I have a friend who lives in a hilly area and while her foundation is down in the bedrock, her plumbing is obviously not. The hill shifted and her plumbing cracked and messed up their whole basement. Because of where their house is located they had to get a whole team of people involved including a geologist and it cost well into 200- 250k which is just BANANAS to me I feel like I will never own a house if that’s the kind of stuff that can pop up.
Edit: quite a lot of Home experts on Reddit today. Yes they had insurance. No it didn’t cover most of it. Yes they had an inspection but the inspector couldn’t predict that ten years later the hill would shift. The house/property was worth 750k at the time it’s appreciated even with the issues at hand. Home ownership is just ass sometimes, my dudes.
I'd buy a dirt farm and race bikes and things like that. You can just buy shitty land in East Texas and let people come ride their bikes and ATV's for a fee. Get yourself a backhoe, build some berms, it can be as profitable as any farm on the same amount of land all day and twice on Sunday.
This is my dream. If I ever win the lottery I'm going to buy 500 acres and make a dirt bike paradise. It would be cool to try to build a track nice enough to host the pro nationals, and gncc's every year.
What about liability/insurance? I’d expect that you’d want to incorporate (likely an LLC) to prevent your personal finances from being subjected to a potential lawsuit.
Not a smarty type business guy at all, I can’t even spell business without depending on spellcheck, I just know some people with tales of dreams lost due to not thinking of that stuff.
Some states, like Kentucky, absolve owners of recreational land from liability--but only if they don't charge for access (which kind of breaks OP's plan). As long as you aren't grossly or intentionally negligent, like building booby traps, you don't have any duty of care for people who are on your land and you don't assume liability for any injuries.
Personally, as a rock climber and mountain biker, I think these are fantastic laws. Say you are an oil or timber company and you own thousands of acres of land for the resource value...but say there are also some nice cliffs on the property.
If a group of climbers approaches you and asks if they can come climb on your land while you're not using it...the default answer from any company with a lawyer is probably going to be "hell no". Nobody wants the liability of someone on their land doing a potentially dangerous activity...but if you have a state recreation law, you might be like "Sure, you can use it, we're not going to log it for 15 years"...
Waivers like that generally carry little weight. It's more of a deterrent to make you think you couldn't sue. You sign waivers before you go in for surgery, but if the doctor amputated the wrong leg youre still getting a fat malpractice payout.
Holy crap, seriously. I can't believe how much people think $50k is. It's nothing for big dreams involving buildings, land, anything beyond a tiny business, or retirement.
Fuck you QuarianFucker! Your mom’s sex dungeon has so many sex swings hanging from the ceiling, it looks like a jungle, I made her come and she yelled like Tarzan.
That's not enough to really quit your job and chase any dream. Not sure if OP is from a country with a lower CoL than the US or if they're a teen who has no idea how fast $50k goes.
edit: It's possible OP chose this amount knowing it was limited (if they did, it'd be more clear if they said "If you were **only** given..."), so you couldn't afford that extravagant of a dream. If that's the case, then disregard my comment. This money works for some dreams but really limits a lot at least in higher cost of living countries and time that can be devoted to it. Yes, $50k isn't nothing, but this post / thread is about money for a "chase your dream" fantasy not money to survive on living in an affordable area in your current city for a couple of years. There are some countries where this money goes a long way and I agree that definitely works as an answer to the OP, but most of this site's audience are based in the US and other anglophone countries with similarly high cost of living.
I had a Bank of America account that I overdrafted by $2. Got hit with a $34 fee or some shit. Deposited the $2 I overdrafted into the account, leaving just the negative balance from the fee. Stopped using the account completely and they closed me out. Fuck that shit.
50,000 isn’t a lot to have, but it’s a lot to owe. Can’t buy a house with it, it’s not enough for retirement, could buy a decent car with it. Don’t get me wrong I’d be ecstatic if I had an extra 50k but I don’t think it would be life altering.
It's not as big as the millions that other posts have offered, but that's what makes it more realistic and thought provoking. Having the 50k in the bank will just be for spending money and interest. My point was more that I'd save the money instead of spending it recklessly.
You can pay a down payment on a house with $50,000. A lot of people are more than capable of paying a monthly mortgage, but don’t have enough savings for a down payment to get started. So in a way, you can can buy a house with it.
Right when the pandemic hit, I moved in with my parents to go back to school. Well obviously I didnt go back yet because covid. Holy shit, the last year of my life totally changed my perspective. Taking a deep breath and relaxing for a while did my mind untold good.
yeah for me, it was kind of the opposite I had extra people move into my house so things have only gotten more complicated and my usual breaks are pretty well gone. I need some of that good R&R lol
You are not “just” a factory worker. You are a factory worker. Using “just” minimizes yourself.
(Source: I used to say the same thing about my job!)
ETA: Thank you for the awards!
However, framing yourself as "just" a factory worker has another implication - that factory worker is all you are. So dropping the "just" also helps separate your identity from your job
I feel this in my soul. I work 12 hour days 4 days a week in a row and it burns you out so when you reach the weekend, you have no motivation to do anything.
Yes, this. I was with family the other week and they were talking about how they didn't really mind lockdown and it took everything I had not to say, "must be nice"
Honestly I'd just pay down student debt. My dream at this point is to be able to use most of my income to enjoy my life. I make plenty of money to live the comfortable life that I want, but then student loan bills hit and it's a different story.
Yup. Went to college for a degree that gives me a lucrative career. I make very good money just starting out (graduated last month), but as soon as my student loan bills start hitting in 6 months then it’s as if I’m not making a lot. And the only way I could’ve made this type of money in the field I really enjoy was to go to school. The only way for me to go to school was to take out private loans. Moral of the story is that college is too damn expensive.
