If You Had $500,000, What Would You Do?

I would donate some to charities that have a proven track record .. these might include children with disabilities and/or abused children.
Additionally, I would want to grow the money and therefore would look into some rental property and or other investments. By growing the money, in the long run, it would allow me to keep my charities going and provide for my family.

Pay off debt, probably save a little, and play a LOT! I'd like to go to the grocery store just O. time in my life without worrying about how much I'm spending!! I honestly don't even know how much money that is. I'd love stability in my savings account, a house, and money in my children's college funds... but I'd also love to spoil myself rotten ;)

Wow, I thought I'd be more creative than that, but nope... that's the best I can do!

I would pay off my car loan and all my medical bills. I would use the rest to build a house with my boyfriend and son. If there was any left over I would use it to start a photography business.

Go out to dinner to celebrate. In Italy. Forget to come home :)

Hmmmm, pisses me off our school district is laying off some 'non-essentials'. Awesome programs run by awesome peeps.....could help there I think.

Would buy modest houses for family members without O., and pay off my own modest house.

Travel a little with the kids, help more than I already do with their higher education.....

Invest.

In that order!

So what would YOU do Denise? I mean after you get a good accountant?

:)

buy me a house that is paid for maybe 100k and get absoulute necessities and the rest I would pick people out of a crowd. ex if i knew a single mom barely making it and her car was crapping out I would spend about 3k to buy her a dependable O.. if i knew someone whos house burnt down I would buy them a house. or maybe just pay moving expenses and some needed stuff for them. or if a couple was broke down on the side of the highway I would pay to get thier car fixed if they didnt have the money for it. or if a mom with a baby was short on her groceries I would buy her groceries for them. stuff like that

I would have my husband quit his job and help him get a job closer to home making less $.

We do not have any debt but our household debt, but it is still enough to keep him on the road for work.

He sacrifices so much for his family and I would love to be able to give him something that allowed him to be home.

(and save the rest for our children)

Pay off the mortgage! Wow, talk about a stress reliever.

Then, put $50,000 away for my son's college fund, give $50,000 to my parents as a thank you for all they've done for us, $20,000 to each of my brothers, uncles and aunt, $10,000 to a local children's charity and donate the rest to my favorite animal charities.

I think of this all the time when I see the billboards for the lottery!

RETIRE!!

We live debt free except for a small amount owed on the house ,we are pretty well set for retirement and daughter's college is funded. We are planners.

$500,000 is not that much money but it would put us in a position to completely retire and my husband could enjoy himself for a while. He has sacrificed many years of hard work to provide as well as he has these past 25 yrs. We are very fortunate and thankful.

We'd pay the mortgage balance, probably sell our company, save the rest for any retirement needs, travel, and daughter's wedding someday.

Pay off my mortgage, put some into each kids college fund and buy my hubby a brand new truck!

Well, O. can dream can't they!!
HA!
I would pay off our debt...which together we just have about $5,000 and then pay my husband's debt, which is about $36,000.
I would put aside $60,000 a kid (so that's $180,000) for them to go to school. I would have to get a financial planner or something so I could figure out how to make that money MAKE me money!
I would buy a house.
I would take a family vacation...for a month.

Pay my house off, pay my cars off, and pay my student loans off. After that, take O. really nice vacation and then save the rest (bonds, savings, college accounts, etc.) Wouldn't it be nice... :)

Denise, I would move to PENNSYLVANIA! Buy a house, two new vehicles and put the rest away for my childrens' education. Then continue on as if we didnt have the money. Most of my husbands family is on the east coast and we want so badly to move near them. His parents live outside of Pittsburgh. Want to be neighbors?! ;)

Move into a house our family fits in comfortably, not living on top of each other. Keep this O. as a rental for the investment and extra income. We have no credit card debt and our cars are already paid off so we wouldn't need it for that thankfully. Our biggie is we need a bigger house so everyone can have their own room again and a separate office for my husband would be good, not a corner in our bedroom ;)

Pay off my debts. Then take my dream vacation to Venice Italy.

My house is paid for, no car loan and my kids are all grown up. Yes, I would make careful investments and help my kids.

I would pay off ALL my debt, pay off my son's college loans and his college for the next two years (he's only a Sophmore), put money away for my 4yr old's college education. I would put at least half of the rest into savings/investments and an emergency fund. With the rest which would be around $100 K I would donate to the church, help some struggling family members, and other charitable causes.

