Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

What would be your 'life changing' amount of money?

131 replies

Weddingpuzzle · 14/12/2023 12:00

What would be your life changing amount of money? I always read about and hear about people receiving a 'life changing' amount of money through inheritance, a lottery win or some kind of insurance payout and wonder how people measure it?

I have worked mine out and I have two figures - a life changing one off lump sum would be £11,912 - I would have £518 extra a month to play with and it would make a massive difference to my wellbeing (this is unsecured debt for my car and a loan leftover from divorce related destitution and it really stresses me out) I earn well though and our household income is good and I have a plan, so this will be paid off before I am fifty in 6 years.

To be debt free I'd need my mortgage paying off so £168,356 - this would be lifechanging because I could work less. Currently work FT, as well as freelancing and studying. You don't need to give approx circs/figures if you aren't comfortable - happy for you to say you'd need less or more than me. I am just interested to see if I am average?

OP posts:
mycatsanutter · 14/12/2023 12:52

£100k then that's mortgage paid off with £30k left that would be life changing being able to save /spend the mortgage payment each month

TheFireflies · 14/12/2023 12:54

£250k would pay off the mortgage, pay for some renovations which are looming, and enable me to buy a new car. Life softening is a good word, as I’d still have to work.

£3million would allow me to give up work, which would be life changing and probably life extending, as I’m pretty sure my job is putting me into an early grave.

ISpyNoPlumPie · 14/12/2023 12:55

This is an interesting question and it has made me realise that I’d love our mortgage to be paid off (it’s a hefty one, must have over 500k left) but I don’t want “life altering money”. I want my life how it is without a mortgage 😁don’t we all!!!

MaidOfSteel · 14/12/2023 12:58

Enough to buy a bungalow in a rural area, so we'd have no rent to pay. My husband receives a pension that would be enough to live on if we didn't have that big chunk to pay out every month. That's all I want. Probably £250K.

WildFlowerBees · 14/12/2023 12:59

Over 80 million I have grand plans 😬

Original poster
Weddingpuzzle · 14/12/2023 13:01

@TheFireflies would you entirely give up work or would you find work that gives a good balance and cuts out the toxicity?

I'd like a semblance of work, I'd probably buy an amazing camera and do one very creative job a month and the editing it entails. Just sick of my NHS job and 50 hour weeks. Sick of £500 going on debt too. Like @ISpyNoPlumPie I like the bones of my life - just some tweaks financially would change it for the better. I'd be worried that my DC and DH would change internally with 148 million at their disposal. Plus risk and safety issues.

OP posts:
Original poster
Weddingpuzzle · 14/12/2023 13:02

DS2 (16) would DEFINITELY change for the worse if we got rich. He's obsessed with money.

OP posts:
OnlyFoolsnMothers · 14/12/2023 13:02

100k- would allow me next house up
on the property ladder

Santababy45 · 14/12/2023 13:02

£200k this would pay off the mortgage, pay uni fees & pay off debt. Put a chunk towards pension and have a decent amount of savings.
At the moment I have £0 in savings. The tiniest pension and no workplace pension, nothing saved for sons uni as couldn't afford to save anything. Im in a slightly better position now which means no help towards fees but still nothing left at the end of the month due to paying off debt accumulated due to covid.

therealcookiemonster · 14/12/2023 13:04

no money. but a lifetime supply of unlimited cookies of all types.

ObliviousCoalmine · 14/12/2023 13:05

Weddingpuzzle · 14/12/2023 13:02

DS2 (16) would DEFINITELY change for the worse if we got rich. He's obsessed with money.

I'm very vague with what the children have potential access to. They have a trust they don't know about set up by a relative etc.

Luckily they don't seem obsessed or concerned by it all, but I don't know if that's because I've never really spoken about it (negatively or positively - we have been skint and much less skint over the years).