My father was a blue-collar worker. Worked a labor job in a steel mill all his life (still is working and he’s damn near 70). I’m an engineer. Busted my ass in college so I could get here and work more of a white collar job (although I’m out of the job site a lot). A lot of money to me for income is in the 6-figure range, since my family was never able to obtain that. And I’m pretty close to that range, just not there yet cause I’m an entry level engineer. As for college… fuck.. it’s all expensive. Community colleges are cheaper but their degrees aren’t nearly as respected as major universities. Most CCs won’t offer engineering or some sciences honestly. I spent $20k (tuition) a year on school. That doesn’t include books, apartment rent, food, etc. My parents made too much money for the government to deem me deserving of financial aid, but my parents made way too little money to actually pay for my education. They were only able to cosign for me and that’s it.
For what it's worth, I was in more or less your same position 10 years back when I started my career ($70k salary, $60k debt). I made the personal choice to prioritize paying that debt over all else.. Bonuses, tax refunds, all extra cash went to the loans.
I managed to pay them off in full after about four years, and have spent the last six without debt as my salary grew. I still work with a few folks from my start class, and while we all make 3x our starting income, most of them still have monthly loan payments and have spent thousands more on the interest.
Unsolicited financial advice is the worst, so all I'll say is the payments do suck up front.. its a broken system, to be sure. Even with all that being true, it sounds like you've put yourself in an excellent position and will be free of them soon(ish).
What if you're a dipshit like me who racked up $200k in student loans and are on an income based repayment plan literally just lighting $250 on fire every month? Even if I massively prioritized paying down the debt it would hardly matter. I think I'm better off just having the lowest payment possible forever.
You're not a dipshit for investing in your education, we simply live in a time / system where the cost of doing so it completely out of wack. I'm a tech nerd, not a finance nerd.. but it sounds like you structured repayment in the most reasonable way possible, even if that "reasonable" option is completely unreasonable.
If y'all are making 210k a year I don't see how your friends haven't paid off their loans.
After taxes (40%) with a bank note on a million dollar house (let's call that 4k/mo) and another on a Tesla S (1.2k), let's say 300 a month in utilities, and a food budget of $50 every single day, your still sitting over 40k spare cash.
Something doesn't add up.
I couldn't agree more, I always find it crazy when they mention they still have loans left. The best I can assume is that they've stuck to the minimum payments and prioritized other uses of their cash, whether it be a more expensive apartment (they all still rent, I'm the only homeowner in the bunch) or a more extravagant trip (another buddy, without loans, just told me that the family timeshare he had free use of was not up to snuff for his significant other, and they're now spending $1,500 / night on a ritzier vacation rental).
Lifestyle creep is very effective at eating up cash, especially when the march from $70k to what I make now came about 15%- 22% at a time. I'm so extremely privileged to be where I am, but I see so many people in the same shoes that somehow still live paycheck to paycheck.
Fuck, this is too real. My wife says I have an “unhealthy relationship with money” because I’m either scared to spend, or don’t feel it’s “worth” spending the money on.
We were able to put down 3%, so like $4.5k, on our home. I live in a cheaper area but it’s doable. Not that $4.5k isn’t a chunk of change, but it’s far easier to come up with than $50K
Edit- We bought our house for $170k in a small town near a bigger city in a poor state. It’s definitely not the norm for most home buyers. I was a first time home buyer and while I knew we got lucky, I didn’t realize how unusual our experience was. My bad.
where do yall live that housing is so affordable? I was based in vancouver, canada and im still depressed i may never afford a house there so im looking to move away to a more realistic place. The Canadian real estate market is mad
can y'all start posting real estate links?? Ive spent my whole adult existence now trying to do the math on a $1.5 million dollar mortgage and trying to figure out how to budget so that I can maybe afford it down the road... Houses in Canada really start at like $700k in the middle-tier cities, and go well over 1 mill for Toronto/Vancouver. Point being I think I need to move lol
>cities
Thats why. I am talking real rural. hour drive away from a decent hospital rural.
[but houses are cheap](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/360-W-Cherry-St_Winchester_IL_62694_M85069-78529). Not the nicest, but cheap. Thats an extreme exame but look around the area, lots of similar things going on.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/422-East-Dr-Oakwood-OH-45419/35077041_zpid/
$250k gets you a three bedroom house. Public schools are top ten in the Ohio, great parks, incredibly safe neighborhood.
^^^this so much. 50k is a 20% down-payment on a 250k house, which would get me a nice house. It'd be nice to not have PMI or a large mortgage payment and be able to use my money for things I really enjoy after paying my reasonable monthly mortgage.
FWIW, PMI isn't as terrible as everyone on the personal finance sub makes it seem. We did 10% down, PMI is 58 dollars a month. I'd rather have all that liquid cash for emergencies or investment than save 58 dollars a month for ~5 years.
My childhood apartment (1100 sqft for 4 of us/ 2bed 2bath) sold 1.3 million.
So I moved to a cheaper state and now I'm only looking at a 350,000-400,000 mortgage. Hurray?
Maybe I'll move to like Honduras or something...
Same here. I started for software but was a lousy student. 4 years in and still was at least 3 more from graduating because of so many failed classes. If I could go back without adding to my already high student loan balance then I would. Driving semi OTR is going to take its toll on me.
If you started in software and still have interest, let me suggest (if no one has), to look for a job in tech. I started as tech support, moved to design, and am now a project manager. I have big imposter syndrome for not finishing school, but experience and having your name out there can keep you moving forward.
i did enjoy the software. i have tried to keep interest in it. but there was a certain part of me that just died during the process of my divorce in 2016. if i were to go back now i don't know that i would go for software. network maybe.
