Sorry, Missy, most of Florida is pretty pricey, too. Our area, fortunately, is still pretty affordable.

Good point, if we were careful, $100,000 would let us live completely unemployed for 2 years (because we'd have the additional expense of buying our own health insurance), maybe almost 3. That would be fun.

Claire, "You are not looking long term. That is where you are not getting it." I get it. Really I do. I didn't get into a position where $100K doesn't seem like a lot of money by being a financial dumb-bunny. We're all at a different stage and life. Hubby and I are older and playing 'second round' in child raising (all of DD's siblings are now adults). I do remember what it was like when $100K seemed like all the money in the world. Heck, I'll date myself here, I remember when earning $20K a year was a great salary.

__________________
"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

It's kind of neat to see how everyone feels a bit differently about money. I go to a financial site (mostly about saving money, investments, etc) and someone posted a question about what you would do if you won a million dollars. I felt it would be very life altering for me, but most were disagreeing about that and saying that a million isn't that much money and wouldn't change their life. They wouldn't do anything much different, etc. The typical response was that it could bump their retirement forward a couple years or so.

I did argue on that one. I am not too proud to admit that if I won a million dollars today, I would not be coming in to work tomorrow, lol. I could CERTAINLY be well off for the rest of my life with smart choices and a cool million! You can imagine how they would feel about a $100K windfall. Barely a blip on their radar screens, lol. I would love to win $100K, but it wouldn't really alter my lifestyle or anything. Everything helps though, and it's nothing to sneeze at.

PS - Maybe I would take the $100K and move to Texas where I could have a great down payment on an affordable house!

DebbieL, I think that attitude you are talking about just shows a disrespect for the value of money, no matter what the amount, and a general aura of arrogance in general. JMO

Of course, they might be "showing off" for each other on a board like that anyways. That is what I have found about investment boards when I have ventured to them. Constant one upsmanship.

Amen.

Tell ya what. Let's make it a scientific experiment. Why don't 1,000 of our members send me $100 each, or for the low price of only $50 each, 2,000 of you can buy in, and I will let you know the results. I promise I'd let you in on the end results of the testing!!

Oh, I think I need more than that...gotta cover the taxes...don't think I'd be able to set this up as a nonprofit.

By the way...I was reading today that property taxes alone on a 2.9M home is about $250,000 a year. Man, taxes are pricing me out of the market!! Hah!

__________________
Make someone's heart smile today.

LOL!! I like the way you think!!

$100k could probably buy the house we're looking at right now! That would be cool. Just buy it and then not make a house payment. We could put DH's BAH toward the bills and when we sold make 100% profit! Sweet!!

__________________


Mommy to Dakota, Wife to James
Proud Air Force Family

I guess I'm not reading Cookie's post like some of you are. I don't think she's "recommending" people spend it on a Mercedes....I think she's saying that there's many ways of spending $100,000 and that some people might chose to spend it on an extravagance like a car, while others might be practical like buying a house, and others might spend it on a necessity like chemo. I think she was just trying to show that money means different things to different people, and not everyone looks at $100,000 the same way. (Or am I wrong cookie?)

__________________

I am sure you are right. The point, at least the one I was making, was that in certain areas of the country, that money would buy a heck of a lot more and would be spread a lot further, than just, say, a car. I know what her point was, but previously she also stated that that money wouldn't go far at all in her family, considering where she lives. Some people read it in such a way that it seems like cookie is bragging or something, when that's probably not true at all. Unfortunately for her, it sounds like it really wouldn't go that far her area of Canada.
Of course, everyone in this world would spend that new found money on something different; it's all in where your priorities lie. If your bills are already paid and you had no debt, sure, spend it on an extravagant car, or something of equal magnitude, I wouldn't be opposed to that at all. It's all in what's important to you at the time. Can't judge anyone for what they choose to do with it, but I'm telling ya, I'd sure like to have that much money in a part of this country where I didn't have to spend it all in one place! lol
But it's hard for me to believe (unless you are truly a millionaire) that $100K is not considered a big chunk of money, that's what gets me, no matter where ya live.

$100,000 would buy me:
a 2007 GMC Acadia--I need a new car
A new bedroom suite for the master bedroom
New living room furniture for the upstairs *then move the upstairs stuff downstairs*
A bedroom suite for DS
And then the rest would go towards the mortgage for the house

__________________
Megan
SAHM to Deqlan 4/7/05
Wife to CJ