Original poster
Weddingpuzzle · 14/12/2023 13:10

@ObliviousCoalmine I think DS2 is obsessed with it because he's had a life of two halves. His Dad's family are very well off and I had to use food banks when I left his DF. So I whilst I don't really talk about it I think he's seen me struggle and resents that (and me) a bit. DS1 and DD seem oblivious to financial stuff but they are creatives 😁

Maybe 148 million would change anyone but I don't want to test that!

OP posts:
shivawn · 14/12/2023 13:11

I'm not sure any amount would actually be life changing because I like my life the way it is. I love my job and my house so I wouldn't want to change either of them.

It would be nice to have the mortgage paid off so I'd need 465k for that.

mrsm43s · 14/12/2023 13:11

TBH, we're quite financially comfortable (mortgage free in forever home/good incomes/final salary pensions/comfortable savings and investments), so to be really life changing it would probably have to be a really big sum of multiple millions, and I'm not necessarily sure that would be life changing in a good way. I think perhaps an extra half a million to a million would be nice and would allow us to spend as we wished for the rest of our lives.

SilverAntelope · 14/12/2023 13:13

All I want is £100,000

bonzaitree · 14/12/2023 13:18

£500k would pay off the house, so that would do nicely thanks universe!

🤣

Chasingsquirrels · 14/12/2023 13:21

I think for me life changing would have to be enough to be utterly mind-set changing.
I'm middle aged, homeowner with no mortgage, reasonable savings and pension provision.
Work part time around 20hrs per week in a profession.
I could probably stop work now, but I still worry about whether my finances would actually support it, and what I'd do - while I could stop work I wouldn't have the funds to suddenly start travelling the world.

So I think several millions, to make me feel secure enough to stop work and not worry about the future.

distinctpossibility · 14/12/2023 13:25

£500k for me - would put £100k aside for each DC leaving £100k; would use the remainder to have an extra £800ish "income" each month for the next decade so DH could reduce his hours to 30ish a week. I would love for us all to have more time together.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 14/12/2023 13:25

AuContraire · 14/12/2023 12:42

I wonder about this often.

I'd love to pay off the mortgage, but DH keeps saying to me "why? What are you going to do with that extra money each month? You're just going to save it for some unknown future event, you wouldn't spend it, so being mortgage free will not make a difference to our lives."

I suppose he has a point.

That said, £100k would be great to do some immediate nice-to-haves (house projects, new cars, a nice big family holiday).

£500k would be life-changing in that 'normal life' would have no money worries.

I don't think I'd enjoy a millionaire lifestyle Blush

Being mortgage free isn’t just about having more money in your pocket every month. It removes a huge burden that you carry and gives you freedom to earn less whether through choice or force. And of course, if you own something outright it is still collateral that you can either sell or borrow against, should you need to.

Pinkyandperky011 · 14/12/2023 13:25

We are comfortable so can afford the things we need but I am too tight to spend it on heating the house all the time so a few thousand 'won' to put the heating on as much as I like for a few winters without guilt would be life changing for me (for a few years at least)!

MintJulia · 14/12/2023 13:26

£40k.

I could pay off the mortgage, have the necessary remaining things done to my house and then stop work.

I could have 6 months off and then find something part time and relatively stress free. Sigh....🙂

15PiecesOfFlair · 14/12/2023 13:26

£100k should buy me that week at Centre Parcs I've always dreamed of...

AlltheFs · 14/12/2023 13:28

£1m

£500k would clear the mortgages but wouldn’t be life changing. Another £500k would mean investing for early retirement which would be huge.

I’d very happily accept £20 right now though.

godlikeAI · 14/12/2023 13:29

£5m so I could invest and live off interest, as well as have enough to start a few businesses. The idea being to make a growing amount of money from money, not from my labour

TomatoSandwiches · 14/12/2023 13:30

therealcookiemonster · 14/12/2023 13:04

no money. but a lifetime supply of unlimited cookies of all types.

😂 if, no when I win my millions I will make sure you have all the cookies you could ever want.

Swipe left for the next trending thread