OMG. Where do I start???
First - pay off all my credit debt.
Then it would be the car. Then the mortgage. After that I would probably save some of it. Then I would see if there is some left to take my family on a vacation and then go on a little shopping spree!!!
Hopefully after that, I would be able to have a part time job so I could spend more time with my kids :)
I am sure there are several other little things I would do - but those are the major ones!!
Ahhhh....now I am sitting here dreaming about it. Thanks!

First I would go down to my SO's work, trade in his vehicle for a bigger O. and pay any fee's.
Then later tonight I would take us all out for a steak and rib dinner to celebrate.
Pay off the mortgage, start the addition, landscape the yards, and remodel the bathroom and kitchen.
Give my SO some money for our hot rod
Travel to a few destinations
Save the rest.

In my town nearly every house is for sale under $200,000, most around $125,000. That is large, multi-level homes with 2 car garages, the full works. Beautiful homes in exclusive neighborhoods. Housing prices are down so low that it's nuts.

I would pay cash for a house under $200,000, pay off all student loans, pay off any outstanding debt as in credit card, medical bills from open heart surgery and other health issues, and buy 2 new/program cars/vehicles. I would still have cash left over by the way...

Pay down a big chunk of our mortgage, complete fix-it projects around our house, invest some for our kids' college education, and donate a bunch to our city's awesome public school system, to an awesome nonprofit org that helps provide resources to under-served urban public schools, and other favorite non-profit/charitable organizations.

Take part of it and invest for retirement. Take the other part and buy a farm, which we would live, but would also be a non-profit designed to teach kids and families about stewardship of the earth and animals, and where our food comes from. We'd have goats, a couple of horses, chickens, a couple of sheep, and a garden and fruit trees. Sort of along the lines of http://www.stratfordecologicalcenter.org/.

Oh, Denise, you dream too small! My "what if"s usually go something like: "What if I won $40,000,000 in the lottery? What would I do?" I have VAST scenarios where I give all my relatives and close friends loads of $$ so we could all enjoy life, spend maybe a couple mil and save the rest for the kids' inheritance, hubs could quit his job if he wanted, I'd certainly get a tummy tuck, and our son (who is on the Autism spectrum) would be set for life. Dreams, dreams, dreams!! With half a mil, I'd be able to pay down *most* of our mortgage and other debt, but not all, and our daily life wouldn't change much, sadly...I'd still get that tummy tuck, though!

Well, first pay off all our debt. Sell my house, move and pay cash for my next house and save the rest for college for the kids and for our retirement. That would be soo nice..... :)

Pay off the tax man first!!! LOL

Them, pay off my house, pay off my sister's house, put the rest in an interest bearing account/IRA/something to plan against my son's college tuition and my retirement.

Gosh, just not having a house note every month would be wonderful and allow me to save even more!!!!!!

Pay off any debt and save it for retirement. You will need it. We did a good job with our retirement savings but if I got a surprise $500,000, I would still just save it.

wow! what a dream! I'd buy a house, pay off my parents and MIL. Then invest some for kids college. If there was any left savings, or invest.
That would be great! Are you offering? LOL :)

Aaahhh Denise:

We have no debt other than the house. I'd probably pay off the mortgage. Then get the new Hardi-board siding ($50k) and my deck replaced ($25K).

I'd give my parents $100K.
I'd give my sister $12,999K (as a gift so she wouldn't have to pay taxes on it).
I'd give my best friend $12,999 (again a gift).
I'd go down to the local VA hospital and help out our vets with what's left over.

Pay off some of the mortgage, hands down and refinance. Our monthly payment would go way down. That would be a blessing!

Definitely pay off all debt first, including mortgage, put a nice chunk in a rainy day savings account, then put a hefty amount in retirement, and the rest in son's college fund.

EDITED: I'd also put some money in a retirement account for my parents. My dad doesn't have nearly enough in an account to retire, well, maybe ever. He says he's gonna have to work til he's dead. And that's probably not all that far from the truth. My mom never had a retirement account. So I'd definitely put money away for them, too. Probably before mine, and before my son's college fund. Ok, and I'd try to keep a little bit aside, to take my family on a nice, at least week-long vacation to someplace wonderful. We've never done that. We take little 3 and 4 day trips to places we can drive (which is fun), but we've never been able to have an all-out family vacation extravaganza, and that would be the only frivolous thing I think I'd do...

Damn it, Denise, now you got me all p'd off thinking about all the money I DON'T have. ;P

Um, not to be nosey, but did you hit the Powerball? lol

Buy my husband a new truck, put up all vinyl fencing around our farm...then put the rest in savings.