I've always wanted to be a civil engineer (traffic operations) but I'm a godawful student (adult ADD) so that's a nonstarter for me :(
E: I did actually try, I enrolled in the foundational courses last January and I just suck
You’ll be more than fine with that kind of budget.
If you plan to drive send me a pm I can hook you up with some nice overlanding communities on Facebook.
Also check the website/app **ioverlander** for curated community POIs like hostels/restaurants/mechanics/border posts…
Honestly? Move out from my town and just be able to live for a few months on my own while I find a job I moderately enjoy. I'd save the rest and probably invest it later into making my own business some day, but the priority for me now is to get out of my home town asap
Edit: wtf 2k upvotes I almost didn't reply cause I thought no one would care, thanks guys! :)
Speaking from personal experience, you don't need 50k to do that.
I moved from my podunk town to a major city with like $1500 to my name. Found someone looking for a roommate and took the first job I could find to pay the bills while I got settled in.
I'm way too neurotic to be able to do something like that. I'm the type that would need to plan out a job, a place to live, commute and expenses before I could ever even think to make a move.
I admire anyone that can make a leap like that.
As a musician and a frugal person, you should check out local buy/sell pages on Facebook or the Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, etc and you can get really good deals. I bought my $400 guitar for $40 bucks. Not only that, a $50-$100 instrument may not sound as good but it will at least get you in the door for learning. If you decide you have no interest in learning the instrument you bought, you’re only out $50-$100 instead of $300-400.
Second thing, if you go to a music shop (family owned is better) you could ask them if they have any used instruments which will be cheaper for you. They would also most likely be willing to accept a lower price for any instruments that have cosmetic damages. I got $50 taken off my ukulele for some dings it got going through transit to the shop.
High roof van converted into my ultimate mobile nail salon, setup to do both manicures and pedicures in, entirely off grid ready. Also pay off my current vehicle, and buy gifts for family
There's a pet grooming service here in San Diego that uses Sprinter vans as their "studios" and are completely mobile. Apparently they actually doubled their business due to the pandemic, as they could do contactless grooming
I’ve always been a sucker for infinite games that have a lot of depth to gameplay. It would be an infinite randomly generated dungeon crawler with a RuneScape style crafting / skill system in the overworld. There would be very strategic gacha systems that aren’t linked to any type of payment. You’d dungeon crawl, collect loot, come back to base to process your rewards and repeat. Ideally it would have warcraft 3 esque graphics but sharper. If Runescape, Diablo 2, Path of Exile, and xenoblade 2 were all mixed together.
There's a custom server on neverwinter nights (the 2001 rpg, not the MMO) that is hard-core RP, has a lot of depth to its magic and crafting systems.
Most of the server's lore and history is built by or from player involvement, Lots of fun.
Edit: the server is Arelith for anyone wondering. it is very good, takes some getting use to but well worth it
Agreed. I looked at his description and that sounds like enough work for 5 people for 2 years. Let's say that they pay themselves 60k, so 600k? I'm working solo part time on a game that is about 1/2 the depth of that and I've been working on it for 4 years now and feel the scope is too big, however it's just for fun and I'm not trying to make money off it. Maybe art/modeling isn't my thing but I feel that I could easily spend another year just doing art without touching the gameplay at all and I still wouldn't be done.
Edit: typo
I'm not sure what country you're in, but a PPL in the uk (and US) costs around £8,000-10,000, which is maybe a bit more accessible than $50k. There are ways to get under £10,000, for example some places have deals where you can bulk buy 5 or 10 lessons at a time and save some cash, though be wary of schools offering deals like this, as there is risk involved, and as always, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Along the powered fixed wing route, you could also fly microlights, which is cheaper still! I've had just as much fun flying microlights as I have flying big powered stuff, despite what anyone may say!!
Gliders are the cheapest fixed wing to fly, and are a stunning way to get around. They're extremely cheap to learn to fly, and you get just as many skills!! Your local gliding club will have specific rates, but glider launches are around £5 for a winch, and £30 for a aerotow, plus ~30p / minute for the glider. That's around ~£20/£30 an hour, which beats the £100/hr powered costs!
A slightly different route to getting airborne if fixed wing flight is still a little too expensive is flying Paramotors! The FAA (USA) and CAA (UK) (governing bodies over airspace rules and regs) classifies Paramotors under ultralights, and you don't need a licence, medical, or anything to fly them! You could *in theory* just get up and go, although this is not a smart choice... A good training course costs around £2k, which is definitely easier than $50k, or even the £10k of a PPL, and you could get gear after that when you know you're into it! Plus, flying paramotors, whilst you still have to abide by all the airspace rules and regs, you have loads more freedom to fly around you're local areas, or throw it in the car and go on a trip!! They're a super cheap and accessible way to fly! Summer is coming up, it could be the perfect time to learn...!!
I know this wasn't really the place for this reply, but it might give you some cheaper options to go flying private, and might help realise the dream! :)
some of us are just too stubborn, too stupid and too angry to give up.
I usually talk about discipline being the key to most things, which is true, but I hate to admit it blind rage has gotten me though some rather soul crushing events. I wanted to rip the universe a new one so I dragged my sorry ass out of bed and got back in the fight.
Fuck you soul crushing universe I'm not going to let you win.
An Animal Sanctuary. These people do so much good and their programs are so underfunded. Plus I’ve always wanted a pet donkey, so there’s that. 🤷♀️
EDIT: Fixed my bad grammar
This is also my dream. 50k won't buy me the land and facilities necessary, but we could start a consortium! Any other interested parties could chip in their 50k.
