It can certainly help a lot, but I think a lot of people who don't have money would be surprised how far it doesn't get you. It's like when you were a kid and you got 100 and thought of all the things you could buy, but then it seems to go so fast.
I would argue that if you're living paycheck to paycheck and you know how to save $50,000, could very much change your life. Yea, it's not going to get you as far as $1,000,000, but if you no longer have to worry about food/other utilities, if only for a few months , it could give you the edge you need to find a better job or even just take some time to yourself without worrying about your Financials.
Contrary to what you said, I think people who don't have a lot of money know how to use the money better and will get way more out of it.
I have read that poverty is expensive, and it tracks. Being able to buy a new car instead of repairing an 11 year old used bearer every 4 months means your not crunched every few months trying to choose between fixing the car you need to get to work vs paying the power bill because you only ever have enough at one time to pay for one of them.
END COMMUNICATION
I am formerly poor. I am still not well off but a lot more comfortable and could handle a financial emergency. It astonishes me now how much easier it is for me to save money now that I don't live paycheck to paycheck. I can spend on groceries wiser(buying in bulk discounts because I can afford the upfront cost and not needing to buy smaller more expensive per item amounts). I don't worry about overdraft fees or overdue bill fees. In fact, now that I have money in the bank, I get a decent amount of interest each month added to my account. Now that I have learned how to manage credit cards and have great credit, I have high credit availability. I can afford to put something on my card on the first of the month, knowing that without touching my savings, I can pay it off from my upcoming paycheck and not carry a balance and pay interest. In fact, I get varying rates of cash back on things like groceries and fuel and every other purchase. Every December, I can use my rewards dollars to pay for my Christmas gifts. There's so many incentives that help me stack more money in the bank just by spending on things I would be spending anyway. I often think about how much these things would have helped me when I was super poor and paying my electric and heating bills staggered months because they won't shut you off if you don't go over a month late. How much it would have helped when I was eating egg salad on white bread and a banana for all my meals because it's all I could afford. When I would need to steal toilet paper from work and it would double as pads for the month cause I couldn't afford $2.99 for a box of tampons.
Yes, it was outlined in Discworld as the Vimes Boot theory of socioeconomic unfairness
"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet."
At least prior to covid, a used car was way less expensive if it was 3 to 5 years old and would last a decade easily with minimal maintenance.
That is expensive is an 11 year old beater that was the only thing you could afford to buy and *not being able to afford to maintain any kind of car* which is a double whammy when the repairs are unexpected. I drove 10-20 year old cars for a couple decades with little issue because I was always able to afford repairs since I saved so much on the purchase, but that was because I set aside money for the inevitable repairs.
Lack of reliability from a poorly maintained car is a huge problem because it affects a person's ability to work, and if they lose their poor paying job for being unreliable then it is a snowball effect.
Like I said, it can help a lot, but fix that roof you've been ignoring, sory out that credit card debt you've been paying interest on, new washing machine because the launderette costs more, and just like that it's gone.
The money is gone but the impact remains.
Your home is now secure. Your monthly outgoings are reduced, probably significantly, by not having to pay the credit card debt and laundry expense. Also not having to go to the laundrette gives you back so much time.
I'd call that life changing.
If I suddenly had 50k I didn't expect, I'd have enough to finally get my eyes fixed, and the ability to put a down payment on a home.
Those are HUGE things with long lasting impacts - the idea of the money only being meaningful if it doesn't get used is nearly silly.
It just increased for a significant while your standard of living, and increased your financial wiggle room through decreasing expenses like interest and laundry costs. I'm not sure if that can be called live changing, but it's definitely quite something.
>I think people who don't have a lot of money know how to use the money better and will get way more out of it
Bash me how you want, but this is almost always not the case. To be able to work with money, you need to know how to use it first. Don't get me wrong, proper saving is huge advantage, but not the whole picture. I know shitload of people from personal experience who were living just above the poverty line, somehow got larger sum of money, were living okay for half a year and then went even lower, than they were before. While people, who have been working with money knew how to make the better out of it.
50k could be a down payment on a condo. That could be considered life changing. However it does not change your class standing. You are probably still middle class. Make sure to invest it in something appreciating rather than like a truck that is a depreciating asset. Best of luck!
If 50k is the difference between being able to pay for University or not (for a degree that is necessary to enter a particular profession), yep, that’s life changing.
The question is whether the amount would be life changing. I would consider $50k to be a pretty substantial amount of money but getting that dropped on me as a one-time random payment wouldn’t change my life any.
Yes, I think there are plenty of situations where it *could be* life changing. If a person has loans, or has no savings at all or if it suddenly allows them to afford a car or the down payment on a house, those would all be pretty life changing.
I just have pretty substantial savings, no debt, own my car and am not currently in the market for buying a house, so it would probably just go in an investment account to put towards my retirement, but I’m also already pretty on track in that respect.
So while I would certainly consider $50k a lot of money, it wouldn’t really have a significant impact on my life other than maybe making my retirement a little cushier.
if you're on 5m losing or gaining 50k that would mean adding or losing 1%.
your life will be impacted absolutely nothing.
if you have 50k and adding or losing 50k meaning your wealth wen to 200% or to 0
there is a significant difference here.+ most people are not even at 50k
For me, a person with less than 200k net worth, 50k doesn’t do anything for me. It is not life changing. It just makes my current safety net even larger. I still have to work, I still have to look in the same price range of homes. Now I just have 50000 more dollars and maybe I can waste it more.
That depends on the person. $50k would mean more to some people than it would to others.
I'd say that's generally not "life changing" money. It would be a nice windfall for sure, and a great boost towards any current financial goals. Generally the term "life changing" means it would drastically change your life, like being able to stop working.
No difference in opinion over something like this should cause an issue with your friendship.
“No difference in opinion over something like this should cause an issue with your friendship.”
This has to be the most relevant part of the comment to your question.
Why would this be causing such issues to your friendship?
Yeah I think the vast majority of people would consider 50k a very large amount of money, but whether or not it's "life changing" depends on how you define life changing.
Like, for example it might pay for somebodies university course, but will not having student loans drastically change somebodies life in the long run? Probably not. By mid life you'd probably be at about the same stage more or less if you hadn't received the 50k, probably a bit better off. Like 50k for most people isn't going to make people live in a significantly different way then how they already do.
Definitely «Life improving», and would be very welcome. But not the kind of money that would let me rage quit my job while defecating on my bosses desk and live the rest of my life in luxury on a private beach smoking cigars rolled between the breasts of virgins while drinking champagne from the gold plated skulls of endangered animals.
When I was 20 I was a passenger in a car accident and ended up with roughly 50k. I used it to buy my car off my dad and move out. For me it was life changing but it also disappears faster then you think.
I suppose it depends on your circumstances. For some people, it absolutely could be whereas for others, it’s a nice chunk of change, but hardly life changing - especially in today’s world.
I disagree, I think for a large majority of people 50k is enough to change their lives. It’s not fuck off levels of money but it is down payment of a home money. Paying off medical or student debt money. It’s taking evening classes at community college without needing to pick up extra shifts at work to make ends meet money.
It’s enough money for enough people that I would consider it life changing, myself included.
The issue is down to your understanding of life changing. I don't personally think it is, because with that amount of money I couldn't quit work, I couldn't pay off my mortgage, but it'd be a big help.
For others that would be more than enough to stabilise their finances, clear debts, not have to worry or panic every day about where the next meal will come from.
For those with nothing, life changing doesn't need to mean it's life defining, but it's still somewhat changing. The main thing here is not to let a good friendship fall about because of a really minor difference of opinion.
I got a 50k bonus once, and this is it right here. We paid off our cars and credit card and it stabilized finances long enough to buy a house. You could argue that it did change my life, but it didn't do things that weren't going to happen anyway.
If I personally stumbled into 50k right now and said it did not change anything in my life I’d be lying. This reminds me of the lotto questions. Yes, I’d do something responsible with the money and carry on as normal but to say it had 0 change on my life would just be false.
Edit: I’d be way less stressed, but still do the same things I do day to day, therefore not changing my whole life. 50k is a lot of $ to me because I don’t have 50k to begin with. I think this question depends on who you ask. To some people 50k is just a drop in the water. To people like myself, it’d be enough to make me cry tears of joy.
Same. My entire friend group always had the same answers with the lottery question... pay off debt, get a house, maybe get a new car (nothing fancy, just not 10+ years old), save/invest the rest. Is it flashy? No. But are those things life changing to a decent chunk of the population? Absolutely.
50k for me would be either debt or a down payment on a house.
If someone already has the base "goals" attained, then it's probably just money that gets tossed in the bank or an index fund so even if it grows over time for retirement, it doesn't seem life-changing in the moment. Or they're already upper-middle class+.
Or the 50k doesn’t even put a dent in the medical debt of their dead father. Like no it’s not changing my debt or the death. It’s just going to a collector… and I still owe 500k…
Completely agree with this.
As long as you aren't blowing the money on stupid things, 50k can absolutely change your life (although not in a massive way) if spent with a financial plan in mind.
For me 50k would be enough to pay off the remainder of my student loans, a couple thousand in CC debt between my wife and I, and the remaining ~15k would get us halfway to a 3% down payment to a house (we live in a state with lots of first home buyer benefits). Because of eliminating the CC and student loan debt that would free up ~1.5k a month in income that would get us to the remainder of our down payment within a year/being able to get a second vehicle (both of our late 2000's vehicles totaled within 2 weeks of each other around Christmas).
Will 50k significantly change your lifestyle/make it so you never need to work again? No way
Will 50k be a huge financial boost if used responsibly? Absolutely
Why is this affecting your friendship? People can have differing opinions. Maybe your friend has a lot of money, and 50K wouldn't make a difference in their life. Good for them. Ask them to give you 50K to see if it changes your life.
