You're given $20,000 USD (or the equivalent in your local currency) to spend, but anything still left by the end of the day you lose for good. What are you spending it on?
Out of curiosity, how low would that dollar amount have to be for you to opt to spend it on something else? Would it still go to debt if it was only 1,000 or something?
It’s probably highly specific to how much money somebody makes. If my monthly paycheck is $2000, and you give me $1000, I would use that to get ahead by a half a month. If I make $10k a month and you give me $1000, getting ahead by a tenth of a month won’t do much. So hookers and blow all day.
I guess if it was a few hundred, I would just put it in the bank with the rest of my money where it would go towards food, bills, and any other day to day expenses. Probably anything over $1000 would go directly towards debt.
EDIT: I forgot about the by the end of the day rule. I can't just save it for later. We'd do a Sam's club run and put the rest towards a bill.
I think 1000 or 2000 for me. I know it's optimal to put it on my mortgage but that's an amount I would use the excuse of "having to spend it" to spend it on myself. 20k in cleared debt is like 1.4k yearly expense reduced which really moves the needle. If you pay off 1k a month you're effectively increasing the payoff rate by 12%.
Alternatively and less boringly, upgrade my desktop and peripherals, new laptop for me and my wife, get nice homelab/server stuff, smart home stuff/sensors, surround sound system for my family room and office/gaming room, proper furniture for my office, new matresses for almost every bed in the house. That would most likely eat most of it, give or take ~$2,000.
Don't discount paying off a modest 6-7% car or student loan. That's a guaranteed and tax free return on investment. Historically the stock market returns about a 7% annual ROI. Not having a payment every month can make a big difference for liquidity and peace of mind
I do not understand that, in my country abortions are free
(ok, not actually free. You need to pay 15 euro for the blood test, a 30 euro tax, 2 euro for the hospital parking fee and around 10 euro to buy the painkiller or antibiotics after the operation)
Dude, I wish I lived in a civilized country. My cancer treatment would have cost somewhere in the range of $5 million without insurance. Healthcare is a human right
Dude, I just got the post-exposure rabies vaccine. Was four trips to the ER at $125 USD co-pay a pop... however, without insurance, I learned it can be as much as like $15k if you don't qualify for assistance and/or Medicaid.
A quintessentially American scene I want to see is, a guy wins a flamboyantly decorated game show to the applause of hundreds of thousands of people. The host leans in to ask him what he’s going to spend the money on. He replies all he can do with it is pay off half of his grandmother’s medical debt, and then go to his night shift to work on paying for the other half.
Many years ago, I worked at a fish market and one of the guys who sold us fish during the summer won a big fishing tournament one year where he got a brand new truck and a bunch of money. When they asked him what he was going to do with the money, he said, "Keep fishing until it's all gone."
The boring but truthful answers of "I have bills that can easily soak it all up without an issue (mortgage, student loans, car, etc)" have been said, so assuming I cannot use it to repay any debts, and I have to make actual new purchases, I'd buy things that I could pay for now but enjoy for a long time. 3-year VPN plan, multi-year phone plan, gift cards to restaurants (especially with a bulk discount like at a Costco), etc. Upgrade my cockatiels to a cage that goes wall to wall with real plants hanging out and all that. The little things that cost enough that I don't get them but not enough to be a life-changer. Probably be a good amount left, I'd get a moped or electric bike of some kind, and I'd upgrade my laptop to a stupid powerful one.
I'd do something quite similar, under the same assumptions, but would split the money four ways with my wife, kid, and house stuff. We'd all get decent laptops and computers and upgrade the server and backups. I need a new phone, so that would be sorted.
Selfishly, I'd get a new to me motorbike and get the current one serviced properly. Neither would cost too much, but they're things that are not currently important enough to spend on.
I'd pay a cleaning company for a few days of cleaning and sorting, as we all have either ADHD or something close, and haven't been able to get our shit together for long enough to make a difference 🫣
I'd like to get the garage insulated, as it's part of the house and can be cold, and get the garden tidied enough that we can keep it under control.
I've probably overspent, but if not, I'd take the family and some close friends out for a nice meal. We haven't all been together for a while, and there's a really nice but reasonably priced restaurant nearby 🙂
My rented house was built around 1900 and I can see into the unfinished basement through a small hole in the floor by the front door. I'd still use that 20k for a down payment to purchase it.
I'd buy it as well. That 1900 house - AND the 1931 house were built with virgin lumber and chances are no drywall, but plaster and lath walls. Solid construction and NO modern building supplies outgassing chemicals.
There MIGHT be lead paint and asbestos pipe lagging insulation, but both can be dealt with in a pinch by encapsulation until you get the funds to have removal.
I've been in the trades since 1980, and I won't have a house built after the mid-80's. That's when the last of the mature timber lumber supply ran out. Now homes are built with selectively bred loblolly pine that gets 30 years worth of growth in 20 and it's light like balsa. It's garbage and part of why so many developments and new homes put up since the mid-90's are now falling apart. I see SO much sheetrock slips, cracks, nail pops and settling it's scary.
Buy here pay here used car lot, pay all cash for a good Toyota or Honda on the spot, immediately turn it back around and post for private party sale, whenever it sells I get the cash scot free and can turn it back into a real investment
That depends on me being able to find that asset for sale. Physical gold stores that I could unload 20K at don't exist in my farm town. However, car lots are a dime a dozen.
Wait you mean that in capitalism, the people with a lot of capital have it easier?
Almost as if the more of it you have, the easier it is to make more of it, but if you have none, then you're shit out of luck and have to agree to be someone's slave.
You'd have to do it as Earnest Money to the contract, though. The money would sit more than a day because of how long the mortgage process is, so you'd lose it all before you could use it for the down payment.
Earnest Money, however, is paid as a contingency to the purchase agreement must be held by title or cashed by the seller. So you'd have to get someone to agree to sell you a parcel same-day, get a contract written up, and probably best to transfer the earnest money to title for holding. $20k spent right there.
The biggest issue with it, though, is any company or bank willing to give you a mortgage are really going to want to know how you came into $20k in cash, and that's going to be more or less impossible to accomplish.
You can buy land on the spot with cash where I'm thinking of. What balance is left I could cover with my own money. Just need to go to the town clerk's office to notarize the sale and the paperwork is filed with the state for taxes, before 4:00pm the day of.
