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"Is £100,000 enough to change your life?"

ALMOST two-thirds of Britons believe it would take a windfall of at least �100,000 to make a difference to their life, research today indicated.

A survey by National Savings and Investments (NS&I) found that 62 per cent of UK adults think a six figure sum would be needed to have a tangible impact on their lifestyle.

Amid the rising cost of funding a lavish existence, one in ten respondents said a windfall of �2million or more would be needed before they would really notice the difference.

At the other end of the scale, just 6 per cent of people would be satisfied with a �1,000 windfall, the survey of more than 2,000 people found.

Men tended to be the greedier sex, with 67 per cent wanting more than �100,000 to improve their lifestyle compared to 58 per cent of women.

NS&I said the figures reflected a change in spending habits and expectations with more UK consumers regularly treating themselves to luxuries.

But rather than sparking a spending spree more Britons would use a windfall to get their bank balances back into the black, research found.

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Hmm £100,000 is a lot but is it enough? How many Mercedes-Benz SLR McLarens could I get?

It's enough for a small house but the location wouldnt be great and you'll probably have to invest the rest to fix it up.

I could put it all into a savings account which would earn me £4750.39 in the first year. That's not really going to fun a lavish lifestyle but would certainly pay for a couple of nice holidays.

Talking of holidays I suppose you could spend it all travelling around the world. That'd be fun and take you a couple of years I imagine.

I think if you really wanted to invest it, you should go for a property. Then either live in it or better yet, rent it. Sell it off in a couple of years and hopefully your £100,000 has almost doubled.

Knowing you lot you'd probably want to spend it all here and now. Lots of games? Lots of DVDs? Big HD TV? A new car? Perhaps a new computer with a 24MB broadband connection?

Maybe a new wheelchair for Timmargh. Years supply of twix for @ngel, life time supply of beer for Smedlos. A one way ticket to China for Kawada. Life size dalek and K9 for pb. 8800GTX for Chipp. You get the idea =)

So what would you guys do with £100,000 and would it change your life?

I'm not entirely sure; most likely invest some of it, use some to live off at university instead of taking out a loan, and maybe get myself a car or two!

Is it enough to change your life? If you spend it shrewdly, yes. However, I know too little about finance and business to be able to do that sort of thing!

If only they'd invented mech style wheelchairs by now. Like a smaller version of the loaders on Aliens. Think of all the add-ons you could have.

I'm sure the technology is there, if the Japanese got their act together instead of making dancing robots, they could design a robot frame to hold someone and let them walk.

I'd have Machie assassinated. Not sure what I'd do with the other £99,999 though.

I'd buy a house. A £100,000 deposit plus whatever mortgage I could get would net me a decent place to live.

Machie wrote:
> ... will you be taking it out a lot then? You said you dont
> really go out much. Not sure if that was because of your health
> or the fact you only have this powered indoor chair.

It was initially to do with my health - my foot was really bad and I felt out of it most of the time due to the drugs I was on, plus it wasn't worth the risk of knocking it accidentally whilst I was out. The chair itself wasn't so much of a hurdle as I have a couple of manual chairs I can easily transfer into - now I've got my WAV (wheelchair accessible vehicle) and it's insured for any driver I'm wanting to get this outdoor chair so I can go out with anyone and not just someone who has the strength/skill to successfully push me about in a manual chair (I'm 6 feet tall and around 12 stone).

> How long have you had this old one for? I suppose you could
> carry on using it as your indoor chair so you dont wear out this
> new one so much. But as it's falling to bits you're probably keen
> to stop using it.

I've had it for just over 4 years now and apart from a 3 week stay in hospital last year I've used it for an average of 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. The seat's almost threadbare, the joystick sticks sometimes (I let go, the chair keeps moving!), the castors rattle sometimes and occasionally the wires between the controls and the motors need wiggling before the damn thing will move!

pb wrote:
> If only they'd invented mech style wheelchairs by now. Like a
> smaller version of the loaders on Aliens. Think of all the
> add-ons you could have.
>
> I'm sure the technology is there, if the Japanese got their act
> together instead of making dancing robots, they could design a
> robot frame to hold someone and let them walk.

Haha, I've said that since I saw Aliens many years ago.

Seriously, though, there have been some experimental exo-skeletans made and tested from a metal framework attached at various points of the body (wrists, ankles, hips etc.) to a suit with air pockets that inflated and deflated as it detected various muscle contractions.

In a word: yes.
It would buy me a room, and my life would descend into something not unlike Silent Hill 4.

Machie wrote:
> A one way ticket to China for Kawada.


Indeedy, 100,000 would definitely change my life as it'd be a huge sum of cash over in China, i could live like a King and amass my Chinese army to take over the world

Well if I already had my own house it'd pay off the mortage and any outstanding bills nicely.. after that I suppose it'd be an unecessary car/tv/pc upgrade with the rest going into a savings account :)

£100,000 would be just dandy. It would take a large bite out of my mortgage. This means I could continue it over the same period but just pay much, much less every month. I suppose the money it frees up isn't exactly huge but enough to go on as many drinking sessions, holidays, gigs as i want, not worry about unexpected bills etc and buy things when I want them. I suppose for me life changing money isn't about the "Bling" lifestyle but the increase in the everyday standard of life. Less pressure and more choice can make a difference to your whole attitude.