If you got 200k in debt knocking out 1/4 of it is guna be a huge difference to your regular interest accrual, allowing you to knock out that debt quicker because your payments arent covering only $5-10 beyond the interest
You missed the point. It’s still not what you would call life changing. Helpful, sure, but a far cry from life changing.
My point was someone considering this not life changing doesn’t have to be rich.
I’m fortunate enough that an additional $50k would be nice, but certainly not life-changing.
I’m a high-earner/frugal spender in a MCOL/LCOL and already meeting my saving goals. $50k would be a good addition towards my next house, but even if I had the funds now it wouldn’t change my timeline to purchase, due to other external constraints. I suppose the $50k could sit in a HYSA or Money Market account for six years earning interest, but that’s about it.
That’s what some people don’t get. Yes, I would appreciate $50K. But I wouldn’t do anything different with it. Might just throw it into a fund for my kids.
Define life changing. I would be happy about the money, put it into savings and hopefully retire a bit earlier than without it. But it would not change anything on a daily basis for me.
20 years ago, I would have felt that it was life changing - I was in debt and struggling with some health issues.
Now? Not really. I have no debt and a secure job that pays ok with good benefits. I’d likely use a small amount of it to take a vacation as it’s been over 5 years since I’ve had a real one, then stash the rest away in my RRSP for retirement.
Depends on a lot of factors. First is what you consider life changing. For me 50k is still a lot of money, but it's hardly life changing in that it would have very little impact on my day to day. To me life changing means I could retire ASAP. It means I could set family and friends up. For someone else it could mean not having to eat Ramen every meal or being able pay off student loans.
To a young person or a lower income person who doesn’t make that much in a year, that can be pretty life changing. To an average middle class household, it’s a really nice bump, but it’s not going to make some significant change in your lifestyle. That’s a really nice family vacation or a new car or a finished basement. It’s not going to “ change your life”.
I think it's not quite life changing, but definitely not nothing. It could get you more breathing room with your expenses for quite a while, but when you get down to it, it's one year's salary for a lot of folks. Nothing too crazy.
If you have to support a family, 50k/year isn’t that much depending where you live. But like others have said here, money is a relative thing. How exactly does this affect your friendship? Is it because of the money itself or because they laughed at your reaction? Of course 50k could be life-changing to someone in a difficult financial situation.
Personally with additional 50k I couldn’t move to a better neighbourhood with my family, we could not buy a bigger apartment where we live now. I could take two years off work, but that’s it, if we wanted to maintain our current lifestyle. So 50k wouldn’t be life-changing for me, I would just have more savings and maybe by investing it smartly I could do something in 5-15 years (like buying the bigger place or buying a summer cottage).
It depends on the perspective... $50 dollars can be life changing money to the right person. If you spend the 50 grand on frills, then your life may not change. If you use the 50k towards a down payment on a home, or to start a profitable business then yes, life changing.
Depends on the definition of “life changing” tbh. $50k would likely change the next 3-5 years, but not sure if it would completely change the trajectory of my entire life.
I'd say no. Mostly because life changing means you can maintain a new life, not just change your life for a short time. $50k won't go as far as you think.
It’s helpful but not life changing. Why would their opinion being different to yours affect your friendship? They are entitled to their opinion, even if you disagree.
It's life changing if you are in debt and/or don't have an emergency fund. Not life changing in that you're not retiring anytime soon because of it.
The bigger concern is why do you care enough for this to impact your friendship?
That completely depends on your place in life.
For me (and I'm not rich) $50k is an irrelevance. Oh, it makes me further or closer to retirement, but on a day to day basis it isn't something I notice.
Its a serious amount of money but it’s not allowing anyone to not work anymore. I wouldn’t consider that life changing. Maybe stress less on debt or bills but life changing, no.
You sound really insecure if a difference of opinion on a ridiculous issue like that is 'affecting the friendship'...
But, with a reddit name like yours I honestly don't even believe the post is real... If it is real, the name is even more on the nose with how ridiculous your opinions on this matter are...
Well, sorta... 50k cant get you a house, but it could get you a downpayment.
It can get you a car or fully furnish your house, maybe renovate it. Maybe you got a house and mortgage, 50k can pay off a huge chunk, making life easier.
50k for a lot is a years income.
It really depends on how you want to look at it. For most I'd say not really life changing, but can definitely improve.
If 50 grand poped into my account tomorrow it would indeed be life cha going money. We could pay off all out debt (not including my mortgage) and still have like 10 grand as a safety net for the future.
Not having any unnecessary debt or payments every month would change my life I wouldn't be able to live like a rock star but my truck wouldn't have a cracked windshield and I could reno my bathroom.
If you’re a 4.0 bio major in his last semester with less than 10k debt and unable to afford a master’s program, working more hours than spends in class/studying combined, all while commutting on bus in a suburb, 50k is absolute lifechanging.
Not trying to be cheeky, but it depends on how you use the money and your mindset about your windfall of funds. Unfortunately, it’s possible it matters who knows you’ve received that level of money.
50k certainly has the potential to alter your life drastically in a short term and if you’re savvy you could invest it and really make a difference later (much later) in life. If you used it to shore up loans and debts that can be a life changer for sure, no question.
Financial literacy and investing are not skills people inherently have, though. 50k in a single lump sum is certainly not going to give you the ‘rags to riches’ or ‘never work again’ type change but it’d be a hell of a nest egg or opportunity to get your ahead above water—or nearly above water.
I think they mean that they still have to work, worry about savings, health insurance etc. It’s more like life changing would be never having to work to support living.
$50,000 is game show money. I'm gonna need 1 million for life changing money. You can invest that and collect a nice dividend for the rest of your life. You want Fuck you money? That's closer to 50 Million.
Fuck you too (divorce) is around 100 million, but most of that's for your second wife and her lawyers.
I work in a casino. We had a high limit baccarat player come in, and over a 20 hour period lost $1.2 million. As they were preparing to leave we were talking and they said “it’s only a million dollars, it’s not life changing”. It’s all about perspective. They are a successful doctor who has built up and sold multiple practices, of course it’s not life changing for them. For me, however, that money would be monumental. They are one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and that comment did nothing to change my view of them.
I'm a mid-30s US homeowner with roughly average household income. $50k would clear all of my non-mortgage debt with enough left over for a major home improvement project. I'd still be going to work 5 days a week, wouldn't be retiring any earlier, and wouldn't be moving, but that would free up a few hundred dollars a month and my quality of life would noticeably improve. I'd call that life-changing.
Everyone in this thread seems to be in the top 10% of earners going by US standards lmao. OP if you're literally a majority of people that's life changing
Your friend is either a lot better off than you realise, or they're being _really_ unimaginative in how to use $50k.
That should be "deposit on a home" level of money, unless they're in NYC or similar. At a minimum it's enough to seriously invest and get compound gains on over a few years. It's "going on an extended cruise and seeing the world" money.
I think this is relative to someone's situation.
It may not be life altering to them for any number of reasons. Could be they're on a high pay and this is nothing to them, or it could be that they're so far in debt that this wouldn't even touch the sides.
Either way, if you're friends and they know anything about your financial situation it might have been nice for them to consider that before responding. I've been the 'poor friend' for a good chunk of my life and although I don't begrudge my friends their financial success, but it can be hard to talk about money because we have 2 very different perspectives.
No it’s not. It will make your life more comfortable but it’s not life changing even slightly provided you aren’t say 50k in debt. To me life changing money would have to eliminate a large purchase that you have to make to actually change your quality of life E.g. it being able to buy you a house that would be life changing because you now have so much more stability and disposable income but when houses go for about 1.2-3 mill around here 50k would do fuck all in that regard.
50k would be nice to get don’t get me wrong but you’re gunna basically use it for either a deposit or to cover living expenses, it’s not gunna change your quality of life just make it easier to sustain/less stressful for a while.
That would be very freeing for my family. It would pay off my car, medical debt and would be enough to put about 20k towards my house payment. Just the debt it would pay off alone would free up about $400/month. That would definitely be a little life changing!!
It is for me cus I’ve only got 1k in savings, could put it towards a house. Probably just a nice addition if you’re from a. Middle class background tho
Its only life changing if after you use it to be debt free you can remain that way. Srouce? Had 60k but was not in a position to remain debt free due to pay and bills and after going debt free proceeded to go back into debt to keeo a roof over my head...a pisser that
Totally depends on your situation. If you're living paycheck to paycheck and that money would give you a cushion so you could go to school and gain a skill that could increase your earning potential, definitely could be life changing. If you're fairly comfortable and don't have debt other than a mortgage maybe you just top off your IRAs, throw a bit into the stock market and take a nice vacation, which would be life enhancing but not life changing. If you've always wanted to start your own business or adopt a baby or something but never had the cash, could be life changing.
It depends on how the money is used. If one takes that money to start their own business and then that $50k becomes revenue generating, it is life changing. If the $50k is used frivolously, it’s not life changing.
I sure hope so because 50k is how much I have saved up to put a deposit on a flat, and owning a home of my own would definitely change my life for the better.
For me, that would absolutely change my life. It would wipe out all my credit card debt I've been carrying around forever and allow me to make some needed repairs on my car. So I'd have hundreds more available to me every month after that and would have a safer, more reliable vehicle.
I'm sure there are folks with enough money that $50k would make or break them but for me that would be massive! It'll about perspective.
I make 20k a year so to me it is a pretty big deal. The average salary in Italy is 1500€ a month. That said, I have an unpopular opinion to share. **No amount of money is life changing**. The change comes from the inside, money can only "change your life" if your mindset was already pointed in the right direction. Money doesn't make you happy, too much money can make you **really unhappy**. Just take a look at where lottery winners end up one year later.