Mood. I reverse psychologized myself into taking a shift as a dishwasher on the same principle. It was at a bar and I made bank from the shift. Definitely interested on climbing the ladder in the future
Hey don't harsh my mood. I was trying to resemble some good volunteer work I did in the past to push me out of my comfort zone and show up to my first job in months, even if it was just a dishwasher job. I have severe social anxiety and general anxiety so I was psyching myself up to it. I was working at a very popular bakery for a long time a year ago and quit because my manager and upper management were assholes. I kinda got jaded against people facing jobs and shitty management. I requested a trial shift at a gay bar last week and they really wanted it to work out for me, and the managers were also nice. I also got paid the same money working Back of House as I did in front of house at that awful bakery, consisting of base pay ($13) and a few extra dollars from tips. I'm thinking I'll move from BOH to FOH in the future when openings pop up. Sorry to rant
I moved to a city and haven't found food kitchens in the area to volunteer at, which is something I like to do
I’d use it to pay my mortgage. That would bring me down to like $6k (bought this place a long time ago on foreclosure, so it was cheap but it’s a piece of shit place, so tradeoff). I’d then just pay the remaining 6k from savings and have zero leftover savings (but that would replenish eventually), and be done with it forever. That would feel amazing and take a lot of stress off my fixed income situation.
It’s low, but I’m not employed, living on disability and savings, so the sooner I pay it off the better. I’d be much better off not spending my full payment every month for the mortgage.
In general you are correct though, and I’m not actually in a hurry to pay it off because I don’t have enough to do so. But if I got the bulk of it suddenly for only one day, and could pay the rest from what I already had, absolutely.
Probably a really nice dedicated racing sim rig and flight sim rig. Either that or really fast super redundant nvme storage on some dual socket thread ripper system with all the pcie lanes to expand my Nas. Maybe 10 gig fiber networking for my house if they have that.
I love the sentiment! Food banks/pantries are such a good way to directly help people in need.
But... I had heard that it's usually better to give cash to food banks/pantries rather than food, that way they can buy what they need generally* at better prices than we can get. But I'm not directly involved in food banks/pantries, so please correct me if I'm wrong.
Of course, if you can get mega deals on real food* with coupons or whatever, then of course that's better.
**I'd also heard that food pantries get so much cranberry sauce donated during November, but cranberry sauce is nutritionally deficient, and that if you donate food, make sure it's real food.
Crypto is faster. Even if you believe it's a scam, you can always just buy $20K worth of ETH and then just cash it out immediately. Would take less than 2 minutes.
(I assume for 20k it's one of them big ones for fast sports or wildlife photography. Random examples: 600mm youtube/OpwwacC1H4w, 1200mm youtube/_-0XCNK_H0I)
For someone to clean my house (totally douche this place out), get rid of all the accumulated crap (like haul away the stuff to the dump or w/e), and then get the flooring done. All the floors. Wood, actually wood.
Would have to be cover the roof in solar panels and a battery set-up. Suddenly no electricity bills would be sick, then you add the potential to make money however miniscule instead...
With no up front real cost it's a no brainer to me
Paying less than 20k due to conversion of my 85k UK student loan debt wouldn't be worth it
Is it magic. Can I like upgrade by hvac to a heat pump even though I could not get it in a day? If so I would do that and maybe get all the ductwork replaced if it could be fit into the cost.
How is this even a question. If you have a mortgage you pay off your mortgage, or at least as much as they let you, anything else would go on a new car.
I would like to get my house renovated but that's going to take more than a day.
Fixing the leaky roof finally, then a really good gaming chair, and whatever's left on a ridiculous amount of fancy snacks. no way i'm letting that money just evaporate.
We could really use a second vehicle. I want one of those Japanese trucks with the tiny engines and folding truck bed. Good on gas and can still haul things around for diy projects.
Anything left over would go to a GoFundMe or a Gaza aid relief. If I already had that second vehicle id probably donate half and invest the other half into gold, for emergencies.
20k is a drop in a bucket when it comes to boats. The maintenance, etc. is a significant ongoing expense. And if it’s the kind of boat you keep at a marina and not on a trailer in your driveway then that’s another huge expense. There’s a reason people call boats a hole in the water that you throw money into…
Spend a couple thousand on high quality gear for a home server to back up my digital stuff.
Spend a couple thousand on high quality outdoor gear like hiking boots and wool clothing (socks, long underwear). Buy a small tent to replace the really old one with the shitty zipper.
I have one or two more payments on my vehicle, so pay that off.
Put whatever I can into retirement savings and invest the rest in something mostly stable, like a mutual fund or whatever balances it out across multiple stocks.
Taxes, cheap digital keyboard, sff pc for livingroom media center, then rest to mortgage. Laser hair removal would be on the list, but figuring out where to go an such and confirming an appointment wouldn't happen in a day, but not needing to pay mortgage for a while would make affording such easy.
Does the government know I have it? Because it will cut off my disability, my medical, food stamps, and I'll loose the ability too live anymore.
But of course I would spend it on basic necessities if the government won't know about it, stock pile of non perishable foods, toilet paper, fixing the broken shit around my place (as much as my landlord allows) maybe a new bed that's not 10 years old.
It's not real that much but it would help my quality of life for a bit longer I guess
Define spend. Other people are talking about converting it to stocks, but that feels like cheating, since if you're already set up for that it's like a bank account that goes up and down a bit.
I also thought of a used car, since I can definitely spend that much on it today, it's probably worth about as much tomorrow, and it's a physical thing that definitely counts as a purchase.
If it has to be things I can't ever resell, I'd be at a loss. Maybe a bunch of radio kit on Amazon and a good meal.
Brewster may not own any assets that are not already his at the end of the 30 days. He must get value for the services of anyone he hires, he may not willfully damage or destroy any intrinsically valuable items he buys, he may donate 5% to charity and lose 5% more by gambling, and he cannot give any of it away.
If I had a month maybe I could go on some crazy expedition, but in a day I'm just losing the rest of that money. I don't even know if I could do 1000; anything I can think of that charges hundreds on the spot sounds like it would be worse than nothing. Either because I'd actively dislike it, or because it's just super cringe.
20k is one medium home remodel (one deck, Hall bath, or painting the outside), half the price of my sisters powerchair, or paying down half remaining on my car
edit: i realize you probably weren't judging, my bad for the attack dog
i mean.. there is when she is completely non ambulatory, needs a specialized back to support her upright, requires tilt relieve pressure point throughout the day, and has large tires so she can go outside in the dirt without getting whiplash from the bumps. A privilege, sure, but I think its well deserved
Its still cash and you haven't received anything for it. You just transfered it to someone else's account. With that logic you could go to the bank and put it in a 30 day CD.
And this is the reason there's fine print all over everything. You'd take the money to the bank and exchange it for a different currency denomination. Technically you don't have the money you were given anymore.
Any exchange of money for goods or services is spending it. Not all exchanges are instant. Not all spending is exchanging it for goods and services.
