Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

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:
Ohyoudodoyou · 14/12/2023 14:34

DilemmaDelilah · 14/12/2023 14:31

£200k would mean I could retire now, which would mean that we could have some meaningful time together and a holiday of a lifetime while I still can. I have cancer and I'm not sure how many good years I have left.

Ah I hope you win so that can come true for you.
Sobering to read this, I wish you luck and that you get to do the good things you want to do.

Somatosensational · 14/12/2023 14:38

@Lifechange2023 Sorry for your loss. That was interesting to read as, when my dad died (I was in my early 20s) they were mortgage free and he left her with a reasonably substantial sum, but my mum gave me nothing. This was in spite of him expressing a wish for her to give me £10k. 10 years later she's still given me nothing, just the occasional (but not consistent) £10-15 for birthdays. I did ask her once if she could possibly help me with my deposit, but she said no.

There's so much on this thread that I just can't imagine. I do sometimes wonder how things might have been different if my dad were still alive, since he was quite generous with money. I don't think I'd be scrimping and scraping the way I am with no end in sight. But better not to dwell I think!

MiniStormInATeacup · 14/12/2023 14:42

£20K would pay off debts and that would feel life changing and free up cash.

Another £20k would enable me to purchase a decent electric car which would be amazing

Another £20k could mean I'd be able to do our bathroom over (top spec and underfloor heating).

Another £20k and our mortgage would be paid off. We are happy where we are and would not move or go bigger. Again. This would free up some money.

Another £20k would provide a cushion and maybe let us book a holiday and have a few treats.

So maybe £100k maximum!

Singleandproud · 14/12/2023 14:43

Minimum life changing

£35k to pay off all housing and renovation costs. Would free up £600 a month additional disposable income.

Extravagant life-changing
£600,000 to buy a house on the seafront + enough money to run it, furnish it and have a cleaner for the next X amount of years

Lifechange2023 · 14/12/2023 14:57

Somatosensational · 14/12/2023 14:38

@Lifechange2023 Sorry for your loss. That was interesting to read as, when my dad died (I was in my early 20s) they were mortgage free and he left her with a reasonably substantial sum, but my mum gave me nothing. This was in spite of him expressing a wish for her to give me £10k. 10 years later she's still given me nothing, just the occasional (but not consistent) £10-15 for birthdays. I did ask her once if she could possibly help me with my deposit, but she said no.

There's so much on this thread that I just can't imagine. I do sometimes wonder how things might have been different if my dad were still alive, since he was quite generous with money. I don't think I'd be scrimping and scraping the way I am with no end in sight. But better not to dwell I think!

I am sorry to hear your mum hasn’t helped you out despite being able to. My priority is that the children maintain the standard of living they would have had if their dad was here in so far as i am able to. He didn’t want them to have their uni fees paid and for them to take loans with us topping up, so that’s what i have done. He would have wanted to help them on to the property ladder so I have earmarked money for that. He wouldn’t want them spoilt by money so they don’t have a penny more day to day than they would have had with him. He wasn’t a big fan of the NHS for them when they misdiagnosed our youngest as a baby so I will make sure they always have private cover. The money gives me the opportunity to do that for them. I’ve got a paid off house and a job and anything else is a bonus. I try not to spend the capital because it’s their money eventually so I’d like to leave them as much as possible as their dad would have done .

TheFireflies · 14/12/2023 14:59

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.

I think I’d still work, but probably not in my field. I’d like to own a community micropub with board games etc, but if I did that I’d probably lose all my money and have to go back to social work!

Defaultsettings · 14/12/2023 15:03

£200k would be enough to pay off my mortgage, buy new cars, have a nice holiday and see youngest through university.

SparklingLime · 14/12/2023 15:31

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

OhBling · 14/12/2023 15:37

I think £100k would be life changing as it would allow us to pay off debt (excluding mortgage), do some work to our house and take the pressure off that we have been experiencing.

But for truly life changing as it in would actually change the way we live, we'd need at least £700k,. That would allow us to buy a bigger house in a nicer area without taking on additional debt AND take off some of the pressure we currently feel.

ObliviousCoalmine · 14/12/2023 16:30

@SparklingLime bit unreasonable. There isn't a room to read really; everyone has made similar comments to @GreatGateauxsby

Arguably, the only one not 'reading the room', is you.

