What would you do if you earned $10,000 per month?

Onesnap

Yes...exactly. I do earn a bit more than this a month but we barely scrape by after paying taxes and bills...life in San Francisco is muy expensivo.

Boston is very similar.

Onesnap

$10,000 a month is ridiculous. I work part-time hours while I go to school, and $10,000 is my annual salary! Let's see, if I had that much money coming in a month, I would first PAY OFF MY STUDENT LOANS! After damage control has been done to that, I'd help my parents and other close friends with whatever they're having trouble paying off. Save some money to buy a nice house and donate some to food pantries around the area and homeless shelters.

Depends where you live. Someone mentioned San Francisco. In the Boston area it's really normal for a working couple to make $10,000/month before taxes.

mrsnathanandrew

If I earned $10,000 a month, my finace and I would get a nice decent sized house, get 2 new cars, and then put the rest into savings for when we plan on having kids, to save for college, and if we have girls to help them pay for their wedding(s).

We aren't very materialistic, and don't travel. So pretty simple.

amy_fulk

I'd use the extra money to help pay off my parents' bills and start savings for the children that I don't even have yet! I'm pretty happy with everything I have now and don't need much of anything else. I owe my family so much for what they have done for me my. My family comes first.

Onesnap

Do exactly what I did - buy time for someone else. Told my wife there was no point in both of us killing 40 hours a week doing nothing all day. She quit work and fills her time with what ever makes her happy. Nice thing about having that kind of money is that you can easily buy things that once upon a time would have been difficult - like new tires for the car.

I don't know a single couple in my part of the US making $10,000 a month (before taxes, combined income) that can afford to have one person quit. Especially those with 2 or three kids.

Onesnap

If I earned $10,000 a month, my finace and I would get a nice decent sized house, get 2 new cars, and then put the rest into savings for when we plan on having kids, to save for college, and if we have girls to help them pay for their wedding(s).

We aren't very materialistic, and don't travel. So pretty simple.

Life's too short to not travel. Even locally and road trips too!

Onesnap

I'm seeing some ridiculous answers here.

People saying that they would hire a personal chef, live in nanny, etc etc.

It seems people are viewing 120k a year as winning the lottery. Believe me, once you have the big house, the car payment, the kids, the lifestyle you want... your 10k a month isn't going to be left over to hire personal assistants.

I find it hard to believe that people don't realize what these luxuries actually cost.

I'm very happy with my 1,400 square foot house 30 minutes outside of Boston. A larger house in my area is around $535,000 though...so a larger mortgage. We got 3 houses for the price of 1 (one we rent out, one we built ourselves).

DrBorkBork

I'd get a personal trainer ($50/mo), buy a nice house with a little bit of land ($1,000/mo), a couple of horses (high initial investment, but probably not too bad on upkeep-- $500/mo), and a dog ($20/mo). Oh and a maid ($100/mo). I'd live comfortably on $5k and put the rest into savings.

slimmingdownsteph

Hmm.. pay off my Dad's nursing bills, pay off school, buy a house, and donate some to charities are the first to pop into my mind.
Then I'd probably spend it on eating healthier, buying clothes and shoes (fashion major.. ), and just saving some for long-term.
I've learned young after my Dad had his stroke you never know and you should always prepare.

Tracey0013

Like my husband says "more money, more bills". Plus you'd pay about 20-30% of that money in taxes.

You would only pay on the interest in Canada If the money was given to you or from winnings But if it was a "job" the money was coming from you would still have to pay taxes.:(

ChrisStoney

I'm seeing some ridiculous answers here.

People saying that they would hire a personal chef, live in nanny, etc etc.

It seems people are viewing 120k a year as winning the lottery. Believe me, once you have the big house, the car payment, the kids, the lifestyle you want... your 10k a month isn't going to be left over to hire personal assistants.

I find it hard to believe that people don't realize what these luxuries actually cost.