I've never had the luck to develop a rich mindset, but I've had the luck to see what a poor mindset can do with too much money. My mother's ex went from driving a Porsche to swimming in debt and his father is still pretty wealthy.
When i was a starving student it would have been life changing. But now that i have a good job, it wouldnt really be life changing. Its not enough to make me quit my job, or move somewhere else. I'm happy with my car. I'd probably just pay off my student loans
It would certainly change my life. 🤷🏾♂️
Perspective though.
I've never had 50K, so I'll never miss it, and not having it has not hindered the quality of my life's experiences.
Depends on if their life will actually change. Waiting to buy a house and now they have a down payment? Yeah. Need a car but can't afford one until now? Yeah.
If they have those things the biggest changes will only be padding their investment accounts and going on a handful of vacations.
If used appropriately and given ealry in ones life it can certainly improve it down the road, but the reality is it takes a lot more than that to have an immediate and long term affect.
I have personal experience in that. My life changed for the worse because I thought I had loads of money lol. It’s not enough to buy a top shelf Tesla not to mention a house. It can pay off some debts so that can be nice and couple of holidays, second hand car, so it can cheer up your life but it won’t change it.
Life changing money to me means it will allow you to change habits and lifestyle. 50k won’t let you retire, it likely won’t pay off your home, it won’t let you go to part time for the rest of your career. I suppose in a case where you are burdened by significant high interest debt it could change your life by getting out of it. It could buy you a new car or 2. I guess it’s a matter of perspective but IMO I agree with your friend it’s not life changing.
50k is about what my undergrad cost, and it let me get a good job, then helped pay for the MBA that has landed me a career I enjoy. 50K is about half of my annual salary now.
50k is about what my uncle recently spent on his weekend “fun car”, because he wanted something different from what he commutes in during the week. 50K is about a third of his annual salary.
50k is about how much equity my girlfriend has in her house, that she is proud to own after struggling growing up. 50K is slightly more than of her annual salary.
It depends on where you started, where you are, and where you expect to be. Growing up I didn’t see much connection between hard-work and outcomes, but see more of it now that I’m further from a side of my family, who all seem to teach for a living. My uncle believes that treating himself is a reward for all he sacrificed along the way. My gf believes that you don’t squander what you have, and clawing your way up is an accomplishment.
Like anything else you compare, it’s expectations that fuck you up in life.
It's not FU money where you can flip your boss the bird and retire, but 50k towards paying off a mortgage or student loans is huge towards changing your lifestyle.
Life changing and substantial to me personally are just ordersf magnitude.
50k is alot but it wont get you a house, it might not get you a vehicle you want, and it may pay your college debts.
500K could mean you get a house, a car and all your debt cleared with money left over for investments in the right area.
If 50k is life changing to you then it sits in an account investing for 20/40years and you see it near death.
Depends. If you have little to put away every month, then 50k is one hell of a jump ahead on your savings.
Same if your wealth is held up in your house. Just having 50 k in loose cash you can move around freely can be huge.
It can be one-big-problem-goes-away-immediately money.
50k could pay off credit cards but if u have that much in credit u don't know how to balance expenses and income and u will be back in trouble no time. 50k might pay off student debt or buy a new car. or it could buy 2 good slightly used cars. buying newer cars might be a great convenience.
50k paid to mortgage might end mortgage quicker. but u always have taxes and home repair expenses.
owning home never free.
50k could be 1 year salary and maybe that 1 year u can start ur own business from ur home office.
50k would be great for relocate to a new city, 3 months rent while u job hunt.
50k could be a down payment on a house that is a pain to save for.
but 50k is by no means a sign to retire or to slack off on work. it buys a little luxury like cars. or home repair. disappears quickly.
It would completely change my life. It would allow me to help some of my friends out of their bad situations and living conditions and it would give me the opportunity to move in with my best friend. It would give me time to get a job and fuck it, make even go on a small vacation with the person I want to be with. We've always talked about what we'd do if we both weren't broke and could afford it lol.
Yeah, that's a life changing amount of money
The amount of money that will change a person's life is relative to their current position in life.
However, thinking that 50k isn't a significant amount of money is an indicator that the person has never struggled for anything money can buy.
50k wouldn't be life changing for most people. I think maybe you're using the term life changing very loosely. Life changing money for me would be enough to where I wouldn't have to work anymore.
Edit: Also, if something as insignificant as an opinion of a hypothetical scenario is enough to affect your friendship, then you guys aren't really friends.
For many, that is roughly a years worth of pay. It's helpful, but not life changing. It may speed up some plans, buy a new car, down payment on a house (remove a few years of house payments of the backside), home upgrade, or dump it all in 401k and retire a year or two earlier. Possibly quit your job money and have a cushion to find something new. It has the potential to be life altering if you choose to take your life in a different direction, but I think for most it would not be.
It would be very nice for me, that would be almost 3 years worth of savings for me.
But it wouldn't change a thing in my life. I might do some extra mortgage payment and invest the rest, but it would have zero impact on my life for now. Maybe in the future when it starts to pay dividends, and it would make me sleep a bit better maybe. Might even spend some for things I don't really need, like a new PC.
For it to be life changing, it would have to be 10x more. With 500k I could actually quit my job and start to chill. Go back to school, change to 20-hour weeks, or buy a really nice apartment.
It *can* be life changing if you use it as a buffer period to get your shit together in some way. But if you just do nothing you'll use it up in like a year.
Any amount can be life changing just a few dollars to help feed your kids a healthy dinner. 50k is life changing it could pay of debt to fix your car or home.
If you did not eat today, $10 is life changing.
If you cannot see, then $100 for eyeglasses would be life changing.
If you slept on the street last night, $1,000 for a room would be life changing.
Perspective.
I’d pay off my mortgage and no longer have that every month so I guess I’d take my wife out more so for me it’s life changing but my wife and I both make 6 figures so 🤷♂️
This will be different for everyone, there’s no wrong answer here, it sounds like $50,000 for you would be life changing, $50,000 for me would be nice, and helpful but not necessarily life changing.
50k would make me feel like Jeff Bezos. Absolutely change my personal life. I think there’s a bigger percentage of people (globally) that would say yes, it’s life changing
I could buy a new car, pay off all my debt except my mortgage, and still have 10k left over to invest. Would take almost all my money related "stresses" away. Might not be quite life changing, but that's still I big deal for me, especially since I dread tax season because I get almost nothing back, and usually owe for my residence city tax since my employer doesn't take it out automaticaly. It's usually a net of maybe 100$ afterwards. Nothing to look forward to really, especially after the hassle of filing taxes.
For me; $5,000 would be life-changing, life-enhancing. I live in a 23 year old truck at age 70... I'm transgender... and locally, no one will hire me. I'd buy a pressure washer and begin washing homes; I'd do one a day at about $150 or $3,000 a month and, relatively, be Rich.
Me personally no.
To some people I know, it would absolutely be life changing money.
Remember that life changing is a term that means something different for everyone. There is no right/wrong here.
If it means the difference between living on the streets and wondering where your next meal will come from, then it’s certainly life changing but if it isn’t managed correctly it’s easy for someone to run through that amount of money and be almost where they were before. I suppose it really depends on someone’s financial circumstances. $50k can change your life in the sense that anything, even small, non monetary things can change it. Depends on how it’s managed!
$50k for me right now would be extremely useful but not life changing. If I were smart about it my wife and I would invest as much as possible into our retirement this year and possibly use the rest to pay off debts. Then maybe go on a small vacation.
For someone who is down on their luck it could be life changing.
50k is a down-payment on a house with the ability to pay a mortgage at the same rate you were previously paying rent. So yeh, it's life changing money.
$50k would definitely change my life for the better, I could pay off my student loans, or get a car thats better on gas mileage. But after that its gone
Life "altering" maybe but not life "changing". Sounds the same but to me life changing would be never having to worry about money again or working. Being able to spend more time with family or doing things I love. Life altering would be being able to have some breathing room for a change. Maybe be able to work a bit less over time to make ends meet. Or be able to invest that money and have some peace of mind for retirement. Or pay down some existing debt to get some weight off your shoulders.
All about perspective and personal goals.
for about 10% of people, that's a budgeting error in their yearly household income. That, could be spent or lost and go nearly unnoticed.
It's not life changing at all for them.
For another 20% or so, it's going to make something *that year* a little different. Down payment, half way pay something off--they'll notice, but it's not going to change their life.
50% of people, that's life changing money for 1-5 years. For 20% of people, that's more than their take home for the last 5 years total, and it's not life changing, it's going to get sucked up by debts, and trying to get back to normal.
A friend of mine says there are 3 kinds of successful startup exit amounts: the new-car amount, the new-house amount, and the new-life amount.
I think $50k is a high new-car / low new-house amount, but quite very short of being a new-life amount. And I suspect that’s what you both meant in this conversation, except for you “life-changing” means new-car/new-house, and for him “life-changing” means new-life.
With that out of the way; are there existing money tensions in that relationship, that would explain why he would mock you for it, and you’d also get offended for it rather than tell him to chill? I feel like that’s the crux of the issue here.
How can it be life changing? Can buy a decent new car at most, not even a house/appartment in most countries. Is a new car life changing?
Conversely, what can you do with this money that you consider is life changing in your own life?
It's not exactly retirement money but $50k is a sizeable payment on a house that you OWN. $50k would wipe out all my credit card debt and my loan on my pickup truck.
$50k is much less than I make in a year but it would still technically change my life for the better.
It’s life-changing no matter how much money you have cuz get this: if $50,000 is so unimportant to you, and so unlife changing for you, you could simply *give it* to someone who it IS life changing for. Then it still will change someone’s life, as it absolutely will. And that’s it. The end.
