The was the question
Smart Money magazine posed to the general public, and here are some of the humorus answers:Example 1:
$4600 - 4 Front Row Outfield Season Tickets, Tampa Bay Rays
$2400 - 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb Guitar Amp
$2000 - 1996 Fender Relic '60 Stratocaster Guitar
$3000 - 1968 Gibson Dove Acoustic Guitar
$2000 - 1942 Gibson Banner Logo LG-0 Acoustic Guitar
$7000 - 1982 Fender USA Reissue 62 Strat, 57 Strat, 52 Tele, 62 Jazz Bass
$3000 - 1975 Gibson Les Paul Custom Guitar, White
$2000 - 1993 Gibson '57 Reissue Les Paul Guitar, Goldtop
$2000 - 1991 Gibson Les Paul Classic Guitar, Cunburst Flametop
$3500 - 1968 Gibson ES-335 Guitar, Cherry
$3500 - 1964 Gibson SG Special, Cherry
$2000 - 1962 Hammond A-100 Organ
$40,000 - 1/3 Acre Lot w/Canal Access To St John's River, Florida
$15,000 - Used Houseboat
$2000 - Small Boat, 2 Kayaks, Fishing Gear
$1000 - 2 Metal Detectors
$3000 - 2000 Ford Windstar Minivan
Example 2:
Own a stake in some Asian massage palors in New York, New Jersey. They reap $4million a year Tax free!
Then buy the investments.
Example 3:
I would pay all my bills and take all the rest and bury it in my back yard!
Example 4:
Invest in a new prtfolio, last year's was up 137%. Thanks to your magazine.
Leave my wife and run away to a tropical island with my girlfriend.
Ok, maybe that last one isn't so humorous. In any case, there are also very intelligent answers, ranging from the conservative to the aggressive. So, if you were to receive 100k tomorrow, how would you manage it and why?
November 3rd, 2008 at 03:48 pm 1225727295
November 3rd, 2008 at 03:53 pm 1225727594
It's good to have goals and a plan in place. Just makes achieving those goals that much faster.
November 3rd, 2008 at 05:18 pm 1225732703
November 3rd, 2008 at 07:29 pm 1225740564
So that would take a small portion of $100,000. The rest I would save...add some to EF so that it's comfortably large, probably add a large chunk to my mutual fund, get a decent-sized chunk of CDs because they ARE guaranteed, save some for next year to add to my IRA since maxed out this year, and I would buy some stock.
I loved the examples where people would just spend like crazy. I would make a list of what I needed/wanted to do with the money, wait at least a month before taking any action. But most of that would go to savings. I don't need or want a new car, fancy vacation or guitars!
Really, I can't think of what to do with that much money other than save it. MAYBE I could spend up to $20,000 if I fixed up more things around the house...new kitchen cabinets or something.
But I would rather know that it's stashed away!
November 3rd, 2008 at 07:53 pm 1225742018
I'd set aside $10,000 to make our 2009 Roth contributions after January 1st.
I'd make some repairs and get new tires on the van: about $1,500.
I'd put $40,000 in savings for our next cars.
I'd set aside $5,000 for our summer vacation next year.
The other $40,500 would probably go into general savings.
November 3rd, 2008 at 08:31 pm 1225744319
November 3rd, 2008 at 08:39 pm 1225744757
$20k - kids' college (I'm not a big fan of paying their way entirely and have saved $0 of my own money, but a windfall like that and I'd invest it so I Wouldn't have to worry about it again).
$10k - fund 2 years of ROTHS - dh (since we generally have not been funding his.
$20k - Bulk up cash savings. (Would give us 6 months' SOLID emergency fund).
Honestly, I think taxable investing scares me. So I would avoid it (but would clearly free up more cash to do dollar cost averaging into some taxable accounts - which is more my speed than figuring what to do with a lump sum).
A casual observer (or my spouse) may notice I didn't "spend" any of it. I know my dh would want a few thousand for toys. BUT it isn't very noble of me. I just know this would grow our net worth and be VERY financially freeing. It would mean there would be a little more room in the budget for enjoyment. Maybe not immediately, but soon enough. I could maybe see taking $1k to splurge. Like a nice dinner out and a couple of toys. But that would be enough for me. Dh would be completely on board but would probably argue he wants $5k to spend. !!
(P.S. I like #1 - hehe).
November 3rd, 2008 at 08:42 pm 1225744953
November 3rd, 2008 at 08:45 pm 1225745110
November 3rd, 2008 at 09:08 pm 1225746487
Yeah, I liked response #1 too. For some reason, when I read that, my mind started mentally playing Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in the background.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm 1225751147
$30000 pay for kitchen
$1200 Roth IRA
$4000 Roth IRA for hubby
$2000 Coverdell
$3800 Take boys to Osaka
$3000 Landscaping
$10000 charitable contributions with trusted, local agencies
$5000 emergency fund
$5000 Europe trip
$1000 wedding gift for brother and sister-in-law
$16000 remodel part of downstairs into some comfortable, lit heated sanctuary/retreat for me
$17000 (decent used car)
$500 graduation gift for nephew
$1500 plane tickets to attend nephew's grad.