Most definitions are something like:
"to give money as a payment for something" - Cambridge
"To use up or pay out" - Webster
"To pay out or away; to disburse or expend; to dispose of, or deprive oneself of, in this way" -Oxford
In most legal and financial contexts money willingly disposed of and specifically money willingly given to a 2nd party would be considered "spent".
You can donate your money, decline a receipt, and have spent the money with no goods or services in exchange. You can spend the money today with the expectation of goods or services and not receive them immediately or, sometimes, ever. If you choose to throw 20 grand in the garbage that probably counts as spending it by some definitions.
I would buy cheap electronic parts to build something like a Risc-v handheld(or PDA) computer to replace a smartphone with easily replaceable parts. This might help me figure out how to work with mipi dsi displays and how to write drivers for them. :) And besides that, I would stock up on canned food and maybe a solar panel capable of charging a laptop, for example.
I’d do like that one guy did on the streets of New York. Cash it all out into $1 bills and just make it rain. But I’d prefer do it in the struggling mountain towns around me.
Fuck car prices these days. The cheapest new car on the market today (in the US) is the 2025 Nissan Versa at $18,330. This is a manual transmission version. So you need to be able to drive stick.
An automatic transmission will cost extra for a grand total of $20,150.
Oh, starting on a hill is absolute shit if you're not good wth a clutch.
The hardest I ever drove was a '72 VW Super Beetle and it would roll backwards the millisecond I took my foot off the brake.. You couldn't slip the clutch and have it grab fast enough. Did learn how to heel-toe the clutch and brake on that and the last year I had it, got so good with shifting by ear, I seldom used the clutch once the car was rolling. That was cool. Could downshift w/o the clutch as well. It was a 4-speed so it had a wider wheel speed/motor speed range to play with in each gear.
Was almost as good with the no-clutch shifting on my '82 Celica (I really, really loved that car.. rear wheel drive so it was drift city before I even knew that was a thing... and you BET I did.. Sport Rally 5 transmission for the WIN!)
Now I'm on my third Impreza and they have such grabby clutches, tight transmissions and small shift windows for no-clutch, that I've never really made inroads with it.
Assuming I need to like, actually pay for a good or service... New computer, new computer chair, gifts for Christmas, fancy digital piano, a couple gift cards to a restaurant I like, a handful of games, some nice but kinda expensive clothes, some VSTs...
If I quickly math all this out with generous assumptions for the price... That still puts me well under 20k. I dunno, I'll go eat at a favorite restaurant of mine and tip the waitstaff whatever is left.
I'd spend about $3k on something unreasonable like a bottle of scotch. Or maybe several $500-750 bottles I will actually drink soonish so I don't end up never opening the $3k bottle always waiting for the right time. I'd also get my wife a nice bag in a price range she would rarely get for herself, so another $2-3k. The rest would go in my brokerage.
My debt is well-controlled and planned for, so while I could pay it off and save myself some interest, and assuming I can't just put it in savings or invest it, it'd probably be best spent catching up on non essentials.
Full spare set of tires for the car. Wardrobe stock-up. Extra fancy Christmas presents for friends and family, Some new appliances, or furniture, or computer hardware, maybe pick out a vacation spot and book a hotel stay I'd pre-pay for.
Medical and credit card debt. Whatever's left over will prolly be spent on Steam and Google Play gift cards, and also to load up my bus fare app so I'm set for a while.
Does it works if I get it back latter doznpayement for a 2 million house, with a "provided mortgage is approved clause". 2 weeks latter tell that the bank doesn't follow. Too bad I am not rich.
Alternative is a second hand ultra light plane, wit. That budget I may buy something cool.
It speaks a lot of today's world when so many replies were about some type of debt or replacement of assets. My gut feeling is if the rules don't require a tangible purchase (aka Brewster's Million) putting the bulk into something that will grow the base amount is the best option. But it depends on any debt and its interest rate, as removing that expense is usually the best move as their rate is going to be far greater than any interest you can gain.
Shit I don't think you realize how little $20,000 really is. Hell there's very few new cars that even cost 20 grand. I could have it gone in less than 5 minutes.
If I could find one cheap enough and get everything settled in a day, I think my family needs a new¹ vehicle more than me being selfish.
I was gonna leave a comment about all the things I would buy, but I stopped for a brief second to consider I wouldn't have the space in my room for everything I want. All the manga, games, and CDs I'd end up buying. Though, getting a tall plastic storage tower is an absolutely nonnegotiable thing I would buy without question before everything else.
¹ new as in something that fits our needs and doesn't need a lot of maintenance immediately after being bought just to get it running.
I'd go to the warehouse store and load up on non-pershable food items my family uses for no more than $1000, then donate the rest to Wikipedia so I never have to see Jimmy Wales' face again when I'm looking up tin pest, Rob McElhenny, or Regulate (my most recent three Wikipedia pages in my history).
20,000€ of service (idk making a sandwich or something) to our significant other that way we reap the reward of having money and it wouldn’t expire as it is considered spent.
Fr tho, would pay back debts to our friends who have helped us, donate some to the community, buy A BUNCH of food for the fridge, buy a bunch of stuff off of steam, new PC for us and significant other and a NAS. Hey a bunch of clothes, etc. any money left over we’d buy physical silver or gold and once time is up we would sell the physical worth back.
Goodbye student loans! If there's money left over I'd have to decide between something hot to wear for the wife (and maybe for others) or replacing my terrible and broken computer monitors. But let's be real the only thing left over will be debt.
I would by new fridge , microwave, toaster and air fryer than buy groceries , some clothes but donate the old , buy some furniture and new bed ,Hire home organizer and cleaner for day than Donate whatever money left to my women center
Dental work (fixed), pay off credit card & bills for that month, buy new clothes. Maybe get a new laptop frame.work & phone (like Pixel that can be flashed with Paranoid Android). Hair transplant if it can be done that same day.
Finance prople, Is it wrong to not spend and keep it at my bank, just in case I suddenly decide to move to France, or I get sick or finally have the guts to start my dream business, or I die so my family can have it?
A winning lotto ticket costs the same as a losing lotto ticket, which is about 2 USD. So, I'll buy a winning lotto ticket for every lotto I can remotely cash in via phone call. The rest can go into hiring a lawyer to provide me legal protection from lawsuits caused by my sudden inexplicable luck.
To qualify for a state pension, you have to have paid a certain amount to the tax office over the course of a lifetime. As someone whose mental state isn't up to being employed and hasn't been for quite a while, I'm certain to have a shortfall in that regard, so I'd probably deliberately give it to the taxman so that I might be better looked after in 20-25 years.
Lots of ifs, ands, buts and maybes have been missed out here, but in my case it might well be the best use of the money.
Debt.
Same that would pay off all my debt.
It would cover about 20% of mine
Wouldn't cover the rest of my house, but it could knock out everything else and that would make a world of difference.