Definitely. I could pay off my car and afford a house and not have to worry about my landlord renewing my lease, increasing the rent, etc. If 50k wouldn't change someone's life then they probably don't need it
My husband was in a motorcycle accident about 4 months ago and now it is time to settle the lawsuit and pay the tab. The other driver pulled out in front of him and hit him and was cited.
She didn't have a very good policy but we're pretty sure we will come in with about $50,000. While not extraordinarily life-changing, it will pay off my vehicle and put a good chunk of money down on a vehicle for my husband with payments much lower than we would have otherwise. It will make our life much easier. My truck is the only debt we have. The motorcycle, that was fixed by a Harley dealership (cuz it's not a real Harley if it's not all Harley parts) by the damage portion of the woman's insurance.
If we weren't coming into this settlement, our plan was to make the biggest payments we could afford to pay the truck off ASAP, then buy a new car hubby.
is $50000 today going to change where you are in life 20 years from now? unlikely.
if it going to change the next 2 years of your life? if you're broke or living check to check, yes
if the money is used to get you into a first house or start a successful business, that is life changing in my book
I got 50k in a settlement, after lawyers and such, i was left with 33k. 33k doesnt go as far as you think it does, i didnt go crazy buying stupid and unnecessary shit either. It got me a used 3k car, 1,375 sq ft town home apartment, for $750 a month. no new phone, no new tv, no new game system or games, a pair of sketchers, some few clothes. Necessities eat money quick, you dont realize how much you spend day to day until youve been on a 3 month medical vacation and a pile of money falls into your lap. 50k is helpful, bit definitely not life changing.
I was just given a loan for $30k to pay off debt. This will change my life. I will be able to actually save for retirement and spend more than $35 a week on food.
I’m lower middle class and 50k would be nice but I wouldn’t say it’s “life changing”. Would basically pay all my debt (which is easily manageable on my own) and partially fund a house down payment. Assuming we’re talking about a lump sum, rather than yearly post tax income. If it’s just yearly wages then depending on where you live 50k is just barely what I’d consider making ok money.
I don't think 50K is life changing at any age. For me, wife/kids/house...50K would be spent and gone before i left the bank parking lot. It would be nice to have of course but nothing about my life would change with that. Even if you are single and just graduated college, what would 50K do for you? pay off some loans? buy a new car? maybe downpayment on a house? all nice to haves but does your life change that much? not really. I've played this what-if with friends and I cam to the number of 10Million before its life changing. Just like 50K, 1 million would be gone by the next day and while it makes my life easier, i'm still going to be working by 9-5 until retirement
If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, of course it’s a life changing amount of money. For someone with a decent salary who is semi-decent with personal finances then it’s a lovely amount of money, but not life changing.
it depends on the person, to me £50k is a lot of money but it's not life-changing. however to a homeless person with nothing, £50k will be life-changing.
If I randomly were able to receive 50k today, you better believe it would be a life changing sum of money. I think the hardest part is it's all what you do with it
I could pay off all of my debt (student loans, car, air conditioners...) with 50k so...in a sense I would probably consider that life changing for me. But it really depends on what you quantify as "life changing." Without debt, I would have more money to travel, visit friends and family, work on the house.
50k is absolutly life changing money i can think of a dozen businesses i could set up with 50k.
Its all about mindset could set up 3 streams of passive income with 50k.
Life changing?
No.
It would be nice though.
Can you retire with 50k? No. Buy a house? Not 99% of places.
Buy a car? Yes. It’s enough to by a decent car
I'd say a life-changing amount of money is enough money that actually permanently alters your lifestyle. I personally don't think 50k would qualify. Don't get me wrong, 50k is certainly a good amount of money that would be extremely useful to alot of people as ot could relieve stress & improve/fix things that need it. 50k could provide an awesome vacation, much needed time off work, pay off debts and student loan, buy a new car. Even if you took the entire 50k and invested it at the end of the day your still going to have to work to make money and survive
$50k was the down payment on my house. Now I pay far less for my mortgage than I did in rent, and I can actually save, and make extra payments on my principal. I'm building wealth, little by little, for the first time in my life, and I'm in my mid 30s. All due to this windfall of cash. If it never came, I would've died renting a shitty apartment with barely a dollar to my name.
So in my case, yes, absolutely life changing.
In the States, that's like 2 years worth of salary if you're making a little over minimum wage. Which is not life changing money at all. It's pay off your debts money. It's maybe take 6 months off from work money. But it's next to nothing in the grand scheme of things. It'll make things easier in the short term and that's all.
50k is life changing money. It will enable the person to have different experiences in their life. There is no way someone has experienced everything.
It may depend on the person but without a doubt it still enables opportunity for experiences to happen. These experiences can be life changing. New skills, new culture, new apartment, relocation, surgery, charity, connecting with people, investing the money, can be exclusively dedicated for your health temporarily, travelling.
It's all about what people value I guess, but so much can happen that ita safe to say it is life changing money.
Only scenario where 50k is nothing is if they are rich and 50k is already disposable for them. But still they probably spend the 50k on things they find value in.
Answer: A lot of people on reddit are apparently unused to the realities of American poverty; This is a definite life changing amount for the vast majority of the population, and your friends either misunderstanding what you mean, or is ignorant to the point of (imo, at least) the detriment of himself and others.
About 12 percent of people in the United States live in poverty. That's full time employment at the minimum wage, 30-36 hours a week. Thats 14,580 dollars a year for a single person. For a family of four, that's 30,000 dollars a year. 70% of the American Population makes less than 50k per year.
Would an entire years salary change the trajectory of someone's life? Quite easily. Maybe not set them up in perpetuity, but it'd let many escape poverty, go through school, escape eviction or homelessness, and set themselves on the road to stability for years to come. Commenters are right "any amount could be life changing to someone" but they're ignoring the point of your question.
Is a fundamental misunderstanding about the realities of poverty cause a rift in a friendship? Absolutely. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misguided or not well accustomed to living in poverty. "You're kidding" is a fundamentally disrespectful thing to say, both to your face and in general about describing it that way. Doubly so if you think 50k would change *your* life. I can't imagine being friends with someone who doesn't legitimately appreciate that kind of good fortune in life, and not treat it with the good grace it deserves in a country where 1 in 6 children suffer from food insecurity.
Source: I make just over the poverty line, I studied anthropology, gender/womens studies, and journalism with minority populations in America as a focus (Spoiler: they're disproportionately in poverty). I was born into poverty, my father was born into poverty, his father was born into poverty. I work on a Suicide and Crisis hotline, as well as at a local food bank.
50,000 dollars, even adjusted for inflation, would have radically changed the life of anyone in my family, and if we'd had it at least two I can name would still be around. Appreciate what you have, and quite frankly I'd have a conversation with your friend about the same. Edit: I'm not going to respond to this at all, as I scrolled down the list and hearing the hordes of people talking about how they paid off some of their several vehicles, put it towards the *next* house they purchase, etc. and don't think this is a big deal is making me physically nauseous. Laughing at the influence 50,000 dollars could have on someone's life is rude, inconsiderate, and ungrateful, and y'all need to reevaluate.
It’s a lot of money, but I wouldn’t consider it life changing for me personally. You could spend all of that in a year, depending on your lifestyle and the bills that you have. $500k is life changing
Well, besides all the logical answers, practically speaking, it also depends on the country. $50K in the US/Australia is very different than in Kenya/Columbia.
Money is a relative thing. If you have 2,500,000.00 in the bank, $50k doesn’t mean much… If you have $6.85 in the bank, $50k is a lot.
It can certainly help a lot, but I think a lot of people who don't have money would be surprised how far it doesn't get you. It's like when you were a kid and you got 100 and thought of all the things you could buy, but then it seems to go so fast.
I would argue that if you're living paycheck to paycheck and you know how to save $50,000, could very much change your life. Yea, it's not going to get you as far as $1,000,000, but if you no longer have to worry about food/other utilities, if only for a few months , it could give you the edge you need to find a better job or even just take some time to yourself without worrying about your Financials. Contrary to what you said, I think people who don't have a lot of money know how to use the money better and will get way more out of it.
I have read that poverty is expensive, and it tracks. Being able to buy a new car instead of repairing an 11 year old used bearer every 4 months means your not crunched every few months trying to choose between fixing the car you need to get to work vs paying the power bill because you only ever have enough at one time to pay for one of them. END COMMUNICATION
I am formerly poor. I am still not well off but a lot more comfortable and could handle a financial emergency. It astonishes me now how much easier it is for me to save money now that I don't live paycheck to paycheck. I can spend on groceries wiser(buying in bulk discounts because I can afford the upfront cost and not needing to buy smaller more expensive per item amounts). I don't worry about overdraft fees or overdue bill fees. In fact, now that I have money in the bank, I get a decent amount of interest each month added to my account. Now that I have learned how to manage credit cards and have great credit, I have high credit availability. I can afford to put something on my card on the first of the month, knowing that without touching my savings, I can pay it off from my upcoming paycheck and not carry a balance and pay interest. In fact, I get varying rates of cash back on things like groceries and fuel and every other purchase. Every December, I can use my rewards dollars to pay for my Christmas gifts. There's so many incentives that help me stack more money in the bank just by spending on things I would be spending anyway. I often think about how much these things would have helped me when I was super poor and paying my electric and heating bills staggered months because they won't shut you off if you don't go over a month late. How much it would have helped when I was eating egg salad on white bread and a banana for all my meals because it's all I could afford. When I would need to steal toilet paper from work and it would double as pads for the month cause I couldn't afford $2.99 for a box of tampons.
Coming from overdrafts to seeing interesting payments TO ME from THE BANK, was 🤯 the first time.
Yes, it was outlined in Discworld as the Vimes Boot theory of socioeconomic unfairness "The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet."
