$500 - What to buy?

MacOG728893 said:

Lets say someone was going to spend $500 on you for Christmas, but you didn't know what you wanted. I was leaning towards things for my iMac or iPhone, such as speakers possibly.

Even though I was leaning towards things for my Mac, they really could be anything, so suggestions are highly welcomed!

Click to expand...

I agree, speakers. Bose companion 5.

Ipad mini.

Custom built windows gaming machine.

Flat screen tv

Secondary monitor for imac

Who knows?

If someone wants to spend some money on you, might as well get something you can wear almost daily. Get a nice pair of Alden Cordovan Boots. Link.

You could pay my rent for a month

External storage? Macally has some nice Mac-looking external enclosures that you could use with an internal drive.

Maybe look into a NAS setup?

An iPad could work.

PS3? Wii U?

I'd toss in another $100 or so and pick up a refurbished MacBook Air . Or an iPad Mini and various accessories and/or an AppleTV to go with your HDTV.

Hmm? An iPod? Maybe a new case for your iPhone? Then use the rest to blow on through the next couple months

Lets say someone was going to spend $500 on you for Christmas...

Click to expand...

I'd recommend 24 shares of Intel stock.
It pays .90 / quarter on dividends. That's a $64.8 a year.

Let's pretend you are 25 years old. That single $500 investment ( not accounting for splits ) could/should yield about $31,113 when you retire at 65 and pull it out... or you could give it to your great granddaughter when she's born, she could retire with about $42 million in the bank. All from a single gift.

Just thinking out loud....

how about donate to someone that really needs?

Worldvision has plenty of kids starving around the world and many other organizations would also do great good with the $

If you like photography, you could get a nice DSLR like a Nikon D3200 for $100 dollars more. You could get an external hard drive for your Mac. Any accessories for your Mac.

If you don't have a second monitor for your iMac, get it. It makes using a computer 3x as good.

Since you didn't specify needing anything, and stated that it didn't have to be something Apple... I say five of these.



I get where you are coming from but man it is ridiculous to read everything you have and then say it is money that needs to be spent.

MacOG728893 said:

Lets say someone was going to spend $500 on you for Christmas, but you didn't know what you wanted. I was leaning towards things for my iMac or iPhone, such as speakers possibly.

Even though I was leaning towards things for my Mac, they really could be anything, so suggestions are highly welcomed!

Click to expand...

Save it in a rainy day fund?

* Start or contribute to a Roth IRA.

* Donate it to Charity: St. Baldricks, Susan B. Komen, American Red Cross, JDRF are a few of my favs

* Sign up for a half Iron Man and buy some training gear

* Give it to your church

* Donate it to a local school

* Create holiday care packages for deployed soldiers

Synology NAS and an HDD or two.

MacOG728893 said:

Guys, guys, I get that it's good to help charities and non-profits, but I'm just stating what I have to work with.

The person (a parent) who is doing Christmas shopping this year informed that they will spend $500 on me.

They want me to open things on Christmas because it makes them happy, thus, I need to pick out some items very soon.

Yes, I have really nice things, but I am thankful for each of those things, all of which I have paid for myself.

Now someone wants to buy me gifts and I just need some ideas to give them.

Hopefully this all makes sense now.

Click to expand...

Visa gift card, best gift ever!

MacOG728893 said:

Hopefully this all makes sense now.

Click to expand...

Important computer accessories:
(you could get all these with 500 bucks)
(I'll just give you a link to the ones that I have)

Shure SE 215K Headphones- http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SE215-K...8&qid=1355808289&sr=8-1&keywords=shure+se215k

2tb External HD- http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Port...F8&qid=1355808348&sr=8-1&keywords=my+passport

Nice bag- http://www.jackspade.com/messenger-...369_color=310&start=7&cgid=bags-computer-bags

Apple TV- for mirroring, airplay, etc

Other things:
-Do you have a flat screen 1080P TV already? If not, put it towards on of those.

You could also get a decent surround sound system for 500 bucks if you already have a TV. http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S8409-7-1-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B005EP2HMU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_4

Other good things that you could get for $500 are
- new stereo system/speakers for your car
- a bike
- ipad/ipad mini/nexus 10/nexus 7
- a suit (probably not a great suit for $500)
- a piece of furniture, such as a coffee table
- a set of kitchen knives (check out Shun)
- a few bottles of great liquor
- an external monitor
- sports equipment for your favorite sport (new snowboard or skis?)
- tickets to an NFL game

iPad4

960design said:

I'd recommend 24 shares of Intel stock.
It pays .90 / quarter on dividends. That's a $64.8 a year.

Let's pretend you are 25 years old. That single $500 investment ( not accounting for splits ) could/should yield about $31,113 when you retire at 65

Click to expand...

I like the idea, but Intel yields $.90/year, not quarter (which is still a very good 4.4% yield). So it's $21.60 a year from those 24 shares. Not sure where $64.80 came from (that would be three payments of $.90 a year I guess).

I see that you calculated a value 40 years from now based on dividend yield only and got $31k, but unfortunately with the proper 4.4% yield, if it remained constant, you'd end up with just $2,799 in 40 years. Of course, there could be significant capital gains in excess of the dividend yield, or the opposite could happen.

Again, I'm ALL for starting early with investing, and $500 is NOT too little to start, but just wanted to make sure the numbers are correct.

Adobe creative suite is always fun to play with...