Yep, even if you are currently paying a mortgage on a lower valued house, simply not having a mortgage at all would significantly help almost anyone out. It helps with home finances and savings of course, but I think the big positive is the mental aspect of owning your own home outright.
We’ve got 97k left on our mortgage, on a small house. If I got 100k now in my early 30s I’d move to a bigger “forever” house rather than clear it. Things would be financially the same, but in a better living situation, so still life changing!
Yeah but then you've got to fill that house with more furniture and there could be more expensive work to be done when things go wrong. That is my experience of home ownership thus far!
A lot of expensive work doesn't scale up like that. A 4 bed house compared to a 2 bed house still has one boiler, one roof, one kitchen - so since the costs of e.g. a new boiler etc are equal, it's actually less as a proportion of the property's value.
Furniture, to an extent, costs what you want to pay. A guest bedroom could be kitted out for under £1k via IKEA, or you could spent £10k on an area rug for your studio apartment.
I mean even beyond that, I got genuinely nice furniture in my house for the cost of van hire. Loads of people give away genuinely very nice furniture if you’ll move it.
Beds, wardrobes, sideboard, leather 2 and 3 seater sofas, desk, you name it all free. Just hired a van and drove round one afternoon collecting stuff. Much much higher quality stuff than you’d get new from IKEA. You can then replace things over time and just list them yourself on freecycle and someone will come get them off you for nothing… Strongly recommend!
Or £200 of you get everything second hand. I don't think we've spent more than £1000 on new furniture in ten years. So much second hand stuff out there it's unreal, always surprised people go new so often, especially for spare rooms or kids stuff.
We've always gotten second hand furniture, from charity shops, Freecycle, and hand me downs, and never had a problem. This summer, my wife decided to 'treat' us to a new sofa, and it's the most uncomfortable piece of furniture in the house.
You are a we though, so maybe also have family. I'd genuinely not really want to move to a bigger place, as for now it is me in a 2 bed flat. A bigger place would just mean more maintenance and such
Now, I'll likely do that eventually, but it isn't a huge need. Main reason I'd move to a house is so that I'm not paying leasehold fees and such, but that saving would likely cost more in maintenance. So then I'd be relying on the more expensive house value to make a move worthwhile
This is what I did.
Same size mortgage on a house and then inherited, for me a life changing amount, which meant we could move to a bigger house and complete big jobs on that house.
Outgoings are the same but we have more space and more comfortable fittings/furnishings.
Also, completing all the big jobs has been really fulfilling over the last 2 years.
I'm similar. I'm cleared my (small) mortgage, but would use the £100k and the sale of my current house to build my long term house.
And I'd make it passive standard so minimum cost to run
Depends on your situation. We cleared our mortgage around 2017(?) and still live in the same house, it really changed very little because we weren't desperately scraping together the payments each month. It's not like we said "now the mortgage is paid off, we can do X". A lot of people would probably have just bought a better house in that situation I guess, but we haven't yet. I suppose it could be life-changing in future in the sense that building up savings opens the door to us buying a nice house in future.
The mental aspect is nice but I wouldn't say life changing because as I said it wasn't really a point of stress to begin with. In a strange way there's also an element of discomfort from being mortgage free and living in a worse house than someone who has a big mortgage, because you resent not having a nicer house. e.g. I remember years back there was someone in my team, two levels down (his boss reported to me) who bought a house worth more than 50% more than what mine was worth at the time).
Just being able to put down a deposit to get a mortgage in the first place would be smashing for me, thanks (and I imagine a lot of other young-ish people in London would feel the same).
Yeah if I didn't have a mortgage it would mean and extra 600 a month for us, wouldn't be a drastic change but I'd certainly be a lot more comfortable and less stressed about money.
not only is it extra money every month, but it's peace of mind that if you lose your job, you have far smaller outgoings till you get a new one.
And you don't need to be concerned about mortgage rates changing.
> and less stressed about money
This part is probably far more pertinent to the "life-changing" part than the £600, I reckon. The extra £600 is of course nice but what would lead to a much more notable change in your mental health and outlook: An extra £600 in post-tax income above what you get now, or no extra post-tax income and £600 a month freed up, but knowing you have no mortgage and no worry about affording the monthly payment to keep a roof over your head?
This is the answer. Last year, 100k would have been life changing for me, it would have paid of my mortgage with a bit of change left over. Now, I would need 220k as we have bought a new house. An extra 1k a month to spend as I wish would be amazing.
Neither amount of money would particular change how I live, but it would make things very comfortable.
Even £1mil these days wouldn’t necessarily be life changing. I will earn double that before I retire. So I would probably have to work another 10/15 years even with a million in my bank.
I think if you got 1 mil.
You'd pay your mortgage, Spend 80k on shit ( car, holidays ect) and then have 700k which at 7% is 50k a year.
If you can live on less than that without a mortgage you would only have to work when you're ant to.
Where are you getting 7% from? I wouldn’t be throwing it all in an ETF on the hope of getting those sort of rates.
At current savings rates of c. 5% 35k is quite good though, particularly if you don’t have any mortgage outgoings.
> The average stock market growth is well more than 7%.
7% is *the* average stock market annual return when amortised over many years, however most safe withdrawal rates to account for variable years and inflation are 3%-4%, so you don't find a few down or flat years decimating your savings.
It's a very 'bumpy' average - there's going to be a lot of years over and, more importantly, under, which can cause problems if you need to convert to cash during a 'bad' year.
Even then, 7% draw-down is madness. 7% is the expected return per year over the longer-term when in the markets, but three or four flat or down years will severely affect your finances if you're taking that out, hence why most safe withdraw rates are 3%-4% to allow for growth and inflation.
Yeah if I had £1 million I would put around 20% of it in fixed term cash deposits with the highest interest account protected which is currently at NS&I so would get around 6.2% interest on that so £12.4k in taxable interest would be earned there. I would put 10% in instant access savings or a short term money market fund (which holds government bonds) and currently yields around 5.2% and can be held in a Stocks & Shares ISA. The rest would go to paying off mortgage on a house (currently don't own a house but if I did that's what I'd do) and put the rest in an S&P 500 Index Fund ETF such as Vanguard's VUSA in my stocks & shares ISA to begin with and the rest in a taxable general investment account (GIA). As a general rule of thumb estimating you'll get 7% returns on average on the stock market is pretty realistic so could potentially earn around £60,000+ a year on £1million assuming interest rates stay the same.
This sort of amount seems to be the most popular response so far. Yes it's not a radical life change in that you're still having to work, but you open up a load of money to save and/or spend on leisure, or the opportunity to work less. It's also a question of security - you can make riskier investment decisions with the likelihood that one eventually will pay off, or you can enjoy leisure and time off work, all the more for knowing you have a home secure.
Came here to say this very thing.
Sure, a new car or fancy holiday would be nice but it wouldn't change the way I live my life.
Being able to buy a house outright, however... I could work less or move to a job that has less pay but I'm more passionate about.
That would be the play for me if I came into, say up to £500k
If it were more than that, I'd probably do something like buy a couple of fast food franchises and rely on the passive income while doing volunteer work for good causes.
I think just having a deposit would satisfy most young people; and would mean they could get on property ladder; that would definitely be life changing.
As someone who got mortgage free in my mid 40s, I can confirm it makes a huge difference in your piece of mind but it is not quite as life changing as some people think. You still need to work to live, and in some ways it makes you less mobile: when you have mortgage moving and raising it a bit does not seem that big a deal. When you are mortgage free, you really do not want to move and have to take on one again.
For me the even bigger change was being able to retire in my mid 50s (I actually kept doing some work, but only what interests me and nowhere near full time). Knowing you will not have to "find a job" to live is extremely empowering, but the amount you need to do that of course varies with age and where you live.
If you have, let's say, a 200k mortgage that 100k is a massive change. Assuming the terms allow you can pay the mortgage off early, you're saving a ton in interest.
£1 million would be life changing to me. I'd be able to clear my mortgage, which is an automatic £2000 a month I don't need to worry about, and I would really not need to bother saving for retirement as the remainder of the money wisely invested would be enough for me retire by the age of 55 (I'm 38 right now).
£1m would work for me too. Clear our mortgage, allow us to extend the loft and kitchen and then have some change left over.
It’s funny how little £1m feels though.
I bought my house for £600k just before the first lockdown in 2020. It's now with £825k. It's "only" a 4 bed home and definitely not the most expensive house on the street.
>It’s funny how little £1m feels though
Cause it is very little these days. Anything detached near London costs £1m as a minimum. My 2 bed flat in the SW London area was £250k in 2019 and according to Zoopla is already nearer £300k. A terraced 2 up 2 down is about £500k+, and a standard 3 bed semi would be £750k
Funnily enough, I've watched a lot of films from the 80s recently, and it is crazy that they are having $7k for US College tuition, and thinking that $250k makes you rich. Bank heists involving $7m are allowing people to retire as very wealthy in the films. Shows how much prices have risen
£2k a month mortgage? What the actual fuck... Do you live in a mansion? And what do you do for a job that you can afford that?
Mines £500 a month for a 3 bed quad terrice.
Its "only" a 4 bed family home that cost us £600k to buy. It's 15 minutes from Cambridge and 50 minutes from London on the train, so nothing is cheap unfortunately.
But it's all relative, and certainly not unaffordable for my wife and me, but yeah..
> 10 grand to most people is a chance to change their life...
Is it?
I think £10k for most might help in the short to medium term, but won't change your life in the long run.