Pessimistic plan:
pay for kitchen, landscaping, sell or rent house and move into some rentable place for the next 24 months.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 pm 1225753632
November 4th, 2008 at 12:31 am 1225758664
November 4th, 2008 at 01:36 am 1225762575
$10,000.00 to charity
$10,000.00 to family
$79,987.53 to the bank
And the remaining $12.47? I'd stop at Panda Express on my way home from work to pick up a celebratory dinner to go! (Don't all start singing "Hey Big Spender" at once!)
November 4th, 2008 at 02:06 am 1225764368
i think about this all the time, hehe. i guess we all do. so what would i do?
first off, fix up BF's two cars in the garage (around $10k) so they could be used to drive around.
second, buy the car we've always wanted (a nissan 200sx) and sell my current car. New car purchase: $17k less $6k for mine.
I'd use $75k for a deposit on a loan to buy property and build a house.
And with the other $4k, I would split it between BF and I and we could do whatever we wanted with it.
November 4th, 2008 at 02:27 am 1225765661
$10k to charity (probably the school I used to work at)
$20k to family and friends
10K to beef up Car Fund
40k to House Downpayment Fund (Actually BUY a house!)
8k to fully fund Roth for this year and next
9k to beef up EF to 1 yr expenses
3k for a Cruise and frivolous spending
November 4th, 2008 at 02:14 pm 1225808076
November 4th, 2008 at 03:13 pm 1225811603
If I had 100k, just handed to me, no questions asked, I'd pay off our debt (around $20k), put around $10k into Juliett'es college fund, and then $20k into my college fund ...
That still leaves $50k for savings/investment. That's more than double my annual take home, I'm pretty happy with that. I won't lie, I'd use an undetermined amount of that 50k to do some much needed work to our home ...if we get it.
November 4th, 2008 at 05:34 pm 1225820089
I would:
* pay off my $68K mortgage to be 100% debt-free
- Buy a new Prius $25K
- Give $1,000 to my mother with the provision that she has to spend it, not save it (she's very frugal and doens't enjoy herself as much as i think she should)
- Invest the remaining $6,000
November 5th, 2008 at 02:43 am 1225853004
Pay off CCs - $6,000
Pay off student loans - $85,000
Rest in savings/investings - $9,000
And the sad part is, even if I don't put the $9K in savings, I still wouldn't have enough to pay back a loan to Mums.
Fun and non-responsible answer:
$35K downpayment on a house
$15K for reconstructive body surgery after weight loss surgery
$6K to pay of CC debt
$20K to travel the world with BF for a few months
$15K to Mums and Dads for their retirement and for all they have helped me out over the years
$4K donation to charity
$5K to start college fund for future niece/nephew
November 5th, 2008 at 05:57 pm 1225907836
Not so boring way to spend it:
$20,000 A trip to France, fly first class, and stay at a super nice hotel
$10,000 Buy a Hermes purse
$20,000 Buy a Chanel suit
$30,000 Buy a Cartier watch (the one with diamonds)
$10,000 Eat like a queen every day during the trip
Then, go to Italy and spent the rest of the money for Gucci & Prada
November 5th, 2008 at 07:21 pm 1225912878
I put dad's 95K into 2 40K CDs, where they are going to be later used as a down payment on a house. For the moment, the interest its earning is feeding into a checking account that I'm using for my 1/2 of the farmette.
When you already have it, then another 100K just tops the tank.
November 6th, 2008 at 03:18 am 1225941536
November 9th, 2008 at 12:56 am 1226192184
November 10th, 2008 at 09:11 pm 1226351516
Pay off all credit cards
Save (invest) 15,000
put 5,000 in our vacation fund
put 5,000 into emergency savings
put 20,000 into mortgage
put away 10,000 for kids (5k each)
hmm...that leaves me with appx 25,000. Not sure, probably invest or possibly more to the mortgage/savings.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:56 pm 1226361381
November 11th, 2008 at 09:18 am 1226395130
November 12th, 2008 at 07:24 pm 1226517863
December 25th, 2008 at 05:21 pm 1230225693
January 13th, 2009 at 09:09 pm 1231880958
credit card debt - 15k
car - 10k
student loans - 15k
That would leave me with my mortgage being the only think left. Since I owe 140k on that I would probably leave my mortgage alone.
I would put 10k into my savings for emergencies, and set the rest up in CD's of 10k increments maturing in monthly intervals so that I would have access to the money if needed.
August 5th, 2010 at 02:06 pm 1281017162
22, Just Graduated 4yr private college, B.A. English... No loans, debt free... Got a full time Job in South Korea at $2500.00 a month including furnished housing and 50% health insurance.
15k to Seoul Korea for frivolous Spending / Travel on Weekends.
25k Down payment on Used Porsche Carerra GT2
10k Charity
10k Mom
40k CD