Could you survive on a million dollars?
By LouieWpHs04
@LouieWpHs04 (4554)
United States
December 21, 2009 3:09pm CST
Most people would probably definitely answer yes without thinking twice about it but then you think to yourself, people making $50,000-$60,000+ a year are struggling, do you think you'll be in much better of a situation?(Keep in mind also that when you win or come into that much money all of a sudden the taxes eat up QUITE a bit of it, and in some cases you don't even have a choice to get it in a lump sum which is basically all of the money all at once.) 
Yeah, for the first 3-4 years i'm sure you'll be fine.. but the money won't last forever, you will run out of it eventually. When people get a million all of a sudden they tend to get really spend happy thinking they have all the money in the world, but a million doesn't get you as far on my opinion as it would have 5-6+ years ago. 
What's your thoughts on this? Do you think you could survive on a million dollars for the rest of your life? Are you frugal enough? 
Yeah, for the first 3-4 years i'm sure you'll be fine.. but the money won't last forever, you will run out of it eventually. When people get a million all of a sudden they tend to get really spend happy thinking they have all the money in the world, but a million doesn't get you as far on my opinion as it would have 5-6+ years ago.
What's your thoughts on this? Do you think you could survive on a million dollars for the rest of your life? Are you frugal enough? 4 people like this
31 responses
@maezee (41997)
• United States
21 Dec 09
No lie - I could DEFINITELY live off of one million dollars for the rest of my life. Only because I'm used to living off of about $15,000 a year right now, and that's much less than 1 million dollars in a lifetime, I would think. I wouldn't call myself frugal - but I know how to save money and make a little extra when I need to! Obviously the costs of living are pretty expensive these days..But if you live with a roommate, still have a job and sources of income, I think you're pretty much good to go.
2 people like this
@Lucky09 (1763)
• Philippines
22 Dec 09
hi Louie^^;;
here in my country, a million dollars is big enough to accumulate interest from the bank like what Lamb says. an average person here can live with a budget of $150-$250 monthly. and that one million can gain here more than $1000 a month which is already 4x bigger than the expenses. well, one could actually live more comfortably with that money.........if they are single,.... but still enough if they have family.
another option is, i'll use the half to build an apartment for rent and just receiving the monthly payment from tenants. i think we don't only need to be frugal because it will be gone more easily when we are not wise
1 person likes this
@jands1 (835)
• United States
22 Dec 09
Ah a very good point or two you made. People always think, "If I just had (insert amount here) I would be set."
But the truth is, when people get more money, they just increase their lifestyle. Thus that new amount is not enough.
The trick is to maintain your current lifestyle so as the new amount of money will not only last, but will be abundant.
@benny128 (3615)
•
21 Dec 09
well no I couldnt a million dollars isn't that much money here in uk be about 600,000 pounds.
Bearing in mind house prices my house is worth about 350,000 add to that the low interest rates on the remaining 250,000 I think its a nice amount of money but I dont think you could retire on it with the awful interest rates that exist in this day and age.
@LouieWpHs04 (4554)
• United States
21 Dec 09
Well, it really does depend strongly on what your lifestyle is and whether you live urban or rural. I think it may be possible as long as you don't live extremly luxioriously. If if live a bit below middle-class and don't spend like crazy buying a lot of junk or un-needed things.
Also, if you aren't piled down by loads of bills as it is.
@calai618 (1773)
• Philippines
22 Dec 09
maybe not if i solely rely on it for the rest of my life. it is really important to know how to make use of such money. if you treat it just like a "pocket money" then surely it wont get you far. but if you know how to invest and where to put them safely, then your 1 million might even double or triple in time. it just depends on how you "hold" it and your type of lifestyle.
1 person likes this
@Kearyaingeal (46)
• Brazil
22 Dec 09
Well .. If I were to have a normal life and I could survive (literally) with 1 million... But living as I live, and doing everything I usually do ... I can not live with 1 million... 1 million I would survive for about 2 or 3 years and then eventually all the money. However, if I had 1 million on hand, and could invest the money, could live forever with the investment returns.
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
22 Dec 09
not for very long.after paying taxes on it,it'd be down to about 650,000,
then paying off the house and outstanding debts..i might get a year or two off,then it's back to work.i would try to invest as much as possible though to get a return dividend to make my life easier in the future.
in my area things are overinflated in value,so sad as it sounds one million wouldn't go very far.
