What to Do With 1000 Dollars (What Can and Should You Do?)

You’ve got $1,000. You’re wondering what to do with it. You want to be smart with it and propel yourself to a brighter future (great job!).

You’re asking the right questions, which is a huge step to winning with money. Since you’re serious about becoming wealthy, we got serious too—with 9 top ideas for what to do with 1000 dollars. Based on our personal experiences and extensive research, we developed the list below. Now it’s up to you to decide which option is best for you.

If you’re looking for saving, checking, or investment options, check out our helpful posts below:

And be sure to give these other related posts a look too:

And finally, if you’re just looking to get more comfortable with money management, be sure to download this free monthly budget template.

What to Do With $1000 – Top 9 Ideas

• Save up a mini-emergency fund
• Pay off consumer debt (use our debt snowball spreadsheet)
• Use it to make more money
• Short-term investments – checking/savings
• Invest in the S&P 500 Index 
• Invest in real estate
• Double it with your own business
• Flip $1,000 to turn it into $5,000 
• Blow it on something fun!

Save Up a Mini Emergency Fund

If you saved up $1,000, congratulations! Most people just can’t do it. Or, if they do, they immediately spend it on something stupid (like putting a down-payment down on a new car they really don’t need!).

If you’ve got the money in your pocket (or, you know…the bank) and you’re wondering what to do with 1k, I’d say it depends on how much debt you have.

What to do with $1,000 if you have debt

Do you have…

• Student loan debt?
• A personal loan?
• Credit card debt?
• A car loan?
• Medical debt?

….Then you shouldn’t do anything with your $1,000. You should keep that money as a mini-emergency fund. For most, a mini-emergency fund should cover their expenses for approximately 2-3 weeks. If you think you need more, save up more.

Pay Off Consumer Debt

Already have that mini-emergency fund put together?

Then it’s time to put that $1,000 toward the debts we outlined above! Student loans, personal loans, credit card debt….pay those debts down! Let me tell you, your life will absolutely transform if you can pay off all your debts! 

And btw, here’s a resource that will help you pay it off –> The BEST Debt Snowball Template (And It’s FREE!) 

Use It to Make More Money

If you know me at all, you know that I’ve been hustling for money for YEARS.

• I started buying in bulk and reselling product at age 8
• At age 12, I built cabinets and sold them at a local flea market for 92% profit margins
• When I got older, I started a blog (yeah, this one!)
• I flipped cars
• I wrote articles for other sites
• And, I even had a bit of a lawn mowing business

I’ve been conjuring up business ideas for decades now. If you’ve got $1,000, you can definitely use that to earn more money!

What to do with 1000 dollars if you don’t have debt

Let’s say your only debt is your house, and you already have a beefy emergency fund. You’re just wondering what to do with an extra $1000 dollars.

In this case, I wouldn’t spend that money foolishly. I would start investing that 1k and focus on how to use that money to earn more money! More on this in the next few sections below!

If, on the other hand, you’re a millionaire and you’re on the path to retiring early, then it would be just fine to blow $1,000. More on that in the post below too!

How Can I Turn My Money Into More Money?

Instead of putting your $1,000 into savings or spending it on something fun, you’re thinking about investing. You’re wondering, “How can I turn my money into more money?”

My advice on how to make money with money:

1. Stay in your lane. Stick with what you know. 
2. Plan to grow your money slowly and learn along the way.

I’ll use myself as an example here. Back in the day, I was a financial analyst by day, and a personal finance blogger by night. I’m a dad with two kiddos and am a husband to a one-of-a-kind beautiful wife. When I have time for fun, I go golfing. That’s me in a nutshell. 

Let’s say someone comes up to my door, and they have a rare ruby. It’s worth $5,000, but they are hard up for money and need to sell it immediately. They’ll sell it to me for $1,000. Should I buy it?

Tell me this. Is it in my lane? Absolutely not.

I don’t know anything about rubies! Even if I took it to the jeweler and they said it was legit, I probably still shouldn’t buy it because I wouldn’t know what to do with it once I had it! 

