What can I do with 50,000 dollars?

[trenton]

Currently, I am very unhappy with my life. There is this deep existential void around not living by my values or by my potential. Sometimes this leads to depression and suicidal thoughts. This then leads to thoughts like jumping off of a bridge.

Rather than jumping off of a bridge, I could at least figure out what I could possibly do with the money I saved up. It is possible that I actually have a lot more freedom with my life than I assume due to saving up money from the job I hate. I hate this job because it is grunt labor, low wages, lack of creative expression, and lack of personal growth opportunities through learning and intellectual growth. It makes me see survival as fundamentally pointless so long as it comes at the cost of anything that makes life worth living. Therefore, rather than killing myself immediately, I could take a chance at building a better life and still kill myself afterwards if necessary.

I am now exploring what I could possibly do with this money that would help me live the best life possible.

One option is that I could probably open a small business. Currently, given my actual skills I could in theory start up a chess club or cafe for about 30,000-45,000 dollars depending on the location. It could hold tournaments and charge membership fees while selling food. This is just one example of a possible business I could do, but there are likely others.

A second option is that I could quit my job and move to another country. Countries in Europe tend to have cheaper colleges for further educational opportunities that I could look into. They also have better wages. Maybe I could travel somewhere in the world where psychedelics are legal to see if God consciousness would recontextualize my entire life, creating an entirely new approach to things like meaning and life purpose. Part of what drew me into spirituality was my deep struggle with things like meaning and purpose.

Another option is some kind of mental health investment, but I don't know about that one. They might just put me on more anti-depressants that don't actually make a difference. There are several therapists who misunderstood me in the past and they might not actually help. However, one specializing in existential issues such as the one that leads to suicidal thoughts might help if they can aid in transitioning.

There are a bunch of personal development courses I could afford. I am doubtful of these courses though because I don't know which one would actually be helpful. There might be a lot of crappy courses I need to sort through. I saw some courses that cost over 2,600 dollars and they sounded like they might be a rip off.

I remember in the past I wanted to use my money to take off of work and focus entirely on chess. Unfortunately, my family was opposed to this and they would not let me do it so long as I lived with them. At this point chess no longer gives me the same joy it once did. The prevalent idea that it is too late for me because I'm supposed to be younger eliminated the interest of playing professionally. I would likely prefer to look to something else instead of chess as I did with this previous idea.

In terms of what would actually make me fulfilled, here are a few things that I think makes life worth living.

I value using deep understanding to improve people's lives. This can be done through research, learning, and teaching. I like having the ability to express my creativity. I have previously shared my insights about the mind in a way that saved people's lives. My interest in understanding the mind draws me to fields like psychology, philosophy, and spirituality. I like being committed to truth as I do my best to remain as objective as possible in seeking pure understanding. I seem to enjoy exploring the limits of knowledge and logic in understanding reality. I like looking across multiple domains of study and integrating them through making connections that others normally miss. I like how fields like Quantum Mechanics challenge the limits of classic human logic.

A few things that interest me include truth, creativity, personal development, insight, self-understanding, wisdom, contribution, purpose, self-love, intelligence, pure understanding, and using this to help improve other people's lives. It would probably interest me to have somebody to grow alongside of me with similar goals or a similar purpose. That would create a situation which would likely have more opportunities if I don't have to do everything alone.

I was previously suggested that I should become a life coach, especially since I used my insights in a very helpful way for other people. The reason I hesitate to do this is because I still feel horrible about my life, and it gives me doubts about my abilities to fix someone else's life. I don't see myself as being in any position to help somebody with a career dilemma if I feel lost in life. I know that I am able to help people psychologically and spiritually well enough to save lives and I once got a victim of predatory loaning out of debt, but I don't feel confident enough in my own life.

Likewise, I don't feel confident in dating if my depression might make me a psychological burden to potential partners. It might be in their best interest to avoid such people. I want to be in a position where I am not having this kind of problem during dating.

What else could I do with this money? Are there any other business ventures that would probably be better than the chess club? I want to consider all of my options that could possibly improve my life and exhaust those before making an irreversible decision.

[Leo Gura]

I think some travel would be good for you to flush your system with new experiences. You could use that to make some new friends if you travel to the right places.

Investing in some coaching or therapy would be good.

Any other activities that feed your soul and your top values.

But also, don't feel you have to spend it all. Having a large savings is very good for security.

The best investment would be to use that money to transition yourself into a career/biz that could sustain you in the future so you don't have to grind away at a job you dislike.

Edited April 4 by Leo Gura

[Hojo]

Its hard to say as you dont know what will make you happy. You could be working at the building next to where you work and be experiencing a whole different world and be happy. I would say if you are asking if you should start a business or not its probably not a good idea. God is dreaming your life it rewards you for taking risks but not if you feel bad about what you are doing.

The jobs you receive are from God. If you dont like it stop God is dreaming your life.