Gettingcolder · 14/12/2023 19:14

£300k to be debt free and as I have very little pension, probably another £500k to retire a few years early.

xogossipgirlxo · 14/12/2023 19:18

Half a million to buy a house. Then I wouldn’t have to pay rent/mortgage and could save for retirement, son’s education etc. Thinking about how insignificant amount of money it must be for i.e. Jeff Bezos, makes me think even more about inequalities and we are the lucky ones anyway!

Sopla · 14/12/2023 19:23

18k to pay off debts, 160k would buy me a flat i love on rightmove near me with no mortgage, 20k for buying stuff I need and a bit of spending money.

so 200k all in would be amazing but even just the 18k would be life changing.

ABCXYZ17 · 14/12/2023 19:23

115K to pay off the mortgage. 10K to pay off the car loan. Around 30K for a new roof and work needed on the house. 60K to pay my DD through uni and pay tuition fees. So around 250K would be life changing!

HappyMavis · 14/12/2023 19:27

£3,723,169.

This would make a great article in the Daily Mail btw.

Mouthouch · 14/12/2023 19:31

I’m early 30s so life changing would have to be a large amount. I can’t imagine I could give up work without that or take on a bigger mortgage/house etc. that I couldn’t sustain in the future.

Im going to go with a million.

willyconker · 14/12/2023 19:32

Depends really. £50k would give me a great extension. But £200k would pay off my mortgage and so I wouldn't need to work.

Original poster
Weddingpuzzle · 14/12/2023 20:28

@HappyMavis I did put that you don't have to write figures, just less or more than me. No need for the comment about DM, I bloody hate that rag.

@xogossipgirlxo it is interesting isn't it? It really does show inequality, it's a sliding scale isn't it, because some people on here need a lot more than me for it to be life changing.

Whereas I feel quite privileged (in my town I am definitely in the top 10% of household income, very deprived area of West Yorkshire) but clearly I'm probably low average in terms of assets/income.

The amount some people have left on their mortgages would give me a heart attack. 500k would get you a 7 bed farm here.

Whereas in other places in the world £10k would be a life changing amount.

OP posts:
Beezknees · 14/12/2023 20:58

I'd need a fair amount to be honest. I'm single, 34, with no savings, barely any pension and don't own a home.

I think it would have to be a million. Enough to buy a house outright, help out DS with a deposit and put enough in my pension to not have to worry about retirement. I'd still work, but it would be nice just to have to work for "treat" money and not have rent to pay!

reluctantbrit · 14/12/2023 21:08

£150K would mean we can pay off the mortgage, fund some home improvements and fund DD through university

£1M would mean this and me retiring early

£3M would mean DH and I could retire early

Anonymouslyposting · 14/12/2023 21:24

Around £800k would have us mortgage free in the area we are hoping to move to next year in a house that would do for at least the next 10 years. That would be the amount I’d need to not need to work and so would give me the flexibility to work properly part time and spend time with the children.

Anything under £500k would be amazing, but not life changing immediately - obviously the mortgage would be paid off sooner which would be life changing in future but not much would change in the next few years.

Horrace · 14/12/2023 21:33

Newsenmum · 14/12/2023 12:27

Why that exact amount?

Show quote history

My husband and I both have large families we want to take care of.
We need acres of land for our equestrian business for the daughter. And more land for the animal sanctuary.
Then money to train unemployable youths in animal husbandry to run both centres.
It all takes lots of cash.
I've thought it all through 😁

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 14/12/2023 22:28

That was a very unpleasant and unnecessary comment there @SparklingLime .

This is very much a fantasy thread - what would people find a life changing amount of money - some people have said £20k, others looking at millions . Somebody used the phrase 'life softening' and I think those who have said lower amounts are looking more realistically as to what would make their life more comfortable- but still having to work etc

BIossomtoes · 14/12/2023 22:31

I’d love £500k. Two of our kids are really comfortably off and own houses, the other two are far worse off. I’d love to give the “poor” two enough money to transform their lives and have some of the things they can only dream of.

Not19foreverpullyourselftogether · 14/12/2023 22:36

£800k I think

£200k to pay off the mortgage
£100k savings (pension pot?)
£400k to set DC up for the future
£50k new car
£50k holidays over 5 years until DC are independent

Swipe left for the next trending thread