What to do with an extra $1000 dollars – An example of me staying in my lane

Instead of a ruby, let’s say someone wanted to sell me their personal finance blog for $1,000. It doesn’t earn any money, but it has some history and a great domain name. Plus it has 10,000 visitors a month through SEO traffic.

Should I do the deal?

Absolutely!

I know all about growing a fan-base and monetizing a personal finance blog! Plus, in my day-job I evaluate business ideas all the time. I could map this up and estimate the payback time-frame quite quickly!

This $1,000 deal could easily turn into $10,000 in just one year’s time. Then, I could continue to grow this income source if I wanted to, or put it on auto-pilot and just watch the earnings roll in.

What’s in your lane? How can you turn money into more money?

What is it that you do? What do you know? And then what makes sense for you to invest in? Find your answers to these questions, and you could quickly start earning some serious money with your $1,000 dollars!

Short-term Investments

Still haven’t found your answer? Still wondering what to do with an extra $1000 dollars?

If you have $1,000, you’re not going to be able to invest in anything big…like a big real estate deal. But, it doesn’t mean you can’t start to make some real money with your thousand bucks.

So how can you do it? What’s the answer for how to invest $1,000 dollars?

Where to Invest $1,000 For The Short Term

If you’re looking to make some money with your money just for a short period of time (because you’re going to use these dollars for something else in a year or two…like for a down payment on a house or something), then you’ll want to invest this $1,000 in a safe place.

If you’re looking to invest $1,000 for the short term, I’d recommend you put it in one of two areas:

A checking account at a credit union can yield up to 3% interest! It’s a great place to park 1000 dollars for the short term to earn an extra $300 a year for basically doing nothing.

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of moving your checking account, but you still want a super safe investment, then you’re really just left with various types of savings accounts or money market accounts. Their best yield right now is 0.5%. Definitely not great…but I guess it’s better than 0%!

Invest in the S&P 500 Index

If you’re looking to invest your $1,000 for longer than three years, then it’s probably safe to invest in the stock market with a simple S&P 500 Index Fund. Of course, the stock market can go up and down, but over the long term, it generally goes up…or at least it has been for the past 100+ years! The assumption is that this trend will continue! 😉

I also would NOT recommend that people buy single stocks or crypto with their money (especially if this thousand bucks is a lot of money for them!).

Crypto and single stocks are highly volatile. Sure, you could earn a lot of money here, but you could also lose a lot of money here.

I’m no stock broker and I can’t tell you what to do with your money. But for me…I’m steering clear of single stocks and crypto at this time. That’s just me. 

Stocks to Buy With $1,000 Dollars

I get the question quite often, “What can you do with 1000 dollars in the stock market? What stocks would you buy if you had $1,000 dollars?”

As you probably gathered earlier in this article, I’m an index fund guy. I rarely play the individual stock picking game. It’s just too difficult to pick the next winner. And, if you have just $1,000, you really don’t have enough money to properly diversify your investments either.

So what stocks would I buy with 1000 dollars?

I’d put my money into VTSAX – the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. But again, I’m no investment professional. I’m just a guy that has done a fair amount of research on the topic, and this is where I landed. 

How Long Does It Take to Make Money From Stocks?

If you invest $1,000 and earn 10% a year, will it really make you much money? How long does it take to make money from stocks?

At first, it’s going to seem incredibly slow. But if you’re into investing for the long haul (like, decades), then it’s certainly worth it! Let’s carry on with the question I posed a few sentences ago. 

What if you invested a grand and earned 10% each year on your investment? What does that turn into over time?

• After 1 year: $1,100
• 2 years: $1,210
• 3 years: $1,331

Doesn’t seem like much yet, right? But now watch it pick up steam here.

• 5 years: $1,610
• 10 years: $2,593
• 20 years: $6,727
• 30 years: $17,449
• 40 years: $45,259
• 50 years: $117,391

Did you ever think $1,000 could turn into $117,000? It can!

Sure, it takes quite a lot of time, but if you’re young, that just shows you the power of investing early! 