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
22 Dec 09
Hi, Louie. The only way that I would be able to survive is if I spend cheaply. I could not buy anything that is expensive at all. I would have to buy things that is not expensive. My house would have to be cheap with little value to it. A million dollars would last about 7 years for me. But, I would eventually run out. I know that after paying all my bills in 7 years, I would need more money.
@judelen (428)
• Philippines
22 Dec 09
1 million dollars it's a big money already. But in my research, no matter how much is your money now in the bank if you don't know how to manage it, that money would be turn to nothing. To achieve that 1 million is not easy except if you won a lottery. To have that amount in your pocket it's not enough when you will not make any strategy or a plan out of it on how to grow that money in order for you to survive for a living in this world. If you could not manage well to that 1 million 1 to 2 months you can spend it all already. Most problems that our world today are all in money matters. Search on how to be financially free, how to be rich but being to that level it takes time and ways, steps and even prayer in order to achieve once goal in life. Visit my website on financial freedom http://www.waysinlife.com/index.html
@celebratelifeh (1142)
• China
22 Dec 09
a million dollars may not a big sum by that caculate but none of those $50,000-$60,000+ yearly earner can get a million dollar at the same time , they need to work and collect all the earnings more than 10 years to reach that amount but if we have a million together then we can invest it and make more money back within that 10 years already.
@jahernandezrivas (11288)
• United States
22 Dec 09
I think you are right money can only go so far and it doesn't last forever. I think I could survive for a few years yeah but the bills never stop coming our way so you really can not say I would pay everything off because of that. I would be happy for a while but everything has to come to and end even money we have.
@vandana7 (98856)
• India
22 Dec 09
The million dollars, at least what I can get after tax deductions can only get me as far as the how much any gangster can take me to kill me or my loved ones. No way, I dont want that kind of money that jeopardizes my life. I just want enough that is not enough for any gangsters or thugs, or dacoits, etc. :) I mean they should feel this amount is not enough to bribe my way through the system. :) And yet I should have enough for our food, closthing, shelter, and medicines, and clear obligations, if any. :)
@pentagan12 (757)
• Philippines
22 Dec 09
Hi there. Well, since I am from Philippines, I think a million dollars is a very big amount of money already. I will be able to buy a lot of things that I need with the use of that money and I think that would be enough for me to survive. I couldn't even imagine myself having a million dollars by simply working here in our country. The cost of living here in the Philippines is very low therefore I believe one million dollars is more than enough for survival here in the Philippines.
@Farside604 (870)
• Canada
22 Dec 09
I could defintely live on a million dollars for the rest of my life if given to me all at once. I would likely just live off the interest which as im typing am realizing might not be as much as I had anticipated 10 seconds ago when I started typing. So I might have to be more agressive in my investment of this money perhaps becoming a loan shark.
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
22 Dec 09
I think I could but I would have to be careful not to blow it. People think a million dollars is a lot...and it is but it is not so much that it can't be spent. I think i would try to live off the interest if I could at all do it. I don't know if I'm that frugal or not though..lol..
@yinmm007 (605)
• China
22 Dec 09
I think a million dollars is not enough for me to have a happy life.If this million is only for me to live i think it's ok.But i will have my wife and my children then i have to foster my family.That's not enough.
Also i could use this million to invest and earn more money back.In this way i think i would have a good life with my family.
@maria1081 (1251)
• Philippines
22 Dec 09
Yes I can live with that. One million dollar will be equivalent to approximately 47 million pesos in the Philippines. I can buy my own house, a car and do some travel. I can put some money to business and deposit it in the bank. I can be frugal enough for my future and my love ones.
@javoblrbaba (189)
• India
22 Dec 09
Hi louie,
one can survive with million dollars by investing the same money into some business and by gaining profit on that business, I can say by having one million dollars you can't survive for your entire life, if you observe the price of the commodities have rised like anything when compare to previous years.
And there is saying in telugu (indian language) which means "If you sit and keep on eating even heaps of money is nothing."
@canwillmca (13)
• United States
22 Dec 09
Well I will say that my husband has been making between 60 and 70K for the past couple of years and it's not that easy to live on right now. Before he got his raise we were already struggling with trying to pay off debt. We are still trying to pay off debt and I think we will finally get there. I'm not entirely sure if 1 million will do it. Now 2 million is a different story. I know for sure that we could survive on 2 million for the rest of our lives.