I hated my job, it was very hard labour working in ovens in a factory for 2 .5 years.I randomly got a shit tonne of money from taxes so  I quit my job. I just said I will use this money then kill myself. I got to the end 8 months later and was going to do it but I took shrooms last second and saw God. And I got another job randomly with a union and the same pay 5 min walk from my house and its way better for me. The job God gave me is healing me.

Edited April 4 by Hojo

[IronFoot]

I have a slightly different recommendation. This also happens to be the strategy I am attempting currently to escape the rat race.  A huge stressor with a job you hate is if you are relying on it entirely to cover your living expenses. It just feels like a house of cards waiting to fall in on itself.

1. If you are in an area with a high cost of living, leave. There are places all over the US that are more affordable and still pretty great. You could also look into leaving the country. I’ve heard a little money goes a long way in South America.

2. Use that money to invest in real estate in one of these more affordable places. A multi family home would be ideal. With a 50k down payment, there are some duplexes and triplexes that could be options. Rent out one side to cover the mortgage and live in the other. If you have a triplex even better because then you have 2 units cash flowing. At this point your income from your job is really just for utilities, food and investing (however you choose).

3.  Either buy more with the money you are saving or start your business. If your cost of living is mostly covered by your first real estate deal, then all of that extra money is getting stashed away. And you are probably less stressed because you get to keep more of your paycheck. There’s also less consequences for quitting your job to go find something else because at the bare minimum you won’t be homeless (as long as your tenant pays their rent).

 

 

[Daniel Balan]

Just give that money to me! I don't know if that would make you happier but certainly it would make me extremely happy 

[Breakingthewall]

I worked as a slave from 19 to 23, and I saw that it was absolutely depressing, almost suicidal. I was fixated on starting a business, which I did. It's a good solution, but you have to be obsessive; you have to be absolutely focused. The good thing is that this eliminates depression, since you're focused all the time. I suppose it's not very mentally healthy, and it's totally anti-mystical and anti-Buddhist, but I remember at 24, riding around the city on my motorbike thinking: this is the jungle, and I'm a predator whahahaha. There's only one path: victory or death. Money wasn't just money, but the salve of reality, with which I was shown the path. It was intoxicating, magical.

Later, I became like a hippie, sailing the oceans on a sailboat for about seven years, which also had a quite strong war component. Now I'm back in the city, with the necessary and inevitable obsessive focus. How else can I live? Anything else is depressing, boring, unbearable. We're fighting machines; if we don't get going, it's absolutely depressing, better be dead and reincarnate in anything less depressing than a human that works as slave, maybe a rat or anything 

Edited April 4 by Breakingthewall

[RawJudah]

I’m in the exact same position. Literally just working a job I kind of like but am a bit bored of, with a lot of money saved. I was originally saving for a house, but now I think a mortgage is a terrible idea. I’d love to need new people and do other stuff but my job takes a lot of energy out of my weekdays and even weekends.
Now I feel stuck and I don’t really know what to do. Tempted to go travelling or change jobs. I get the regular suicidal thoughts too but they always fade away. It sucks, and the future doesn’t look good especially here in the UK. 
The worst feeling in the world is feeling stuck but also having freedom to do something about it.

I’ve asked for help on here before for the exact same question you have so you could give that a look if you want, it could help.

[SLuxy]

  On 4/4/2025 at 6:34 AM, Daniel Balan said:

Just give that money to me! I don't know if that would make you happier but certainly it would make me extremely happy 

😂

[Aaron p]

Careful buying courses willy nilly...be sure you have the strength and determination to do something with it. 

For example if you buy a 20,000 course and get educated out the wazoo then your not actually entrepreneurial person, then you just lost a lot of the 20k value. Be sure you can actually do something with it. If your young probably traveling would be a good option. Don't hide your hearts true desires

[Yimpa]

Ketamine infusions. Not the nasal weaksauce, get it done IV.

[Applegarden8]

Save it for future medical expenses if you are in USA. I would spend like 2k for something like a travel or retreat or just take vacation and do a retreat in your home, if you feel you are mentally able to. If you can't, do therapy. 

[jimwell]

  On 4/4/2025 at 2:50 AM, trenton said:

What else could I do with this money? Are there any other business ventures that would probably be better than the chess club? I want to consider all of my options that could possibly improve my life and exhaust those before making an irreversible decision.

One possible solution is for you to move to a cheap country so that your $50,000 goes a long way. You don't even need to get a job with that amount of money. For example, in the Philippines, it's possible to have a decent standard of living with $500 per month (including rent, food, electricity, water, and internet bills). You just need to be prudent. You can stay for two or three years and use that time to heal yourself or build your dream life.

I have seen a few Westerners (both Caucasians and Black individuals) on YouTube whose lives were miserable in the USA, UK, etc., but improved when they started living in the Philippines. They experienced significantly better lives in the country; they decided to stay permanently. One of the benefits of living in the Philippines is that its culture is among the most similar to that of the USA in Asia, making it easier to adapt. Also, most Filipinos speak English well enough.