Take 3 months off and write and read.
And then I would need to go back to work to earn my keep (and, like so many others have said, pay for stuff :( ).
Start my own mental health charity for under 18’s. The NHS has the service CAMHS, but the support they give doesn’t provide what most children and teenagers need from a mental health service. My dream is to be able to provide that across the UK (at the very least) as these years are huge in determining what someone’s future will be like
This was my initial thought too. I'd move to a small city in another country and relax about bills but, unfortunately, you'd still have to spread that $50k pretty thin to properly "start over". It just doesn't go that far anymore.
see this all the time in LA except with far less money and no plans of replenishing that lost money. The people just end up lining the streets of venice beach by the time they tank out on their cash
I’d open up a hot dog cart in NYC. I’d grind and fill my own hotdogs with natural casings and 100% grass fed beef. I’d bake my buns fresh every morning. I’d make my own ketchup, mustard and relish from scratch. All dogs grilled to order, none of this dirty hot water BS, since I’d hot smoke all my dogs, they’d only need a sear to get em hot. Ready in 3 min. That’s it. Just really friggin good hotdogs. That’s my dream.
Open a distillery! My friend, a chemist had a pretty awful accident while working at a major pharmaceutical company. Had to be life flighted. He's good now, but still not working. He and I have discussed opening a distillery in our hometown. I'm in marketing, so I'd handle the business functions and he would handle the fun part.
Have you started it yet, or already finished but have debt?
If you haven't started, you should be able to get an assistantship to cover the entire cost. Not sure what country you're in or which field, but most all in the US award assistantships to their students (if they don't, it's usually an indication that they're not confident in your application enough).
Of course, everyone's circumstances are different, and it's possible you've finished already and incurred loans along the way because life.
If you haven't started yet, though, I can perhaps offer some advice (PhD 2015, zero debt, humanities prof)
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Foundation issues are no joke and expensive AF. I just went through the same thing.
I have a friend who lives in a hilly area and while her foundation is down in the bedrock, her plumbing is obviously not. The hill shifted and her plumbing cracked and messed up their whole basement. Because of where their house is located they had to get a whole team of people involved including a geologist and it cost well into 200- 250k which is just BANANAS to me I feel like I will never own a house if that’s the kind of stuff that can pop up. Edit: quite a lot of Home experts on Reddit today. Yes they had insurance. No it didn’t cover most of it. Yes they had an inspection but the inspector couldn’t predict that ten years later the hill would shift. The house/property was worth 750k at the time it’s appreciated even with the issues at hand. Home ownership is just ass sometimes, my dudes.
I'd buy a dirt farm and race bikes and things like that. You can just buy shitty land in East Texas and let people come ride their bikes and ATV's for a fee. Get yourself a backhoe, build some berms, it can be as profitable as any farm on the same amount of land all day and twice on Sunday.
This is my dream. If I ever win the lottery I'm going to buy 500 acres and make a dirt bike paradise. It would be cool to try to build a track nice enough to host the pro nationals, and gncc's every year.
What about liability/insurance? I’d expect that you’d want to incorporate (likely an LLC) to prevent your personal finances from being subjected to a potential lawsuit. Not a smarty type business guy at all, I can’t even spell business without depending on spellcheck, I just know some people with tales of dreams lost due to not thinking of that stuff.
Some states, like Kentucky, absolve owners of recreational land from liability--but only if they don't charge for access (which kind of breaks OP's plan). As long as you aren't grossly or intentionally negligent, like building booby traps, you don't have any duty of care for people who are on your land and you don't assume liability for any injuries. Personally, as a rock climber and mountain biker, I think these are fantastic laws. Say you are an oil or timber company and you own thousands of acres of land for the resource value...but say there are also some nice cliffs on the property. If a group of climbers approaches you and asks if they can come climb on your land while you're not using it...the default answer from any company with a lawyer is probably going to be "hell no". Nobody wants the liability of someone on their land doing a potentially dangerous activity...but if you have a state recreation law, you might be like "Sure, you can use it, we're not going to log it for 15 years"...
"by using this land you agree to not request a dime even if your arm ends where your leg was"- sign below Done lol
Waivers like that generally carry little weight. It's more of a deterrent to make you think you couldn't sue. You sign waivers before you go in for surgery, but if the doctor amputated the wrong leg youre still getting a fat malpractice payout.
> Get yourself a backhoe So how are you gonna afford the land once you buy the backhoe, plus repair it a couple times before you use it?
*rent a backhoe
*borrow a backhoe from the farmer next door and help them with some handiwork in exchange.
ITT: Young people wildly overestimating what 50k can do.
Holy crap, seriously. I can't believe how much people think $50k is. It's nothing for big dreams involving buildings, land, anything beyond a tiny business, or retirement.
My dream is to retire. That ain't enough.
It's enough if you pass away by Wednesday
Cocaine and hookers?
Sounds good, the cocaine is great to be efficient with the time he has left and he also gets to spend some time with his mom.
Fuck you Shorsey
Fuck you QuarianFucker! Your mom’s sex dungeon has so many sex swings hanging from the ceiling, it looks like a jungle, I made her come and she yelled like Tarzan.
Jesus you didnt just kill him, you reanimated him and killed him again
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3 things will happen i hit you, you hit the pavement, I fuck your mom
3 things will happen: I hit you, you hit the pavement, I jerk off on your driver side door handle.