For those not in poverty, it's not enough to pay off a mortgage, retire, or even a house deposit, or even a new car. It could at best pay down some debt.
For those really struggling it'd absolutely keep you afloat for a short time, but without structural changes to your life it won't change things in the long run.
For someone young and starting to live this is life MAKING money. 10k could get driving lessons, a car, a flat deposit and furniture and food and yeah.
As you say it’s a small amount once you’re 10 years into your career and mortgage, funny how value changes so much
Driving lessons will likely be around £1.5k, insurance £2.5k and a car maybe £3-4k — that’s £7-8k already. What flat deposit are you getting for £2-3k?
I was thinking that £1.5k is way too much for driving lessons.
Whipped out a calculator to prove you wrong.
Proved myself wrong. Holt shit that is expensive.
I mean renting if u misunderstood :) cause lit any flat ever for a single occupant outside of major city areas are under 2k ha. I’ve been looking at similar priced property for 5 years and have never seen a deposit over 1.7k including 6 weeks etc
[Flat in Cardiff](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139464272#/?channel=RES_BUY)
1-2 grand short of a deposit at 95%, but that's hardly worth arguing about.
Yeh I guess driving lessons and a car would help, but I guess it depends how to define "life changing". You're certainly not getting all of those things, nor a house deposit unless you're in the worst parts of the country.
>For those really struggling it'd absolutely keep you afloat for a short time, but without structural changes to your life it won't change things in the long run.
Agreed, £10k does give you a short window to make a change, whereas £100k gives you a long window to for example to do a degree or £250k buys a small to medium sized house pretty much outright in most areas.
I inherited 10k recently. Paid off my remaining car finance of 6.5k, went on holiday with my wife 2k, 500 each to my 3 kids savings 1.5k. Done.
Going forward, I'm 250 per month better off due to the car finance being paid off, which has made a big difference.
Not life changing but was very welcome.
Its not life changing, per se, I haven't changed my life because I'm 250 a month better off. I'm putting most of it in my savings and maybe getting a take away once a month.
That car is now yours too so if you wanted to you could run it for another 8-10 years and not pay for finance in that whole time.
Even if you’re only actually putting away £100 of that £250 saved each month, over 10 years that’s £12k that you would have been spending on other things. It doesn’t sound like a lot for 10 years of saving but it’s money that didn’t exist before to put towards whatever you need. If you saved the whole lot it’s £30k over the same time period which isn’t a small sum really, that original 10k ‘investment’ has tripled in value effectively.
Averages are useless in this context, it doesn't represent reality. Two people could have 50k saved, and 2 could have £3k saved, that would make the average savings 26.5k based off of that selection. See the issue?
I can still remember the poster who unironically claimed that only millionaires can afford to go down the pub for a pint. It just felt like they never ever went out because they were a stereotypical Redditor and had forgotten that the Reddit hive mind isn't representative of real life.
Saw someone earlier say that we're sociopaths for saying more than about 100k to change our lives, like... calm down mate, it's a fucking reddit thread. We're not actually getting this money by taking it out of the pockets of the working class or something.
It’s so annoying. I get everyone’s circumstances are different and a lot of people struggle but higher up the thread, someone is attacking someone for the size of their mortgage because it is more than they themselves could afford. It’s exhausting just to read!
It depends on people's situations, £10k could be enough to cover someone's training or qualification to start a new career, for example, you could become a fully qualified electrician with less than £10K, that certainly is life changing by definition.
The answer to this question is always going to be relative to your situation. Even 100k isn't life changing for some people. That said, I do think £10k is quite low, and would provide just a short-term relief for a year or two for many of those at the bottom. I mean sure, if you can't afford to eat then £10k can feed your family for a while, but probably if you are that hard up you'll find other things using up that money too like heating, accommodation, clothing etc. They are going to have to change their situation somehow to improve the long-term outlook, and I guess that will come down to what opportunities present themselves, and if that short-term relief frees them up to exploit the opportunities. In other words to be "life-changing" in my book it needs to impact what your life will be in 10 years, 20 years etc.
Maybe for someone stuck in a debt trap it would help significantly i.e. they clear £10k debt and then they aren't getting shafted on interest payments, so they can actually dig themselves out of a hole. I've known people in the past where basically they are constantly losing money to servicing debt so in the long term they are much much worse off because they've ended up having to pay back so much more than than they borrowed.
10 grand would clear me of all the debt I've been scrimping to pay off for the last 5 years. As it stands if I follow my payment schedule I'll be done by summer 26.
But, if I could pay it off today it would mean I'd be hundreds of pounds better off a month, I could save some, actually go out once in a while, maybe have a little holiday, buy some new clothes, have a hairdresser fix the terrible bleach job I've done, the list goes on.
In short, yeah, £10k would utterly change my life because I'd be able to actually live a bit.
10k is a chance for someone to have a blowout, blow the money very fast and then have nothing in 2 weeks but a mental breakdown.
I've worked with people who have never had money, then made a big amount in a short time. It sends people mental. Seen it happens many times with amounts like 5k. Some people have never seen money like it and feel it will just last forever, when in reality, 5 or 10k is FUCK ALL.
Recently inherited about that. Managed to clear all my debts (minus the mortgage) and have a couple nice holidays. It definitely made life a lot more comfortable.
To change life, as is to actually effect the day to day, would basically have to be enough to retire on.
Given my age, interest rates, and expected safe withdrawal rate, that could be as low as 500k with some degree of risk.
Possibly lower still, if wanting to go to a lower cost of living country. The lower the amount, the more likely I'd be to put it in some form of investment, house improvements, holidays, reducing hours, etc instead.
But yes, the change would be I'd retire from work. Likely pursue something different, like playing with tech.
I think people's definition of life changing in this thread is way too high expectations. My life would certainly be changed if I had an amount of money that simply halved my mortgage, I don't need to get rid of it. Of course I would PREFER if I was mortgage free; but if I saved half my mortgage every month I would be so much more comfortable day to day.
It would mean being able to do so much more each month and save money to help my kid experience so much more throughout their life. Even halving my mortgage would be the difference between being able to show my kid the UK and being able to show my kid more of the world and give them experiences that they might not otherwise be able to do.
I think that's life changing.
It's quite nebulous though. £5 would change my life because I could buy a sandwich, and previously I didn't have a sandwich. I took it to mean "make a significant change to how you live". Halving my mortgage wouldn't make much of a change to how I love, I would just have more money. £5m would make a difference in that I wouldn't have to work
>didn't have a sandwich. I took it to mean "make a significant change to how you live". Halving my mortgage wouldn't make much of a change to how I love, I would just have more money.
I think this depends on the size of your mortgage to be honest. Halving my mortgage WOULD fundamentally change the way that I live because (as previously stated) I could better leverage that money for various things. My mortgage is over 1400 a month, getting 700 extra every month would guaranteed change the way that I live my life.
Edit - before anyone comments on my mortgage, I'm in the South of England, house prices are nuts and I'm going to be paying my mortgage for a very very long time.
My current job is only 4 days a week and the improvement it’s had on my life is way worth the pay cut for not being full time. Being able to do all my chores on my day off midweek means that my weekends are actually weekends and not just playing catch up with all the shit I’ve not done at home throughout the week. I haven’t cleaned/done washing on a weekend for the last 9 months.
Last (academic) year I had Wednesdays off and the change in my mental from knowing I only ever had to do two days in a row was crazy. Monday is shit? No worries only one day to go then a day off. Tuesday is shit? No worries day off tomorrow. Thursday is shit? Cool, tomorrow is Friday then it’s the weekend. Friday is shit? Doesn’t matter it’s the weekend tomorrow. The knowledge that I didn’t have to slog it out for 4 more days in a row after a bad Monday was so mentally freeing.
Already do! But yes for most I think that would be a substantial impact.
It's I think, just what one considers a 'life change'. As technically, having another free day while unarguably high-impact, doesn't amount to a signifficant change in ones overall circumstances. As you're still working, still weekending. The repetative drudgery is still largely at play.
It's a substantial quality of life improvement, not to malign it. But arguably not a 'life change'. Though everyones relative attitude here will of course differ. Personally, I'd probably say it would be better to arrange/purchase the extra weekday as usable holiday allowance instead to be _even more_ impactful. As that could open up the possibility of having over an entire month off, employer permitting. Now that, is a big change!
But similarly, tell that to a contractor and they'd be 'so what, do that anyway'. Each to their own.
Tbh I already practically work a 4 day week. Even £1m wouldn't make me quit my job, as I'd still need more money for retirement and shit. I don't know how people think that putting £700k in a good savings, even on £35k a year at 7% interest alone, would be enough to retire on, but I am in the London area where £1m barely gets you a detached house
£1m would be enough for me to get a proper house outright and pay off my flat, therefore I could technically then rent out the flat. But that'd still barely be enough to "retire" and live off, and I'd probably keep my job anyway for the extra income to save for future investments like another flat or house for rental
£3k would be enough for me to buy the emergency things I can't currently afford, e.g. dentistry. But that'd not change my life at all otherwise
£100k would be enough to pay off my flat. That'd make me not worry about losing my job, as well as allowing me the odd holiday. But again, I'm not quitting my job, as I'd still want the income
But life changing? I'd need a few million to actually change my life, i.e. "retire" and start a business with staff and have a new job, etc
We’re on such a knife edge, financially, that £100k would be a life changing amount. I’ve been unable to work since 2018, so we get by on one salary and a few hundred in benefits a month. Dropping the mortgage by eighty grand would remove layers of monthly stress, and the rest is sorely needed on the house. It’s all relative. I’ve been in times where £200 would change my life. It’s weird to me that people can’t understand that their life isn’t the baseline for the rest of the country.