I'm very happy with my 1,400 square foot house 30 minutes outside of Boston. A larger house in my area is around $535,000 though...so a larger mortgage. We got 3 houses for the price of 1 (one we rent out, one we built ourselves).

I guess that rules out that you are from Needham then, LOL

fromfattofine

Not tell anyone. Move to a new city and by a home (not too expensive) and a new car since I've never had a new car before. To be honest, I'd probably splurge for the first couple of months on things I've wanted for my home and personal items for me. I don't know what it's like to not worry about money and I'm sure that's a reason why I'd try to hold onto it, out of fear of losing it.

ninerbuff

$10,000 a month is ridiculous. I work part-time hours while I go to school, and $10,000 is my annual salary! Let's see, if I had that much money coming in a month, I would first PAY OFF MY STUDENT LOANS! After damage control has been done to that, I'd help my parents and other close friends with whatever they're having trouble paying off. Save some money to buy a nice house and donate some to food pantries around the area and homeless shelters.

Lol, if that were really how it was, then there wouldn't be any issues with money amongst those who make that much.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

I'd get a personal trainer ($50/mo)

I charge that for 1 session.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

BirchBayLady

I would be hating the tax man

Yes...exactly. I do earn a bit more than this a month but we barely scrape by after paying taxes and bills...life in San Francisco is muy expensivo.

Yeah, thank you.

I don't even own a home...I'm the sole breadwinner and we rent a small two bedroom condo. That rent runs me almost 3K a month. I do manage to save a little bit but it's tight. I will be buying a home as soon as I can and that will help with the taxes but until then by the time the taxes and health insurance etc take their cut I'm netting barely enough for us to live on. It's ridiculous. Sometimes I consider just leaving the corporate job and working part time just to reduce the crazy amount of taxes I'm paying

sleepytexan

I earned about that much at my last paid job (over 12 years ago). This is what I did with it:

Paid my bills.
Saved a bit.
BTW, I did buy a house ($185k in Florida) and drove a Honda CR-V.

I would like to point out that I now have a family of 6, and our monthly health insurance (COBRA) alone is $2241. The adoption of my 4th child cost about $45k. Her medical bills (6 surgeries so far) have cost over $100k.

$120k is only a lot of money if you're single and live somewhere inexpensive. If you earn $120k and a have 4 kids (in public school), and live in Southern California, you don't own a mansion or go on vacations all the time. (We haven't taken a vacation in 12 years, and my husband earns more than that). We do have a 7-ye-old hybrid and a 6-yr-old SUV, though.

stepherzzzzz

I'd probably get a house and a car. And go shopping more often lol.

sleepytexan

Bigger house, live in nanny, school, savings, business.Oh and miscellaneous things that I need/want.

A live in au pair costs about $19k a year . . . interestingly, I don't get paid to take care of my kids.

timmymon

I'd make it rain

kuger4119

One big caveat is whether or not the $10k was gross or net income. Our family makes more than that in our gross income and we have a comfortable lifestyle. If it were net, it would make a big difference. The government (state and federal) make sure to get their share. You realize pretty quickly that it really isn't that much money in the big picture. We have a nice enough house (with stairs) and nice cars and try to go on 2-3 trips per year (weekend trips except for one). We also donate a little to our universities and to United Way. We typically spend a couple grand a year helping out family members who need things. We bought both of our parents new LCD televisions this spring and other things like that.

The problem with $10k per month is that it's not enough money to do "everything" you want and still save for a comfortable retirement. I drive a Chevy pickup and my wife has a six year old car (although it's a really nice one). We live in a relatively modest house and try to watch how we spend our money on a monthly basis. We do that with the hopes that we can retire comfortably and still have a decent lifestyle. Too many people lose focus and get caught up trying to drive the latest Beemer or Lexus and keeping up with the Joneses.

Anyway, I hope that everyone on this board makes the decisions and takes the actions necessary to be successful and smoke right past $10k per month, just remember that if it does happen for you, don't be stupid with it.....even if that is tempting.