Invest in Real Estate

I mentioned earlier that if you only have a thousand dollars, you can’t invest in big real estate deals. Well…that was only partially true.

In the traditional sense, you can’t just go up to a huge multiplex owner and slap down $1,000 as a down-payment for a 1 million dollar deal. They and the bank will laugh in your face.

However, there are still two other ways to invest in real estate…even if you only have $1,000.

So how can you do it? Below are two solid answers for how to invest $1,000 dollars in real estate.

• Invest in real estate with a REIT
• Invest in real estate by becoming the deal maker

How to Invest $1,000 Dollars in Real Estate With a REIT

If you like real estate, but only have a thousand bucks, you don’t necessarily have to wait. You can invest in REITs! But wait…what are REITs? And are REITs a good investment?

REITS are Real Estate Investment Trusts. Put simply, a REIT is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-generating real estate.

By investing in a REIT, you’re investing in the company that is trying to make money in the real estate world. If you invest in a particular REIT, it can be fairly risky. It’s a lot like owning a single stock. The value could wildly fluctuate up or down depending on how that single company is performing. 

What I like better than one individual REIT is a REIT Index Fund. This is simply many REITs in one single investment. So, you can still get the benefit of the returns in Real Estate, but you’re reducing the risk.

So…what can you do with 1000 dollars? You can invest in real estate! And, you don’t have any of the tenant hassle either! 

Interested in real estate investments? Check out CrowdStreet. It’s an app that lets you become a partner in real estate deals. It’s a solid way to invest if you’re interested in picking out certain properties to invest in.

How to Invest $1,000 Dollars in Real Estate By Becoming the Deal Maker

What if you like physical real estate? You want to touch and feel your investment, but you only have one thousand dollars to invest?

I would never recommend that someone try to buy a house on their own with basically no down-payment. But if you’re wondering what to do with 1000 dollars and you have a love for real estate deals, then you might want to become a real estate deal maker. 

What exactly is a real estate deal maker?

If you’re a real estate deal maker…

• you find the deal,
• negotiate the buy price,
• write up the terms of the investment,
• and then you start to find investors in your deal.

Here’s an example of a real estate deal you may put together

You’re looking for what to do with your 1k, then you stumble upon it.

You find a 10-unit apartment building that’s run-down, but in a great area. The asking price is $800,000. It’s already a steal, but you’re able to negotiate the price down to $700,000.

You figure you can get the building fixed up for $100,000 and then sell it for $1,300,000. That would be a 62% profit!

Then what do you do? 

You write up the deal. 

• You need 8 investors for $100,000 each (to cover the $700,000 purchase price plus the $100,000 repairs)
• Then, you write in that you’ll pony up $1,000 of your own money for good faith.
• At the sale of the property, each investor will earn a share of 80% of the profits. You keep 20%.

Let’s say everything goes according to plan. You sell the property for $1.3M, which means there are $500,000 in profits.

• Each investor gets $50,000 (a VERY solid return on a $100,000 investment)
• And you…you earn 20% of the profits, which means $100,000!

Hmmm, turning $1,000 into $100,000? That’s a pretty good deal! Of course, not all projects work out this well, but it absolutely can happen!

Wondering what to do with 1000 dollars? Or how to invest $1,000 dollars in real estate? If you love doing real estate deals, then this might be a great avenue for you to explore! 

Double It With Your Own Business

Okay…so maybe you weren’t too impressed with turning your 1k into 100k over the span of…5 decades. Maybe you’re already 50 years old and you’d like to retire sooner than 5 decades from now. I get it. Totally get it.

So let’s figure out how to invest $1,000 dollars and double it.  Then, we can double it again, and again, and again. And pretty soon, you’ve got your hundred grand without having to wait for 50 years.

But…I’ve got to warn you. You’re going to have to work a bit harder. You won’t be able to just sit back and watch your money grow into millions. That’s just not going to happen. (Sorry if I just burst your bubble…)

So how do you do it? 

How do you invest $1,000 dollars and double it?

There are actually quite a few ways to do this, believe it or not.