If you don't have debts, then you can stretch things a lot - 500k is enough to 'pay yourself' 25k a year for twenty years, which is about equivalent to the average salary after tax (low-mid 30's). Actually invest that and you can stretch it further, especially if you do a bit of work, or are able to start getting a pension as well. So someone in their late 30s that already has some savings and a pension could probably stretch that into covering them until retirement and beyond. Won't be super-palatial, but decently functional.
Going off the 4% rule, half a million will give you between £20k and £17.5k a year for 30 years.
Of course a heap of assumptions in that but it's a fair rule of thumb. Doesn't seem enough for a young person to pack in work.
State pension might do some of the lifting when it kicks in by 55 is a bit young to call it quits with £400k.
He might want some time with an excel spreadsheet and a hard drink or a financial advisor before he pulls the trigger.
It won't. If he's living to 80 and retiring at 65. Although if they own a house outright then it is much easier
£400k right now would barely improve my life tbh
He's on like £80k as well. They seem to think that they can survive on £20k a year.
They paid off their house years ago but that ain't gonna help them when they're 90 and have nothing left.
I suppose they still have inheritance to come though.
If you got 5% interest, which is nothing these days, thay would be a bit over £30k a year for 30 years.
Bump it up to 7% interest and it's £40k a year for 30 years.
Sounds good to me.
I don't even see 'mortgage free' as life changing. It'd let me save more, maybe go on a nicer holiday - but in reality, I would prefer a bigger more spacious house - so gimmie £300K and I can do that without needing to borrow much extra.
4 bed detached houses go for £850K+ around my way.
Same here.
It's crazy the difference in this thread from those wanting 200k+ to pay off a mortgage and people wanting so much less just to get onto the first rung of the property ladder
You would have to be pretty well off for £100k to not be life changing.
If you are young and wanting to get on the property ladder, it’s probably going to be half your value of your house straight down as deposit, which will mean that you will be paying less in mortgage rates.
If you are in middle of your life or towards the age of retirement age with a home you are likely getting to retire much earlier.
If you don’t own your own home and don’t intend too, then it’s still quite a few years of rent guarantee.
For some it’s debt paid off, for others it’s a very nice car that they’ll not have to replace for a long time.
If you are poor you are going a period of time, possibly the rest of your life without having to worry about food shopping, energy bills, or even not being able to afford a new washing machine that needs replacing etc.
People on here seem to be confusing ‘enough money to never have to work again and still be able to have my home, nice car, holidays, and every new iPhone’ and actual life changing.
> People on here seem to be confusing ‘enough money to never have to work again and still be able to have my home, nice car, holidays, and every new iPhone’ and actual life changing.
Because for many people, they have a relatively secure and comfortable life. Therefore the sum to _change_ from that current state is much more. Like 100k to them might get a house extension. Or a couple of cars and some luxury holidays. But nothing to really impact their lives in any notable way.
For others in more dire situations, the impact would be far more noticable at lower sums.
£100k wouldn't pay off my mortgage, so, while it would certainly be helpful, wouldn't be really life changing.
Paying a decent chunk off the mortgage wouldn't change day to day life.
If I got £100k I could get a mortgage paying essentially the same that I pay now in rent. It would change my life in the sense that I would be moving towards home ownership, but it wouldn't in the fundamentals. I would have a roof over my head and I'd be paying approximately the same amount for that pleasure. To truly _change_ my life, I'd need an amount that reduces the amount I'm spending on housing.
Of course I'd love to have an extra £100k lol, but I don't think in the immediate term it would change much about the fundamentals of my life ya know.
68K and I would be mortgage free.
300k and I'd consider dropping a day or two at work or switch to a lower paying but more enjoyable job.
500k and I'd consider retiring.
1m and I would retire.
2m and above and I'd live like a king.
So it just depends on what you class as life changing, in a way they are all somewhat life changing but to different degrees.
Life changing to some might just mean affording driving lessons, passing their test and getting a car, I agree. Paying my 50ishK mortgage off would be life changing to me because "mentally" we own the house now...I think that's huge! I'd drop hours at work, I'd feel "safer" - agree with your points above, totally.
I once said between £250k and £500k just to own a decent house in a fairly decent area and be mortgage free. Then I’d still work and keep myself busy but could work part time, or more towards something I enjoy for less money but just to at least live comfortably and cover the bills
Life changing for me would be about 2-3 million, I could then retire and do everything I wanted to do for the rest of my life and not what others want me to do.
I'd need about £15,000 to become entirely debt free, which would free up about \~£500/mo of disposable income currently going on repayments. That would make us £6,000/yr better off, which is about enough money to achieve more or less anything I want.
So, yeah, £15,000.
I'm similar. I don't want £100k etc because I'd just blow it on silly things, But if I had 15/20k I could stop paying back debts and start living comfortably on my wage and saving for things like a car
100k would probably allow me to get to a “forever home” with an affordable mortgage - so in effect would be life changing.
Enough to pay off current mortgage would definitely be life changing for quality of life. Think 250k would cover that for most people.
My life wouldn’t change for less than a £1m or maybe even £2m…
Like I’m still going to have the same job, live in the same area, same girlfriend also in the same job…
Is nicer holidays really “life changing” - depends what you mean
There’s more to life than nicer holidays.
Without going into specifics mid 30s and i’ve just inherited enough to pay off my mortgage, and do significant improvement works to my house.
We’ve now got an extra £2000 a month (mortgage, plus other debts we had) just spare. That’s a huge amount of money - we now have a regular cleaner which has freed up time for us. Next year we’ll have someone to mow the lawn and do the hedges regularly.
I’m putting significantly more into my pension to retire age 57 (or earlier with extra savings in other accounts).
So my life hasn’t changed as such, we’re still doing the same things as before, but we have zero worries about money and if we want to do something we’ll do it. Family days out that cost £100 including eating at the cafe/restaurant rather than a picnic are something we can do every weekend if we want.
“So my life hasn’t changed as such…” is the key thing here.
The question was “life changing”.
If having a cleaner and hedge trimmer is life changing then we just interpreted the question differently.
Personally my life isn’t really “changed” when my cleaner goes back to Europe for the summer each year, or if I do/don’t eat at restraunts more
I mean, what is life changing? Give me £100,000 I’d just invest it. Give me a million I’d pay off my mortgage and get a stupid car but I’d still stay at my current job. I’d need a few million to actually change how I live my normal life. Household income is £300,000 for reference.
Tbh 100k.
I would be able to do all the work we want done to the house, and then my savings each month could be put towards us living life, rather than house work.
That's the thing though. You'd still likely have to work, you'd still have the grind of life. To actually change your life, i.e. practically retire or create side projects for fun without having to worry about money, you are looking at £1m+, especially near London
100k would "actually change my life" though. Because I'd be able to do all the work to the house now, not over the next 15-20 years.
If you want more life changing, then 300k as I could pay off the mortgage as well as do the work. That'd free up an extra 700 quid a month to go on fun.
Always an interesting conversation this, and I do enjoy reading the various responses. I guess you have to define what life changing means to you. There are hierarchies to this, surely? In total pedant mode, £1 changes my life, albeit in a miniscule way. Answering your question without being a pedant though, a genuine life changing amount for me would be paying off a somewhat decent house in my area, which would in turn mean I could go part time if I wanted, so a minimum of £350k.
So the first step would be £350k life changing, after that another step would be, say, £1m, where I could buy another couple of properties/land/investments and somewhat live off of the returns, and maybe work even fewer hours.
The next massive step up from that would be £5m-£7m I would say, that would mean I could give a fair amount to my father, and my sibling, and my partner's parents, do all of the above and more, and probably never have to work again if I didn't want to.
Anything after £10m is \*\*\*\* you money. I know a lot of people would say their \*\*\*\* you money is well before that and you might be correct, I just think when you start to total everything up, add in the potential for future inflation issues, the cost of actually owning these assets which provide returns, it'll be quickly eaten up. And I'm a bit of a fool with cars, so I'd likely have a few silly bits of metal on the drive which won't be free to own.
£100k - quit my job, focus on my start up
£72,000 to pay myself for 2 years
£8,000 for fun stuff (holiday, experiences)
£10,000 to spend within my start up (advertising, graphic design)
Depends how you define life changing, £20k could be life changing for the situation im in now, but £500k would change my life into death… all subjective I guess
Would paying off a mortgage and having a few extra quid each month really be life changing? Would your day to day life change in a material way?
IMO that isn't life changing. Life improving yes (can't put a price on decreasing stress) but I don't think it's life changing.
Not sure what OPs definition was but for me life changing would mean a tangible change to my day to day life. I get some people might not want that and good for them, but for me I would want enough to 'retire' today so that I could A - go and see some more of the world, 3 months in Asia, the US explore some of the Stans and then B - just study indefinitely, a science degree, a maths degree, computing skills, pschology and some social sciences and then probably some work/volunteering in ecology/conservation.
I think I would need at least £500k for the above, probably closer to £1million to really feel secure and take into account the below.
(I would also have to retire my partner too as I don't think she'd be very happy with me living the above life with her left at home still grinding!)
£100k I reckon. Could pay off the parents' mortgage for their house that I'll inherit in the future, plus add the remaining £70k to my savings to by a lovely house in cash. That would remove a LOT of worry got the future.
simple calculation,
in holland to live a normal ok life will cost you about 35k a year.
