What Would You do With $17,000?
Posted: June 14th, 2011 | Author: Joe | Filed under: spending | Tags: money, news, Robert Adams, windfall | 3 Comments »Pop Quiz: You walk up to the ATM to get some fast cash for a burrito, and almost step on a bag of cash – $17k in cash. What do you do?
I’d like to say that I’d find a way to return the money, like Robert Adams did, but I honestly don’t know if I would. $1 million is definitely a game changer, but it’s also easy to decide what to do with (as evidenced by this post). But my wife and I were just discussing the other day about how something as simple as an extra $1,000 a month would change our life significantly. 17 grand would go a long way to easy many of my money worries…
- I could pay off my car loan and still have $10,000 left over…
- I could put that extra $10k in savings for my next car and never need another car loan again…
- I could finish the unfinished room on the 2nd floor of my house, increasing the number of bedrooms…
- I could fully fund my IRA for the year, and have enough left over for the next two years and pocket the interest…
- I could pay off my student loans, and still have enough left over to almost pay off the family car…
- I could take my wife and kids to Disney land…
- I could make a nice donation to my favorite charity…
- I could buy a new home entertainment system….
- I could hire a maid and make my wife’s life a lot easier…
Well, I could go on… but this little dream is moot because I probably would hand the money over. The way I see it, I’d have to sleep sometime and when I did, my conscience would gnaw away at me.
For the record, if I suddenly came into $17,000 I didn’t have previously, I’d probably pay off the family car and bank the rest for my next car since it’s getting a little shaky these days.. then I’d hire a maid. 
But what about you?
Would you return the money?
Forgetting about the source of the money for a minute, would an extra $17,000 change your life in any way?
If me, I may invest it into stock market.
Hi. This is Bob Adams the guy who found the money. It was in fact $20,100 with the checks. I am pleased that most of the comments are positive and thought I did the right thing. The manager of maintenance at Resurrection Medical Center where I work used this story as a moral example for his two sons. I have talked to many others who told me it helped them in some way to read about this. Our mission nun Sr. Clara Frances said that I am an example to everyone. I have had my fifteen minutes of fame as Mr. Warhol said. Maybe thats reward enough. There is one person who I lost as a friend who I would like to be friends with again. Maybe this will help make that happen.
Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110609/news/706099991/#ixzz1QFzjPVK0
I need the money for surgury. $17,000 would be paid directly to the Medical facility.