Hookers and blow.

No regrets.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Sort of, we were paper millionaires back in the day of booming internet stocks because my wife worked for Amazon fairly early on. Crash happened before she vested in her first year, so we ended up with only somewhere around $10k I think. I bought my first high end road bike, she took a NOLS trip to east Africa.

I inherited some money when my mother died. She was a child of the Depression and pretty frugal, but she was a teacher and so thought money for education was a good expense, and she thought travel was good for the mind and soul.

I spent my inheritance primarily on undergrad and law school. But I did a junior year abroad and traveled a lot then, and spent a year backpacking after college. The majority of those travel costs were financed by my inheritance. I don't regret those expenditures at all, in fact that is some of the best money I've ever spent, and I think my mother would have approved.

Experiences are superior to objects. Travelling is a great way to spend money.

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who's smarter than you're? i'm!

That seems to be the consensus, and it's certainly been true for me. The shorthand for it that I developed years ago was that I'm happiest when I have the fewest keys in my life. When backpacking, at most I might have a room key for the place I'm staying. Responsible adult life I have car keys, house keys, backup keys for my father's house, key card for the office, key card for the gym, key card for the daycare, keys for the gun safe, etc. etc.

Life gets better the fewer keys you have.

We had a couple blow-out meals this year and expectations were way up there. They were good, not amazing, and at those prices you ought to be amazed.

The very best meals have been street food.

So I get the appeal of a spree, but a question I'd ask is 'how much fun is this going to be' versus 'is this somebody else's idea of deluxe'

I have had no inheritance yet nor life insurance payouts (thank goodness).

But if I were you and you got all of David Ramsey's baby steps in I'd consider doing a 50/50 split. Half on something fun such as a dream vacation and half into savings or need such as a new roof or vehicle.

nope ....funeral costs.

IM Lake Tahoe 2013 got a large chunk of an inheritance.
That day made a lifetime of memories for me.
I know that this shit to the other forum........

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2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla

I’m thinking of funding a family trip rafting the Grand Canyon. So- deluxe for me because I’m not washing the dishes or cleaning the groover at the end if we go commercial- but still camping- just somewhere really cool.

We got a small (still 5 figures, but on the lower side) unexpectedly from my husbands uncle’s estate recently and it put us over the top on the cash injection needed to start building our house, so that’s what we did. It was money in, money out, but we’ve got a foundation! Wouldn’t have anything yet without it. Half of me would rather have gone to Hawaii for a couple of months, but having OUR house will be worth it a year from now.

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Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

A tiger doesn't change its stripes. If you pissed money away in the past, you'll piss this money away. If you have been frugal in the past, you will likely save most of the money.

We've had a couple of inheritances; one from the summer known as the death of the Richards when my wife and I lost an uncle each both named Richard within three weeks.

The second from a grandparent

In both instances all of it went to investments but we did spend salary on additional vacations we might not have done; Japan, Mauritius, Maldives, India and Thailand.

Nope. Put every cent away to help pay for my son's college education.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

My daughter inherited $40K from her grandmother on her mom's side. She had just graduated and was 22 at the time. She spent the next year travelling all over Europe. Came home a year later. I picked her up at the Toronto airport and she informed me she had a job lined up in Calgary and then asked if I could pay for her flight. I asked her what happened to the $40 K. to which she responded "uh dad, I kinda spent it". Needless to say, I paid for the flight to Calgary. Her grandmother was frugal all her life and would have assumed the money would be used on the down payment on a house or something. She'd be turning over in her grave.

Forget that - I would have told her to find her own way there. $40,000 and you can't save $600 of it for a flight?

Well, she's my daughter. I wasn't going to let her hitch hike.

If it makes you feel better my parents got an inheritance and blew more than it to the extent I had to loan them money to pay their mortgage while they dealt with a windfall hangover.

This is part of why I’m questioning blowing it for fun. I have always been the responsible one. That and watching my mom get dementia in her 60s - maybe I should make some family memories now as the future is not guaranteed. I know my mom would be proud of me if I blew it on something fun.

I have a male acquaintance that worked as a male model. Somehow, he ended up working for the family that owns Abercrombie and Fitch. I think he served as a steward or something. He flew with them everywhere they went on their private jet. He didn't make much money, but got to travel a lot and stay at 5 star hotels and resorts. He was telling me that he felt bad because he wasn't making a lot of money and that it wasn't much of a career. I reminded him that people work and save all of their lives so that they can travel when they retire, but he was getting to do it while he was young and could carry the memories for the rest of his life.

I spoke with a couple of years ago and he had met a girl and gotten married, and was looking for a job that didn't require travel.

Two years ago our family decided that instead of buying a lot of gifts for each other, we would take a family vacation after Christmas. We went to New Orleans. We didn't take another trip this past Christmas, but that was somewhat because of the emotional toll that hurricane Michael took on us - we just weren't up for planning another trip. But, next year and beyond we will do that.

We still talk about NOLA, but I can't remember hardly any recent discussions about the gifts we gave at Christmas other than the car I bought my wife.

Enjoy the rafting trip!

When the condo prices in Vancouver where through the roof and beyond, I sold my condo. Took wife and daughter business class flight with Lufthansa for a tour of Europe. It was fantastic. Sucked big time when we flew again in economy.

Things are a lot easier when you don't know what you are missing.