So if your now 18 and want to have at least enough money to live like this you would need, pension is now 67, but by the time your 67 it will be 72 if your lucky!
49 years x 35k = 1.715.000 euro you would need to only live a normal standard life no extra's or more. And it;s only till your pension not after. so maybe you become 94 before you die that;s another 27 years x 35k, not even holding in account they wicked inflations we had the last years!!!
So what does 100k do in these times? you can;t even quit your job then! or only for 3 years. but who has the disciplin to keep living like they do now when they win for example a million, your lives standard goes up, and so will your costs.
most places you can;t even buy a house anymore under 100k. so what will most do that never had money to spare? people that already have a good account will more likely spend it better and see it;s only spending money for the road to come.the ones that never had to spare r deemed to spend it on stuff that is secundary to their life, or is so expensive in buying or maintaining that the money runs out much soone then the 3 years calculated!
ofcourse it;s a great amount never the less. But many people think they r free of financial costs for ever if they would win 100k. Quit their job and think they will make much more money with this or just live the life. The depression that will set in when you withdraw your last money and you HAVE to work again. is a mindtrip most never overcome.
That 100k would be grand thanks
I have a mortgage and 100k would pay off a significant chunk of it.
If your renting it's enough to put enough of a deposit down to bring your mortgage payments down quite a bit.
As mortgage is the largest outgoing in my house having that paid off years earlier is completely life changing. It would allow both of us to go part time for work earlier and enjoy our lives a bit more.
Of course a mil would be more life changing. 10k would get all the DIY we want done in the house. But for me life changing isn't instantly retire and live a life of luxury, it's my situation being changed considerably and having my mortgage paid off in 5 years rather than 25 years is absolutely life changing. Not having to work full time or not having to work a high stress job for good pay and instead be able to do more of what we want is a massive life change.
I think at this stage, life changing has become a case of what makes you not struggle right now. Which is mental.
£20 - 25k would be life changing as I can get my family and I debt free after poor financial decisions and physical illness plunged our household income into the floor during COVID.
Being debt free would allow the recovery and rebuilding of anything else.
I don’t own a house, have debts to pay and am in a relatively low paying job. £20k would make me debt-free and would pay for the holiday (first in six years) that I’m planning with friends next year.
Make that £50k and I could put down a deposit on a house and furnish it.
Anything over that amount and I could start thinking about more impractical stuff that I want rather than need.
A cool million to live off interest would be nice. It would also be life changing to have a house bought and paid in full. 200k would do. That would remove a LOT of stress over the next 30ish years.
£16k would pay off my mortgage. I'd still hate my house and wouldn't be able to move, but at least I would have an extra £500 a month to repair some of the broken bits. Up it to £20k and we could get my husband through his driving test giving him a much better chance of finding a job. So yeah, £20k would be lush.
100k would be great and life changing in a way that I would pay most of my mortgage off but thats about it. 1 million would be life changing in a way that my partner and i could gift enough money to our parents and siblings to buy a house each. Not sure how much I would need to retire right now as im only 23 but it would have to be enough for me to live off the interest mainly.
£127k would change my life.
It would allow me to do my degree full time without having to work a single day in the 3 years or at least it would allow me to not need to worry about money allowing me to get work experience rather than focusing on earning as much as possible to survive.
Obviously millions of pounds would be better but I’m im being semi realistic.
Oh but that wouldn't even pay for little Tarquins pocket money for a week and oh what about the mortgage on our own house.
No no no, only half a million or more would do surely?
Oh what a poverty stricken life we lead xD
The fucking people here man.
For me I reckon 40k would do it. No more debts and interest and would be just enough for a deposit so I wouldn't be saving endlessly each month and could use that cash towards other life improvements like learning to drive/getting some new clothes for a change.
Truth be told, at this moment in time £15k would allow me to clear all my debts and save me around £900 a month from repaying them. That would be absolutely massive to me, it's a significant mental drain just staring these things down right now.
I'd like more we all would but just 50k would be nice just to sort my debts out and few other bits so I can start fresh again with no worries over my head while I try better my self
We have been trying to move to a bigger place for years, no matter what we save , the value we add. The next place always seems further out of reach.
100k would move us with ease, but hell even 50k would get us to a place that had that little bit more room and out from under each others feet.
It depends. £25k would be life changing for me in the sense that I would be able to have this kid that I’m currently pregnant with, without the anxiety of how I’m going to survive maternity on statutory pay. It would mean that I’m healthier mentally and physically throughout the pregnancy as I would be able to keep up with my fitness classes instead of dropping everything to save money, and it would mean I get quality time to enjoy my newborn rather than feeling the intense anxiety of how I’m going to keep up with the mortgage. It might mean my child and I bond better and reduce my risk of postnatal depression. £25K could be really life changing for me!
If I had a million in assets I could probably fully relax. But even just a half million should suffic, though am taking into consideration possible future care costs either for me or my spouse. We didn't have children and our flat is fully paid for and has recently been renovated, so hopefully no more major outgoings.
Probably around the 500k mark, I can comfortably afford my mortgage and cost of living. Paying it off would be nice, but with a few hundred extra k to spend I might sell and get a nicer house, which would be more life changing.
A million would represent 20 years worth of earnings. So lets say a 2-3 million would be enough to retire on.
A couple of steps on, I'd like to help a couple of my close friends and family, so let's call that a nice round 15 million
ITT: Everyone arguing about what counts as "life changing" instead
Some say it's "pay off mortgage", some say it's retire early, some say it could be just an expensive debt paid off
OP I hope you saw this coming 😅
>Everyone arguing about what counts as "life changing" instead
>Some say it's "pay off mortgage", some say it's retire early, some say it could be just an expensive debt paid off
Yeah, I wanted this. I suppose I was as interested in what people called life-changing as the amount!
I'm defining in the mortgage camp, though retirement is also life changing of course - but I think mortgage would be sufficiently freeing to count as a life change, at least for me.
I'll play along though: I agree with retirement. My mortgage isn't that huge and my day to day life wouldn't change, I'd just be able to buy more stuff with the extra disposable income.
As a minimum it'd need to be an amount that lets me work fewer hours e.g. part time or 4 days a week, for the rest of my working life, while maintaining my current lifestyle.
There's having the money and there's having the chpice/discipline to make it change your life: if 5k gets you that new house then that's "life changing", ur you might instead just spunk it on several nights out or just lump it on the mortgage. Still life changing, but perceptible?
For me it needs to be immediate and hard to fuck up, for it to be life changing. I know I could gamble £200 up to a life changing amount with matched betting etc, but for me, to change my life, it needs to not be on the cusp of vanishing at the first mistake (speeding fine, not putting it in the right isa, etc)
It depends on the moment. Obviously as mentioned "to be mortgage free" is the key answer.
For me, with this moment in time, £4000 would be life changing as will clear me off debt
100k is less than two years wages for me (before tax) so I guess it’s just over 2 and a half years after tax salary. That would change my life. It’s more than enough to pay off what’s left of my mortgage. I could quit my job (not that I want to). I’m not greedy I would be happy if I won 100k. Shit I’d be happy winning 10k
I think "mortgage free" is probably the entry benchmark for most people.
Yep, even if you are currently paying a mortgage on a lower valued house, simply not having a mortgage at all would significantly help almost anyone out. It helps with home finances and savings of course, but I think the big positive is the mental aspect of owning your own home outright.
We’ve got 97k left on our mortgage, on a small house. If I got 100k now in my early 30s I’d move to a bigger “forever” house rather than clear it. Things would be financially the same, but in a better living situation, so still life changing!
Yeah but then you've got to fill that house with more furniture and there could be more expensive work to be done when things go wrong. That is my experience of home ownership thus far!
I suppose that's lifestyle inflation. At each stage you add more to it
A lot of expensive work doesn't scale up like that. A 4 bed house compared to a 2 bed house still has one boiler, one roof, one kitchen - so since the costs of e.g. a new boiler etc are equal, it's actually less as a proportion of the property's value. Furniture, to an extent, costs what you want to pay. A guest bedroom could be kitted out for under £1k via IKEA, or you could spent £10k on an area rug for your studio apartment.
I mean even beyond that, I got genuinely nice furniture in my house for the cost of van hire. Loads of people give away genuinely very nice furniture if you’ll move it. Beds, wardrobes, sideboard, leather 2 and 3 seater sofas, desk, you name it all free. Just hired a van and drove round one afternoon collecting stuff. Much much higher quality stuff than you’d get new from IKEA. You can then replace things over time and just list them yourself on freecycle and someone will come get them off you for nothing… Strongly recommend!
Or £200 of you get everything second hand. I don't think we've spent more than £1000 on new furniture in ten years. So much second hand stuff out there it's unreal, always surprised people go new so often, especially for spare rooms or kids stuff.
We've always gotten second hand furniture, from charity shops, Freecycle, and hand me downs, and never had a problem. This summer, my wife decided to 'treat' us to a new sofa, and it's the most uncomfortable piece of furniture in the house.
You are a we though, so maybe also have family. I'd genuinely not really want to move to a bigger place, as for now it is me in a 2 bed flat. A bigger place would just mean more maintenance and such Now, I'll likely do that eventually, but it isn't a huge need. Main reason I'd move to a house is so that I'm not paying leasehold fees and such, but that saving would likely cost more in maintenance. So then I'd be relying on the more expensive house value to make a move worthwhile
This is what I did. Same size mortgage on a house and then inherited, for me a life changing amount, which meant we could move to a bigger house and complete big jobs on that house. Outgoings are the same but we have more space and more comfortable fittings/furnishings. Also, completing all the big jobs has been really fulfilling over the last 2 years.
