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

Cost of living here is LOW. I can survive on $1500 a month if I had to because I live very modestly. Luckily we have more than that so I SAVE everything above and beyond what I need because i believe there will be no social security by the time I am that old.

But if I had 10K a month? I would SAVE 5K, every month, and live a tiny bit more freely than I do now, but I would not go crazy with it. I don't believe in car payments. Only drive what you can buy outright.

Totally off topic, but did anyone else notice how ridiculously hot Robin is?

If you earned $10.000 a month then you'll probably we working 12-15hr days every day and having to be on call to work evenings and weekends too. Because you'll be a director or SVP and have heaps of responsibility. You may have little time for family, exercise and recreation beyond attending client dinners, networking and the other things a job at that level brings. Sure you'll be able to own a nice house, a nice car and take luxurious holidays, which you will need to compensate for the 46-48 weeks a year you'll be working.

You'll pay more tax, have more expensive outgoings and overheads and possible more stress and headaches.

Unless you are über-disciplined, you'll probably overeat and/or gain weight from lack of exercise.

Now, if we won the Lotto and that was our monthly income after tax and we didn't have to work, life would be sweet!

We probably wouldn't move, but definitely get that extension we want built.

I'd have a PT to whip my *kitten* into shape and get me to work on my strength training.

I'd have an endless swimming pool built at the bottom of the garden.

We'd travel more - go places we've always dreamed of and fly business-class and stay in 4**** hotels (and I know the ones I want to stay at )

Certainly we'd donate more to our chosen charities and I'd get to see dad more often.

But having said all that, I can't really complain about my life. To quote Paulo Nuttini, I have food in my belly and licence for my telly and nothing's gonna bring me down. I have my health, a loving husband, fantastic friends. Who could ask for anything more! :bigsmile:

Pay off my car and my husband's car, save up for a downpayment on a house or else build our dream home. (It's one of those tiny homes: only 450 sq ft and no mortgage.) Other than that? Probably save it for retirement. A small portion would go to things like new clothes, more Christmas presents, and semi-annual vacations, but nothing lavish.

Pay off student loans.
Travel to each continent.
Buy a beach house(modest)
Have my dream kitchen and yard with pool.
Donate to charities regularly.

That is several times what I make each month, but I can pay my bills on what I have and that is good enough for now.

I imagine that I would put more away in savings, stop putting off necessary repairs on my house (cracked walls, leaky roof, no hot water to the shower, etc), and would make sure my son, who has some pretty major social and behavioral issues, gets the help he needs.

Those are things I can't afford to do now, but even though my house is falling apart and my son needs more help than I can get him, I do my best and just try to be grateful for what I do have.

as for saying 10k isnt a lot..

think where you live!

I live in Nassau county, long island new york, one of the most expensive counties in the country (and highest taxes).. i live near some of forbes top zip codes..

10k a month in middle of no where nebraska (no offense) is A LOT of money. 10k here is mostly average for a household.. 10k as an individual is awesome though! (whoohoo)

as for saying 10k isnt a lot..

think where you live!

I live in Nassau county, long island new york, one of the most expensive counties in the country (and highest taxes).. i live near some of forbes top zip codes..

10k a month in middle of no where nebraska (no offense) is A LOT of money. 10k here is mostly average for a household.. 10k as an individual is awesome though! (whoohoo)

yeah--I was looking at manhattan apartments....yowsa...2k is nothing for a teeny shack.

the more you make the more you spend

avec 10.000 par mois moi je macheterais un gym je deviendrais proprio jacheterais les machines comme sa jpourais pas dire que parce que je travail de nuit je peu pas mentrainer sa serait rendu sa mon job

As others have already stated, I think $10k/month could be a lot or not much at all relative to your local cost of living. ($10k/month is decent in my line of work, but it's not exorbitant.)

But, if I can rephrase it a bit: What would I do with a LOT of money each month -- assuming it would be steady for the rest of my life?

Travel. I'd go all over the world.

Buy a small farm in Northern Cal or Southern Oregon and have some animals and a kick-*kitten* out-door grill where I'd have friends and family over for some great barbecues.

