Ask Lemmy

Put it in the bank and live every day like the day before!

$50k is a weird amount.

If you're currently financially in crisis, it will probably save your life. But if you're doing okay, it probably won't change your life much. And if you're even mildly rich, like six figure salary, you might not even notice.

I'd probably just put it in vanguard or a high yield savings, in preparation for bigger expenses that are probably coming (eg: moving, unemployment)

I had that happen in January, I built my own bookstore.

I'd pay off my house. No hesitation.

EDIT: I owe just a bit over $50K on my house. By chance, the amount OP chose fits my circumstances exactly.

Not work a day in my life. My country is so poor that's enough to sustain me for 50 years.

Buy some solar panels and throw the rest at my mortgage

Fun: new car, some kind of spicy electric thing.

Boring: Pay off mortgage. I died a little just typing that.

I could just show you better than I could explain it. I’ll dm you my Venmo.

Two women at the same time.

Straight to my mortgage principal. Because I'm dull like that.

50k on black

Build a sauna. On a boat.

Ok, I guess I don't really need 50k. Give it to someone else.

I'd buy two sticks of RAM. I know I'll have to use some of my own money but I think it'll be worth it.

Pay off mortgage, not glamorous but it works.

Invest it all and forget about it for a few years.

I am debt-free; I save it for when I need to replace my GPU.

I'd try to work out what the scam is as I work in sterling or euros usually.

Vanguard ESGV is a decent investment. It's like the S&P 500 but with less guns and war.

I’d probably go to a really much bougie rehab. I’m not addicted to anything but I feel like I won’t get a whole month off work otherwise.

I always answer these in case OP is loaded and wants to give someone 50k because they are bored.

10% to charity immediately. A brand new set of harddisks for my home server. For my son and my daughter each a nice vacation with their dear ones. Jewellery for my dear wife. A party night for 6-10 friends. The rest goes into savings.

Buy someone's leg.

I would use it to cover expenses while I continue to look for a job. COBRA isn't cheap, and I need good coverage for my various issues.

Buy enough solar and batteries to become energy independent for the rest of my life.

Fix a bunch of things around the house before they get worse.

Pay off my car or put it into my mortgage and live like I didn't get 40k. The remaining 10k I would split among my 3 kids. They deserve something nice.

Straight into the investment account. It's not nothing but I'm not strapped for cash, and 50K USD alone can't do much where I live...

Nothing. I don't have my own place, and could use it towards that, but I don't want to own a house. I prefer to be flexible, and renting is less of a hassle. Don't have a car, but if I wanted one, I already would have bought one. Don't have any debts to pay off.

For life-changing money, it's too little.

I might give away some of it.

This thread is depressing.

For me, I'd have my and my family's medical bills paid, I'd buy equipment and other things for my PhD (specialized antenna, LCR meter, a well-paid internship, cadence virtuoso semiconductor pdk rf tsmc 65nm and 180nm maybe more since I already got the 90nm from my institution) also air quality monitor to conduct a city-wide personal study for personal reasons, and get a bigger counter and an emf to explore abandoned buildings and see if certain suspected areas are radioactive, get native species of mycorrhizae fungi fertilizer for nearby trees, get a good PC and probably adopt a street cat, the rest I'd invest in solar energy

Pay off debt.

Edit: adding context

My wife recently lost her job to AI. She wound up finding a job that she actually likes, but at about 50% of her old salary. At the same time, I racked up some healthcare bills and we have a child trying to get out of the country for college, but of course the loan from Sallie Mae may not get to school in time for the first year, despite the fact we started the process about a year ago. About the only way we can think of to temper the loss of income is to sell the house and use the cash to pay off debt and live… somewhere.

If we could get out of the debt we are in, my wife would be able to keep her job and we would be able to help pay for college without selling the house.

Hopefully, we will find another way because ain’t nobody willing or able to give money away in this country lol