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Original poster

What do you consider to be a "life changing" sum of money?

146 replies

HaaaaaveyoumetTed · 03/12/2021 14:56

Just that really.

Inspired by another thread where someone won on the pools, and people saying "if it's a life changing sum?"

So what would be a life changing sum to you? I think for me, it'd be enough to pay off my mortgage, which is sizeable.

OP posts:
amysaurus87 · 03/12/2021 17:45

For me it would be at least a million, if not 2.

That would let us pay of the mortgage, extend the house and put money into accounts for children for the future.

FireworkParrot · 03/12/2021 17:48

It's a tricky one. £250k would pay off our mortgage which would be amazing. Realistically though we'd divert the mortgage payment money into pensions and savings towards helping the DC with house deposits (we're in the South East) so although it would be absolutely amazing and help us later on in life day to day I don't think much would change. Which is terrifying!

Justleaveitblankthen · 03/12/2021 17:54

@StarlightStarlight
So? Are you never coming back to tell us how you earn 10k per month? Confused

mrsm43s · 03/12/2021 17:55

We're fairly comfortable as is, mortgage free, savings and investments. Would probably need to be 1,000,000 plus to make a significant difference to our lifestyle. Anything less than that would probably just be shuffled into savings/pension plans and a few home improvement. Lovely to have, but not life changing.

HestersSamplerofCarrots · 03/12/2021 17:59

6 figures. Mid-range.

McKesson · 03/12/2021 18:03

£100k would be enough at this stage of life.

AngelonTopoftheTree · 03/12/2021 18:05

What's life changing though? Winning enough to pay off my mortgage would be great, but I'd still live in this house and would still need to work to pay for living expenses. So for me truly life changing would be enough to pay off debts, give up work, support my children through uni etc... without worrying about where it'll come from. So probably in the millions.

Fleur405 · 03/12/2021 18:06

Same - enough to pay off my mortgage. Having said that even if I won £50k (which really wouldn’t pay off my mortgage) and put it in my pension that would make a big difference to when I could retire.

JurgensCakeBabyJesus · 03/12/2021 18:08

Depends how you define life changing, 250k would clear out mortgage and give us an extra £1000 in the bank each month, which would feel nice. There was a lottery recently with a huge jackpot tens of millions, that would completely change my life and the lives of those I care about. I also would use that kind of money to build and staff a state of the art women's centre in my local area so could be life changing for a lot of people. We couldn't both retire on less than 5 million really, without living a pretty dull existence for a very long time, but we're only mid thirties

Nc123 · 03/12/2021 18:09

Hmm. Maybe half a million would be life changing for us - we would be able to pay off the mortgage on a bigger house, plus save and invest some, and DH could go part time.

Realistically the minimum would be £10k. That would allow me to finish off the work on the current house and cover the costs of moving to a bigger one - so I’d be thrilled with that rn.

Glassofshloer · 03/12/2021 18:11

In my circumstances, 30k plus.

DramaLlllama · 03/12/2021 18:11

Enough to be able to retire very comfortably. So around £5 million would be nice!

HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule · 03/12/2021 18:12

Completely lifechanging (by which I mean being able to change something significantly for our children too) would be 1 million. That would do us quite nicely.

Otherwise 500,000 would allow us to still help out our children in a smaller way, and also allow my husband to retire for the sake of his well-being.

But even 10,000 would be a nice little bonus and would help cover some work being done on the house.

userxx · 03/12/2021 18:13

I won £25 on the premium bonds this month. I'm happy with that.

To be life changing for me I think about £500k.

zighead · 03/12/2021 18:16

Life changing for me would be around £250,000. Pay off the mortgage, have enough for kids university so they don't have to take out loans and enable me to retire earlier.

LemonMuffins · 03/12/2021 18:18

I'd take any amount at the moment, but a million would mean we could buy a decent house and have some change.

knittingaddict · 03/12/2021 18:22

Properly life changing would be £1,000,000 or so.

