Money means different things to different people.
Reddit user, u/TopTierUsername101, wanted to hear what you would do when they asked:
How much would $100,000 change your life?
People Break Down The Best Loophole They've Ever Exploited
Just Get The Basics Out Of The Way
There's the standard responses, where people ran down the list of the essentials they could quickly take care of.
Making The Unmanageable Manageable
A ton.
Could pay off all debt and put a very nice down payment on a house.
Would make the mortgage manageable.
Give All The Money To The Kids
insanely.. i'm 19 and i'd be able to pay for university, pay for my car and help my parents who are on the streets rn get back on their feet and get my siblings out of foster care
You're the person I'd want to get the 100K. I don't need it; tons of people on this thread don't need it, but you my friend sound like you could use it for good.
Allowing You To Focus On Other Things
5-6 years of rent while i get my Ph.D sounds pretty fantastic
I hear this. I'm about to move with my partner so they can continue their education and would love to have $100k to live off of while I find work.
Taking It On By Yourself
Single mom who raised my children by working, when Bush was in office I lost my job and didn't get another good paying one for 5years. Work that for 7, moved got another place of employment and 7 years later the pandemic hit. I'm now going on 66, and all I would have to live on from social security, isn't enough to pay rent, utilities and living expensive. So needless to say $100,000, would change my life.
Wouldn't Go As Far As You Think
Then there's those other people who wouldn't be greatly affected by $100k, instead saying it would continue to help them comfortably move forward. Who doesn't like to be comfortable?
Almost Livable!
It would be almost enough for a downpayment on a house for us in our area. Housing is crazy expensive.
It would be less than half of a downpayment on an avg house in my area. This is basically keeping my generation from owning property and it's terrifying.
(avg. House here is about 1.2million)
A Slow Burn
Immediately? Not much at all. I'd pay off all my debt, take a chunk out of the house Im about to sign on. The monthly savings however would really allow me to change my life though.
Set Up Another Income Stream
That's around 80k in euros I think. I'd buy 2 studios and rent them, as many tourists here prefer renting village studios rather than living in a hotel.
Same here. A lot would change on paper, but the real effects wouldn't be apparent for several years.
This, also the peace of mind that would come along with it would be the most significant Change
Preparing For The Future
Just more money for retirement. That's all, business as usual.
Same. I mean, I'd say I'd spend some and go on vacation, but my vacations are typically camping somewhere cool and then hiking, so it's pretty frugal as far as vacations go. I'd like think that I could retire a little earlier if I had an extra 100 grand thrown at me, though.
Retirement. What A Far Off Dream.
If I put it straight into my pension, I'd be all but guaranteed a decent standard of living when I hit retirement age, even if I never paid in a penny more.
If I put it into my mortgage, it would pretty much pay it off and my essential expenditure would halve - would be the equivalent of a 20% pay rise.
Day-to-day though it probably wouldn't change much. Would need about half a million to consider quitting my day job.
UnloadTheBaconMaking A Huge Impact
Finally, there's those people who would do quite a bit if you were gifted $100k. This runs the length of saving lives to crafting a livable future.
Eliminating That Sinking Feeling
I'd be able to afford my own apartment instead of living with 3 ppl. I'd be able to focus more on building my life instead of just trying to survive every day. I'd be able to donate to charities and less fortunate ppl in my area.
Overall it would make my life less stressful and make me feel like less of a failure.
Building A Future For Others
It would enable us to move forward with our plans for social housing, to fast track the plans to undergo trades training for those struggling to find a job due to a history of incarceration or lack of knowledge, and work on development of papakāinga land for the benefit of those whom had lost the land and ability to care for it.
Basically, teach those who feel there is no opportunity out there, get people working with their hands, teach them to maintain what they create.
These plans are in development, we are active in the community as it stands but 100k would go a long way to bringing this into reality.
America Isn't Very Good Sometimes
Dude, that's almost 7 years worth of insulin. Can you imagine not having to wonder how you were going to manage your life threatening disease for 7, well technically 6.9, years? God, I could actually put money toward my future rather than trying desperately to stay alive in the present.
If the current rate of inflation continues, and if I am lucky enough to live until 75, I will have spent over 7 million dollars on insulin alone, not including other absurdly expensive diabetic supplies, like test strips, that are absolutely necessary for my survival.
Just for some context, each test strip, without insurance, runs you around 1.50 ($75 for a 50 pack of strips) and as someone who leads an active lifestyle and is insulin sensitive, I need to check my blood sugar roughly 6-8 times a day, more if I'm sick or an unforeseen event occurs that affects my blood glucose levels.
It's f-cking criminal what my country is allowing to happen to type one diabetics like myself.
Money Can't Buy Happiness, Until It Does
It would: pay off my husband's student loans and some medical bills that he has left, pay off my dental bill, pay off our credit cards, and then maybe we could get some upkeep/fixit stuff done around the house. The rest would go into savings. We'd have a good amount of money freed up each month, and that would also go into savings.
So, really, $100k would change my life by finally giving me a decent savings account that could be used in the future to hopefully avoid debt. It would be a very nice thing to have.
Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments who became famous when he cut his 1.1 million dollar salary to ensure every one of his employees received a $70k a year salary, probably said it best when he noted, "Money buys happiness when you climb out of poverty. But going from well-off to very well-off won't make you happier. Doing what you believe is right will."
