The most money you've ever held in your hand - and what happened to it?

[Southern Stashian]

Our story:

We had built our first brand new home in 2001, a 1500 sq ft "beginner" home in an upcoming area of Central FL. We had built it for @ $92k and sold it in early 2005 for @ $220K, netting $135k in just four years. After realtor fees and the like, we walked away with a check just shy of $100k after having to pay off a small 2nd mortgage during closing.

We took $50k and put a third down on our vacant land for our future house, paid off some bills and banked the rest. I wished MMM was around at that point as we would have definately done things differently, most likely been financially independent by this stage of our lives. Oh well, you live and you learn. We have no regrets as those mistakes have made us who we are today.

Once I also found a bag in front of a post office when we lived in the coastal town of Ocean City, MD, back in the early 90's. In the bag was $250k worth of holiday bonus checks, cash deposits and payroll checks coming from one of the bigger hotel chains in town, which ironically my wife had been working for at the time.

I called my wife, who then called her general manager to come down and pick up the large sack-o-cash. We received a thank you letter from the company (and my wifes bonus check - no, nothing extra included), and the person who was responsible for the deposit was terminated.

Anyone else come into a large sum of money (legally, lol) that would have been spent, saved or invested a little differently now that you have been introduced to MMM?

Thanks!


www.theFIguy.com

[Kriegsspiel]

Hah, I paid cash for my car, had a big envelope full of Benjamins.  I told the guy I felt like I was in the Wire.  He didn't know WTF I was talking about.  I felt ackward.

[brewer12345]

I worked as an analyst for a small hedge fund for a few years during the boom.  My best year for bonus was $275k.  Taxes took a large bite out of that, and I think the take home amount was $155k (a bit hazy at this point).  We might have spent 5k on whatever frivolous nonsense took our fancy, but the rest went straight into savings/investment accounts.  Good thing, too, because 20 months later I was out of a job as the financial system started to come apart at the seams.

[Southern Stashian]

Lol! I love the look on a sales persons face when they ask you about your financing situation (on large ticket items) and you say that your a cash buyer. We've heard "Oh, I'm sorry. I though I heard you say that you're paying in cash?" more than one time. Classic.


www.theFIguy.com

[Southern Stashian]

I worked as an analyst for a small hedge fund for a few years during the boom.  My best year for bonus was $275k.  Taxes took a large bite out of that, and I think the take home amount was $155k (a bit hazy at this point).  We might have spent 5k on whatever frivolous nonsense took our fancy, but the rest went straight into savings/investment accounts.  Good thing, too, because 20 months later I was out of a job as the financial system started to come apart at the seams.

Was the $275k a bonus or earnings for the entire year? Either way, it sucks to lose that kinda income, income that would propel you to FI even sooner than most.


www.theFIguy.com

[Bigote]

I'll have a check placed in my hand for over $2MM when I close my apt (sale) in a couple of months.  That'll be a strange walk from the attorney's office to the bank.

Edit:  And what will happen to it?  It'll get deposited, then transferred to Vanguard and invested per my Asset Allocation model.  And it'll pay off a (relatively) small margin loan that I will draw to buy my new (suburban) home next month.

[brewer12345]

I worked as an analyst for a small hedge fund for a few years during the boom.  My best year for bonus was $275k.  Taxes took a large bite out of that, and I think the take home amount was $155k (a bit hazy at this point).  We might have spent 5k on whatever frivolous nonsense took our fancy, but the rest went straight into savings/investment accounts.  Good thing, too, because 20 months later I was out of a job as the financial system started to come apart at the seams.

Was the $275k a bonus or earnings for the entire year? Either way, it sucks to lose that kinda income, income that would propel you to FI even sooner than most.


www.theFIguy.com

Nope, that was bonus only, salary was separate.  I worked there for about 3.5 years and while it was extremely lucrative experience it was also extremely draining and hard on my family as well as on me.  In all honesty, I don't know how much longer I would have lasted in that job anyway.  I regard myself as lucky: I was in the right place at the right time to make the money and it helped hugely in getting me where I am now.

[GuitarStv]

One time I wanted to move money from my bank to a bank that offered better interest, but they wanted to charge me like 20$ to transfer funds to a different bank.  I told them that was unacceptable, I'd just take my money out in cash then (no checking associated with this account).  They told me they would need a week to get the money.  I came back a week later, and left with more than 20k in cash in a very thick envelope . . . which I promptly walked to the other banks bank machine and deposited.