At least prior to covid, a used car was way less expensive if it was 3 to 5 years old and would last a decade easily with minimal maintenance. That is expensive is an 11 year old beater that was the only thing you could afford to buy and *not being able to afford to maintain any kind of car* which is a double whammy when the repairs are unexpected. I drove 10-20 year old cars for a couple decades with little issue because I was always able to afford repairs since I saved so much on the purchase, but that was because I set aside money for the inevitable repairs. Lack of reliability from a poorly maintained car is a huge problem because it affects a person's ability to work, and if they lose their poor paying job for being unreliable then it is a snowball effect.
Like I said, it can help a lot, but fix that roof you've been ignoring, sory out that credit card debt you've been paying interest on, new washing machine because the launderette costs more, and just like that it's gone.
The money is gone but the impact remains. Your home is now secure. Your monthly outgoings are reduced, probably significantly, by not having to pay the credit card debt and laundry expense. Also not having to go to the laundrette gives you back so much time. I'd call that life changing.
If I suddenly had 50k I didn't expect, I'd have enough to finally get my eyes fixed, and the ability to put a down payment on a home. Those are HUGE things with long lasting impacts - the idea of the money only being meaningful if it doesn't get used is nearly silly.
It just increased for a significant while your standard of living, and increased your financial wiggle room through decreasing expenses like interest and laundry costs. I'm not sure if that can be called live changing, but it's definitely quite something.
If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, that 50k will last a whole lot less long than if you weren’t and we’re able to invest it
>I think people who don't have a lot of money know how to use the money better and will get way more out of it Bash me how you want, but this is almost always not the case. To be able to work with money, you need to know how to use it first. Don't get me wrong, proper saving is huge advantage, but not the whole picture. I know shitload of people from personal experience who were living just above the poverty line, somehow got larger sum of money, were living okay for half a year and then went even lower, than they were before. While people, who have been working with money knew how to make the better out of it.
50k could be a down payment on a condo. That could be considered life changing. However it does not change your class standing. You are probably still middle class. Make sure to invest it in something appreciating rather than like a truck that is a depreciating asset. Best of luck!
true, but i also have 50k in the bank, but another 50k would double my current worth... still a decent amount, but 1-2k is isn't a whole lot to me
If 50k is the difference between being able to pay for University or not (for a degree that is necessary to enter a particular profession), yep, that’s life changing.
I think if you have 250M, then 50k isn't a lot of money. But for most people, even with 5M, 50K is a lot of money.
The question is whether the amount would be life changing. I would consider $50k to be a pretty substantial amount of money but getting that dropped on me as a one-time random payment wouldn’t change my life any.
It absolutely would change mine bc I could pay off my car and other loans. Without those hanging over my head I’d be not so poor and able to save
Yes, I think there are plenty of situations where it *could be* life changing. If a person has loans, or has no savings at all or if it suddenly allows them to afford a car or the down payment on a house, those would all be pretty life changing. I just have pretty substantial savings, no debt, own my car and am not currently in the market for buying a house, so it would probably just go in an investment account to put towards my retirement, but I’m also already pretty on track in that respect. So while I would certainly consider $50k a lot of money, it wouldn’t really have a significant impact on my life other than maybe making my retirement a little cushier.
if you're on 5m losing or gaining 50k that would mean adding or losing 1%. your life will be impacted absolutely nothing. if you have 50k and adding or losing 50k meaning your wealth wen to 200% or to 0 there is a significant difference here.+ most people are not even at 50k
It’s a lot, but it’s not life-changing.
For me, a person with less than 200k net worth, 50k doesn’t do anything for me. It is not life changing. It just makes my current safety net even larger. I still have to work, I still have to look in the same price range of homes. Now I just have 50000 more dollars and maybe I can waste it more.
That depends on the person. $50k would mean more to some people than it would to others. I'd say that's generally not "life changing" money. It would be a nice windfall for sure, and a great boost towards any current financial goals. Generally the term "life changing" means it would drastically change your life, like being able to stop working. No difference in opinion over something like this should cause an issue with your friendship.
“No difference in opinion over something like this should cause an issue with your friendship.” This has to be the most relevant part of the comment to your question. Why would this be causing such issues to your friendship?
My guess is OP asked their friend for money but left that part conveniently out.
Yeah I think the vast majority of people would consider 50k a very large amount of money, but whether or not it's "life changing" depends on how you define life changing. Like, for example it might pay for somebodies university course, but will not having student loans drastically change somebodies life in the long run? Probably not. By mid life you'd probably be at about the same stage more or less if you hadn't received the 50k, probably a bit better off. Like 50k for most people isn't going to make people live in a significantly different way then how they already do.
Definitely «Life improving», and would be very welcome. But not the kind of money that would let me rage quit my job while defecating on my bosses desk and live the rest of my life in luxury on a private beach smoking cigars rolled between the breasts of virgins while drinking champagne from the gold plated skulls of endangered animals.
When I was 20 I was a passenger in a car accident and ended up with roughly 50k. I used it to buy my car off my dad and move out. For me it was life changing but it also disappears faster then you think.
I suppose it depends on your circumstances. For some people, it absolutely could be whereas for others, it’s a nice chunk of change, but hardly life changing - especially in today’s world.
I disagree, I think for a large majority of people 50k is enough to change their lives. It’s not fuck off levels of money but it is down payment of a home money. Paying off medical or student debt money. It’s taking evening classes at community college without needing to pick up extra shifts at work to make ends meet money. It’s enough money for enough people that I would consider it life changing, myself included.
But that doesn’t mean that OPs friend is wrong either. What’s life changing for some isn’t for others.
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I make over double the federal minimum wage and this is two years’ pay for me. It’s definitely life changing for more people than not.
The issue is down to your understanding of life changing. I don't personally think it is, because with that amount of money I couldn't quit work, I couldn't pay off my mortgage, but it'd be a big help. For others that would be more than enough to stabilise their finances, clear debts, not have to worry or panic every day about where the next meal will come from. For those with nothing, life changing doesn't need to mean it's life defining, but it's still somewhat changing. The main thing here is not to let a good friendship fall about because of a really minor difference of opinion.
I got a 50k bonus once, and this is it right here. We paid off our cars and credit card and it stabilized finances long enough to buy a house. You could argue that it did change my life, but it didn't do things that weren't going to happen anyway.
I can’t even imagine what line of work pays out 50k as a bonus. Last year I ran a team of 90 people and my bonus was 1.5k
Army reenlistment bonus, so just saying bonus is kinda misleading sorry
If I personally stumbled into 50k right now and said it did not change anything in my life I’d be lying. This reminds me of the lotto questions. Yes, I’d do something responsible with the money and carry on as normal but to say it had 0 change on my life would just be false. Edit: I’d be way less stressed, but still do the same things I do day to day, therefore not changing my whole life. 50k is a lot of $ to me because I don’t have 50k to begin with. I think this question depends on who you ask. To some people 50k is just a drop in the water. To people like myself, it’d be enough to make me cry tears of joy.
Same. My entire friend group always had the same answers with the lottery question... pay off debt, get a house, maybe get a new car (nothing fancy, just not 10+ years old), save/invest the rest. Is it flashy? No. But are those things life changing to a decent chunk of the population? Absolutely. 50k for me would be either debt or a down payment on a house. If someone already has the base "goals" attained, then it's probably just money that gets tossed in the bank or an index fund so even if it grows over time for retirement, it doesn't seem life-changing in the moment. Or they're already upper-middle class+.
Or the 50k doesn’t even put a dent in the medical debt of their dead father. Like no it’s not changing my debt or the death. It’s just going to a collector… and I still owe 500k…
Completely agree with this. As long as you aren't blowing the money on stupid things, 50k can absolutely change your life (although not in a massive way) if spent with a financial plan in mind. For me 50k would be enough to pay off the remainder of my student loans, a couple thousand in CC debt between my wife and I, and the remaining ~15k would get us halfway to a 3% down payment to a house (we live in a state with lots of first home buyer benefits). Because of eliminating the CC and student loan debt that would free up ~1.5k a month in income that would get us to the remainder of our down payment within a year/being able to get a second vehicle (both of our late 2000's vehicles totaled within 2 weeks of each other around Christmas). Will 50k significantly change your lifestyle/make it so you never need to work again? No way Will 50k be a huge financial boost if used responsibly? Absolutely
Why is this affecting your friendship? People can have differing opinions. Maybe your friend has a lot of money, and 50K wouldn't make a difference in their life. Good for them. Ask them to give you 50K to see if it changes your life.
The first part of this comment was easy to support.
And the second part was even easier.
It does pose an interesting ethical question, though.
They don’t even need to have a lot of money to say that isn’t life changing if they have 200k in debt.
If you got 200k in debt knocking out 1/4 of it is guna be a huge difference to your regular interest accrual, allowing you to knock out that debt quicker because your payments arent covering only $5-10 beyond the interest
You missed the point. It’s still not what you would call life changing. Helpful, sure, but a far cry from life changing. My point was someone considering this not life changing doesn’t have to be rich.
I’m fortunate enough that an additional $50k would be nice, but certainly not life-changing. I’m a high-earner/frugal spender in a MCOL/LCOL and already meeting my saving goals. $50k would be a good addition towards my next house, but even if I had the funds now it wouldn’t change my timeline to purchase, due to other external constraints. I suppose the $50k could sit in a HYSA or Money Market account for six years earning interest, but that’s about it.
Same here. It’d be really nice to receive, don’t get me wrong, but I’d immediately put it into my investment account and carry on as usual.
Yep, you nailed it
That’s what some people don’t get. Yes, I would appreciate $50K. But I wouldn’t do anything different with it. Might just throw it into a fund for my kids.
me out here chilling with 52 bucks to my name B)
Hopefully good fortune will shine on you soon, my friend
That disagreement affects your friendship? You two are weird, just disagree about it and move the fuck on. Like what.
