If I had a million dollars...

[magid]

Actually, I was thinking about what I'd do if I suddenly came into money, but not a totally life-changing amount like a million plus. Rather, something more life-ameliorating, say, something in the five-digit range. It's enough to do some very nice things with, but not enough so that you'd retire and give all your friends Porsches.

What would you do with $50,000 (after taxes)?


definites

• fund the IRA for this year and last
  
• pay down the mortgage a chunk
  (depending on what was left after doing other things, but a decent chunk of the total; it makes me happy to be closer to freedom from debt)
  
• give extra to favorite charities
  (though this leads to a dilemma: if I give more this year, then they'll expect that level next year, which I won't (necessarily) have. What I'd really like is some kind of middleman to make the donations anonymous to the recipients, yet still get a tax receipt.)

strong possibles (ie, the things I'd juggle to make the numbers work, so probably some of all of these would happen, but not all of everything)

• condo upgrading things
  (built-in bookshelves, redo the floors (including movers to deal with the stuff currently on the floors :-), replace the futon, replace the fridge, redo the porch, rewire as necessary, etc.)
  
• travel
  (somewhere new to explore, perhaps take that trip to Gibraltar I'd thought about last fall, and/or a trip to Israel)
  
• art
  (treat myself to a new painting or other artwork. Also, buy more supplies for doing my own creative things, such as camera accessories, yarn, fancy paper, a sewing machine, fabric, and so on. Perhaps classes as well.)
  
• food
  (I'd definitely have to have some kind of awesome dinner party to celebrate, trying out trendy ingredients and such. If I found more room in the kitchen, perhaps buy some new kitchen gadgets.)

Comments

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I'd
- pay off student loan and misc other debt
- start an IRA
- Go on a nice vacation or two, probably to some place I've not been
- set the rest aside until I could figure out what to do with it, or use it for sundry things over time on things might otherwise seem a bit extravagant (expensive dinners, mini-vacations (a few days in NYC?), a new wardrobe, etc.); no doubt some would go into householdy things. I suppose it's not impossible that I'd use it as a down payment on a condo.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

You know, I was thinking of buying a house/condo until I saw your response. I would probably pay off the student loan and the credit card debit left over from school.

[magid.livejournal.com]

How long is your gig in NM?

(The current wisdom is that you shouldn't buy a place if you're going to be there less than three years.)

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

2-3 years. I could stay longer, but there is a lot of factors in that one -- personal and otherwise.

If I did buy, I would rent the place out afterward. As long as the DOE doesn't kill LANL, this place is a killer rental market, especially in the summer.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Seeing how some of much of this lines up with my thoughts, I have to say it's all good stuff. *grin*

I thought about new clothes and householdy things, then realized that I'm cheap enough that once it gets mentally set aside for 'later' (and into the bank account), I won't necessarily actually spend it, even once I find something I think I should buy. I'm weird that way.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

then realized that I'm cheap enough that once it gets mentally set aside for 'later' (and into the bank account), I won't necessarily actually spend it,

Yeah, I understand that, and well might do the same myself.

You know, a while ago I started "setting aside" the leftover money from the monthly bus allowance that I give myself. It's not a huge amount but now sits at around a hundred bucks (so I could get a pretty nice dinner-out out of it or a bit of clothing), yet I'm resistant to digging into it--perhaps because I know that once I spend any significant portion of it, it will take me a long time to build it up again. Or because while it's there there are a number of possibilities for what I could eventually spend it on, but once I actually spend it, there are no possibilities.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I totally understand about keeping the possibilities. I might be worse; I have, not money, but gift certificates, and a number of them are over a year old, because I can't seem to narrow down the options to one actual purchase.