Here’s a fun little exercise that I heard about on the Matrimoney podcast: what would you do with $100, $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 and $1,000,000? And make it something fun — no “responsible” answers like paying off the mortgage or putting it away for retirement!
$100 // Two things came to my mind immediately. The first is to spend it on a babysitter for a long night out with Jose! We pay our babysitter pretty generously, but $100 would still get us 6+ hours of time to play with. My other option would be to buy a box of Aurifil thread for my quilting. That stuff is surprisingly pricey for being “just” thread!
$1,000 // I’d buy 2 pairs of Tieks — one practical color like black and another in a fun color like teal or green. With the rest, I’d buy a really nice leather purse/bag that I could use for years.
$10,000 // Vacation time! For a family vacation, we could do whatever we want at Disney, bring along a grandparent or two, and stay in a huge suite to boot. For a Sarah-and-Jose trip, I’d pick somewhere I’ve never been (Spain has been on my list), fly first class, stay in super fancy accommodations, eat really awesome food, and totally live it up.
$100,000 // As long as we’re dreaming, my first thought was to negotiate a 6-12 month leave of absence from work. I like my job just fine, but the idea of not having to work for several months — and spending that time fully, deeply indulging my other interests instead — is really appealing. Alternate ideas? A ton of house stuff (custom cabinets, high end appliances, new flooring throughout, paint from top to bottom, some new furnishings, lots of preemptive maintenance). Buy Jose an airplane. Buy myself a Tesla.
$1,000,000 // The only thing I can think of to spend this much money on is real estate, so I’d buy two houses. The first would be for us to live in, and for that, $700k would get us a fantastic home in a great neighborhood. With the other $300k, I’d buy a vacation home somewhere. Maybe the beach, maybe the mountains? Somewhere within driving distance or a relatively short plane flight.
I’m totally curious to know what other people’s answers to this exercise would be. While I feel like most answers for the million dollar mark would be real estate-related, I want to know what you would buy with your (imaginary) thousands!
Good ones! I may have to do this in a few weeks on my blog. I’d definitely buy land with my money.
Have you tried on tieks? They were very popular commuting shoes in DC, but I never actually tried them on…
I have not, but I keep seeing them pop up everywhere and I’ve had a couple people tell me they are really comfortable. And if I’m spending a fictional $1,000…why not?
My answers are pretty similar to yours – especially in the high $$ values.
$100. I’ve been meaning to have the full multi-course dinner at Oxheart
$1000. Stay somewhere nicer on my next vacation, you know those $300-$400 a night rooms that are just “that much better” than the still relatively nice places I stay.
$10,000. IFR GPS for my airplane (this would actually only get me 1/3 of the way there.) Or after-market tickets to Hamilton and a weekend in NYC. Plus a king size bed.
$100,000. I am with you on the leave of absence and some spontaneous non-rev travel around the world.
$1,000,000. The leave of absence + nicer sail boat + better airplane + vacation home. I’d actually not change the house I live in very much, maybe some upgrades.
Inside that $100,000 or $1m amount… there’s a $25,000 safari of Africa I want to take, complete with glamping and my own airplane to pilot around.
An a private island in Tahiti that you can rent for $30,000 per week.
the $100 and $1000 would just be put in the bank as extra. The $10K might be too actually, but it would be spent eventually on my next trip. The $100K I would also negotiate a year off from work and I’d spend a couple of months renting a cabana down in Costa (which is SUPER cheap btw) so really the money would be to continue to pay my rent etc here. Then after a couple of months, I’d just take some of the time to chill out here at home and maybe a month on the West Coast. The 1 million? I’d definitely buy a home down in Costa with that, somewhere in the Guanacaste province. I would quit my corporate job and work as a barista or something and just be semi-retired.
I had never heard of these Tieks. (Thanks AdBlock!) I have rather expensive taste in shoes, but these just look overpriced to me. Maybe I’d change my mind if I tried them on.
Oh, they definitely look overpriced to me, no matter how comfortable they might be. Still, I’m weirdly intrigued and kind of want some!
Just a note to say thanks for a new, interesting podcast. Their finances are on a higher level than ours, but there’s a lot of useful information to mull over in there!
Yeah, I enjoy their podcast a lot! I agree with some of their advice and disagree with other parts, and my family has some different priorities on how we want to manage our money. But it’s always good to hear another opinion!