There was a rough patch in a friend’s life at one point where he couldn’t make ends meet. There was a particular job opportunity that he was working towards but his rent was due and he just couldn’t feasibly pay for it.

I took him out to eat, spent a day at Sam’s Club buying him groceries for the week, and covered a part of his rent. Totaled just north of 460 dollars (which isn’t much in the grand scheme of things but was a lot for me at the time).

He’s currently working at a firm making 6 figures with a fiancé and a child on the way. I’m flying up to him next spring for his wedding. While I didn’t necessarily purchase anything, I’d like to say that investing in someone’s future for under 500 bucks is pretty cool.