If I found $10 on the ground right now, I'd use it to buy next week's coffee.
If I found $100 on the ground right now, I'd use it to buy some Christmas presents and not have to hit my bank account quite as hard for Christmas.
If I found $1000 on the ground right now, I'd report it to the police. Then if it ended up coming back to me I'd probably put it towards rent for a month, and watch my bank account grow a little more cushion.
If someone gave me $10,000 today, I'd pay off a couple student loans, and feel a lot more comfortable financially each month.
If someone gave me $100,000 today, I'd pay off all my student loans and finally be able to enjoy my actual income level. I'd stop renting and find a home that my family could make our own.
If someone gave me $1,000,000 today, I'd do a few things. I'd pay off my student loans. I'd rent the house I'm in until I found the house I actually want for the rest of my life. The house would have some modest guest quarters, probably in the form of a mother-in-law apartment. I'd buy a truck and a boat, and invite friends and people I admire to come visit for 2-4 week blocks. I'd keep teaching because it keeps me young and because I've learned how to teach pretty well at this point, but I would reduce my hours. I'd travel with my family, to Iceland and Patagonia, and a few other places.
If someone gave me $10,000,000 today, I'd do everything I would with a million, and try to give most of the rest away, buying similar freedoms for a few people I've looked up to all my life. I'd consider them genius grants for people who have given freely of their time and their experience, with little financial gain.
With a little more freedom, I'd teach really well, help other people figure out how to teach well and hopefully revolutionize public education. I'd develop some really important open source software projects.
But I live quite comfortably in southeast Alaska, where every time I drive to work I look up at the mountains and give a little thanks for living where I do. So while I'd make good use of any money sent my way, I'm working on all these things little by little, and thoroughly enjoying the journey as it is playing out.
With 50k, I'd also hire a developer, to take care of some of those ideas while I take care of others.
Also, with 100k I would do the same and invest some in other peoples ideas.
50K - put 40K into savings and use 10K to get a hot tub
100K - buy hot tub with 10K and use 90K to buy more land
EDIT: typo
b. $50,000 i. Save $25,000 ii. Invest $5,000 into CrowdFunding Startups iii. Invest $5,000 into Ramen-Noodle Startups iv. Use $15,000 for my own startup.
c. $100,000 i. Save $50,000 ii. Invest $10,000 into CrowdFunding Startups iii. Invest $10,000 into Ramen-Noodle Startups iv. Use $30,000 for my own startup.
b. Is 30k enough to start your own? ~> $30,000 is more than enough, because presently Im more like a college student paying $400/month for rent. Add $100 for food and $30-$50 for internet and $30,000 can last me for a long time. It can last me until someone buys my startup for a good price.
c. How would I invest in a ramen noodle startup? Where would you find those contacts? ~> Now I've never had $30,000 but the best place so far for me will be AngelList ~> https://angel.co/ and sites similar to it. Doing a HNSearch can also get you in contact with people who have posted their apps/startups here. I'll email them and see if they are interested in me investing in them.