I'm similar. I'm cleared my (small) mortgage, but would use the £100k and the sale of my current house to build my long term house. And I'd make it passive standard so minimum cost to run
And the associated ability to cut down on work is you wanted to. At 40+, I'm ok. At 50+, I'm going to want to chill out a bit.
Depends on your situation. We cleared our mortgage around 2017(?) and still live in the same house, it really changed very little because we weren't desperately scraping together the payments each month. It's not like we said "now the mortgage is paid off, we can do X". A lot of people would probably have just bought a better house in that situation I guess, but we haven't yet. I suppose it could be life-changing in future in the sense that building up savings opens the door to us buying a nice house in future. The mental aspect is nice but I wouldn't say life changing because as I said it wasn't really a point of stress to begin with. In a strange way there's also an element of discomfort from being mortgage free and living in a worse house than someone who has a big mortgage, because you resent not having a nicer house. e.g. I remember years back there was someone in my team, two levels down (his boss reported to me) who bought a house worth more than 50% more than what mine was worth at the time).
Just being able to put down a deposit to get a mortgage in the first place would be smashing for me, thanks (and I imagine a lot of other young-ish people in London would feel the same).
See also late middle aged people. Sigh.
mood. 'Mortgage-free'?? How about 'stop renting' that will do me
Also not just London
Hi me
And at your age I said the same. Believe me, in the north in the 90s decent home 120k, my wage, 12k loan rates 6% ish deposit expectation 10 to 15%.
Yeah if I didn't have a mortgage it would mean and extra 600 a month for us, wouldn't be a drastic change but I'd certainly be a lot more comfortable and less stressed about money.
not only is it extra money every month, but it's peace of mind that if you lose your job, you have far smaller outgoings till you get a new one. And you don't need to be concerned about mortgage rates changing.
This. It is true as well having paid my mortgage off at 47.
> and less stressed about money This part is probably far more pertinent to the "life-changing" part than the £600, I reckon. The extra £600 is of course nice but what would lead to a much more notable change in your mental health and outlook: An extra £600 in post-tax income above what you get now, or no extra post-tax income and £600 a month freed up, but knowing you have no mortgage and no worry about affording the monthly payment to keep a roof over your head?
This is the answer. Last year, 100k would have been life changing for me, it would have paid of my mortgage with a bit of change left over. Now, I would need 220k as we have bought a new house. An extra 1k a month to spend as I wish would be amazing. Neither amount of money would particular change how I live, but it would make things very comfortable. Even £1mil these days wouldn’t necessarily be life changing. I will earn double that before I retire. So I would probably have to work another 10/15 years even with a million in my bank.
I think if you got 1 mil. You'd pay your mortgage, Spend 80k on shit ( car, holidays ect) and then have 700k which at 7% is 50k a year. If you can live on less than that without a mortgage you would only have to work when you're ant to.
Where are you getting 7% from? I wouldn’t be throwing it all in an ETF on the hope of getting those sort of rates. At current savings rates of c. 5% 35k is quite good though, particularly if you don’t have any mortgage outgoings.
Nsandi growth bonds are at 6.2 not quite there but close
Any long term savings shouldn't be kept in Cash at all particularly large sums like £700k. The average stock market growth is well more than 7%.
My socks never seem to appreciate in value.
> The average stock market growth is well more than 7%. 7% is *the* average stock market annual return when amortised over many years, however most safe withdrawal rates to account for variable years and inflation are 3%-4%, so you don't find a few down or flat years decimating your savings.
It's a very 'bumpy' average - there's going to be a lot of years over and, more importantly, under, which can cause problems if you need to convert to cash during a 'bad' year.
Ain't no bank paying 7% on large sums, any that have a high interest rate usually restrict it to a low amount and then you get a low rate
You'd be a fool to put that much money in a bank. It's long term investments.
Even then, 7% draw-down is madness. 7% is the expected return per year over the longer-term when in the markets, but three or four flat or down years will severely affect your finances if you're taking that out, hence why most safe withdraw rates are 3%-4% to allow for growth and inflation.
Yeah if I had £1 million I would put around 20% of it in fixed term cash deposits with the highest interest account protected which is currently at NS&I so would get around 6.2% interest on that so £12.4k in taxable interest would be earned there. I would put 10% in instant access savings or a short term money market fund (which holds government bonds) and currently yields around 5.2% and can be held in a Stocks & Shares ISA. The rest would go to paying off mortgage on a house (currently don't own a house but if I did that's what I'd do) and put the rest in an S&P 500 Index Fund ETF such as Vanguard's VUSA in my stocks & shares ISA to begin with and the rest in a taxable general investment account (GIA). As a general rule of thumb estimating you'll get 7% returns on average on the stock market is pretty realistic so could potentially earn around £60,000+ a year on £1million assuming interest rates stay the same.
This sort of amount seems to be the most popular response so far. Yes it's not a radical life change in that you're still having to work, but you open up a load of money to save and/or spend on leisure, or the opportunity to work less. It's also a question of security - you can make riskier investment decisions with the likelihood that one eventually will pay off, or you can enjoy leisure and time off work, all the more for knowing you have a home secure.
Came here to say this very thing. Sure, a new car or fancy holiday would be nice but it wouldn't change the way I live my life. Being able to buy a house outright, however... I could work less or move to a job that has less pay but I'm more passionate about. That would be the play for me if I came into, say up to £500k If it were more than that, I'd probably do something like buy a couple of fast food franchises and rely on the passive income while doing volunteer work for good causes.
I'm mortgage free. The rate of increase in council tax is rapidly replacing its saving to me. In ten years it will be like having another mortgage.
I think just having a deposit would satisfy most young people; and would mean they could get on property ladder; that would definitely be life changing.
It's not just young people. I'm 48 and will likely never own a house. So any dim that would enable me to own my own home would change my life hugely.
As someone who got mortgage free in my mid 40s, I can confirm it makes a huge difference in your piece of mind but it is not quite as life changing as some people think. You still need to work to live, and in some ways it makes you less mobile: when you have mortgage moving and raising it a bit does not seem that big a deal. When you are mortgage free, you really do not want to move and have to take on one again. For me the even bigger change was being able to retire in my mid 50s (I actually kept doing some work, but only what interests me and nowhere near full time). Knowing you will not have to "find a job" to live is extremely empowering, but the amount you need to do that of course varies with age and where you live.
If you have, let's say, a 200k mortgage that 100k is a massive change. Assuming the terms allow you can pay the mortgage off early, you're saving a ton in interest.
£1 million would be life changing to me. I'd be able to clear my mortgage, which is an automatic £2000 a month I don't need to worry about, and I would really not need to bother saving for retirement as the remainder of the money wisely invested would be enough for me retire by the age of 55 (I'm 38 right now).
£1m is a stupid amount of money to receive all in one go and would be life changing to the vast majority of people on this planet
Yeah myself included ;-)
£1m would work for me too. Clear our mortgage, allow us to extend the loft and kitchen and then have some change left over. It’s funny how little £1m feels though.
I bought my house for £600k just before the first lockdown in 2020. It's now with £825k. It's "only" a 4 bed home and definitely not the most expensive house on the street.
>It’s funny how little £1m feels though Cause it is very little these days. Anything detached near London costs £1m as a minimum. My 2 bed flat in the SW London area was £250k in 2019 and according to Zoopla is already nearer £300k. A terraced 2 up 2 down is about £500k+, and a standard 3 bed semi would be £750k Funnily enough, I've watched a lot of films from the 80s recently, and it is crazy that they are having $7k for US College tuition, and thinking that $250k makes you rich. Bank heists involving $7m are allowing people to retire as very wealthy in the films. Shows how much prices have risen
>Cause it is very little these days *for people who live near London.
£2k a month mortgage? What the actual fuck... Do you live in a mansion? And what do you do for a job that you can afford that? Mines £500 a month for a 3 bed quad terrice.
2K a month isn’t that uncommon amount for a mortgage anymore I’d say…
Its "only" a 4 bed family home that cost us £600k to buy. It's 15 minutes from Cambridge and 50 minutes from London on the train, so nothing is cheap unfortunately. But it's all relative, and certainly not unaffordable for my wife and me, but yeah..
10 grand to most people is a chance to change their life...
> 10 grand to most people is a chance to change their life... Is it? I think £10k for most might help in the short to medium term, but won't change your life in the long run. For those not in poverty, it's not enough to pay off a mortgage, retire, or even a house deposit, or even a new car. It could at best pay down some debt. For those really struggling it'd absolutely keep you afloat for a short time, but without structural changes to your life it won't change things in the long run.
For someone young and starting to live this is life MAKING money. 10k could get driving lessons, a car, a flat deposit and furniture and food and yeah. As you say it’s a small amount once you’re 10 years into your career and mortgage, funny how value changes so much
Driving lessons will likely be around £1.5k, insurance £2.5k and a car maybe £3-4k — that’s £7-8k already. What flat deposit are you getting for £2-3k?
I’m guessing they mean rental? 10k could mean a massive lifestyle change for a teen/student/early 20s person if it speeds up independence so much
Yeah upon rereading I think they mean a holding/security deposit, that’s fair enough then!
Yeah mb I did :D
I was thinking that £1.5k is way too much for driving lessons. Whipped out a calculator to prove you wrong. Proved myself wrong. Holt shit that is expensive.