Get more education -- but stuff I WANT to learn rather than what I NEED to learn, like oil or water-color painting and wood-working.

I'd remodel a little house (or build one), and I'd have a killer garden.

(Hell, I might just do all that anyway...)

Yes, cost of living does have an affect.

I, the original poster, would live well off this money. I've also trained myself to live off of less.

For example, I do have a mortgage. Mine is $550 per month. Yes, five hundred fifty dollars. However, the trade off for such a small mortgage is a small house (700 sq. ft) in a somewhat ghetto neighborhood.

So, yes, for some of you $10K isn't a lot.

For others, like myself, it is.

For those of you say you could never live off of "such little" money. You need a reality check. Life will throw you curveballs.

I also suggest being grateful for what you have.

I'm sure some here have worked their way up to such a high wage, but it does irk me slightly that some people have no idea what it's like living nowhere near the top with nowhere left to fall. $10k a month is more than I can ever hope for.

If you count pre-taxes, then I'm already at this level. But, I know it's not going to last forever, so I have used the windfall to pay off debt from a failed business, and now I'm tackling the last of my credit card debt and building up a nest egg. And, of course, I'm enjoying a bit of it, too... buying new clothes for my shrinking sizes, eating out, and spa weekends. And, of course, workout clothes and gadgets to track my fitness.

For a while it seemed like I was still living paycheck to paycheck but after looking over my budget, I realized that it was the huge payments I was making to pay down my business debts that were taking the biggest chunk out. Now that those are paid off, I am actually getting ahead.

I do like seeing how many people are donating to charities. I want to do that, but I am very mindful of the waste that goes with it. If I donate $100, how much actually goes to helping? I would rather use the money to benefit someone directly, like those people who paid off people's layaways, or buying a tank of gas for a family in need.

OK, so I have to ask for the people saying they could not live off that little or they would have to take a pay cut to get to that level...WTF do you live/work?! Maybe because I'm a full time student living on a GA stipend and student loans 10k/month sounds like a freaking fortune...even after taxes. Hell, I'd happily pay the taxes if I made that much :laugh:

I have 2 degrees, working on my MAcc right now and I'm worried I won't even be able to get an entry level job making 1/4 of that a month. Maybe it's just this area, jobs are hard to find, or because I don't know many people here, but because my kids are in school here and this has been "home" for the past 6 years I'd like to stay here until it's just not possible. I want them to grow up around people they know and provide them with a stable environment...not moving around every year like I did when they were younger. But they both realize when I'm done with school (next May) if I can't find a job here then moving may be the only option. I have too much in student loan debt to work at McD's or Wally-world.

But having said that, any income is better than none at all, so if that is the only job I can get I'll be asking "would you like fries with that" with a smile on my face. As long as it keeps a roof over my kids heads and food in their belly I'll take what I can get.

Stack up money and move to another country. Should be able to survive for a long time without working, then you'd probably want to open up a business. Well that's what I would do.

Yes, cost of living does have an affect.

I, the original poster, would live well off this money. I've also trained myself to live off of less.

For example, I do have a mortgage. Mine is $550 per month. Yes, five hundred fifty dollars. However, the trade off for such a small mortgage is a small house (700 sq. ft) in a somewhat ghetto neighborhood.

So, yes, for some of you $10K isn't a lot.

For others, like myself, it is.

For those of you say you could never live off of "such little" money. You need a reality check. Life will throw you curveballs.

I also suggest being grateful for what you have.

I'm sure some here have worked their way up to such a high wage, but it does irk me slightly that some people have no idea what it's like living nowhere near the top with nowhere left to fall. $10k a month is more than I can ever hope for.

well if that is what you make yourself believe then , no you will never make that much! If you really want something you will go out and get it! Making over 100,000 per year is possible in many professions.

Not everybody can go out & get it.

Only a finite amount of jobs exist which pay that well, once they are all taken - a person cant' - that's the cold truth of the matter.

In the UK wages are a bit off, our cost of living is so high than $80,000 PA isn't that much here - when you look at the house prices.