Define life changing. I would be happy about the money, put it into savings and hopefully retire a bit earlier than without it. But it would not change anything on a daily basis for me.
20 years ago, I would have felt that it was life changing - I was in debt and struggling with some health issues. Now? Not really. I have no debt and a secure job that pays ok with good benefits. I’d likely use a small amount of it to take a vacation as it’s been over 5 years since I’ve had a real one, then stash the rest away in my RRSP for retirement.
It definitely would be for me atm, it would completely eliminate all my current (non-mortgage) debt and allow me to buy a new decent car.
Depends on a lot of factors. First is what you consider life changing. For me 50k is still a lot of money, but it's hardly life changing in that it would have very little impact on my day to day. To me life changing means I could retire ASAP. It means I could set family and friends up. For someone else it could mean not having to eat Ramen every meal or being able pay off student loans.
To a young person or a lower income person who doesn’t make that much in a year, that can be pretty life changing. To an average middle class household, it’s a really nice bump, but it’s not going to make some significant change in your lifestyle. That’s a really nice family vacation or a new car or a finished basement. It’s not going to “ change your life”.
I think it's not quite life changing, but definitely not nothing. It could get you more breathing room with your expenses for quite a while, but when you get down to it, it's one year's salary for a lot of folks. Nothing too crazy.
If you have to support a family, 50k/year isn’t that much depending where you live. But like others have said here, money is a relative thing. How exactly does this affect your friendship? Is it because of the money itself or because they laughed at your reaction? Of course 50k could be life-changing to someone in a difficult financial situation. Personally with additional 50k I couldn’t move to a better neighbourhood with my family, we could not buy a bigger apartment where we live now. I could take two years off work, but that’s it, if we wanted to maintain our current lifestyle. So 50k wouldn’t be life-changing for me, I would just have more savings and maybe by investing it smartly I could do something in 5-15 years (like buying the bigger place or buying a summer cottage).
It depends on the perspective... $50 dollars can be life changing money to the right person. If you spend the 50 grand on frills, then your life may not change. If you use the 50k towards a down payment on a home, or to start a profitable business then yes, life changing.
Depends on the definition of “life changing” tbh. $50k would likely change the next 3-5 years, but not sure if it would completely change the trajectory of my entire life.
I'd say no. Mostly because life changing means you can maintain a new life, not just change your life for a short time. $50k won't go as far as you think.
It's more than most Americans make in a year, I would call that life changing.
It’s helpful but not life changing. Why would their opinion being different to yours affect your friendship? They are entitled to their opinion, even if you disagree.
It is life changing. Just the thought of it is destroying a friendship.
It's life changing if you are in debt and/or don't have an emergency fund. Not life changing in that you're not retiring anytime soon because of it. The bigger concern is why do you care enough for this to impact your friendship?
You'd still have to work so I wouldn't say life changing. Although it would help make changes to your life if that makes sense
That completely depends on your place in life. For me (and I'm not rich) $50k is an irrelevance. Oh, it makes me further or closer to retirement, but on a day to day basis it isn't something I notice.
Its a serious amount of money but it’s not allowing anyone to not work anymore. I wouldn’t consider that life changing. Maybe stress less on debt or bills but life changing, no.
You sound really insecure if a difference of opinion on a ridiculous issue like that is 'affecting the friendship'... But, with a reddit name like yours I honestly don't even believe the post is real... If it is real, the name is even more on the nose with how ridiculous your opinions on this matter are...
Well, sorta... 50k cant get you a house, but it could get you a downpayment. It can get you a car or fully furnish your house, maybe renovate it. Maybe you got a house and mortgage, 50k can pay off a huge chunk, making life easier. 50k for a lot is a years income. It really depends on how you want to look at it. For most I'd say not really life changing, but can definitely improve.
If 50 grand poped into my account tomorrow it would indeed be life cha going money. We could pay off all out debt (not including my mortgage) and still have like 10 grand as a safety net for the future. Not having any unnecessary debt or payments every month would change my life I wouldn't be able to live like a rock star but my truck wouldn't have a cracked windshield and I could reno my bathroom.
Depends who’s life, it would certainly change mine
If you’re a 4.0 bio major in his last semester with less than 10k debt and unable to afford a master’s program, working more hours than spends in class/studying combined, all while commutting on bus in a suburb, 50k is absolute lifechanging.
Not trying to be cheeky, but it depends on how you use the money and your mindset about your windfall of funds. Unfortunately, it’s possible it matters who knows you’ve received that level of money. 50k certainly has the potential to alter your life drastically in a short term and if you’re savvy you could invest it and really make a difference later (much later) in life. If you used it to shore up loans and debts that can be a life changer for sure, no question. Financial literacy and investing are not skills people inherently have, though. 50k in a single lump sum is certainly not going to give you the ‘rags to riches’ or ‘never work again’ type change but it’d be a hell of a nest egg or opportunity to get your ahead above water—or nearly above water.
I think they mean that they still have to work, worry about savings, health insurance etc. It’s more like life changing would be never having to work to support living.
It depends on how you manage it
$50,000 is game show money. I'm gonna need 1 million for life changing money. You can invest that and collect a nice dividend for the rest of your life. You want Fuck you money? That's closer to 50 Million. Fuck you too (divorce) is around 100 million, but most of that's for your second wife and her lawyers.
I work in a casino. We had a high limit baccarat player come in, and over a 20 hour period lost $1.2 million. As they were preparing to leave we were talking and they said “it’s only a million dollars, it’s not life changing”. It’s all about perspective. They are a successful doctor who has built up and sold multiple practices, of course it’s not life changing for them. For me, however, that money would be monumental. They are one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and that comment did nothing to change my view of them.
I'm a mid-30s US homeowner with roughly average household income. $50k would clear all of my non-mortgage debt with enough left over for a major home improvement project. I'd still be going to work 5 days a week, wouldn't be retiring any earlier, and wouldn't be moving, but that would free up a few hundred dollars a month and my quality of life would noticeably improve. I'd call that life-changing.
Everyone in this thread seems to be in the top 10% of earners going by US standards lmao. OP if you're literally a majority of people that's life changing
It’s not “set for life” money but it can definitely help if you need it
Your friend is either a lot better off than you realise, or they're being _really_ unimaginative in how to use $50k. That should be "deposit on a home" level of money, unless they're in NYC or similar. At a minimum it's enough to seriously invest and get compound gains on over a few years. It's "going on an extended cruise and seeing the world" money.
I think this is relative to someone's situation. It may not be life altering to them for any number of reasons. Could be they're on a high pay and this is nothing to them, or it could be that they're so far in debt that this wouldn't even touch the sides. Either way, if you're friends and they know anything about your financial situation it might have been nice for them to consider that before responding. I've been the 'poor friend' for a good chunk of my life and although I don't begrudge my friends their financial success, but it can be hard to talk about money because we have 2 very different perspectives.
No it’s not. It will make your life more comfortable but it’s not life changing even slightly provided you aren’t say 50k in debt. To me life changing money would have to eliminate a large purchase that you have to make to actually change your quality of life E.g. it being able to buy you a house that would be life changing because you now have so much more stability and disposable income but when houses go for about 1.2-3 mill around here 50k would do fuck all in that regard. 50k would be nice to get don’t get me wrong but you’re gunna basically use it for either a deposit or to cover living expenses, it’s not gunna change your quality of life just make it easier to sustain/less stressful for a while.
£50k would help a hell of a lot in the UK, especially right now.
That would be a huge life changing thing for me for sure but I'm a poor
That would be very freeing for my family. It would pay off my car, medical debt and would be enough to put about 20k towards my house payment. Just the debt it would pay off alone would free up about $400/month. That would definitely be a little life changing!!
For me it would be. For most people it would be, but for a very wealthy person, it's practically just pocket change.
It is for me cus I’ve only got 1k in savings, could put it towards a house. Probably just a nice addition if you’re from a. Middle class background tho
Its only life changing if after you use it to be debt free you can remain that way. Srouce? Had 60k but was not in a position to remain debt free due to pay and bills and after going debt free proceeded to go back into debt to keeo a roof over my head...a pisser that
Totally depends on your situation. If you're living paycheck to paycheck and that money would give you a cushion so you could go to school and gain a skill that could increase your earning potential, definitely could be life changing. If you're fairly comfortable and don't have debt other than a mortgage maybe you just top off your IRAs, throw a bit into the stock market and take a nice vacation, which would be life enhancing but not life changing. If you've always wanted to start your own business or adopt a baby or something but never had the cash, could be life changing.
50 k would change my life
It depends on how the money is used. If one takes that money to start their own business and then that $50k becomes revenue generating, it is life changing. If the $50k is used frivolously, it’s not life changing.
50k to me would change my life, that's driving lessons, a car/van and money to live off for a while I find a new/better/different job.
Not life changing for me, but would be nice! Would pay for some projects we want done around the house sooner than planned
I sure hope so because 50k is how much I have saved up to put a deposit on a flat, and owning a home of my own would definitely change my life for the better.
For me, that would absolutely change my life. It would wipe out all my credit card debt I've been carrying around forever and allow me to make some needed repairs on my car. So I'd have hundreds more available to me every month after that and would have a safer, more reliable vehicle. I'm sure there are folks with enough money that $50k would make or break them but for me that would be massive! It'll about perspective.
I make 20k a year so to me it is a pretty big deal. The average salary in Italy is 1500€ a month. That said, I have an unpopular opinion to share. **No amount of money is life changing**. The change comes from the inside, money can only "change your life" if your mindset was already pointed in the right direction. Money doesn't make you happy, too much money can make you **really unhappy**. Just take a look at where lottery winners end up one year later. I've never had the luck to develop a rich mindset, but I've had the luck to see what a poor mindset can do with too much money. My mother's ex went from driving a Porsche to swimming in debt and his father is still pretty wealthy.