[Bigote]

Wow, the only thing that would make me more nervous than walking down the street with 20k cash would be depositing it in an ATM.   Curious - why didn't you go into the bank?

[Bigote]

In terms of cash, I doubt I've ever held more than 2k or so at one time.

[chicagomeg]

Fiance's checkbook got stolen a few weeks ago for the rinky dinky hometown bank where we held a decent sum ($10kish) of our emergency savings. We had them freeze the account, and since we'd been planning to move the money & the direct deposit to Ally anyway, we didn't work to hard to come up with a good transition plan. Fiance went into the bank when we were home last and the only thing they could do was give him the money in cash...a check would have bounced since the freeze was still on the account. I was NOT a happy camper for the 2 hour car ride until we could find a PNC (our other main bank). It was unnecessarily stressful.

[Zoe]

We sold my husband's Mustang for $10K cash. We actually have a picture of him holding it, lol. Then we proceeded to deposit the cash and then pay the remainder of the loan off (his parent's bought it for him in cash and he was paying them back).

[Self-employed-swami]

Actual cash, I'd say the time we sold our Matrix, and the buyer brought $7200 (or $7300, I can't quite remember) in hundreds.

I've had a cheque for $200,000 before though.  It came from the lawyer's account, and it spent 15 days in my chequing account, before I got a bank draft, for the downpayment on our house.  I walked into the branch with that cheque, and then two managers needed to approve it for deposit.  They then informed me that it would need to be held, until the funds cleared from trust account's bank, like I was some sort of idiot that thought it would just clear the same day.

[kmm]

I received $500K from a life insurance policy several years ago. $60K (maximum allowed) went into a 529 plan, $150K paid off a mortgage balance, and the rest was invested. If I were a true Mustachian that would probably be enough to put me into early retirement, but for various reasons (I like my job, I want to pay for private college, I wanted to move to a bigger house and keep my condo as an investment property, I have an overactive security gland) I continue to work and save.

I wish I had not received that check but at the same time, I am very grateful to have it. It has made all the difference to my peace of mind as a solo parent.

[Self-employed-swami]

I wish I had not received that check but at the same time, I am very grateful to have it. It has made all the difference to my peace of mind as a solo parent.

My condolences on the loss of your partner.

I felt the same way, cashing the life insurance cheque from my Mom's policy. :(

[mm31]

Lots of great stories here. I've never held more than $1K in cash.

[MountainMan]

Paid cash for my car.  I learned people do not expect this. lol

[ketchup]

$3500. Down payment on my house.  I was mortified that I would lose that envelope of Benjamins.

[keith]

Hah, I paid cash for my car, had a big envelope full of Benjamins.  I told the guy I felt like I was in the Wire.  He didn't know WTF I was talking about.  I felt ackward.

Hahaha awesome. The best show man.

[keith]

My first job in high school was working at a small retail establishment. The owner and myself were the only employees for most of the time I worked there. This meant I was on the hook for a lot of tasks, including heading to the bank for deposits when he wasn't around.

On a couple occasions I remember cash deposits in the 10-15k range that I had to handle.

Good thing I was trustworthy and the money always made it to the bank! I don't know if I would trust a high school kid with that responsibility, had I been in his shoes.

[BlueMR2]

Most in cash was when I bought my newest car (a 1995, back in 2002ish?).  Paid the owner (a good friend) with a check, then we headed over to do the title transfer.  Despite saying on the phone that they take checks, I found out that title transfer taxes are a cash only deal...  Jogged across the parking lot to the bank and withdrew $1000 (actually a little more, don't remember the exact amount) to pay for said taxes.  :-)  Leaves me with a question though...  What if I bought an actual nice expensive used car?  Am I really supposed to walk into the DMV with $10,000 in cash?  Seriously?  Why don't we hear about people robbing the DMV all the time, they've gotta be handling a boat load of cash and they only have regular cash registers!?

Biggest check was when I cashed out one of my CDs to pay off the house.  Bank A gave me a nice check for $62,000 that I transported over to Bank B.  :-)

[Gundy]

Most I ever had in my hand was about 30k. I flew C130s out of Germany for a couple of years and every time we went to Africa we were issued an envelope of cash to pay for miscellaneous airport fees in countries that weren't equipped to charge it to our account.

My most nerve wracking moment was at the airport in Senegal where they gave me a ride by myself to their base operations. I couldn't really tell what we were getting charged for because the receipt was in French, and there was some arguing and hand waving as I tried to ask questions. When we decided on the bill there was a lot of wide eyes when I started laying down a stack of 100s. I was pretty happy to get out of their without getting jumped.