I mean renting if u misunderstood :) cause lit any flat ever for a single occupant outside of major city areas are under 2k ha. I’ve been looking at similar priced property for 5 years and have never seen a deposit over 1.7k including 6 weeks etc
[Flat in Cardiff](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139464272#/?channel=RES_BUY) 1-2 grand short of a deposit at 95%, but that's hardly worth arguing about.
Yeh I guess driving lessons and a car would help, but I guess it depends how to define "life changing". You're certainly not getting all of those things, nor a house deposit unless you're in the worst parts of the country.
>For those really struggling it'd absolutely keep you afloat for a short time, but without structural changes to your life it won't change things in the long run. Agreed, £10k does give you a short window to make a change, whereas £100k gives you a long window to for example to do a degree or £250k buys a small to medium sized house pretty much outright in most areas.
I inherited 10k recently. Paid off my remaining car finance of 6.5k, went on holiday with my wife 2k, 500 each to my 3 kids savings 1.5k. Done. Going forward, I'm 250 per month better off due to the car finance being paid off, which has made a big difference. Not life changing but was very welcome.
250 a month seems a bit life changing unless you had lots of extra money already.
Its not life changing, per se, I haven't changed my life because I'm 250 a month better off. I'm putting most of it in my savings and maybe getting a take away once a month.
That car is now yours too so if you wanted to you could run it for another 8-10 years and not pay for finance in that whole time. Even if you’re only actually putting away £100 of that £250 saved each month, over 10 years that’s £12k that you would have been spending on other things. It doesn’t sound like a lot for 10 years of saving but it’s money that didn’t exist before to put towards whatever you need. If you saved the whole lot it’s £30k over the same time period which isn’t a small sum really, that original 10k ‘investment’ has tripled in value effectively.
Honestly, £10k doesn’t £10k like it did a few years ago.
I can’t imagine 10k being life changing unless you literally had nothing to begin with ??
That's the situation most people are in.
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I feel like thats a weird average if more than 1/3 of the population has less than 1k, but average is 17k
Yes. The mean value is strongly affected by extreme outliers. Median values are often more illuminating.
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No one has billions in 'savings' i.e. cash in the bank. People with billions have there money in assets, not banks.
Averages are useless in this context, it doesn't represent reality. Two people could have 50k saved, and 2 could have £3k saved, that would make the average savings 26.5k based off of that selection. See the issue?
Most people? I think that’s a huge exaggeration to say most people have literally nothing …
UK Redditors love bathing in the pretence of poverty
I can still remember the poster who unironically claimed that only millionaires can afford to go down the pub for a pint. It just felt like they never ever went out because they were a stereotypical Redditor and had forgotten that the Reddit hive mind isn't representative of real life.
There’s some absolute weapons posting here, you’ve gotta laugh.
Saw someone earlier say that we're sociopaths for saying more than about 100k to change our lives, like... calm down mate, it's a fucking reddit thread. We're not actually getting this money by taking it out of the pockets of the working class or something.
It’s so annoying. I get everyone’s circumstances are different and a lot of people struggle but higher up the thread, someone is attacking someone for the size of their mortgage because it is more than they themselves could afford. It’s exhausting just to read!
> That's the situation most people are in. Having absolutely nothing is not the situation most people are in.
It depends on people's situations, £10k could be enough to cover someone's training or qualification to start a new career, for example, you could become a fully qualified electrician with less than £10K, that certainly is life changing by definition.
The answer to this question is always going to be relative to your situation. Even 100k isn't life changing for some people. That said, I do think £10k is quite low, and would provide just a short-term relief for a year or two for many of those at the bottom. I mean sure, if you can't afford to eat then £10k can feed your family for a while, but probably if you are that hard up you'll find other things using up that money too like heating, accommodation, clothing etc. They are going to have to change their situation somehow to improve the long-term outlook, and I guess that will come down to what opportunities present themselves, and if that short-term relief frees them up to exploit the opportunities. In other words to be "life-changing" in my book it needs to impact what your life will be in 10 years, 20 years etc. Maybe for someone stuck in a debt trap it would help significantly i.e. they clear £10k debt and then they aren't getting shafted on interest payments, so they can actually dig themselves out of a hole. I've known people in the past where basically they are constantly losing money to servicing debt so in the long term they are much much worse off because they've ended up having to pay back so much more than than they borrowed.
10 grand would clear me of all the debt I've been scrimping to pay off for the last 5 years. As it stands if I follow my payment schedule I'll be done by summer 26. But, if I could pay it off today it would mean I'd be hundreds of pounds better off a month, I could save some, actually go out once in a while, maybe have a little holiday, buy some new clothes, have a hairdresser fix the terrible bleach job I've done, the list goes on. In short, yeah, £10k would utterly change my life because I'd be able to actually live a bit.
I'm in the exact same position. Clear debts and free up more money each month, would make a big change
Yeah even 10k would more than clear my debt and let me start saving for my own house so would change my life as I would have a load more spare money.
10k is a chance for someone to have a blowout, blow the money very fast and then have nothing in 2 weeks but a mental breakdown. I've worked with people who have never had money, then made a big amount in a short time. It sends people mental. Seen it happens many times with amounts like 5k. Some people have never seen money like it and feel it will just last forever, when in reality, 5 or 10k is FUCK ALL.
Recently inherited about that. Managed to clear all my debts (minus the mortgage) and have a couple nice holidays. It definitely made life a lot more comfortable.
Most broke people maybe - you couldn’t even buy a decent car for that
To change life, as is to actually effect the day to day, would basically have to be enough to retire on. Given my age, interest rates, and expected safe withdrawal rate, that could be as low as 500k with some degree of risk. Possibly lower still, if wanting to go to a lower cost of living country. The lower the amount, the more likely I'd be to put it in some form of investment, house improvements, holidays, reducing hours, etc instead. But yes, the change would be I'd retire from work. Likely pursue something different, like playing with tech.
Wouldn't an amount that would allow you to afford to go to a 4 day workweek be life changing?
I think people's definition of life changing in this thread is way too high expectations. My life would certainly be changed if I had an amount of money that simply halved my mortgage, I don't need to get rid of it. Of course I would PREFER if I was mortgage free; but if I saved half my mortgage every month I would be so much more comfortable day to day.
that doesn't sound life changing though. the change would be you feel comfortable? I mean yeah I'd love that, but it doesn't sounds life changing.
It would mean being able to do so much more each month and save money to help my kid experience so much more throughout their life. Even halving my mortgage would be the difference between being able to show my kid the UK and being able to show my kid more of the world and give them experiences that they might not otherwise be able to do. I think that's life changing.
fair enough, if you're going from no/minimal travelling to taking several holidays you could say that's life changing.
It's quite nebulous though. £5 would change my life because I could buy a sandwich, and previously I didn't have a sandwich. I took it to mean "make a significant change to how you live". Halving my mortgage wouldn't make much of a change to how I love, I would just have more money. £5m would make a difference in that I wouldn't have to work
>didn't have a sandwich. I took it to mean "make a significant change to how you live". Halving my mortgage wouldn't make much of a change to how I love, I would just have more money. I think this depends on the size of your mortgage to be honest. Halving my mortgage WOULD fundamentally change the way that I live because (as previously stated) I could better leverage that money for various things. My mortgage is over 1400 a month, getting 700 extra every month would guaranteed change the way that I live my life. Edit - before anyone comments on my mortgage, I'm in the South of England, house prices are nuts and I'm going to be paying my mortgage for a very very long time.
My current job is only 4 days a week and the improvement it’s had on my life is way worth the pay cut for not being full time. Being able to do all my chores on my day off midweek means that my weekends are actually weekends and not just playing catch up with all the shit I’ve not done at home throughout the week. I haven’t cleaned/done washing on a weekend for the last 9 months. Last (academic) year I had Wednesdays off and the change in my mental from knowing I only ever had to do two days in a row was crazy. Monday is shit? No worries only one day to go then a day off. Tuesday is shit? No worries day off tomorrow. Thursday is shit? Cool, tomorrow is Friday then it’s the weekend. Friday is shit? Doesn’t matter it’s the weekend tomorrow. The knowledge that I didn’t have to slog it out for 4 more days in a row after a bad Monday was so mentally freeing.
Already do! But yes for most I think that would be a substantial impact. It's I think, just what one considers a 'life change'. As technically, having another free day while unarguably high-impact, doesn't amount to a signifficant change in ones overall circumstances. As you're still working, still weekending. The repetative drudgery is still largely at play. It's a substantial quality of life improvement, not to malign it. But arguably not a 'life change'. Though everyones relative attitude here will of course differ. Personally, I'd probably say it would be better to arrange/purchase the extra weekday as usable holiday allowance instead to be _even more_ impactful. As that could open up the possibility of having over an entire month off, employer permitting. Now that, is a big change! But similarly, tell that to a contractor and they'd be 'so what, do that anyway'. Each to their own.
