more to each of them at that point in their lives than it would to me. I don’t have any debt and make enough to buy myself pretty much anything I want - and I don’t want all that much that costs much. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/32 "2006-12-27T20:43:41Z")
I pay off my credit cards every month… a habit I got into a long time ago and refuse to break… so I would instead use it to pay down my second mortage. I already have more interest write off than I can possibly use. In fact, I am expecting to receive a check for $350K any day for a piece of land I bought 3 years ago that I just forced the seller to buy back from me. There was a problem with the lot… don’t ask. Once I get that check I will pay off my HELOC along with the numerous legal bills that are piling up from my recission lawsuit. 🙂 Any money I have left over will go into the retirement account… ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/33 "2006-12-27T20:48:08Z")
Put most of it aside for startup cost for Mr. Lissar’s dojo. Maybe fly down to see some friends and take a short vacation. Nothing exciting. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/34 "2006-12-27T20:50:19Z")
I might consider investing 10K of it with Cash Call, the people who make those high interest no-collateral loans. They offer something like 12% interest to the investor, but of course they are not FDIC insured. As long as the risk is distributed evenly it seems like it ought to be reasonably safe. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/35 "2006-12-27T20:55:23Z")
[QUOTE=dolphinboy] I pay off my credit cards every month… a habit I got into a long time ago and refuse to break… so I would instead use it to pay down my second mortage. [/QUOTE] Just checking: you know that when some of us talk about paying off our debt it’s not credit cards (or at least not _just_ credit cards), right? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/36 "2006-12-27T22:14:59Z")
Pay off my credit cards, get my house spiffed up (A/C, finished basement, new fridge, new siding, etc), buy myself a way-too-big TV, get a second dog and put the rest in savings. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/37 "2006-12-27T22:17:01Z")
Put it into my superannuation (pension) fund. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/38 "2006-12-27T23:21:30Z")
Straight to the retirement fund. I’ve got savings now, so I already spend what I want to. ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/39 "2006-12-27T23:25:12Z")
We have no debt, not even a mortgage on our house, so I’d put it in short-term CDs and finance two adoptions. Anything left over, I’d use as the starter on a college fund for the kids. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758/40 "2006-12-27T23:27:53Z")
Pay off my school loans (about 40K now), and put the rest in savings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-with-50-grand/385758.md?page=3)