Our mortgage is paid off, but changing my life wouldn't be enough. If I can't change my adult children's life then I wouldn't be changing mine. Enough to buy my single parent child a house and to enable my other child to have children without being stressed about money. That would do me.

I'm not some kind of saint. Seeing my children properly established and my grandchildren settled would relieve my stress levels considerably. In a way it's a selfish move to want my children provided for too.

Totalwasteofpaper · 03/12/2021 18:25

£1m would do it for me.

£750kThat would pay the mortgage and do the extension we are planning.
Remaining £250k would get invested and then pay for nursery and private secondary education for our child (and their theoretical sibling)

£1.4m would be ideal and give more holidays choices.

hivemindneeded · 03/12/2021 18:26

I once worked out that doing literally everything I've ever wanted to do in my life would cost about £380k. So that would be a good sum.

But it would easy to get greedy. Would love to have more money to help DC. Would love a small place in London when we retire as DH insists on living in the country.

MatildaIThink · 03/12/2021 18:27

Realistically it would need to be multiples of someone's annual income to really change things, a year's income in a lump would be nice, but for most people it would not change their life.

It also depends what stage in life you are at, having a mortgage, having retired, whether you are a non, low, middle or high earner.

Lovinglife45 · 03/12/2021 18:27

A minimum of £350k to pay off mortgage. This would give us £1700 disposable income a month making a significant difference to our lifestyle.

£500k would be even better.
£150k additional for:
Short and long term savings
Top up pensions
Re-train in alternative career

BertieBotts · 03/12/2021 18:30

The demographic of 'poorer' people contesting who think relatively trivial amounts of money are life changing, means they often take the skewed offer.

Isn't the point that those "relatively trivial amounts" are life changing for someone on a lower income?

There must be some kind of formula to work it out. It's probably different if you don't have certain things either.

Like for me life changing would be money for

Driving lessons + car + language course + university fees + nursery fees for however long I study for.

(I guess that would be around 20-30k)

That's not a sum I can currently afford but it's what I'd love to do.

DH is obsessed with buying a house, I'm not sure that paying off a mortgage would be hugely different to paying rent, but he'd love 50k for a deposit. Of course 3-400,000 would buy a house outright and that would be lifestyle changing as we'd have an extra 800ish (1k+ if we paid off all debts too) a month to do what we liked with, which is a pretty big chunk to gain in one go.

I feel like lifechanging = that thing I've always wanted to do (start a business, retrain, move, retire early) but can't afford to, and that thing/price point is different for different people.

Megan1992xx · 03/12/2021 18:40

@BertieBotts

The demographic of 'poorer' people contesting who think relatively trivial amounts of money are life changing, means they often take the skewed offer.

Isn't the point that those "relatively trivial amounts" are life changing for someone on a lower income?

There must be some kind of formula to work it out. It's probably different if you don't have certain things either.

Like for me life changing would be money for

Driving lessons + car + language course + university fees + nursery fees for however long I study for.

(I guess that would be around 20-30k)

That's not a sum I can currently afford but it's what I'd love to do.

DH is obsessed with buying a house, I'm not sure that paying off a mortgage would be hugely different to paying rent, but he'd love 50k for a deposit. Of course 3-400,000 would buy a house outright and that would be lifestyle changing as we'd have an extra 800ish (1k+ if we paid off all debts too) a month to do what we liked with, which is a pretty big chunk to gain in one go.

I feel like lifechanging = that thing I've always wanted to do (start a business, retrain, move, retire early) but can't afford to, and that thing/price point is different for different people.

A good point although that assumes that the contestants on Deal or No Deal have any rational basis for their actions or the calculation of a 'life changing amount' which is somewhat undermined by their reasons for choosing a particular box 'its my lucky number' etc.
FrownedUpon · 03/12/2021 18:41

500k

Staryflight445 · 03/12/2021 18:44

A couple of million.