Out of curiosity, how low would that dollar amount have to be for you to opt to spend it on something else? Would it still go to debt if it was only 1,000 or something?
It’s probably highly specific to how much money somebody makes. If my monthly paycheck is $2000, and you give me $1000, I would use that to get ahead by a half a month. If I make $10k a month and you give me $1000, getting ahead by a tenth of a month won’t do much. So hookers and blow all day.
It'd have to be less than a hundred for me personally. A grand less debt? That's a nice feeling
I guess if it was a few hundred, I would just put it in the bank with the rest of my money where it would go towards food, bills, and any other day to day expenses. Probably anything over $1000 would go directly towards debt.
EDIT: I forgot about the by the end of the day rule. I can't just save it for later. We'd do a Sam's club run and put the rest towards a bill.
I think 1000 or 2000 for me. I know it's optimal to put it on my mortgage but that's an amount I would use the excuse of "having to spend it" to spend it on myself. 20k in cleared debt is like 1.4k yearly expense reduced which really moves the needle. If you pay off 1k a month you're effectively increasing the payoff rate by 12%.
It would either go to the principal my mortgage or to Procter and gamble stock
Edit, actually right now I'd buy the rocket lab dip with half, then the other half to mortgage principal
I'll buy $20,000 of gold. :3
i ran the numbers, and i was surprised to find that $20K would get you about 5 gold coins.
How big are the coins?
*Diameter:1.287 inches (32.70 mm) for 1 ounce coin which is a little less than $5k
You can add value by minting them with a Labubu relief.
What if I just melted them into some dubai chocolate and ate it instead? /s
Totally could, but you'd basically just be throwing it in the trash. Big sad, much depress.
Hammering it into gold leaf and covering cheap chocolate bars with it and you could probably at least double your money.
.2 oz troy of gold makes just over a half square meter.
:O Labubu chocolate bars would add at least 20% more.
about 24 loonies if you know what a Canadian dollar coin looks like.
otherwise, it's about 18 us dollar coins.
I'm not familiar with either.
Laser hair removal, car, estrogen
Which one?
I think I could fit them all in if the car is cheap
Fool. I’d get laser hair installed!
Cat > car
Two chicks at the same time
No, I don't think they are
Fuckin A, man.
In this economy?
Especially in this economy.
What are you going to do with the remaining 19880?
Yeah, paying off loans.
Alternatively and less boringly, upgrade my desktop and peripherals, new laptop for me and my wife, get nice homelab/server stuff, smart home stuff/sensors, surround sound system for my family room and office/gaming room, proper furniture for my office, new matresses for almost every bed in the house. That would most likely eat most of it, give or take ~$2,000.
Yeah I could probably spend almost all of that on just Ubiquiti gear
Ooh sensors would be nice
Shares.
Better answer than "debt" unless that debt is at a high interest rate.
Don't discount paying off a modest 6-7% car or student loan. That's a guaranteed and tax free return on investment. Historically the stock market returns about a 7% annual ROI. Not having a payment every month can make a big difference for liquidity and peace of mind
I would count that as "high," especially when, as you suggest, you consider risk-adjusted rates.
Basically, just don't prematurely pay off your mortgage if you have one of those 3% ones from a decade ago.
Like 15 abortions. God I love abortions.
I do not understand that, in my country abortions are free
(ok, not actually free. You need to pay 15 euro for the blood test, a 30 euro tax, 2 euro for the hospital parking fee and around 10 euro to buy the painkiller or antibiotics after the operation)
Dude, I wish I lived in a civilized country. My cancer treatment would have cost somewhere in the range of $5 million without insurance. Healthcare is a human right
Dude, I just got the post-exposure rabies vaccine. Was four trips to the ER at $125 USD co-pay a pop... however, without insurance, I learned it can be as much as like $15k if you don't qualify for assistance and/or Medicaid.
We really need to take to the streets.
oooOOohh look at mr big spender here with their fancy thousand dollar abortions.
Would make the world a better place than any other kind of charity, tbh.
Debt, then idk. Maybe a burger or something?
Look at Mr. Humble Brag here with only $19,980 in debt. Oooooo. So fancy.
;)
A quintessentially American scene I want to see is, a guy wins a flamboyantly decorated game show to the applause of hundreds of thousands of people. The host leans in to ask him what he’s going to spend the money on. He replies all he can do with it is pay off half of his grandmother’s medical debt, and then go to his night shift to work on paying for the other half.
Many years ago, I worked at a fish market and one of the guys who sold us fish during the summer won a big fishing tournament one year where he got a brand new truck and a bunch of money. When they asked him what he was going to do with the money, he said, "Keep fishing until it's all gone."
The boring but truthful answers of "I have bills that can easily soak it all up without an issue (mortgage, student loans, car, etc)" have been said, so assuming I cannot use it to repay any debts, and I have to make actual new purchases, I'd buy things that I could pay for now but enjoy for a long time. 3-year VPN plan, multi-year phone plan, gift cards to restaurants (especially with a bulk discount like at a Costco), etc. Upgrade my cockatiels to a cage that goes wall to wall with real plants hanging out and all that. The little things that cost enough that I don't get them but not enough to be a life-changer. Probably be a good amount left, I'd get a moped or electric bike of some kind, and I'd upgrade my laptop to a stupid powerful one.
Yeah, they sound like good things to get :)
I'd do something quite similar, under the same assumptions, but would split the money four ways with my wife, kid, and house stuff. We'd all get decent laptops and computers and upgrade the server and backups. I need a new phone, so that would be sorted.
Selfishly, I'd get a new to me motorbike and get the current one serviced properly. Neither would cost too much, but they're things that are not currently important enough to spend on.
I'd pay a cleaning company for a few days of cleaning and sorting, as we all have either ADHD or something close, and haven't been able to get our shit together for long enough to make a difference 🫣
I'd like to get the garage insulated, as it's part of the house and can be cold, and get the garden tidied enough that we can keep it under control.
I've probably overspent, but if not, I'd take the family and some close friends out for a nice meal. We haven't all been together for a while, and there's a really nice but reasonably priced restaurant nearby 🙂
Putting it toward my mortgage payment.
Its going on the car loan. The whole amount.
I think I only have half that much left on my loan. Also my loan is at 2.49%. It really wouldn't make sense to pay it off right now.
I'd take it all to the casino and bet it all on one game. Walk out ten minutes later with 100k or the nothing I'd have at the end of the day anyway.
I like your style
can I just throw it on my mortgage?
Technically you're using it to buy a house, so I guess that qualifies as spending it?
Boring answer but with the 1974 built house I have that 20k disappears into the renovations void.
Take your pick: furnace, central A/C, driveway repairs.