Roll around naked in it? I would definitely enjoy throwing it in the air a whole bunch like they do in the movies. :-) The sad truth of the matter is that I would pay off all of my debt, then I'd probably plan a vacation with my immediate family. Then I'd renovate my current house, since we're expecting a new baby soon and are quickly running out of room. I really wish I would do something totally wild with it, like buy a Ferrari, but with kids and car seats, that's just not me anymore.

Pay off all loans and the mortgage.
Take a great family vacation.
Save for kids college.
Make some donations.
Remodel my kitchen and bathroom.
Put the rest into savings/investments.

First, landscape our church since the state is widening the road through the front yard of the church. Second, pay it forward. I would look to help someone the way we were helped. Third, pay off debt.

What would you do?

Sell my house for whatever someone would offer (rather than hoping they offer at least what it's assessing for) without worrying about the major financial "hit". Then I would use the $$$ to pay cash for a house in FL near my family and then take my time finding a job down there and let my husband actually take a vacation.

The really scary thing is that $500,000 doesn't get you much today!

Buy retirement home, cash. Put the rest away.

Pay off our mortgage, then bank most of it for retirement and the kids' college funds. Part of the remainder would go to charity and the rest I'd use on some upgrades around our house.

Pay off our debt, buy a new car, buy a house and save the rest. Man, I wish I was get $500K, that would be soooo nice

id stay where i was, make my house and yard perfect, college for me and my kids, invest the rest.

how boring am i?

I would immediately take out what is equal to 6 months of our household income and stick into savings. Most of the rest of the money would go toward a down payment on a new home. My husband and I would each receive a small but fun amount, say $5000, to do with as we pleased - no questions asked (as long as it wasn't illegal or harmful to the relationship).

First, I would pay off my husbands extensive student loans and give him an allotment because he really wants to go back to school for his Masters and his teaching certificate.

I would then take care of any small bills we have (very piddly, we don't have credit cards etc.). Once that is done and I've given some to my family for them to enjoy as well I have two options.

I would either buy a plot of land away from town so I could build a house and have a small farm. I would love to be able to let my children run and play to their hearts content and learn that way as children should.

Or, we would take a trip around the world to see the places we only dream of right now such as Japan, India, Turkey, Greece, London, etc.

I'd repair all the stuff that broke since Dh deployed (Murphy's law...everything goes wrong the minute they walk out the door!) such as the car, the roof, the windows, well water treatment, hot water heater, ceiling in garage, shall I go on? Then I'd finish our basement with all the extras of a cool "pad" for guests. Renovate our kitchen and update a lot in the house (we bought recently and found out that it has not be updated EVER).
The rest we'd use to pay off debts and put in savings...and take a VACATION!

WOW -tax free? Now I know it's a dream ;-)

I would pay off our mortgage, so that would be about $140K and I would buy my husband a new car/truck. We love his, but it's old and starting to become a money pit.

I would investigate the best fund(s) to stick all but $50,000 into for retirement, and kid's college funds -we have both of these, but I would like to invest in more if I could. I would find some way to save it that would yield me the best return on my money. Actually, thinking about it, I would probably use some of it to buy several of the foreclosed houses in our neighborhood, mow them down and sit on the lots until the market comes back.

With $50,000 I would finish getting a few things I want for our house and yard, and we would take a family vacation to Kauai this summer with a nanny as well as Disneyworld in October. We're planning on the beach and then Disney in October anyway -but I would reserve O. of the Animal Kingdom suites! I would definitely pay O. of our trusted sitters to stay with our kids for 4 or 5 days so my husband and I could get away alone together!

pay off debt and get a better house in a good market, get newer car not new, put a lot into a retirement fund, help my parents with a few financial things, buy gold. put some aside for my kids. donate to what God called me to. upgrade my husbands computer to whatever he wanted. figure out something for myself.

Pay off dept. Pre pay childrens college tution, remodel home, buy new car and invest in a secure investment so that I could live worry free. and donate to my church. I dont want to be rich I just want to be worry free......

I would pay off car and house and put an addition on the house since we only have 2 bedrooms now and it is me and 2 kids. Then I would invest the rest for when I am old and I already have no money and will have nothing the rest of my life and I will have no where to go once I can't care for myself in my home, so I would invest it so I could live in O. of those nursing homes. Is that pathetic? I would also try to purchase some decent health insurance for me and my kids.

I would pay off my house to eliminate paying all the high interest. To guarantee me always a home. Pay off rest of any debts. The remainder research for high interest bearing investment.

I'd pay off the mortgage and put what ever remains into our son's collage fund. The mortgage is the only debt we have.
With no debt our salaries go a long way.