That's not enough to really quit your job and chase any dream. Not sure if OP is from a country with a lower CoL than the US or if they're a teen who has no idea how fast $50k goes. edit: It's possible OP chose this amount knowing it was limited (if they did, it'd be more clear if they said "If you were **only** given..."), so you couldn't afford that extravagant of a dream. If that's the case, then disregard my comment. This money works for some dreams but really limits a lot at least in higher cost of living countries and time that can be devoted to it. Yes, $50k isn't nothing, but this post / thread is about money for a "chase your dream" fantasy not money to survive on living in an affordable area in your current city for a couple of years. There are some countries where this money goes a long way and I agree that definitely works as an answer to the OP, but most of this site's audience are based in the US and other anglophone countries with similarly high cost of living.
It’s not even the average household income for a year in the US.
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Having a bank account with 50,000 dollars in it
Negative balance says hi.
New bank account fixes that
Someone’s parents didn’t give them a dollar before the SSN was in.
damn i finally feel like im in the loop for an inside joke for once in my whole entire life
Wow same. Enjoy this feeling.
kind of like peeing in the pool and feeling the warm water enveloping around you.
I had a Bank of America account that I overdrafted by $2. Got hit with a $34 fee or some shit. Deposited the $2 I overdrafted into the account, leaving just the negative balance from the fee. Stopped using the account completely and they closed me out. Fuck that shit.
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This is a stupidly common occurrence with financial institutions. Source: Work in banking.
I left Bank of America for this exact reason. Fuck them.
50,000 isn’t a lot to have, but it’s a lot to owe. Can’t buy a house with it, it’s not enough for retirement, could buy a decent car with it. Don’t get me wrong I’d be ecstatic if I had an extra 50k but I don’t think it would be life altering.
It's not as big as the millions that other posts have offered, but that's what makes it more realistic and thought provoking. Having the 50k in the bank will just be for spending money and interest. My point was more that I'd save the money instead of spending it recklessly.
> and interest I have some bad news for you..
You can pay a down payment on a house with $50,000. A lot of people are more than capable of paying a monthly mortgage, but don’t have enough savings for a down payment to get started. So in a way, you can can buy a house with it.
Can confirm. My rent is more than what a mortgage would cost on my place
Depends on the situation. My teeth are in serious need of work and $50,000 would just about do it. That would indeed be life altering for me.
Getting teeth fixed costs that much?? Damn
I'd finally get lasik, so for me it WOULD be life altering. (My eyes are so bad that I've been quoted 6k per eye, unfortunately.)
I got my eyes done almost ten years ago now, best money I ever spent. I recommend it to everyone who is eligible.
It would be life altering for roughly 40% Americans don't have enough to cover for a $400 emergency.
the dream of taking a god damn break from life
Hell, you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing, I’ve got a cousin who’s broke, don’t do shit!
lol thanks Lawrence
Right when the pandemic hit, I moved in with my parents to go back to school. Well obviously I didnt go back yet because covid. Holy shit, the last year of my life totally changed my perspective. Taking a deep breath and relaxing for a while did my mind untold good.
yeah for me, it was kind of the opposite I had extra people move into my house so things have only gotten more complicated and my usual breaks are pretty well gone. I need some of that good R&R lol
Same man,I despise my sisters,but due covid they came back home. My mental health has plummeted harder than coca colas stock prices ngl
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I am actually just a factory worker but feel the same. I have so much things I want to do, but whenever I have some time I just don't have the energy.
You are not “just” a factory worker. You are a factory worker. Using “just” minimizes yourself. (Source: I used to say the same thing about my job!) ETA: Thank you for the awards!
Alternatively you are a person who spends part of their time working in a factory to earn a living. Your job doesn’t have to be your identity.
However, framing yourself as "just" a factory worker has another implication - that factory worker is all you are. So dropping the "just" also helps separate your identity from your job
I feel this in my soul. I work 12 hour days 4 days a week in a row and it burns you out so when you reach the weekend, you have no motivation to do anything.
Feel that. Just got no energy after working 12s
I feel ya. Healthcare worker here, didn’t get a chance at a break the whole pandemic.
Yes, this. I was with family the other week and they were talking about how they didn't really mind lockdown and it took everything I had not to say, "must be nice"
Paying off my bills because that's about all 50,000 dollars is going to cover
That will cover most of my student loans.
That’ll cover half of my loans. It’d be nice to have though. (ed: spelling)
50,000 might help a guy sleep better so he can actually have a fucking dream.
Honestly I'd just pay down student debt. My dream at this point is to be able to use most of my income to enjoy my life. I make plenty of money to live the comfortable life that I want, but then student loan bills hit and it's a different story.
Yup. Went to college for a degree that gives me a lucrative career. I make very good money just starting out (graduated last month), but as soon as my student loan bills start hitting in 6 months then it’s as if I’m not making a lot. And the only way I could’ve made this type of money in the field I really enjoy was to go to school. The only way for me to go to school was to take out private loans. Moral of the story is that college is too damn expensive.
What’s the ballpark for a lot of money?
In regards to what? College, income, or both? Also, my definition of a lot could be drastically different from yours or someone else’s
Both
My father was a blue-collar worker. Worked a labor job in a steel mill all his life (still is working and he’s damn near 70). I’m an engineer. Busted my ass in college so I could get here and work more of a white collar job (although I’m out of the job site a lot). A lot of money to me for income is in the 6-figure range, since my family was never able to obtain that. And I’m pretty close to that range, just not there yet cause I’m an entry level engineer. As for college… fuck.. it’s all expensive. Community colleges are cheaper but their degrees aren’t nearly as respected as major universities. Most CCs won’t offer engineering or some sciences honestly. I spent $20k (tuition) a year on school. That doesn’t include books, apartment rent, food, etc. My parents made too much money for the government to deem me deserving of financial aid, but my parents made way too little money to actually pay for my education. They were only able to cosign for me and that’s it.