I see your 1974 and raise you a 1931
My rented house was built around 1900 and I can see into the unfinished basement through a small hole in the floor by the front door. I'd still use that 20k for a down payment to purchase it.
I'd buy it as well. That 1900 house - AND the 1931 house were built with virgin lumber and chances are no drywall, but plaster and lath walls. Solid construction and NO modern building supplies outgassing chemicals.
There MIGHT be lead paint and asbestos pipe lagging insulation, but both can be dealt with in a pinch by encapsulation until you get the funds to have removal.
Yep it's all lath. Can be a bitch but it literally took a 12ga buckshot blast with no damage to anything on the other side.
Thick solid wood siding too.
That is SO glorious.
I've been in the trades since 1980, and I won't have a house built after the mid-80's. That's when the last of the mature timber lumber supply ran out. Now homes are built with selectively bred loblolly pine that gets 30 years worth of growth in 20 and it's light like balsa. It's garbage and part of why so many developments and new homes put up since the mid-90's are now falling apart. I see SO much sheetrock slips, cracks, nail pops and settling it's scary.
The list never ends yours is just longer 🤣
Buy here pay here used car lot, pay all cash for a good Toyota or Honda on the spot, immediately turn it back around and post for private party sale, whenever it sells I get the cash scot free and can turn it back into a real investment
You could also just buy a simple physical asset, like gold or silver.
Or a liquid asset like stock. Just sell it next day
That depends on me being able to find that asset for sale. Physical gold stores that I could unload 20K at don't exist in my farm town. However, car lots are a dime a dozen.
Costco sells gold now, just as a heads up.
If you're american, probably pay 10% of your medical debt or some shit like that.
Or just refuse to pay it.
What are they gonna do? Reposess your organs?
Shh! Don't give them ideas.
yes, i think that's actually what's happening over there. It's madness. the scenes. blood everywhere.
Zydrate comes in a little glass vial . . .
A little glass vial?
A little glass vial. And the little glass vial goes into the gun like a battery.
Gold
The only correct answer
Silver or any other somewhat stable precious metal is probably okay too.
I have some silver but it is not faring well compared to gold :(
I've learned reading these comments that way too many people don't know just how little 20k is.
I could spend 20k in one cart full of items at my local computer store.
It's not much money, but in Russia I could live decently for ~3.5 years with that kind of money. :)
Put it on my mortgage.
I have a car dealership right next to my office. And I'd really love to retire my 20yo car
Car is the easy answer. I don't drive much anymore as a commuter so I'm buying as much hauling strength as 20k will get me.
3921 copies of Brewster's Millions on DVD.
Brewster's Thousands
Shares in index funds.
Invest it/ simply convert it to another currency
And that, children, is why the rich get richer.
Wait you mean that in capitalism, the people with a lot of capital have it easier?
Almost as if the more of it you have, the easier it is to make more of it, but if you have none, then you're shit out of luck and have to agree to be someone's slave.
A downpayment on land.
You'd have to do it as Earnest Money to the contract, though. The money would sit more than a day because of how long the mortgage process is, so you'd lose it all before you could use it for the down payment.
Earnest Money, however, is paid as a contingency to the purchase agreement must be held by title or cashed by the seller. So you'd have to get someone to agree to sell you a parcel same-day, get a contract written up, and probably best to transfer the earnest money to title for holding. $20k spent right there.
The biggest issue with it, though, is any company or bank willing to give you a mortgage are really going to want to know how you came into $20k in cash, and that's going to be more or less impossible to accomplish.
You can buy land on the spot with cash where I'm thinking of. What balance is left I could cover with my own money. Just need to go to the town clerk's office to notarize the sale and the paperwork is filed with the state for taxes, before 4:00pm the day of.
Ah that's fair. Most people couldn't afford to cover the test of the cost.
Im a project car guy, can I add funds? Seriously, daddy needs a new engine.
I volunteer at some food pantries, and they could really use the help.
Mood. I reverse psychologized myself into taking a shift as a dishwasher on the same principle. It was at a bar and I made bank from the shift. Definitely interested on climbing the ladder in the future
I'm not sure I follow. You took a dishwasher shift as an act of charity?
Hey don't harsh my mood. I was trying to resemble some good volunteer work I did in the past to push me out of my comfort zone and show up to my first job in months, even if it was just a dishwasher job. I have severe social anxiety and general anxiety so I was psyching myself up to it. I was working at a very popular bakery for a long time a year ago and quit because my manager and upper management were assholes. I kinda got jaded against people facing jobs and shitty management. I requested a trial shift at a gay bar last week and they really wanted it to work out for me, and the managers were also nice. I also got paid the same money working Back of House as I did in front of house at that awful bakery, consisting of base pay ($13) and a few extra dollars from tips. I'm thinking I'll move from BOH to FOH in the future when openings pop up. Sorry to rant
I moved to a city and haven't found food kitchens in the area to volunteer at, which is something I like to do
Gotcha. I'm happy for you finding a place to be comfortable!
I’d use it to pay my mortgage. That would bring me down to like $6k (bought this place a long time ago on foreclosure, so it was cheap but it’s a piece of shit place, so tradeoff). I’d then just pay the remaining 6k from savings and have zero leftover savings (but that would replenish eventually), and be done with it forever. That would feel amazing and take a lot of stress off my fixed income situation.
What's the interest rate? Rarely is it worth paying off the mortgage.
It’s low, but I’m not employed, living on disability and savings, so the sooner I pay it off the better. I’d be much better off not spending my full payment every month for the mortgage.
In general you are correct though, and I’m not actually in a hurry to pay it off because I don’t have enough to do so. But if I got the bulk of it suddenly for only one day, and could pay the rest from what I already had, absolutely.
$20,000 gift card
Your money is now locked to one store and has an expiration date
Only if you live in the corporate shithole formerly known as the United States.
(Minus California, by law they can’t expire here)
California should secede already. 14th province! :D
I’m so down, please adopt us!
Pretty sure California is the bigger entity. At least economically. Population is basically even.
United Provinces of California?
I thought they do, but I also haven't used them in a very long time.
Well, either way it's inferior pretend money.
If it can't be debt or investments; I'm leaving with 20k of hardware from microcenter.
What are you going to do with your 3 GPUs? Open an AI data centre?
Probably a really nice dedicated racing sim rig and flight sim rig. Either that or really fast super redundant nvme storage on some dual socket thread ripper system with all the pcie lanes to expand my Nas. Maybe 10 gig fiber networking for my house if they have that.
blow em' all on 0DTEs. lambos or food stamps baby.
Easy. Second hand electric car with a big range.
gold coins at the local coin shop
I clear out the grocery store canned and boxed goods aisles and donate everything to the food bank
I love the sentiment! Food banks/pantries are such a good way to directly help people in need.
