Do you remember what you did with your first big paycheck? From surprising splurges to wise investments, here's what some of the wealthiest people on the planet bought when they started earning big bucks.

Venus Williams won her first ever Grand Slam aged just 20. Along with the title came a cash prize of $543,000 (£430,000), which the tennis pro decided she wouldn't touch. She told CNBC Make It: "I really didn’t spend any of it. I just didn’t want to become a statistic, or one of those athletes that had it all and then in the end had nothing."

When he first hit the big time, Mark Wahlberg treated himself to a new Mercedes-Benz. The only problem was he didn't have enough left in the bank for insurance or gas. He must've learned how to manage his money better since then; the actor and producer is now one of the richest people in Hollywood.

Dolly Parton used her first substantial earnings for more humble purposes. She bought a car for her parents, then helped them to "fix their house up".

Following the success of his earlier roles in Con Air and Face/Off, Nicolas Cage splashed out on a 1971 Lamborghini Miura SVJ. He bought the car at auction in 1997 for a cool $450,000. The car's previous owner was the Shah of Iran. 

After beating Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final, Maria Sharapova walked away with a paycheck of $724,000 (£560,500). Being just 17 at the time, the tennis star's first purchase was her dream Louis Vuitton handbag. It turned out to be a rather lame investment, as Sharapova admits she only wore it for a day.

Despite her glamorous lifestyle and multimillion fortune nowadays, Nicole Kidman had rather modest tastes during her early acting career. Back when she first started pulling in big checks her first expensive purchase was a washing machine for her mom and dad.

He may be worth hundreds of millions of dollars now, but Brad Pitt was once a struggling young actor. When he got his first movie role, and the salary that went with it, he celebrated by upgrading his decor. He told Architectural Digest that his first purchases were a Craftsman chair, a designer lamp and a stereo. 

When the superstar singer received her first big paycheck aged just 16, she decided to buy a car. Her chosen vehicle? A Lexus SC430 convertible – the same car that bully Regina George drives in the movie Mean Girls. Swift was inspired to buy the car as an act of defiance against the bullies who had made her own schooldays miserable.

When Dave Grohl found fame and fortune in Nirvana, the first thing he did was purchase a beach house in North Carolina. The Foo Fighters frontman then spent the next few years enjoying a ridiculous amount of barbecue in his new abode. He told Variety: "I just ate pulled pork like crazy from the time I was 22 to about 25 years old".

After her first role in the Broadway show Funny Girl, a 21-year-old Barbra Streisand decided to treat herself to some extravagant furnishings. Her first purchase was a meticulously decorated German Art Nouveau desk. However, not having anywhere to put the $2,800 piece meant she had to keep it in storage for a time.

After being discovered by Usher, Justin Bieber was thrust into the limelight and began living the life most teenagers dream of. When he turned 18 he was able to use his millions to purchase his first home. He purchased the Californian mansion for $6.5 million (£5.1 million) in 2012.

Aretha Franklin had always dreamed of owning a fur coat as a teen, so as soon as she made her first big money that's exactly what she did. The Queen of Soul went on to amass a fortune worth around $80 million (£63.1 million) by the time she died in 2018.

Baseball star Daniel Star signed his first professional contract with the Toronto Blue Jays when he was only 18 years old. He celebrated his new $2 million fortune in an unusually humble way; his first purchase was a $14 shirt from a Converse store.

Jennifer Lopez might be a multimillionaire now, but when she first started out in showbiz she was driving to auditions in an old Honda hatchback. When she made her first big sum she decided to upgrade her ride, and splashed out on a new Mercedes.

When Chris Rock started making good money on the comedy circuit, he decided to treat himself to a flash car. However, it turned out to be a rather unwise decision. He told Jet magazine in 1997: "It was a red Corvette and cost $45,000. I only made $90,000 that year, hadn’t paid taxes yet and with getting the car insurance and everything, it sort of put me in the hole."

Tennis legend Serena Williams has always been cautious with her spending. Just like sister Venus, she chose to deposit her first big winnings straight into the bank and leave it largely untouched. Williams was so unconcerned about her winnings in her early days that she'd even forget to collect her paychecks.

When the comedian starting earning big as a 24 year old, he found a new expensive hobby. He used his earnings to collect jerseys from sporting legends, whether they be players from basketball, baseball or football. He told CNBC Make It that he went for "any and every jersey that was a representation of a great athlete."

A recent report by Rolling Stone alleged that Depp may have burned through almost all of his $650 million (£514 million) fortune. Back when he was a rising star the first luxury he bought himself was a vintage Harley-Davidson. He has owned more than 40 other luxury vehicles since. 

Suzi Weiss-Fischmann netted a fortune following the sale of her beauty brand OPI for a reported $1 billion (£789,000). The nail guru revealed that her first big splurge was a dream vacation to Hawaii, along with her husband and two kids.

Richard Branson was enjoying success with Virgin Records when he set his sights on owning one of the British Virgin Islands in 1978. Despite an original asking price of $6 million, he managed to scoop Necker Island for just $180,000 thanks to a desperate owner, on the condition he built a resort there. The resort became a haven for celebrities including Kate Moss, Robert De Niro and even Barack Obama, but sadly it was badly hit by Hurricane Irma in 2017. 

Read more about Richard Branson's business journey from records to rockets

The cofounder of Google was working from his dorm room during the company's early days. After receiving an investment of $100,000, Page and cofounder Sergey Brin began working from a friend's garage instead, with one of their first purchases being a ping-pong table.

When the Tesla billionaire sold his first company in 1999, he had the choice of buying a Californian mansion or his dream car. The car won, but Musk later admitted he had written off the uninsured McLaren F1 during a joyride with fellow super-rich businessman Peter Thiel.

With a current net worth of over $2.5 billion (£1.9 billion), it's hard to imagine a time when Oprah was cashing her first $1 million cheque. However, her first purchase was a rather modest one. After snapping a quick photo with the cheque, she went searching for some "really good fluffy" towels.

Sergey Brin became very rich very quickly following the launch of Google in 2004. Along with cofounder Larry Page, billionaire Brin paid out for a private jet with his new-found wealth. The pair even have their own airport, allowing the company's top executives to travel more efficiently.

The cofounder of Alibaba now has a personal fortune of $35.1 billion (£27.7 billion), but he started from humble beginnings earning just $12 a month. When the company first turned a profit, Ma purchased several cans of Silly String for each of his employees to celebrate with.

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Billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban splashed out on a true dream purchase as soon as he was rich enough. He told Money: "When I first really made a lot of money, I bought a plane. That was my all-time goal because the asset I value the most is time, and that bought me time."

The NBA star went on a huge shopping spree after signing his first contract in 1992. He bought a Mercedes-Benz worth $150,000 (£118,000), followed by one each for his parents, as well as an array of designer jewellery. His splurge cost him a total of $1 million in just one hour.

As the second richest person on the planet, Bill Gates can afford any luxury fancies. One of his first splurges was a Porsche 911 supercar back in the late 70s. He would race around the New Mexico desert late at night, and even ended up in jail at one point thanks to his penchant for driving at high speed.

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