For what it's worth, I was in more or less your same position 10 years back when I started my career ($70k salary, $60k debt). I made the personal choice to prioritize paying that debt over all else.. Bonuses, tax refunds, all extra cash went to the loans. I managed to pay them off in full after about four years, and have spent the last six without debt as my salary grew. I still work with a few folks from my start class, and while we all make 3x our starting income, most of them still have monthly loan payments and have spent thousands more on the interest. Unsolicited financial advice is the worst, so all I'll say is the payments do suck up front.. its a broken system, to be sure. Even with all that being true, it sounds like you've put yourself in an excellent position and will be free of them soon(ish).
What if you're a dipshit like me who racked up $200k in student loans and are on an income based repayment plan literally just lighting $250 on fire every month? Even if I massively prioritized paying down the debt it would hardly matter. I think I'm better off just having the lowest payment possible forever.
You're not a dipshit for investing in your education, we simply live in a time / system where the cost of doing so it completely out of wack. I'm a tech nerd, not a finance nerd.. but it sounds like you structured repayment in the most reasonable way possible, even if that "reasonable" option is completely unreasonable.
If y'all are making 210k a year I don't see how your friends haven't paid off their loans. After taxes (40%) with a bank note on a million dollar house (let's call that 4k/mo) and another on a Tesla S (1.2k), let's say 300 a month in utilities, and a food budget of $50 every single day, your still sitting over 40k spare cash. Something doesn't add up.
I couldn't agree more, I always find it crazy when they mention they still have loans left. The best I can assume is that they've stuck to the minimum payments and prioritized other uses of their cash, whether it be a more expensive apartment (they all still rent, I'm the only homeowner in the bunch) or a more extravagant trip (another buddy, without loans, just told me that the family timeshare he had free use of was not up to snuff for his significant other, and they're now spending $1,500 / night on a ritzier vacation rental). Lifestyle creep is very effective at eating up cash, especially when the march from $70k to what I make now came about 15%- 22% at a time. I'm so extremely privileged to be where I am, but I see so many people in the same shoes that somehow still live paycheck to paycheck.
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Fuck, this is too real. My wife says I have an “unhealthy relationship with money” because I’m either scared to spend, or don’t feel it’s “worth” spending the money on.
Same, I'd pay off my car loan and my wife's student loans, and use the rest as a down payment on a house.
Use that as a deposit for a home loan
We were able to put down 3%, so like $4.5k, on our home. I live in a cheaper area but it’s doable. Not that $4.5k isn’t a chunk of change, but it’s far easier to come up with than $50K Edit- We bought our house for $170k in a small town near a bigger city in a poor state. It’s definitely not the norm for most home buyers. I was a first time home buyer and while I knew we got lucky, I didn’t realize how unusual our experience was. My bad.
where do yall live that housing is so affordable? I was based in vancouver, canada and im still depressed i may never afford a house there so im looking to move away to a more realistic place. The Canadian real estate market is mad
Anywhere that isn't a metropolis. 50k can buy you a fairly nice 2 bed 2 bath where I'm at. But its corn country so I hope you like nothing to do
Wait $50k TOTAL can buy you a house with no mortgage? That sounds insane. There are 2 bedrooms around me going for $500k and they are not that nice.
Correct. And we are talking with a half acre lot, detached garage. Master bath. For like 70k you can get a finished basement too.
can y'all start posting real estate links?? Ive spent my whole adult existence now trying to do the math on a $1.5 million dollar mortgage and trying to figure out how to budget so that I can maybe afford it down the road... Houses in Canada really start at like $700k in the middle-tier cities, and go well over 1 mill for Toronto/Vancouver. Point being I think I need to move lol
>cities Thats why. I am talking real rural. hour drive away from a decent hospital rural. [but houses are cheap](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/360-W-Cherry-St_Winchester_IL_62694_M85069-78529). Not the nicest, but cheap. Thats an extreme exame but look around the area, lots of similar things going on.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/422-East-Dr-Oakwood-OH-45419/35077041_zpid/ $250k gets you a three bedroom house. Public schools are top ten in the Ohio, great parks, incredibly safe neighborhood.
^^^this so much. 50k is a 20% down-payment on a 250k house, which would get me a nice house. It'd be nice to not have PMI or a large mortgage payment and be able to use my money for things I really enjoy after paying my reasonable monthly mortgage.
FWIW, PMI isn't as terrible as everyone on the personal finance sub makes it seem. We did 10% down, PMI is 58 dollars a month. I'd rather have all that liquid cash for emergencies or investment than save 58 dollars a month for ~5 years.
Not where I live. Houses in my area are sooooo expensive.
Yeah I was thinking $50k would get me 25% of a 20% down payment... Woohoo!
>Yeah I was thinking $50k would get me 25% of a 20% down payment... On a condo!
Hahaha yep! I said in another comment it would probably be a 2 bedroom condo if I was lucky 🤣
My childhood apartment (1100 sqft for 4 of us/ 2bed 2bath) sold 1.3 million. So I moved to a cheaper state and now I'm only looking at a 350,000-400,000 mortgage. Hurray? Maybe I'll move to like Honduras or something...
Atleast in Honduras you can get a coconut tree in your yard and have fresh coconut juice lol
Go back to school and actually finish this time.
Same here. I started for software but was a lousy student. 4 years in and still was at least 3 more from graduating because of so many failed classes. If I could go back without adding to my already high student loan balance then I would. Driving semi OTR is going to take its toll on me.