But... I had heard that it's usually better to give cash to food banks/pantries rather than food, that way they can buy what they need generally* at better prices than we can get. But I'm not directly involved in food banks/pantries, so please correct me if I'm wrong.
Of course, if you can get mega deals on real food* with coupons or whatever, then of course that's better.
**I'd also heard that food pantries get so much cranberry sauce donated during November, but cranberry sauce is nutritionally deficient, and that if you donate food, make sure it's real food.
Crypto is faster. Even if you believe it's a scam, you can always just buy $20K worth of ETH and then just cash it out immediately. Would take less than 2 minutes.
Stocks
One camera lens
Really?!
What lens and for what camera? Honestly asking.
(I assume for 20k it's one of them big ones for fast sports or wildlife photography. Random examples: 600mm youtube/OpwwacC1H4w, 1200mm youtube/_-0XCNK_H0I)
Ah! Okay. Thanks for the links.
Nice lens on that second video.
1200mm lens but I'd actually still be at least 10k USD short
For someone to clean my house (totally douche this place out), get rid of all the accumulated crap (like haul away the stuff to the dump or w/e), and then get the flooring done. All the floors. Wood, actually wood.
Ugh that would be so freaking niiiiice.
Would have to be cover the roof in solar panels and a battery set-up. Suddenly no electricity bills would be sick, then you add the potential to make money however miniscule instead... With no up front real cost it's a no brainer to me
Paying less than 20k due to conversion of my 85k UK student loan debt wouldn't be worth it
Good luck getting 20k to go that far.
Put it all in Google/Facebook ads that just say “Release the Epstein Files!”
I'd spend half on hookers and blow, the other half I'd just waste
I tried to look for this GIF and failed. I posted the clip on YouTube though. lmao
I keep one on my phone because the guy's a legend and deserves to be remembered.
real
Is it magic. Can I like upgrade by hvac to a heat pump even though I could not get it in a day? If so I would do that and maybe get all the ductwork replaced if it could be fit into the cost.
You can certainly pay for the work ahead of time. The rules say that you have to spend it in one day, not receive what you bought in one day.
ok then that is definately my choice. Ill go heat pump and ductwork. Might be a bit over 20k but I would make up the difference.
Ain’t nothing wrong with that! Id probably buy new windows and do some other house work. It’s an investment.
Skidsteer, beep beep motherfuckers.
A, gun, 5000 rounds of ammunution and then clear out the supermarkets of non perishable food.
You had me in the first half
You had me chuckle. I did not think of that.
How is this even a question. If you have a mortgage you pay off your mortgage, or at least as much as they let you, anything else would go on a new car.
I would like to get my house renovated but that's going to take more than a day.
Food banks.
Hot air rework setup and inventory for modding GPUs to maximum DRAM.
Paying student loans and credit card debt.
Probably dump it all into my mortgage.
I think that would actually give me the most bang for the buck.
CDs (certificates of deposit)
Boring but effective.
On corrupt politicians to ban the AfD
If that were enough, I imagine somebody would've done it already
Oh no no no i hire a lobbyist :)
Fixing the leaky roof finally, then a really good gaming chair, and whatever's left on a ridiculous amount of fancy snacks. no way i'm letting that money just evaporate.
Pay off my credit card and then that guy's mortgage
Mortgage
Index funds
We could really use a second vehicle. I want one of those Japanese trucks with the tiny engines and folding truck bed. Good on gas and can still haul things around for diy projects.
Anything left over would go to a GoFundMe or a Gaza aid relief. If I already had that second vehicle id probably donate half and invest the other half into gold, for emergencies.
Index fund. Duh.
That's not really spending since you can just withdraw it.
Gold.
Boat.
Saving up for one now, but 20k should get me there.
20k is a drop in a bucket when it comes to boats. The maintenance, etc. is a significant ongoing expense. And if it’s the kind of boat you keep at a marina and not on a trailer in your driveway then that’s another huge expense. There’s a reason people call boats a hole in the water that you throw money into…
I'll donate it all. Nothing left, nothing to lose.
The spirit of the question is that any amount left unspent disappears. Ergo, the donated money vanishes
It's not left if I give it away. As soon as I wire it to, let's say Red Cross*, it is not longer there.
*first thing that came to mind
An e-bike and hookers and blow
I work in I.T and have some gear at home for tinkering. US$20k would disappear really fast.
Okay, I’m curious. What do you have at home that you would drop $20k immediately?
Are you talking repair equipment or like a server cabinet?
Spend a couple thousand on high quality gear for a home server to back up my digital stuff.
Spend a couple thousand on high quality outdoor gear like hiking boots and wool clothing (socks, long underwear). Buy a small tent to replace the really old one with the shitty zipper.
I have one or two more payments on my vehicle, so pay that off.
Put whatever I can into retirement savings and invest the rest in something mostly stable, like a mutual fund or whatever balances it out across multiple stocks.
Motorcycles. Like 5 or 6 motorcycles.
I'd consider that until I realize the insurance is over $1k/yr for my dream bikes...
My country's currency is shit. Having this much money is enough to build a big house.
Debt. Though honestly I'd ask my extended friends if they wanted to a down payment on a house first.
I don't think anyone is stuck renting but if I could fix that in a day I'd check with everyone
A different currency
Am I allowed to just buy a different currency like Euro or Bitcoin?
Taxes, cheap digital keyboard, sff pc for livingroom media center, then rest to mortgage. Laser hair removal would be on the list, but figuring out where to go an such and confirming an appointment wouldn't happen in a day, but not needing to pay mortgage for a while would make affording such easy.
Can you sign up for an appointment and put the money in escrow to be redeemed after the appointment?
Does the government know I have it? Because it will cut off my disability, my medical, food stamps, and I'll loose the ability too live anymore.
But of course I would spend it on basic necessities if the government won't know about it, stock pile of non perishable foods, toilet paper, fixing the broken shit around my place (as much as my landlord allows) maybe a new bed that's not 10 years old.
It's not real that much but it would help my quality of life for a bit longer I guess
A good used car, pay off my credit card, lots of tools, Monero if there is anything left over.
Define spend. Other people are talking about converting it to stocks, but that feels like cheating, since if you're already set up for that it's like a bank account that goes up and down a bit.
I also thought of a used car, since I can definitely spend that much on it today, it's probably worth about as much tomorrow, and it's a physical thing that definitely counts as a purchase.
If it has to be things I can't ever resell, I'd be at a loss. Maybe a bunch of radio kit on Amazon and a good meal.