[chicagomeg]

My first job in high school was working at a small retail establishment. The owner and myself were the only employees for most of the time I worked there. This meant I was on the hook for a lot of tasks, including heading to the bank for deposits when he wasn't around.

On a couple occasions I remember cash deposits in the 10-15k range that I had to handle.

Good thing I was trustworthy and the money always made it to the bank! I don't know if I would trust a high school kid with that responsibility, had I been in his shoes.

Oh! I didn't even think of that. At my last job, someone had decided it was a great idea for the Admin Asst in Finance to be the one to walk 3 blocks to the bank and make deposits. Sometimes it was "only" a few thousand dollars in checks, but more than once there were 6 figure checks to deposit, not to mention several hundred in cash. I HATED doing it. (Can you tell I'm really uncomfortable w/large amounts of cash?)

[Self-employed-swami]

I wouldn't want to hold onto a large cheque for a long time in case I lost it, but I wouldn't care about walking down the street with one, as they aren't exactly untraceable.

[JamesAt15]

I am not sure if this counts, but anyhow...

Several years ago we sold our high-rise apartment here in Tokyo (where real estate prices are high, you might have heard) to move to a single-family house. I don't know how it works in the States, but when we had the sale all arranged, the bankers scheduled the meetup for the sale at one of their offices.

The buyers showed up, with their bank officers, and we showed up with ours. When we all signed on the dotted lines (actually here we use registered family seals instead of signatures), the buyers' banker pulled out a brick of 10,000yen notes (equivalent to $100 bills) for the full purchase price and handed it to them. They presented it to us, buying the apartment. I accepted it, then presented it to my banker to apply to our home loans (old and new).

Both the buyer and I had a certain giddy gleam in our eyes as we pushed this huge stack of yen about. "Oh here, old pal, let me give this stack of half a million dollars in cash!" "Quite right, old boy, I'll just take that off your hands!"

The bankers, who have probably gone through this exchange hundreds of times, looked on disinterestedly.

[Self-employed-swami]

The buyers showed up, with their bank officers, and we showed up with ours. When we all signed on the dotted lines (actually here we use registered family seals instead of signatures), the buyers' banker pulled out a brick of 10,000yen notes (equivalent to $100 bills) for the full purchase price and handed it to them. They presented it to us, buying the apartment. I accepted it, then presented it to my banker to apply to our home loans (old and new).

Both the buyer and I had a certain giddy gleam in our eyes as we pushed this huge stack of yen about. "Oh here, old pal, let me give this stack of half a million dollars in cash!" "Quite right, old boy, I'll just take that off your hands!"

This, most certainly counts!  And likely for the most cold hard cash handled!

[Adventine]

I am not sure if this counts, but anyhow...

Several years ago we sold our high-rise apartment here in Tokyo (where real estate prices are high, you might have heard) to move to a single-family house. I don't know how it works in the States, but when we had the sale all arranged, the bankers scheduled the meetup for the sale at one of their offices.

The buyers showed up, with their bank officers, and we showed up with ours. When we all signed on the dotted lines (actually here we use registered family seals instead of signatures), the buyers' banker pulled out a brick of 10,000yen notes (equivalent to $100 bills) for the full purchase price and handed it to them. They presented it to us, buying the apartment. I accepted it, then presented it to my banker to apply to our home loans (old and new).

Both the buyer and I had a certain giddy gleam in our eyes as we pushed this huge stack of yen about. "Oh here, old pal, let me give this stack of half a million dollars in cash!" "Quite right, old boy, I'll just take that off your hands!"

The bankers, who have probably gone through this exchange hundreds of times, looked on disinterestedly.

Awesome. I can't wait to buy my own house the same way!

[JamesAt15]

Awesome. I can't wait to buy my own house the same way!

I figured it was a Japan, cash-based-society thing - do they hand over blocks of cash when buying homes in the Phillipines?

If you can manage to do it, though, it is a thrill.  :-)

[JamesAt15]

This, most certainly counts!  And likely for the most cold hard cash handled!

Well, actually, the original poster said:

Anyone else come into a large sum of money (legally, lol) that would have been spent, saved or invested a little differently now that you have been introduced to MMM?

And in that respect, no, my story probably doesn't really qualify. If we had known about mustachianism and frugality then, and then saved and invested in the stocks for these last few years... wow, we probably woulda cleaned up. But it's a big woulda-coulda-shoulda at this point.