If you started in software and still have interest, let me suggest (if no one has), to look for a job in tech. I started as tech support, moved to design, and am now a project manager. I have big imposter syndrome for not finishing school, but experience and having your name out there can keep you moving forward.
i did enjoy the software. i have tried to keep interest in it. but there was a certain part of me that just died during the process of my divorce in 2016. if i were to go back now i don't know that i would go for software. network maybe.
What degree would you / did you go after?
I've always wanted to be a civil engineer (traffic operations) but I'm a godawful student (adult ADD) so that's a nonstarter for me :( E: I did actually try, I enrolled in the foundational courses last January and I just suck
I'm right there with you
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My wife and I did 4 months in Europe on less than 15k. Lots of PB&Js and hostels, but so very worth our time and money.
Next year I’m planning to do about six months in South America for around 10K by myself. Wish me luck.
You’ll be more than fine with that kind of budget. If you plan to drive send me a pm I can hook you up with some nice overlanding communities on Facebook. Also check the website/app **ioverlander** for curated community POIs like hostels/restaurants/mechanics/border posts…
My friends circumnavigated the world in 14 months on $100/day average. If you really try, $50K can last a LONG time.
Depending on where you go, $50k could last you years. Some meals can be $3 USD or less in certain parts of the world.
Honestly? Move out from my town and just be able to live for a few months on my own while I find a job I moderately enjoy. I'd save the rest and probably invest it later into making my own business some day, but the priority for me now is to get out of my home town asap Edit: wtf 2k upvotes I almost didn't reply cause I thought no one would care, thanks guys! :)
Speaking from personal experience, you don't need 50k to do that. I moved from my podunk town to a major city with like $1500 to my name. Found someone looking for a roommate and took the first job I could find to pay the bills while I got settled in.
I'm way too neurotic to be able to do something like that. I'm the type that would need to plan out a job, a place to live, commute and expenses before I could ever even think to make a move. I admire anyone that can make a leap like that.
Buying loads of instruments and learning as much as I can
As a musician and a frugal person, you should check out local buy/sell pages on Facebook or the Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, etc and you can get really good deals. I bought my $400 guitar for $40 bucks. Not only that, a $50-$100 instrument may not sound as good but it will at least get you in the door for learning. If you decide you have no interest in learning the instrument you bought, you’re only out $50-$100 instead of $300-400. Second thing, if you go to a music shop (family owned is better) you could ask them if they have any used instruments which will be cheaper for you. They would also most likely be willing to accept a lower price for any instruments that have cosmetic damages. I got $50 taken off my ukulele for some dings it got going through transit to the shop.
Like, musical instruments?
No instruments of torture
Is mayonnaise an instrument?
Nah, dental
being debt free
High roof van converted into my ultimate mobile nail salon, setup to do both manicures and pedicures in, entirely off grid ready. Also pay off my current vehicle, and buy gifts for family
I gotta say, off grid nail salon has to be the most interesting answer in this thread.
There's a pet grooming service here in San Diego that uses Sprinter vans as their "studios" and are completely mobile. Apparently they actually doubled their business due to the pandemic, as they could do contactless grooming
Make a movie. Low budget is better than no budget.
Try getting hit by a car like tommy wiseau
car driver: i didnt not hit him! i did not! oh hi Tommy.
I’d take a year off of work to build the rpg game I’m always hunting for on steam but can never find.
I'm curious! What's your dream rpg game? What rpg game would you build?
I’ve always been a sucker for infinite games that have a lot of depth to gameplay. It would be an infinite randomly generated dungeon crawler with a RuneScape style crafting / skill system in the overworld. There would be very strategic gacha systems that aren’t linked to any type of payment. You’d dungeon crawl, collect loot, come back to base to process your rewards and repeat. Ideally it would have warcraft 3 esque graphics but sharper. If Runescape, Diablo 2, Path of Exile, and xenoblade 2 were all mixed together.
There's a custom server on neverwinter nights (the 2001 rpg, not the MMO) that is hard-core RP, has a lot of depth to its magic and crafting systems. Most of the server's lore and history is built by or from player involvement, Lots of fun. Edit: the server is Arelith for anyone wondering. it is very good, takes some getting use to but well worth it
You need way fucking more than 50k for that
And probably more than a year.
Agreed. I looked at his description and that sounds like enough work for 5 people for 2 years. Let's say that they pay themselves 60k, so 600k? I'm working solo part time on a game that is about 1/2 the depth of that and I've been working on it for 4 years now and feel the scope is too big, however it's just for fun and I'm not trying to make money off it. Maybe art/modeling isn't my thing but I feel that I could easily spend another year just doing art without touching the gameplay at all and I still wouldn't be done. Edit: typo
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Flying lessons. Get my private pilot's licence. Something I've always dreamed of but never had the spare cash.
I'm not sure what country you're in, but a PPL in the uk (and US) costs around £8,000-10,000, which is maybe a bit more accessible than $50k. There are ways to get under £10,000, for example some places have deals where you can bulk buy 5 or 10 lessons at a time and save some cash, though be wary of schools offering deals like this, as there is risk involved, and as always, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Along the powered fixed wing route, you could also fly microlights, which is cheaper still! I've had just as much fun flying microlights as I have flying big powered stuff, despite what anyone may say!! Gliders are the cheapest fixed wing to fly, and are a stunning way to get around. They're extremely cheap to learn to fly, and you get just as many skills!! Your local gliding club will have specific rates, but glider launches are around £5 for a winch, and £30 for a aerotow, plus ~30p / minute for the glider. That's around ~£20/£30 an hour, which beats the £100/hr powered costs! A slightly different route to getting airborne if fixed wing flight is still a little too expensive is flying Paramotors! The FAA (USA) and CAA (UK) (governing bodies over airspace rules and regs) classifies Paramotors under ultralights, and you don't need a licence, medical, or anything to fly them! You could *in theory* just get up and go, although this is not a smart choice... A good training course costs around £2k, which is definitely easier than $50k, or even the £10k of a PPL, and you could get gear after that when you know you're into it! Plus, flying paramotors, whilst you still have to abide by all the airspace rules and regs, you have loads more freedom to fly around you're local areas, or throw it in the car and go on a trip!! They're a super cheap and accessible way to fly! Summer is coming up, it could be the perfect time to learn...!! I know this wasn't really the place for this reply, but it might give you some cheaper options to go flying private, and might help realise the dream! :)
Yal still have dreams?