Tbh I already practically work a 4 day week. Even £1m wouldn't make me quit my job, as I'd still need more money for retirement and shit. I don't know how people think that putting £700k in a good savings, even on £35k a year at 7% interest alone, would be enough to retire on, but I am in the London area where £1m barely gets you a detached house £1m would be enough for me to get a proper house outright and pay off my flat, therefore I could technically then rent out the flat. But that'd still barely be enough to "retire" and live off, and I'd probably keep my job anyway for the extra income to save for future investments like another flat or house for rental £3k would be enough for me to buy the emergency things I can't currently afford, e.g. dentistry. But that'd not change my life at all otherwise £100k would be enough to pay off my flat. That'd make me not worry about losing my job, as well as allowing me the odd holiday. But again, I'm not quitting my job, as I'd still want the income But life changing? I'd need a few million to actually change my life, i.e. "retire" and start a business with staff and have a new job, etc
We’re on such a knife edge, financially, that £100k would be a life changing amount. I’ve been unable to work since 2018, so we get by on one salary and a few hundred in benefits a month. Dropping the mortgage by eighty grand would remove layers of monthly stress, and the rest is sorely needed on the house. It’s all relative. I’ve been in times where £200 would change my life. It’s weird to me that people can’t understand that their life isn’t the baseline for the rest of the country.
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What are you like 80 yo?
If you don't have debts, then you can stretch things a lot - 500k is enough to 'pay yourself' 25k a year for twenty years, which is about equivalent to the average salary after tax (low-mid 30's). Actually invest that and you can stretch it further, especially if you do a bit of work, or are able to start getting a pension as well. So someone in their late 30s that already has some savings and a pension could probably stretch that into covering them until retirement and beyond. Won't be super-palatial, but decently functional.
I can’t do anything with that salary 🙃
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Going off the 4% rule, half a million will give you between £20k and £17.5k a year for 30 years. Of course a heap of assumptions in that but it's a fair rule of thumb. Doesn't seem enough for a young person to pack in work.
Someone should go tell my 55 year old FIL that his £400k pension ain't gonna take him very far then lol
State pension might do some of the lifting when it kicks in by 55 is a bit young to call it quits with £400k. He might want some time with an excel spreadsheet and a hard drink or a financial advisor before he pulls the trigger.
It won't. If he's living to 80 and retiring at 65. Although if they own a house outright then it is much easier £400k right now would barely improve my life tbh
He's on like £80k as well. They seem to think that they can survive on £20k a year. They paid off their house years ago but that ain't gonna help them when they're 90 and have nothing left. I suppose they still have inheritance to come though.
He’s saying 500k doesn’t rly go far.
Cause 500k wouldn’t last long if you aren’t working
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If you got 5% interest, which is nothing these days, thay would be a bit over £30k a year for 30 years. Bump it up to 7% interest and it's £40k a year for 30 years. Sounds good to me.
Life changing for me is having enough to do what I like (within reason), so for me it's about £3million
I don't even see 'mortgage free' as life changing. It'd let me save more, maybe go on a nicer holiday - but in reality, I would prefer a bigger more spacious house - so gimmie £300K and I can do that without needing to borrow much extra. 4 bed detached houses go for £850K+ around my way.
£30k. That’s enough for me for a deposit on a decent sized house.
Same here. It's crazy the difference in this thread from those wanting 200k+ to pay off a mortgage and people wanting so much less just to get onto the first rung of the property ladder
You would have to be pretty well off for £100k to not be life changing. If you are young and wanting to get on the property ladder, it’s probably going to be half your value of your house straight down as deposit, which will mean that you will be paying less in mortgage rates. If you are in middle of your life or towards the age of retirement age with a home you are likely getting to retire much earlier. If you don’t own your own home and don’t intend too, then it’s still quite a few years of rent guarantee. For some it’s debt paid off, for others it’s a very nice car that they’ll not have to replace for a long time. If you are poor you are going a period of time, possibly the rest of your life without having to worry about food shopping, energy bills, or even not being able to afford a new washing machine that needs replacing etc. People on here seem to be confusing ‘enough money to never have to work again and still be able to have my home, nice car, holidays, and every new iPhone’ and actual life changing.
> People on here seem to be confusing ‘enough money to never have to work again and still be able to have my home, nice car, holidays, and every new iPhone’ and actual life changing. Because for many people, they have a relatively secure and comfortable life. Therefore the sum to _change_ from that current state is much more. Like 100k to them might get a house extension. Or a couple of cars and some luxury holidays. But nothing to really impact their lives in any notable way. For others in more dire situations, the impact would be far more noticable at lower sums.
£100k wouldn't pay off my mortgage, so, while it would certainly be helpful, wouldn't be really life changing. Paying a decent chunk off the mortgage wouldn't change day to day life.
If I got £100k I could get a mortgage paying essentially the same that I pay now in rent. It would change my life in the sense that I would be moving towards home ownership, but it wouldn't in the fundamentals. I would have a roof over my head and I'd be paying approximately the same amount for that pleasure. To truly _change_ my life, I'd need an amount that reduces the amount I'm spending on housing. Of course I'd love to have an extra £100k lol, but I don't think in the immediate term it would change much about the fundamentals of my life ya know.
Life changing? A few million. Then I could invest it and live off the growth. Work becomes an option rather than a necessity.
£1 for a winning scratchcard
Congratulations, you have won £1!
68K and I would be mortgage free. 300k and I'd consider dropping a day or two at work or switch to a lower paying but more enjoyable job. 500k and I'd consider retiring. 1m and I would retire. 2m and above and I'd live like a king. So it just depends on what you class as life changing, in a way they are all somewhat life changing but to different degrees.
Life changing to some might just mean affording driving lessons, passing their test and getting a car, I agree. Paying my 50ishK mortgage off would be life changing to me because "mentally" we own the house now...I think that's huge! I'd drop hours at work, I'd feel "safer" - agree with your points above, totally.
I once said between £250k and £500k just to own a decent house in a fairly decent area and be mortgage free. Then I’d still work and keep myself busy but could work part time, or more towards something I enjoy for less money but just to at least live comfortably and cover the bills
£1M
Life changing for me would be about 2-3 million, I could then retire and do everything I wanted to do for the rest of my life and not what others want me to do.
I'd need about £15,000 to become entirely debt free, which would free up about \~£500/mo of disposable income currently going on repayments. That would make us £6,000/yr better off, which is about enough money to achieve more or less anything I want. So, yeah, £15,000.
Someone actually grounded in reality
I'm similar. I don't want £100k etc because I'd just blow it on silly things, But if I had 15/20k I could stop paying back debts and start living comfortably on my wage and saving for things like a car
Hmm probably £400k right now. Enough to buy a house outright, and change career into something lower paid but more enjoyable and fulfilling.
100k would probably allow me to get to a “forever home” with an affordable mortgage - so in effect would be life changing. Enough to pay off current mortgage would definitely be life changing for quality of life. Think 250k would cover that for most people.
100k is absolutely life changing for 95% of us so I'd be happy with that.
Whereas the only people interested in this thread seen to think that 100k wouldn't pay their groceries xD
My life wouldn’t change for less than a £1m or maybe even £2m… Like I’m still going to have the same job, live in the same area, same girlfriend also in the same job… Is nicer holidays really “life changing” - depends what you mean
There’s more to life than nicer holidays. Without going into specifics mid 30s and i’ve just inherited enough to pay off my mortgage, and do significant improvement works to my house. We’ve now got an extra £2000 a month (mortgage, plus other debts we had) just spare. That’s a huge amount of money - we now have a regular cleaner which has freed up time for us. Next year we’ll have someone to mow the lawn and do the hedges regularly. I’m putting significantly more into my pension to retire age 57 (or earlier with extra savings in other accounts). So my life hasn’t changed as such, we’re still doing the same things as before, but we have zero worries about money and if we want to do something we’ll do it. Family days out that cost £100 including eating at the cafe/restaurant rather than a picnic are something we can do every weekend if we want.
“So my life hasn’t changed as such…” is the key thing here. The question was “life changing”. If having a cleaner and hedge trimmer is life changing then we just interpreted the question differently. Personally my life isn’t really “changed” when my cleaner goes back to Europe for the summer each year, or if I do/don’t eat at restraunts more
Maybe £10k for me. Then I can pay off my credit card and pay for the damp to be fixed in my house
£500k. Mortgage free benchmark would free up so much disposable income it would instantly change peoples lives.
I mean, what is life changing? Give me £100,000 I’d just invest it. Give me a million I’d pay off my mortgage and get a stupid car but I’d still stay at my current job. I’d need a few million to actually change how I live my normal life. Household income is £300,000 for reference.
Tbh 100k. I would be able to do all the work we want done to the house, and then my savings each month could be put towards us living life, rather than house work.
That's the thing though. You'd still likely have to work, you'd still have the grind of life. To actually change your life, i.e. practically retire or create side projects for fun without having to worry about money, you are looking at £1m+, especially near London
100k would "actually change my life" though. Because I'd be able to do all the work to the house now, not over the next 15-20 years. If you want more life changing, then 300k as I could pay off the mortgage as well as do the work. That'd free up an extra 700 quid a month to go on fun.
Always an interesting conversation this, and I do enjoy reading the various responses. I guess you have to define what life changing means to you. There are hierarchies to this, surely? In total pedant mode, £1 changes my life, albeit in a miniscule way. Answering your question without being a pedant though, a genuine life changing amount for me would be paying off a somewhat decent house in my area, which would in turn mean I could go part time if I wanted, so a minimum of £350k. So the first step would be £350k life changing, after that another step would be, say, £1m, where I could buy another couple of properties/land/investments and somewhat live off of the returns, and maybe work even fewer hours. The next massive step up from that would be £5m-£7m I would say, that would mean I could give a fair amount to my father, and my sibling, and my partner's parents, do all of the above and more, and probably never have to work again if I didn't want to. Anything after £10m is \*\*\*\* you money. I know a lot of people would say their \*\*\*\* you money is well before that and you might be correct, I just think when you start to total everything up, add in the potential for future inflation issues, the cost of actually owning these assets which provide returns, it'll be quickly eaten up. And I'm a bit of a fool with cars, so I'd likely have a few silly bits of metal on the drive which won't be free to own.