One argument in defense of my daughter is that she had a year of travel that she will likely never have again in her life. Travel is mind broadening. Wasn't a waste. She spent time in Paris and Brussels speaking French and about eight weeks in Berlin improving her German language skills. She studied languages at university before switching to fashion design (mistake IMHO, but her choice) so the trip definitely had benefits. Before she left I told her to put half of the $40 K into the bank and come home when the other $20. K is gone. But what do parents know? I'm actually surprised at my 29 yr old son. He now phones me up to ask about advice regarding lots of different stuff. He wouldn't do that ten years ago because I was an idiot and knew nothing back then. I must have learned a lot in the last ten years.

Friend of the family was on his way out a few years ago so I went to visit. He asks me to get his briefcase. He pops it open and pulls out 5 grand in hundreds with a band around it. Gives it to me and tells me to not tell anyone about this and spend it on something fun. So I bought a scott plasma on sale for 2300 and a new wetsuit and used it to set up a clownfish tank with a high end german lighting system. Quite often when I am using the bike or looking at the tank I think of him.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Travel is great! But nothing beats having no debt. I wouldn't exchange a trip for the feeling I had when I made my last mortgage payment. Not sure about your financial situation, but i would pay all debt before having fun with a large sum of money. I know it's not sexy but I was walking 5 inches taller when the bank stopped owning my ass...

A close friend of mine with a nascent gambling problem inherited a six-figure sum from his grandfather when he was in his early 20s. He blew through all of it over the course of about three years.

I had an employee who was broke. He said he had a $10,000 insurance settlement once and blew it all on a weekend in Vegas and cane home broke again. I asked why he did that.

His answer- I figured I would never have $10,000 again.

Wow. I could never be that irresponsible.

I know a woman who blew $250,000. over a ten year period gambling at a local casino. Her husband had a contracting business and she was a stay at home mom but did his books. She slipped the money out of the business and gambled in the day time while he was at work. He had a heart attack and died worrying about the business paying the bills. That's when she sought help for her addiction.

I inherited a few bones from my father and bought a roof and am having much needed work done on the house. It was all part of our plan to do before his passing so feel no guilt about the money being spent. I will buy a third income property somewhere to stay afloat and continue to work part time and volunteer full time to afford my travel addiction.

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DISH is how we do it.

Wow. They apparently say people who win the lottery often wish they didn’t. Things change often for the negative. I think inheritance and big payouts can be a similar scenario.

I will have some coming in from my Dad’s estate if the IRS ever gets through the backlog. Once I know exactly what I’m getting (I already have one account but have no idea how much is in a second account), I plan to pay off everything. My brother (Executor) seems to think I will be able to pay off my house. That would be great since I just bought it five years ago so have a long way to go ( though I doubt if I will live here past the time I stop working - approx. 5 years).

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

In the early 90’s I had just graduated from University and was trying to figure out what do do with my life that wouldn’t bore me to tears. I laid down a four game parlay bet on some hockey long shots for $20 and made $6500.

I was kind of drifting through life at the time and mentioned to my mom that I might buy a car. Her response was: “why would you do that? I figured you would be off travelling by now.”. Of course she was right. I headed off to the Humane society, adopted my first dog and hitchhiked to Georgia to thru-hike the Appalachian trail. Fantastic experience. Bonded me to the greatest dog to ever live. Met some great friends who ended up employing me in California for a couple years and solidifying my chef skills. Met my ex-wife (no regrets). All that plus I got to see what I look like skinny and emaciated!

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

If you are otherwise in good shape financially blow at least some of it. My wife’s mom is still alive and while stable they her family never really had a whole lot extra. She sold the house when my FIL passed a couple of years ago, so we will see what’s left when the time comes. She’s been gifting my son the max allowable ever since and as that money has all gone into his college fund we benefit as well and as of last year, with grandma’s help, my wife has salted away 100k+ for that education.

My folks are both still alive thankfully. Dad is in good health for his age (75) while mom is still struggling to get her mojo back after fighting through breast cancer. When they do inevitably pass I will probably inherit a good deal of assets and cash. My folks did fairly well when they worked and are frugal as all fuck. My dad also inherited from my grandmother a section of irriigable farmland that is worth approx 3M currently.

None of this is, of course, guaranteed and our financial plans do not include counting on inheritance windfall. My wife will have an aneurysm if I don’t invest the majority of what comes my way, but I will absolutely spend a good chunk on something fun my dad would approve of. Separate issue from the original post, but I have at least two friends that are absolutely banking their financial futures on what they assume will be a sizable inheritance. I think that’s crazy, stupid and lazy.

Nothing says 'teachable moment' like a 3 day Greyhound trip through the praries though...

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Long Chile was a silly place.

My son has done that but by train a couple of times. He says BC is spectacular in the observation cars, but the prairies are a three day snooze fest. I hitch hiked across Canada at age 19 and was amazed at the vastness of the prairies. I've always said every Canadian should drive across the prairies once in their lives just to get a feel for the place. All those jokes about watching your dog run away for three days, etc. But you only need to do it once. Feel free to fly over it any other time.

I've never done 'the drive' but know a guy who cycled it. Took him 4 months and was the best experience of his life. He had a trailer and tent, etc and camped along the way, people took him in, he helped on farms etc for a week here or there for some cash for food.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

My dentist did that when he was young. Said it was a really long journey from the Alberta foothills until the Ontario lakehead. Did it with another young fella and his experiences were amazing. People were really good to them. Found the same thing when I hitch hiked many years ago. No cell phones or other electronic thingies back in our day which made it even more of an adventure.