All the different methods pretty much boil down into two camps:

• Starting your own business
• And flipping stuff

Invest $1,000 dollars and double it by starting your own business

Wondering what to do with 1000 dollars if you really want to work it and make that money grow quickly? 

I’d recommend starting a simple business.

• Buy a lawn mower and mow as many lawns as possible.
• Purchase a bunch of cleaning supplies and start your own house cleaning business.
• Buy some kennels and dog leashes and start a dog sitting/walking business.
• Buy car wash supplies and spread the word that you can detail cars like no other.
• Purchase a decent camera and book 5+ photography gigs.

You could start these businesses with just a couple hundred dollars and earn a thousand bucks in less than a month. BOOM! That’s a quick way to earn a thousand bucks with your thousand. If you want to invest $1,000 dollars and double it, invest in your own business.

Read more: 40+ Best Side Hustle Ideas: fast Ways to Make Money in 2023

Flip $1,000 to Turn it Into $5,000 

Want to invest $1,000 dollars and turn it into $5,000?

First, start by flipping a few items:

• Take some cash to your local garage sales and retail centers. Find stuff for cheap and sell it online for 2-3 times more.
• Good with cars? Find some great deals, clean them up, and sell them for a grand more than you bought them for.
• Know about websites? Buy them, add content and attract some visitors, then sell them for an extra thousand bucks!

It’s honestly not that hard to double a $1,000 investment. You just need to invest in what you know, and then work it! 

Put it all together and turn $1,000 into $5,000

Want to earn a hefty sum with your thousand bucks? How can you turn $1,000 into $5,000 in a month? Just do what I’ve already taught you, but ramp it up a little.

If you can flip one car in a month and earn $1,000, I bet you can flip two and earn $2,000. 

Then what? You’ve still got another $2,000 to earn.

You could work your own business (mowing lawns, cleaning houses, writing articles, design websites, etc.) and earn another $2,000 easily. Heck, if you’re good at writing, you could earn $400 or more per article!

For each of these business ideas, all it takes is some know-how with marketing yourself and your skills.

So as a recap, you just have to hustle. Use that $1,000 to buy whatever you need to earn another thousand. Then, simply do that four times in a month to turn that $1,000 dollars into $5,000 dollars.

Blow It On Something Fun!

Alright. This is the fun part of the article. Let’s say that you have a thousand bucks and you really don’t have a need to earn any money with it, and you’re well enough off that it wouldn’t hurt you if you just spent it…

So, what can you buy with 1000 dollars? Here’s what you could do with $1,000 dollars:

• Use it for an awesome road trip with friends!
• Buy a new set of golf clubs
• Buy a fish tank with many cool looking fish
• Get yourself one of those fancy new iPhones
• Get a new computer
• Go on a shopping spree
• Get some amazing seats (and food and drinks) at a local sporting event
• Rent a place on a lake or ocean for a few nights

Have some other awesome ideas on what to buy with 1000 dollars? I’d love to hear them. Tell us in the comments below!

What Would You Do With 1000 Dollars?

So this is me pretending that the reader is pointing the question my way… “What would you do with 1000 dollars?” Well, for my wife and I…we’ve been saving for years now and we have been tremendously blessed.

So much so that a thousand bucks wouldn’t really change our lives. 

For us, we might do one of the bullet points below if we had an extra 1000 dollars:

• Give the money away to someone that’s truly in need
• Put it in our kids’ college fund
• Put it towards our new master suite that we’re putting over the garage (maybe we’ll get fancier sink faucets…Lol!)
• Take an extra vacation with the kiddos (before they find out we’re not cool to hang out with)
• Or, we might be super lame and just put it in our savings account and forget about it (this is probably the most likely scenario, ;))

What about you? What would you do with 1000 dollars? Probably something way cooler than we would?

What to Do With 1000 Dollars? There Are So Many Options!!

A thousand dollars is a lot of money, especially when you’re not planning on it! So what can you do with $1,000 dollars?

So I’ve asked you a few times now, but I do truly mean it! What would you do with 1000 dollars? Tell us in the comments below!!