OP should have specified Brewster’s Millions rules to avoid all the boring answers
For anyone else wondering:
If I had a month maybe I could go on some crazy expedition, but in a day I'm just losing the rest of that money. I don't even know if I could do 1000; anything I can think of that charges hundreds on the spot sounds like it would be worse than nothing. Either because I'd actively dislike it, or because it's just super cringe.
(The book/play allowed more wiggle room)
So, this is just the dollar store version of Brewsters Millions, then?
20k is one medium home remodel (one deck, Hall bath, or painting the outside), half the price of my sisters powerchair, or paying down half remaining on my car
There is no reason for a powered wheelchair to cost as much as an expensive car
For that money I'd expect to be stomping around town in a fucking mechsuit.
There's no GOOD reason an MRI should cost $1500 either.
edit: i realize you probably weren't judging, my bad for the attack dog
i mean.. there is when she is completely non ambulatory, needs a specialized back to support her upright, requires tilt relieve pressure point throughout the day, and has large tires so she can go outside in the dirt without getting whiplash from the bumps. A privilege, sure, but I think its well deserved
without specializations it could probably run at 12k, and insurance wont pick up anything above basic
My roof needs attention. I'd easily spend the whole $20 and some of my own.
Pay off my car loans.
I'd pay to get my roof fixed and if there's something left I'd buy some tools and maybe upgrade my PC.
Kinda difficult to get your roof fixed in one day.
But not difficult to pay for in a day. The contracter will happily take a $20,000 deposit.
Its still cash and you haven't received anything for it. You just transfered it to someone else's account. With that logic you could go to the bank and put it in a 30 day CD.
Yeah.
The challenge was to spend the 20 grand by the end of the day. Not to exchange it for equivalent goods in hand.
Am I missing something or is exchanging money for something else just spending the money?
And this is the reason there's fine print all over everything. You'd take the money to the bank and exchange it for a different currency denomination. Technically you don't have the money you were given anymore.
Any exchange of money for goods or services is spending it. Not all exchanges are instant. Not all spending is exchanging it for goods and services.
Most definitions are something like: "to give money as a payment for something" - Cambridge "To use up or pay out" - Webster "To pay out or away; to disburse or expend; to dispose of, or deprive oneself of, in this way" -Oxford
In most legal and financial contexts money willingly disposed of and specifically money willingly given to a 2nd party would be considered "spent".
You can donate your money, decline a receipt, and have spent the money with no goods or services in exchange. You can spend the money today with the expectation of goods or services and not receive them immediately or, sometimes, ever. If you choose to throw 20 grand in the garbage that probably counts as spending it by some definitions.
1-year bonds. I'm gonna make some stupid decisions if I don't have time to think about it
There won't be anything left, I'd take a bit bite out of my debt.
Probably use it to pay off debts so my monthly stability is massively increased.
I would buy cheap electronic parts to build something like a Risc-v handheld(or PDA) computer to replace a smartphone with easily replaceable parts. This might help me figure out how to work with mipi dsi displays and how to write drivers for them. :) And besides that, I would stock up on canned food and maybe a solar panel capable of charging a laptop, for example.
No one wants to donate it to charity of my choosing?
(What if the charity is just a thin veil over my own account)
I'd hire a private investigator to find out the true identity of the Batman.
I'd send them to the builder if my beach house to finally finish, but in sure he'll still ask for more.
I’d do like that one guy did on the streets of New York. Cash it all out into $1 bills and just make it rain. But I’d prefer do it in the struggling mountain towns around me.
Mortgage, no question.
New furniture for my den and a new wardrobe.
Or maybe trade my car in with the 20k and get a car that's only a few years old.
Fuck car prices these days. The cheapest new car on the market today (in the US) is the 2025 Nissan Versa at $18,330. This is a manual transmission version. So you need to be able to drive stick.
An automatic transmission will cost extra for a grand total of $20,150.
Wait.. wat? You mean you can't?
Dude, driving a stick is fuuunnnn. Also, kids that steal cars don't drive sticks so it's waaaay less likely to be stolen by some damn 13 year old.
Driving a stick is fun on flat land. On hills it's a pain in the ass.
Oh, starting on a hill is absolute shit if you're not good wth a clutch.
The hardest I ever drove was a '72 VW Super Beetle and it would roll backwards the millisecond I took my foot off the brake.. You couldn't slip the clutch and have it grab fast enough. Did learn how to heel-toe the clutch and brake on that and the last year I had it, got so good with shifting by ear, I seldom used the clutch once the car was rolling. That was cool. Could downshift w/o the clutch as well. It was a 4-speed so it had a wider wheel speed/motor speed range to play with in each gear.
Was almost as good with the no-clutch shifting on my '82 Celica (I really, really loved that car.. rear wheel drive so it was drift city before I even knew that was a thing... and you BET I did.. Sport Rally 5 transmission for the WIN!)
Now I'm on my third Impreza and they have such grabby clutches, tight transmissions and small shift windows for no-clutch, that I've never really made inroads with it.
I still drive like a maniac however.
I can, just haven't for almost 20 years...
And it is fun.
Smart answer: put it all towards my student loans
Assuming I need to like, actually pay for a good or service... New computer, new computer chair, gifts for Christmas, fancy digital piano, a couple gift cards to a restaurant I like, a handful of games, some nice but kinda expensive clothes, some VSTs...
If I quickly math all this out with generous assumptions for the price... That still puts me well under 20k. I dunno, I'll go eat at a favorite restaurant of mine and tip the waitstaff whatever is left.
My daughter says pokemon cards
Give some of it to my family and get a used car.
I think the spirit of the question would cause the gifted money to vanish
Fair point, buy a bunch of shelf stable food
Buy the cheap old beater down the road from me. Pay my truck down and sell it. The rest goes to the house.
giving it to an independent cat rescue shelter
Hookers & blow!
Any of the following:
I'd spend about $3k on something unreasonable like a bottle of scotch. Or maybe several $500-750 bottles I will actually drink soonish so I don't end up never opening the $3k bottle always waiting for the right time. I'd also get my wife a nice bag in a price range she would rarely get for herself, so another $2-3k. The rest would go in my brokerage.
My debt is well-controlled and planned for, so while I could pay it off and save myself some interest, and assuming I can't just put it in savings or invest it, it'd probably be best spent catching up on non essentials.
Full spare set of tires for the car. Wardrobe stock-up. Extra fancy Christmas presents for friends and family, Some new appliances, or furniture, or computer hardware, maybe pick out a vacation spot and book a hotel stay I'd pre-pay for.
20 k is not that much in today's dollars.
I am sure debt, cars, or medical bills are thebtop answers.
That's easy. Heat pump & bathroom remodel.
$20,000 worth of low-fee S&P 500 index fund
Buy a car, finish paying off a loan, get a shed and greenhouse in the back yard, some landscaping
Medical and credit card debt. Whatever's left over will prolly be spent on Steam and Google Play gift cards, and also to load up my bus fare app so I'm set for a while.