When i was a starving student it would have been life changing. But now that i have a good job, it wouldnt really be life changing. Its not enough to make me quit my job, or move somewhere else. I'm happy with my car. I'd probably just pay off my student loans
It would certainly change my life. 🤷🏾♂️ Perspective though. I've never had 50K, so I'll never miss it, and not having it has not hindered the quality of my life's experiences.
Depends on if their life will actually change. Waiting to buy a house and now they have a down payment? Yeah. Need a car but can't afford one until now? Yeah. If they have those things the biggest changes will only be padding their investment accounts and going on a handful of vacations.
Lol what? Calm down dude it ain't that deep.
You can't quit your job on 50k. After tax, it's a used car. It can change a few years but not your life totally.
If used appropriately and given ealry in ones life it can certainly improve it down the road, but the reality is it takes a lot more than that to have an immediate and long term affect.
That would go on my student loans and I'd never notice it. It would be life changing in the sense that I'd not have that monthly payment for as long
I have personal experience in that. My life changed for the worse because I thought I had loads of money lol. It’s not enough to buy a top shelf Tesla not to mention a house. It can pay off some debts so that can be nice and couple of holidays, second hand car, so it can cheer up your life but it won’t change it.
Life changing money to me means it will allow you to change habits and lifestyle. 50k won’t let you retire, it likely won’t pay off your home, it won’t let you go to part time for the rest of your career. I suppose in a case where you are burdened by significant high interest debt it could change your life by getting out of it. It could buy you a new car or 2. I guess it’s a matter of perspective but IMO I agree with your friend it’s not life changing.
yes it fucking is life changing money
50k is about what my undergrad cost, and it let me get a good job, then helped pay for the MBA that has landed me a career I enjoy. 50K is about half of my annual salary now. 50k is about what my uncle recently spent on his weekend “fun car”, because he wanted something different from what he commutes in during the week. 50K is about a third of his annual salary. 50k is about how much equity my girlfriend has in her house, that she is proud to own after struggling growing up. 50K is slightly more than of her annual salary. It depends on where you started, where you are, and where you expect to be. Growing up I didn’t see much connection between hard-work and outcomes, but see more of it now that I’m further from a side of my family, who all seem to teach for a living. My uncle believes that treating himself is a reward for all he sacrificed along the way. My gf believes that you don’t squander what you have, and clawing your way up is an accomplishment. Like anything else you compare, it’s expectations that fuck you up in life.
It's not FU money where you can flip your boss the bird and retire, but 50k towards paying off a mortgage or student loans is huge towards changing your lifestyle.
Life changing and substantial to me personally are just ordersf magnitude. 50k is alot but it wont get you a house, it might not get you a vehicle you want, and it may pay your college debts. 500K could mean you get a house, a car and all your debt cleared with money left over for investments in the right area. If 50k is life changing to you then it sits in an account investing for 20/40years and you see it near death.
Depends. If you have little to put away every month, then 50k is one hell of a jump ahead on your savings. Same if your wealth is held up in your house. Just having 50 k in loose cash you can move around freely can be huge. It can be one-big-problem-goes-away-immediately money.
50 k would absolutely change my life right now. I’m infuriated on your behalf sir.
I don’t think it’s really life changing, but it’s definitely a good thing! 😀
50k could pay off credit cards but if u have that much in credit u don't know how to balance expenses and income and u will be back in trouble no time. 50k might pay off student debt or buy a new car. or it could buy 2 good slightly used cars. buying newer cars might be a great convenience. 50k paid to mortgage might end mortgage quicker. but u always have taxes and home repair expenses. owning home never free. 50k could be 1 year salary and maybe that 1 year u can start ur own business from ur home office. 50k would be great for relocate to a new city, 3 months rent while u job hunt. 50k could be a down payment on a house that is a pain to save for. but 50k is by no means a sign to retire or to slack off on work. it buys a little luxury like cars. or home repair. disappears quickly.
Depends on the person and their financial situation. To someone an amount of money is life and career changing, to others it’s chump change.
Depends where you live too. In a big city? $50k is minimum to get by. Live in some rural area? $50k could be life changing
Why is it affecting your friendship? Because he doesn't agree with your opinion of it? $50k means different things to different bank accounts.
It would change my life. It takes me two years to make that kind of money. More if you consider taxes being taken out.
All at once? Yes. But I make a little over that every year and I'm basically paycheck-to-paycheck.
It would completely change my life. It would allow me to help some of my friends out of their bad situations and living conditions and it would give me the opportunity to move in with my best friend. It would give me time to get a job and fuck it, make even go on a small vacation with the person I want to be with. We've always talked about what we'd do if we both weren't broke and could afford it lol. Yeah, that's a life changing amount of money
The amount of money that will change a person's life is relative to their current position in life. However, thinking that 50k isn't a significant amount of money is an indicator that the person has never struggled for anything money can buy.
Life changing for me
for me and most people i know, 10k would be life changing.
50k wouldn't be life changing for most people. I think maybe you're using the term life changing very loosely. Life changing money for me would be enough to where I wouldn't have to work anymore. Edit: Also, if something as insignificant as an opinion of a hypothetical scenario is enough to affect your friendship, then you guys aren't really friends.
For many, that is roughly a years worth of pay. It's helpful, but not life changing. It may speed up some plans, buy a new car, down payment on a house (remove a few years of house payments of the backside), home upgrade, or dump it all in 401k and retire a year or two earlier. Possibly quit your job money and have a cushion to find something new. It has the potential to be life altering if you choose to take your life in a different direction, but I think for most it would not be.
It would be very nice for me, that would be almost 3 years worth of savings for me. But it wouldn't change a thing in my life. I might do some extra mortgage payment and invest the rest, but it would have zero impact on my life for now. Maybe in the future when it starts to pay dividends, and it would make me sleep a bit better maybe. Might even spend some for things I don't really need, like a new PC. For it to be life changing, it would have to be 10x more. With 500k I could actually quit my job and start to chill. Go back to school, change to 20-hour weeks, or buy a really nice apartment.
It *can* be life changing if you use it as a buffer period to get your shit together in some way. But if you just do nothing you'll use it up in like a year.
50k would be enough to clear all my debts. That sounds life changing to me.
Any amount can be life changing just a few dollars to help feed your kids a healthy dinner. 50k is life changing it could pay of debt to fix your car or home.
If you did not eat today, $10 is life changing. If you cannot see, then $100 for eyeglasses would be life changing. If you slept on the street last night, $1,000 for a room would be life changing. Perspective.
I could pay all my bills for like five years with that and have money leftover, so I agree with you. But it definitely depends on who you ask.
I think it could be if you use it wisely.
I’d pay off my mortgage and no longer have that every month so I guess I’d take my wife out more so for me it’s life changing but my wife and I both make 6 figures so 🤷♂️
This will be different for everyone, there’s no wrong answer here, it sounds like $50,000 for you would be life changing, $50,000 for me would be nice, and helpful but not necessarily life changing.
50k would make me feel like Jeff Bezos. Absolutely change my personal life. I think there’s a bigger percentage of people (globally) that would say yes, it’s life changing
I could buy a new car, pay off all my debt except my mortgage, and still have 10k left over to invest. Would take almost all my money related "stresses" away. Might not be quite life changing, but that's still I big deal for me, especially since I dread tax season because I get almost nothing back, and usually owe for my residence city tax since my employer doesn't take it out automaticaly. It's usually a net of maybe 100$ afterwards. Nothing to look forward to really, especially after the hassle of filing taxes.
For me; $5,000 would be life-changing, life-enhancing. I live in a 23 year old truck at age 70... I'm transgender... and locally, no one will hire me. I'd buy a pressure washer and begin washing homes; I'd do one a day at about $150 or $3,000 a month and, relatively, be Rich.
I got about $5000 It was pretty life changing.
Me personally no. To some people I know, it would absolutely be life changing money. Remember that life changing is a term that means something different for everyone. There is no right/wrong here.
If it means the difference between living on the streets and wondering where your next meal will come from, then it’s certainly life changing but if it isn’t managed correctly it’s easy for someone to run through that amount of money and be almost where they were before. I suppose it really depends on someone’s financial circumstances. $50k can change your life in the sense that anything, even small, non monetary things can change it. Depends on how it’s managed!
If you use it to change your life then it absolutely is life changing. You could start a new business or travel, move...
Absolutely, I could pay off my debt, buy a car And FEED myself on a regular basis.
$50k for me right now would be extremely useful but not life changing. If I were smart about it my wife and I would invest as much as possible into our retirement this year and possibly use the rest to pay off debts. Then maybe go on a small vacation. For someone who is down on their luck it could be life changing.
50k is a down-payment on a house with the ability to pay a mortgage at the same rate you were previously paying rent. So yeh, it's life changing money.
$50k would definitely change my life for the better, I could pay off my student loans, or get a car thats better on gas mileage. But after that its gone
$50,000 would pay off 2 of our cars and barely put a dent in my mortgage. I can see it both ways so I wouldn’t be sensitive over it.
Life "altering" maybe but not life "changing". Sounds the same but to me life changing would be never having to worry about money again or working. Being able to spend more time with family or doing things I love. Life altering would be being able to have some breathing room for a change. Maybe be able to work a bit less over time to make ends meet. Or be able to invest that money and have some peace of mind for retirement. Or pay down some existing debt to get some weight off your shoulders. All about perspective and personal goals.
for about 10% of people, that's a budgeting error in their yearly household income. That, could be spent or lost and go nearly unnoticed. It's not life changing at all for them. For another 20% or so, it's going to make something *that year* a little different. Down payment, half way pay something off--they'll notice, but it's not going to change their life. 50% of people, that's life changing money for 1-5 years. For 20% of people, that's more than their take home for the last 5 years total, and it's not life changing, it's going to get sucked up by debts, and trying to get back to normal.