[Adventine]

Awesome. I can't wait to buy my own house the same way!

I figured it was a Japan, cash-based-society thing - do they hand over blocks of cash when buying homes in the Phillipines?

If you can manage to do it, though, it is a thrill.  :-)

Yeah, it's possible to hand over cash for cars and houses Checks are equally accepted though (and, now that I think about it, probably a much better idea).

[jpo]

Walked through downtown Columbus with two $5k checks to open and fund my Roth IRA for 2009/2010.

Soon I am sure I will be walking around with a much larger home deposit check.

[Self-employed-swami]

This, most certainly counts!  And likely for the most cold hard cash handled!

Well, actually, the original poster said:

Anyone else come into a large sum of money (legally, lol) that would have been spent, saved or invested a little differently now that you have been introduced to MMM?

And I took it a little more literally, with the thread title.
And in that respect, no, my story probably doesn't really qualify. If we had known about mustachianism and frugality then, and then saved and invested in the stocks for these last few years... wow, we probably woulda cleaned up. But it's a big woulda-coulda-shoulda at this point.

[GuitarStv]

Wow, the only thing that would make me more nervous than walking down the street with 20k cash would be depositing it in an ATM.   Curious - why didn't you go into the bank?

Well, the one bank was right across the street from the other so it wasn't like it was a long walk.  It was also a sunny Saturday morning, and I live in Canada so I wasn't terribly concerned about being robbed at random.  The ATM was inside the bank doors and had a much shorter line than going to a teller . . .

[JohnGalt]

My first job in high school was working at a small retail establishment. The owner and myself were the only employees for most of the time I worked there. This meant I was on the hook for a lot of tasks, including heading to the bank for deposits when he wasn't around.

On a couple occasions I remember cash deposits in the 10-15k range that I had to handle.

Good thing I was trustworthy and the money always made it to the bank! I don't know if I would trust a high school kid with that responsibility, had I been in his shoes.

haha - this reminded me of the movie Empire Records where the high school kid (or maybe he was slightly older) takes the bank deposit to Atlantic City.

[Peter]

When I was 11 I got to hold and count the $4000 cash my grandpa got from selling his boat. I miscounted (come on, I was 11) and came up $100 short. There was a tense moment between my grandpa and the guy as we recounted...

[Dynasty]

I had 9500 in cashiers checks I was going to use to purchase a used Lexus from a private party.

After driving the car, and noticing other inconsistencies, the car reeked of odometer fraud. Supposedly there was only 75K miles on the car, but it drove like it had closer to 150k.

What happened to the money? Went back into the bank.

The seller was Ukrainian. Was a tow truck driver. Had a large lavish house in an expensive neighborhood. Wife didn't work. Teenage son drove a Lexus. He was completely renovating his house.

Car had an oil change sticker on it that was two years old, with only 2K miles less on it than what the sticker said when the next oil change was due compared to the mileage on the odometer.

Supposedly this car was his daily driver. Not sure how he only put three thousand miles driving daily with it over two years. I had a really really bad feeling about this car. My gut said to run with my money.

[I Love Cake]

Our story:

We had built our first brand new home in 2001, a 1500 sq ft "beginner" home in an upcoming area of Central FL. We had built it for @ $92k and sold it in early 2005 for @ $220K, netting $135k in just four years. After realtor fees and the like, we walked away with a check just shy of $100k after having to pay off a small 2nd mortgage during closing.

We took $50k and put a third down on our vacant land for our future house, paid off some bills and banked the rest. I wished MMM was around at that point as we would have definately done things differently, most likely been financially independent by this stage of our lives. Oh well, you live and you learn. We have no regrets as those mistakes have made us who we are today.

Once I also found a bag in front of a post office when we lived in the coastal town of Ocean City, MD, back in the early 90's. In the bag was $250k worth of holiday bonus checks, cash deposits and payroll checks coming from one of the bigger hotel chains in town, which ironically my wife had been working for at the time.

I called my wife, who then called her general manager to come down and pick up the large sack-o-cash. We received a thank you letter from the company (and my wifes bonus check - no, nothing extra included), and the person who was responsible for the deposit was terminated.

Anyone else come into a large sum of money (legally, lol) that would have been spent, saved or invested a little differently now that you have been introduced to MMM?

Thanks!


www.theFIguy.com

that was mighty honest of you to return that sac 'o dough. Shame they didn't give you a reward-even a box of doughnuts or something!