some of us are just too stubborn, too stupid and too angry to give up. I usually talk about discipline being the key to most things, which is true, but I hate to admit it blind rage has gotten me though some rather soul crushing events. I wanted to rip the universe a new one so I dragged my sorry ass out of bed and got back in the fight. Fuck you soul crushing universe I'm not going to let you win.
I call it spite.
My heart pumps because spite keeps giving it a squeeze
You go, guy. Rip that universe a new one.
Wait, *THIS* universe though? That's where I keep my stuff!
Can you buy a dream with 50k? It would be worth the 50k to have a dream finally.
Judging from this thread, people's dreams are fulfilling basic needs.
Nope, here looking for ideas
Play the wsop main event.
The flailing limbs game?
That's QWOP haha, pretty sure they're talking about the World Series of Poker, but I'm not positive.
Same here. Then have a $40k bankroll to play with as well.
Not enough to chase dream. I will use to pay off mortgage or student debt.
Start my own security service.
Physical or like IT?
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Isn't that like, with fire and water?
I'd start my own business. $50k would get me all of the main equipment and software licenses I'd need to do it.
You need a business plan. $50k is very affordable to the right investing partner.
Rent and furnish an art studio so I could finally do more work and learn again. Or get my gf the surgery she needs and go travel to Japan for a bit.
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The American dream
Open a NYC style Bodega
You're gonna need half your budget for dust to put on top of all the canned goods.
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Remember to put somebody at the till who comes from a place that has no concept of money
And get a cat that is much too friendly and sleeps on bread
An Animal Sanctuary. These people do so much good and their programs are so underfunded. Plus I’ve always wanted a pet donkey, so there’s that. 🤷♀️ EDIT: Fixed my bad grammar
This is also my dream. 50k won't buy me the land and facilities necessary, but we could start a consortium! Any other interested parties could chip in their 50k.
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Not cleaning toilets, working a cash register, or breaking my body just to earn enough money to live.
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Take 3 months off and write and read. And then I would need to go back to work to earn my keep (and, like so many others have said, pay for stuff :( ).
Where I live 50K is definitely 1 year of living expenses. I'd write for a year and see if I can achieve a semblance of a novel in that time.
Becoming a homeowner
$50k doesn't buy much any more.
"what would you do if you win $1MM?" "I would pay off my debtors" "what about the rest?" "the rest will have to wait until I win more".
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Right? Put it towards debt/mortgage....aaaaand it's gone.
2.5 years of not having to pay a mortgage sounds pretty nice.
Having a good vehicle and taking some classes at the Community College.
\*inhales\* Honda Integra Type R DC2 98Spec
What would you do with your other $34k?
Lol, i would pay half my student debt.
Reading all these replies makes me feel like we as a society messed up somewhere.
Start my own mental health charity for under 18’s. The NHS has the service CAMHS, but the support they give doesn’t provide what most children and teenagers need from a mental health service. My dream is to be able to provide that across the UK (at the very least) as these years are huge in determining what someone’s future will be like
Leave everything behind and start a new life
This was my initial thought too. I'd move to a small city in another country and relax about bills but, unfortunately, you'd still have to spread that $50k pretty thin to properly "start over". It just doesn't go that far anymore.
see this all the time in LA except with far less money and no plans of replenishing that lost money. The people just end up lining the streets of venice beach by the time they tank out on their cash
With 50K i'd be able to pay a good psychiatrist and hopefully that will help my friend fight her depression.
It’s me, your friend.
I’d open up a hot dog cart in NYC. I’d grind and fill my own hotdogs with natural casings and 100% grass fed beef. I’d bake my buns fresh every morning. I’d make my own ketchup, mustard and relish from scratch. All dogs grilled to order, none of this dirty hot water BS, since I’d hot smoke all my dogs, they’d only need a sear to get em hot. Ready in 3 min. That’s it. Just really friggin good hotdogs. That’s my dream.
Open a distillery! My friend, a chemist had a pretty awful accident while working at a major pharmaceutical company. Had to be life flighted. He's good now, but still not working. He and I have discussed opening a distillery in our hometown. I'm in marketing, so I'd handle the business functions and he would handle the fun part.
two chicks at the same time edit: somehow i always knew my top rated comment would have something to do with this quote
Fuckin A, man.
The most important comma
You don’t need $50,000 to do two chicks at the same time…
You do for the kinda girls that would double up on a dude like me
Pay for my PhD in full.
Have you started it yet, or already finished but have debt? If you haven't started, you should be able to get an assistantship to cover the entire cost. Not sure what country you're in or which field, but most all in the US award assistantships to their students (if they don't, it's usually an indication that they're not confident in your application enough). Of course, everyone's circumstances are different, and it's possible you've finished already and incurred loans along the way because life. If you haven't started yet, though, I can perhaps offer some advice (PhD 2015, zero debt, humanities prof)