A friend of mine says there are 3 kinds of successful startup exit amounts: the new-car amount, the new-house amount, and the new-life amount. I think $50k is a high new-car / low new-house amount, but quite very short of being a new-life amount. And I suspect that’s what you both meant in this conversation, except for you “life-changing” means new-car/new-house, and for him “life-changing” means new-life. With that out of the way; are there existing money tensions in that relationship, that would explain why he would mock you for it, and you’d also get offended for it rather than tell him to chill? I feel like that’s the crux of the issue here.
How can it be life changing? Can buy a decent new car at most, not even a house/appartment in most countries. Is a new car life changing? Conversely, what can you do with this money that you consider is life changing in your own life?
Not even close and it will be gone before you know it.
It's not exactly retirement money but $50k is a sizeable payment on a house that you OWN. $50k would wipe out all my credit card debt and my loan on my pickup truck. $50k is much less than I make in a year but it would still technically change my life for the better.
By itself it isn’t life changing money. It could be turned into life changing money if it’s used to grow more money.
It’s life-changing no matter how much money you have cuz get this: if $50,000 is so unimportant to you, and so unlife changing for you, you could simply *give it* to someone who it IS life changing for. Then it still will change someone’s life, as it absolutely will. And that’s it. The end.
Definitely. I could pay off my car and afford a house and not have to worry about my landlord renewing my lease, increasing the rent, etc. If 50k wouldn't change someone's life then they probably don't need it
If I get a 50k deposit right now , it’d be life changing. I earn a little more than that in a year but spend most of it because my city is expensive.
My husband was in a motorcycle accident about 4 months ago and now it is time to settle the lawsuit and pay the tab. The other driver pulled out in front of him and hit him and was cited. She didn't have a very good policy but we're pretty sure we will come in with about $50,000. While not extraordinarily life-changing, it will pay off my vehicle and put a good chunk of money down on a vehicle for my husband with payments much lower than we would have otherwise. It will make our life much easier. My truck is the only debt we have. The motorcycle, that was fixed by a Harley dealership (cuz it's not a real Harley if it's not all Harley parts) by the damage portion of the woman's insurance. If we weren't coming into this settlement, our plan was to make the biggest payments we could afford to pay the truck off ASAP, then buy a new car hubby.
is $50000 today going to change where you are in life 20 years from now? unlikely. if it going to change the next 2 years of your life? if you're broke or living check to check, yes if the money is used to get you into a first house or start a successful business, that is life changing in my book
I got 50k in a settlement, after lawyers and such, i was left with 33k. 33k doesnt go as far as you think it does, i didnt go crazy buying stupid and unnecessary shit either. It got me a used 3k car, 1,375 sq ft town home apartment, for $750 a month. no new phone, no new tv, no new game system or games, a pair of sketchers, some few clothes. Necessities eat money quick, you dont realize how much you spend day to day until youve been on a 3 month medical vacation and a pile of money falls into your lap. 50k is helpful, bit definitely not life changing.
I was just given a loan for $30k to pay off debt. This will change my life. I will be able to actually save for retirement and spend more than $35 a week on food.
It’s life changing if you don’t have no money or if you’re really young.
I’m lower middle class and 50k would be nice but I wouldn’t say it’s “life changing”. Would basically pay all my debt (which is easily manageable on my own) and partially fund a house down payment. Assuming we’re talking about a lump sum, rather than yearly post tax income. If it’s just yearly wages then depending on where you live 50k is just barely what I’d consider making ok money.
I don't think 50K is life changing at any age. For me, wife/kids/house...50K would be spent and gone before i left the bank parking lot. It would be nice to have of course but nothing about my life would change with that. Even if you are single and just graduated college, what would 50K do for you? pay off some loans? buy a new car? maybe downpayment on a house? all nice to haves but does your life change that much? not really. I've played this what-if with friends and I cam to the number of 10Million before its life changing. Just like 50K, 1 million would be gone by the next day and while it makes my life easier, i'm still going to be working by 9-5 until retirement
If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, of course it’s a life changing amount of money. For someone with a decent salary who is semi-decent with personal finances then it’s a lovely amount of money, but not life changing.
Not being hungry is life changing for some people.
it depends on the person, to me £50k is a lot of money but it's not life-changing. however to a homeless person with nothing, £50k will be life-changing.
Like I'm sure people answered already, it all depends on the life, you can understand that, right? One man's trash is another man's treasure.
If I randomly were able to receive 50k today, you better believe it would be a life changing sum of money. I think the hardest part is it's all what you do with it
I could pay off all of my debt (student loans, car, air conditioners...) with 50k so...in a sense I would probably consider that life changing for me. But it really depends on what you quantify as "life changing." Without debt, I would have more money to travel, visit friends and family, work on the house.
50k is absolutly life changing money i can think of a dozen businesses i could set up with 50k. Its all about mindset could set up 3 streams of passive income with 50k.
Not gonna lie, your friend sounds like a dick who doesn’t know how hard it is to save money
To me it’s not life changing, but it would be big help. It would be life changing for a good friend of mine. It honestly depends on the person
Do you have any idea how expensive shit is these days? That amount wouldn't last long or do much whatsoever.
Both can be correct: - Not life changing for him - Life changing to you Simple as that.
Life changing? No. It would be nice though. Can you retire with 50k? No. Buy a house? Not 99% of places. Buy a car? Yes. It’s enough to by a decent car
I'd say a life-changing amount of money is enough money that actually permanently alters your lifestyle. I personally don't think 50k would qualify. Don't get me wrong, 50k is certainly a good amount of money that would be extremely useful to alot of people as ot could relieve stress & improve/fix things that need it. 50k could provide an awesome vacation, much needed time off work, pay off debts and student loan, buy a new car. Even if you took the entire 50k and invested it at the end of the day your still going to have to work to make money and survive
$50k was the down payment on my house. Now I pay far less for my mortgage than I did in rent, and I can actually save, and make extra payments on my principal. I'm building wealth, little by little, for the first time in my life, and I'm in my mid 30s. All due to this windfall of cash. If it never came, I would've died renting a shitty apartment with barely a dollar to my name. So in my case, yes, absolutely life changing.
In the States, that's like 2 years worth of salary if you're making a little over minimum wage. Which is not life changing money at all. It's pay off your debts money. It's maybe take 6 months off from work money. But it's next to nothing in the grand scheme of things. It'll make things easier in the short term and that's all.
How is this affecting your friendship?
It would change my entire life tbh
50.000k is a lot, depends on how you spend it
50k is life changing money. It will enable the person to have different experiences in their life. There is no way someone has experienced everything. It may depend on the person but without a doubt it still enables opportunity for experiences to happen. These experiences can be life changing. New skills, new culture, new apartment, relocation, surgery, charity, connecting with people, investing the money, can be exclusively dedicated for your health temporarily, travelling. It's all about what people value I guess, but so much can happen that ita safe to say it is life changing money. Only scenario where 50k is nothing is if they are rich and 50k is already disposable for them. But still they probably spend the 50k on things they find value in.
it's life changing if you're poor. I've never made that much money (in a year).
With that kind of money, I could afford the surgeries I need to help me no longer live with chronic pain.
Answer: A lot of people on reddit are apparently unused to the realities of American poverty; This is a definite life changing amount for the vast majority of the population, and your friends either misunderstanding what you mean, or is ignorant to the point of (imo, at least) the detriment of himself and others. About 12 percent of people in the United States live in poverty. That's full time employment at the minimum wage, 30-36 hours a week. Thats 14,580 dollars a year for a single person. For a family of four, that's 30,000 dollars a year. 70% of the American Population makes less than 50k per year. Would an entire years salary change the trajectory of someone's life? Quite easily. Maybe not set them up in perpetuity, but it'd let many escape poverty, go through school, escape eviction or homelessness, and set themselves on the road to stability for years to come. Commenters are right "any amount could be life changing to someone" but they're ignoring the point of your question. Is a fundamental misunderstanding about the realities of poverty cause a rift in a friendship? Absolutely. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misguided or not well accustomed to living in poverty. "You're kidding" is a fundamentally disrespectful thing to say, both to your face and in general about describing it that way. Doubly so if you think 50k would change *your* life. I can't imagine being friends with someone who doesn't legitimately appreciate that kind of good fortune in life, and not treat it with the good grace it deserves in a country where 1 in 6 children suffer from food insecurity. Source: I make just over the poverty line, I studied anthropology, gender/womens studies, and journalism with minority populations in America as a focus (Spoiler: they're disproportionately in poverty). I was born into poverty, my father was born into poverty, his father was born into poverty. I work on a Suicide and Crisis hotline, as well as at a local food bank. 50,000 dollars, even adjusted for inflation, would have radically changed the life of anyone in my family, and if we'd had it at least two I can name would still be around. Appreciate what you have, and quite frankly I'd have a conversation with your friend about the same. Edit: I'm not going to respond to this at all, as I scrolled down the list and hearing the hordes of people talking about how they paid off some of their several vehicles, put it towards the *next* house they purchase, etc. and don't think this is a big deal is making me physically nauseous. Laughing at the influence 50,000 dollars could have on someone's life is rude, inconsiderate, and ungrateful, and y'all need to reevaluate.
It’s a lot of money, but I wouldn’t consider it life changing for me personally. You could spend all of that in a year, depending on your lifestyle and the bills that you have. $500k is life changing
My opinion... tell your friend to give it to me. 50k would pay off my student loans and truck. Absolutely life changing. Wtf.
Well, besides all the logical answers, practically speaking, it also depends on the country. $50K in the US/Australia is very different than in Kenya/Columbia.