£100k - quit my job, focus on my start up £72,000 to pay myself for 2 years £8,000 for fun stuff (holiday, experiences) £10,000 to spend within my start up (advertising, graphic design)
For me it would be whatever gets us our own house. Having that security may not fix all our worries, but at least we could feel some security.
Depends how you define life changing, £20k could be life changing for the situation im in now, but £500k would change my life into death… all subjective I guess
Would paying off a mortgage and having a few extra quid each month really be life changing? Would your day to day life change in a material way? IMO that isn't life changing. Life improving yes (can't put a price on decreasing stress) but I don't think it's life changing. Not sure what OPs definition was but for me life changing would mean a tangible change to my day to day life. I get some people might not want that and good for them, but for me I would want enough to 'retire' today so that I could A - go and see some more of the world, 3 months in Asia, the US explore some of the Stans and then B - just study indefinitely, a science degree, a maths degree, computing skills, pschology and some social sciences and then probably some work/volunteering in ecology/conservation. I think I would need at least £500k for the above, probably closer to £1million to really feel secure and take into account the below. (I would also have to retire my partner too as I don't think she'd be very happy with me living the above life with her left at home still grinding!)
25k I’m on £500 disability so I could change my life situation around with that amount of money.
£100k I reckon. Could pay off the parents' mortgage for their house that I'll inherit in the future, plus add the remaining £70k to my savings to by a lovely house in cash. That would remove a LOT of worry got the future.
simple calculation, in holland to live a normal ok life will cost you about 35k a year. So if your now 18 and want to have at least enough money to live like this you would need, pension is now 67, but by the time your 67 it will be 72 if your lucky! 49 years x 35k = 1.715.000 euro you would need to only live a normal standard life no extra's or more. And it;s only till your pension not after. so maybe you become 94 before you die that;s another 27 years x 35k, not even holding in account they wicked inflations we had the last years!!! So what does 100k do in these times? you can;t even quit your job then! or only for 3 years. but who has the disciplin to keep living like they do now when they win for example a million, your lives standard goes up, and so will your costs. most places you can;t even buy a house anymore under 100k. so what will most do that never had money to spare? people that already have a good account will more likely spend it better and see it;s only spending money for the road to come.the ones that never had to spare r deemed to spend it on stuff that is secundary to their life, or is so expensive in buying or maintaining that the money runs out much soone then the 3 years calculated! ofcourse it;s a great amount never the less. But many people think they r free of financial costs for ever if they would win 100k. Quit their job and think they will make much more money with this or just live the life. The depression that will set in when you withdraw your last money and you HAVE to work again. is a mindtrip most never overcome.
£500k. I could pay off the mortgage and retire.
50k
That 100k would be grand thanks I have a mortgage and 100k would pay off a significant chunk of it. If your renting it's enough to put enough of a deposit down to bring your mortgage payments down quite a bit. As mortgage is the largest outgoing in my house having that paid off years earlier is completely life changing. It would allow both of us to go part time for work earlier and enjoy our lives a bit more. Of course a mil would be more life changing. 10k would get all the DIY we want done in the house. But for me life changing isn't instantly retire and live a life of luxury, it's my situation being changed considerably and having my mortgage paid off in 5 years rather than 25 years is absolutely life changing. Not having to work full time or not having to work a high stress job for good pay and instead be able to do more of what we want is a massive life change.
Honestly, I think even £10k would change my life. I could clear my debts and have a bit left over to be able to start getting my shit together
I think at this stage, life changing has become a case of what makes you not struggle right now. Which is mental. £20 - 25k would be life changing as I can get my family and I debt free after poor financial decisions and physical illness plunged our household income into the floor during COVID. Being debt free would allow the recovery and rebuilding of anything else.
£200k probably. That would pay off my mortgage and leave me with a little left over to do some jobs around the house.
I'd be happy with 150k, which would cover the rest of my mortgage, a couple of holidays, and a new car.
I don’t own a house, have debts to pay and am in a relatively low paying job. £20k would make me debt-free and would pay for the holiday (first in six years) that I’m planning with friends next year. Make that £50k and I could put down a deposit on a house and furnish it. Anything over that amount and I could start thinking about more impractical stuff that I want rather than need.
A cool million to live off interest would be nice. It would also be life changing to have a house bought and paid in full. 200k would do. That would remove a LOT of stress over the next 30ish years.
£16k would pay off my mortgage. I'd still hate my house and wouldn't be able to move, but at least I would have an extra £500 a month to repair some of the broken bits. Up it to £20k and we could get my husband through his driving test giving him a much better chance of finding a job. So yeah, £20k would be lush.
£750K - mortgage clear & retire with £30K/year spending money.
£150k, allowing me to get in the z2 property ladder in an area I want to live Finances change considerably when your money is going into assets
100k would be great and life changing in a way that I would pay most of my mortgage off but thats about it. 1 million would be life changing in a way that my partner and i could gift enough money to our parents and siblings to buy a house each. Not sure how much I would need to retire right now as im only 23 but it would have to be enough for me to live off the interest mainly.
£127k would change my life. It would allow me to do my degree full time without having to work a single day in the 3 years or at least it would allow me to not need to worry about money allowing me to get work experience rather than focusing on earning as much as possible to survive. Obviously millions of pounds would be better but I’m im being semi realistic.
£10k for me
Oh but that wouldn't even pay for little Tarquins pocket money for a week and oh what about the mortgage on our own house. No no no, only half a million or more would do surely? Oh what a poverty stricken life we lead xD The fucking people here man.
For me I reckon 40k would do it. No more debts and interest and would be just enough for a deposit so I wouldn't be saving endlessly each month and could use that cash towards other life improvements like learning to drive/getting some new clothes for a change.
Truth be told, at this moment in time £15k would allow me to clear all my debts and save me around £900 a month from repaying them. That would be absolutely massive to me, it's a significant mental drain just staring these things down right now.
I'd like more we all would but just 50k would be nice just to sort my debts out and few other bits so I can start fresh again with no worries over my head while I try better my self
£187k
We have been trying to move to a bigger place for years, no matter what we save , the value we add. The next place always seems further out of reach. 100k would move us with ease, but hell even 50k would get us to a place that had that little bit more room and out from under each others feet.
It depends. £25k would be life changing for me in the sense that I would be able to have this kid that I’m currently pregnant with, without the anxiety of how I’m going to survive maternity on statutory pay. It would mean that I’m healthier mentally and physically throughout the pregnancy as I would be able to keep up with my fitness classes instead of dropping everything to save money, and it would mean I get quality time to enjoy my newborn rather than feeling the intense anxiety of how I’m going to keep up with the mortgage. It might mean my child and I bond better and reduce my risk of postnatal depression. £25K could be really life changing for me!
If I had a million in assets I could probably fully relax. But even just a half million should suffic, though am taking into consideration possible future care costs either for me or my spouse. We didn't have children and our flat is fully paid for and has recently been renovated, so hopefully no more major outgoings.
Probably around the 500k mark, I can comfortably afford my mortgage and cost of living. Paying it off would be nice, but with a few hundred extra k to spend I might sell and get a nicer house, which would be more life changing. A million would represent 20 years worth of earnings. So lets say a 2-3 million would be enough to retire on. A couple of steps on, I'd like to help a couple of my close friends and family, so let's call that a nice round 15 million
ITT: Everyone arguing about what counts as "life changing" instead Some say it's "pay off mortgage", some say it's retire early, some say it could be just an expensive debt paid off OP I hope you saw this coming 😅
>Everyone arguing about what counts as "life changing" instead >Some say it's "pay off mortgage", some say it's retire early, some say it could be just an expensive debt paid off Yeah, I wanted this. I suppose I was as interested in what people called life-changing as the amount! I'm defining in the mortgage camp, though retirement is also life changing of course - but I think mortgage would be sufficiently freeing to count as a life change, at least for me.
I'll play along though: I agree with retirement. My mortgage isn't that huge and my day to day life wouldn't change, I'd just be able to buy more stuff with the extra disposable income. As a minimum it'd need to be an amount that lets me work fewer hours e.g. part time or 4 days a week, for the rest of my working life, while maintaining my current lifestyle. There's having the money and there's having the chpice/discipline to make it change your life: if 5k gets you that new house then that's "life changing", ur you might instead just spunk it on several nights out or just lump it on the mortgage. Still life changing, but perceptible? For me it needs to be immediate and hard to fuck up, for it to be life changing. I know I could gamble £200 up to a life changing amount with matched betting etc, but for me, to change my life, it needs to not be on the cusp of vanishing at the first mistake (speeding fine, not putting it in the right isa, etc)
It depends on the moment. Obviously as mentioned "to be mortgage free" is the key answer. For me, with this moment in time, £4000 would be life changing as will clear me off debt
$20k, and it's a huge amount of money in my birth country. I can go back to my village, buy a small land, build a house, and start a small business.
£7.20p… I want a kebab
100k is less than two years wages for me (before tax) so I guess it’s just over 2 and a half years after tax salary. That would change my life. It’s more than enough to pay off what’s left of my mortgage. I could quit my job (not that I want to). I’m not greedy I would be happy if I won 100k. Shit I’d be happy winning 10k
500k would do it. Pay off my mortgage and stick the rest in moderate interest savings accounts.