Does it works if I get it back latter doznpayement for a 2 million house, with a "provided mortgage is approved clause". 2 weeks latter tell that the bank doesn't follow. Too bad I am not rich.
Alternative is a second hand ultra light plane, wit. That budget I may buy something cool.
You're off by a decimal. 20,000 is 1% of 2,000,000.
For a 10% down it either needs to be a 200,000 house, or a 200,000 down on a 2 mil. house.
Oups, I was expecting a bit more money to spend
Yeah, I mean it's still DOABLE. I put $30,000 down on a $390,000 house. 7.7%. 😉
Health insurance
Put it in retirement accounts.
That's saving, not spending... Those things don't hit the accounts for something like 48 hours.
I thought it was investing in my future (buying mutual funds).
Last one I did showed up on my account the same day.
It speaks a lot of today's world when so many replies were about some type of debt or replacement of assets. My gut feeling is if the rules don't require a tangible purchase (aka Brewster's Million) putting the bulk into something that will grow the base amount is the best option. But it depends on any debt and its interest rate, as removing that expense is usually the best move as their rate is going to be far greater than any interest you can gain.
Shit I don't think you realize how little $20,000 really is. Hell there's very few new cars that even cost 20 grand. I could have it gone in less than 5 minutes.
If I could find one cheap enough and get everything settled in a day, I think my family needs a new¹ vehicle more than me being selfish.
I was gonna leave a comment about all the things I would buy, but I stopped for a brief second to consider I wouldn't have the space in my room for everything I want. All the manga, games, and CDs I'd end up buying. Though, getting a tall plastic storage tower is an absolutely nonnegotiable thing I would buy without question before everything else.
¹ new as in something that fits our needs and doesn't need a lot of maintenance immediately after being bought just to get it running.
My 40,000 of debt probably
Another currency.
Ill buy a shit ton of gold with it
I'd go to the warehouse store and load up on non-pershable food items my family uses for no more than $1000, then donate the rest to Wikipedia so I never have to see Jimmy Wales' face again when I'm looking up tin pest, Rob McElhenny, or Regulate (my most recent three Wikipedia pages in my history).
Student loans... Oh wait.
20,000€ of service (idk making a sandwich or something) to our significant other that way we reap the reward of having money and it wouldn’t expire as it is considered spent.
Fr tho, would pay back debts to our friends who have helped us, donate some to the community, buy A BUNCH of food for the fridge, buy a bunch of stuff off of steam, new PC for us and significant other and a NAS. Hey a bunch of clothes, etc. any money left over we’d buy physical silver or gold and once time is up we would sell the physical worth back.
Reduce my mortgage principal by 10k, then invest the other 10k with whatever interest earned to be used to reduce the principal further.
Goodbye student loans! If there's money left over I'd have to decide between something hot to wear for the wife (and maybe for others) or replacing my terrible and broken computer monitors. But let's be real the only thing left over will be debt.
Give 1000 dollars to 19 people and then rack up a 1000 dollar bar and food tab for myself.
Pay down the house or. If that doesn't count. Buy an EV (or maybe the electrical work at my house to support one)
I'm paying off my debt, take my partner on a few nice dates, and buy some books
Stocks.
A small box garage in the middle of the city. Then rent it out for a nice extra income.
Paying off my credit card and sending the rest to my local LGBTQ+ support/advocacy group.
I would by new fridge , microwave, toaster and air fryer than buy groceries , some clothes but donate the old , buy some furniture and new bed ,Hire home organizer and cleaner for day than Donate whatever money left to my women center
Debt
Dental work (fixed), pay off credit card & bills for that month, buy new clothes. Maybe get a new laptop frame.work & phone (like Pixel that can be flashed with Paranoid Android). Hair transplant if it can be done that same day.
My first car, a full tank of gas, insurance, a better camera, lenses, a better computer and a Google pixel so I could install graphene OS.
Probably start a business and use thr as the deposit for a space in the city.
a second car perchance.. either that or clear out my steam wishlist
Finance prople, Is it wrong to not spend and keep it at my bank, just in case I suddenly decide to move to France, or I get sick or finally have the guts to start my dream business, or I die so my family can have it?
New computer and I'd get my car overhauled at a specialist and there goes like, 15k. Or more if my car has issues I don't know about
A winning lotto ticket costs the same as a losing lotto ticket, which is about 2 USD. So, I'll buy a winning lotto ticket for every lotto I can remotely cash in via phone call. The rest can go into hiring a lawyer to provide me legal protection from lawsuits caused by my sudden inexplicable luck.
My car is paid off and I still have maybe enough for dinner with the fam.
Probably a car
A couple of fully rebookable vacations (because no way am I getting family or friends to agree to a date and location in a day).
High quality all-season camping gear and at least three new pairs of shoes (hiking, working out, everyday) and a quality bed for myself.
Cleaning service gift cards for any leftover amount.
No, I changed my mind: Any leftover amount would go to charity. I can clean my own damn house (or live in filth), and my current bed is good enough.
Pokemon cards and baseball gear for my son
Definitely debt.
Can you overspend and make up the difference with your own money? Does it have to be just one thing? I need some rules man.
Premium Bonds, keep it in there for a month and wait until the next prize draw.
Then probably buy a van to convert for my next campervan project
Buy hardwood floor. A trip to Home Depot could take care of it all.
A $20,000 bond.
I’ll buy a new car. I already have most of the money. $20k gets me the rest of the way there.
Pay off debt, no question.
I’d buy stock, bonds, or perhaps a lifetime supply of an air freshener. We’ll see.
Deposit for a houseno I'd never get the paperwork together in timeCarmaybe, but I havent got a full license yetGold & ETFs
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=0yrIvEgqAuo
If we're being serious? A bunch of groceries, a couple of household things that I've been holding off on buying, and the rest goes into gold.
Paying off debt.
Put it in tax free saving accounts. Duh.
I don't have anything that I want that I can think of. Maybe a little carpet?
NFTs
To qualify for a state pension, you have to have paid a certain amount to the tax office over the course of a lifetime. As someone whose mental state isn't up to being employed and hasn't been for quite a while, I'm certain to have a shortfall in that regard, so I'd probably deliberately give it to the taxman so that I might be better looked after in 20-25 years.
Lots of ifs, ands, buts and maybes have been missed out here, but in my case it might well be the best use of the money.
Stocks
does buying investments count as spending?
Gold? No, silver!
Bitcoin, gold, silver, and/or other hard assets.
Inventing it all so nothing would be left over
Something like SGOV until I figure out what to do with it.
3-4% APY sitting around is nice.