[I Love Cake]

For cash I had about $18k when I went to buy my brand new Honda Civic (I forget the total amount now) and they were pretty weirded out that not only did I not want financing but I was paying in cash

For cheque, I once got $100k. We put half on mortgage and the other half to renovate our ancient basement into a fab rec room for the kids and grown ups! Best $50k we ever spent!! Really needed it because our house is tiny and it added another 500 sq ft to our living space

[Spork]

Not exactly a large amount of money, but... we recently bought a used Matrix.  When lovely wife went to the bank to get the cash, the teller gave her a really weird look and then said "we just sent all of our hundreds over to our other branch."  They managed to dig up a handful of 100's... but for the most part we paid for it with a huge stack of $20s. 

When we bought it, the poor guy sighed and said "sit down... this is going to take a while" while he counted it.

Wifey said she felt like she'd just knocked over an ATM.

[kudy]

I worked at a bank, and routinely held $80K-$200K when counting the vault - but that doesn't really count, it wasn't my money.

[mikefixac]

I had 9500 in cashiers checks I was going to use to purchase a used Lexus from a private party.

After driving the car, and noticing other inconsistencies, the car reeked of odometer fraud. Supposedly there was only 75K miles on the car, but it drove like it had closer to 150k.

What happened to the money? Went back into the bank.

Wise person you are Dynasty. Sometimes the best deals are the ones you walk away from.

[mustachecat]

I work at a nonprofit, so I've seen a lot of huge charitable donations. The biggest check that ever came across my desk was for $250,000, but I've seen checks as big as $5 million. At that level, it just doesn't seem real--it's like a cartoon.

The most cash I've ever held is $3,300--my share of first, last, and security for my first apartment in New York. My parents don't trust checks, so they gave me the entire amount in cash.

[destron]

I had 1.7 million yen of my own cash (around ~$14,000 at the time) that I had to walk to the post office to get a postal money order (the Japanese banking system is archaic). I made my boss walk with me even though I knew that nothing was going to happen... that's a lot of bread to have in your pocket.

[kisserofsinners]

When i was very young, 23, I saved up $1000 in cash to use as a deposite on a new rental place. It was the first time I didn't use a credit card to do it. Whenever I ended up with a hundred dollar bill I'd stash it in a book on my shelf. I can't recall why i didn't trust the bank...

[WhatMomWears]

I still fondly remember the day I got my $99,000 bonus check. Felt pretty sweet. Invested it as our 'everything hits the fan' money. 2 years later I'm a SAHM :)

[Villanelle]

Just shy of $10,000, though it was in Japanese yen, if we are talking the most actual cash I've held.  Moving in to a in Japan there is really expensive, with deposits and first months' rent and "key money", which is basically a gift to the landlord for letting you move into their home.  Thankfully, some if it was reimbursed by my husband's employer.

[DoubleDown]

I once had to carry over $1 million in cash for my job, all the way to another country. I found it pretty stressful being responsible for carrying that much money for so long, through cab rides, airports, on airplanes, etc., and was very relieved when I deposited it. Even getting food or going to the bathroom was stressful because I wouldn't dare set it down at a food stand or public restroom! And it was heavy.

[Use it up, wear it out...]

I once was peeved with my bank for all the fees they were charging me, so I went to withdraw my money to put it into an account I'd opened at another bank. When the clerk told me they would charge me $35 for a cashier's check to withdraw my money, I told them I'd take it in cash (about $12,000). I had to fill out a lot of anti-money-laundering paperwork, and about 30 minutes later they gave it to me in cash.

Feeling quite nervous, as it was my entire non-retirement savings at the time, I walked 7 blocks to the bank with my new account. When I went to deposit the cash, there was eyebrow-raising, a sigh, and more anti-money-laundering paperwork to fill out.

[mobilisinmobili]

At home only a few thousand to buy a computer.

In China I think I had a suitcase with a few hundred thousand RMB in it. We'd get paid in giant stacks of cash and it was just a big pile in our closet.

[Bigote]

I once had to carry over $1 million in cash for my job, all the way to another country. I found it pretty stressful being responsible for carrying that much money for so long, through cab rides, airports, on airplanes, etc., and was very relieved when I deposited it. Even getting food or going to the bathroom was stressful because I wouldn't dare set it down at a food stand or public restroom! And it was heavy.

What were the bills?  $1MM in 100 dollar bills would weigh over 200 lbs.


And did you declare the cash at customs?