We have those what would you do if you won the lottery threads a lot. I really did. It wasn’t the lottery specifically but the end result is the same. I just got notice of another cool million tonight.
This isn’t a joke thread. Ask away. The answers may surprise you.
“Something like” the lottery? I thought this was going to be the old “back a long time ago, I won a swimming race. There were MILLIONS of others competing, but I was the only one to make it to the finish line!”
Will you buy me a bike? 
I won that one too. Blue ribbon but most of the people I know did as well. My great-grandfathers had the foresight in the 1930’s - 1950’s to buy 10,000’s or thousands of acres of Haynesville Oil Shale mineral rights that are at least the 4th biggest natural gas strike in the world. The technology to drill on them has been developed and has transformed parts of my native Nortwestern Louisiana into a new Middle-East. It wasn’t just luck. I had enough sense to pick the right family to be born into.
So you’re talking about an inheritance? That’s great but honestly that’s nothing like the lottery. Even though you didn’t do anything and can claim it was “luck” to be born into it, your great-grandfathers obviously earned that as a result of their good business acumen.
I might depending on how pretty and sweet you are. I do love brown eyed girls as long as they don’t backtalk and they can have anything they want. The one a man always finds though is that no matter how much money he has, the girls always backtalk and you can’t buy your way out of that. I need a bike myself but I am pretty frugal by nature so we can shop at the clearance sales for a good one at a good price.
Tell us more about the importation of “gourmet” food, and also can you give some examples of actual changes that have happened in the company you work for as a result of you chatting to the CEO over drinks at your parent’s place. Ta.
That is true. It was all earned in a way through skill and knowledge and I have no idea whatsoever how they figured it out at the time and they spent real cash to get it with no expectations for themselves. The end result is the same to me though. Don’t for a minute think I feel guilty about it. It was set up deliberately for a lofty reason and there are expectations involved. It is not party money or buy all your friends a car time. It is meant to set up family legacy and security for me and my daughters.
You are being an ass now. That is my ex-wife’s side of the family. They are very successful in the gourmet foods industry and I was never involved in it except for the technology side. That still exists and she is very successful at it. I did marry into a wealthy family but my side of the family turned out with even more. My daughters are lucky. I do know a lot of wealthy people but also a lot of rednecks and hillbillies. I make no distinction except how well they handle themselves. I have led an exceptional life in lots of ways and some of them not good. You take the good with the bad.
This isn’t a bragging thread BTW. Like my father said, it is a good problem to have but it can still be a hassle or a problem. I look at it as a problem of being able to do whatever you want within reason based talents and skills. That can be a hurdle as well because the only thing holding you back is yourself and you have no one but yourself to blame. I can do anything I want now within reason and it is kind of an uncomfortable feeling.
The reason I started this thread is that I give a very different answer in reality as opposed to people that start lottery winning threads. This all started happening within the past year and finally came to a head this week for me with more to come. Sweet. Now what do I do?
I don’t understand why it is uncomfortable? Do you mean overwhelming? Can you give an example of something you want to do, but are hesitant or afraid to try?
Yes I can. I am only 37 and I need and want to work but I am not single-minded enough to own my own business and really am not interested in it. I have a good but strange job in IT but I am on call all the time so that keeps me away from my daughters a lot. I haven’t figured out a way around that yet because that is what it takes. I want to improve on that but you can’t get another job by flashing a checkbook at least not ethically.
I have really reclusive tendencies as well. My first instinct is to by some type of flight school and become something like a bush pilot in Alaska or the Caribbean. I have cousins who got the same deal in Colorado and they bought a helicopter school and their money is going to be spent and done in no time because those things are basically fancy cash grinders so I that isn’t a good idea. I could just buy a mansion somewhere and be set for life but that could get pretty boring. I have a mediocre apartment now with more space than I need and a new vehicle. I don’t need much.
I am not scared to try anything in particular and have done a lot of it already. A 50 year vacation would become like a prison sentence if you don’t mix it up and plan it the right way.
Travel is a good thing though. I took my daughters to the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs a few weeks ago all expenses paid. It looked like the first class accommodations on the Titanic (pre-sinking). I could go for something like that a couple of times a year. They still have to go to school though.
I am very excited and happy for you. 
What about starting your own business, but hiring someone to run it? Craig from Craigslist just does customer support all day while a few other people run the show. He seems to enjoy the work-life balance. Personally, I would start my own software company and not worry too much if it bleeds money slowly.
How does your money affect the way you view other people in your life? Do you start to worry that they are just friends with you because of your money? That some of them might be using you? I seem to remember you mentioning that a lot of old friends from high school were flirting with you via Facebook. Do you worry that some of them might only be interested in you because you are wealthy?
Gay marriage is legal in MA right?
Will you marry me?
I have thought of doing something like that. If I started a business, it would be a software company and I have some ideas. That is part of the problem, I don’t have an excuse now. I will take your comment and use that as motivation to come up with something concrete if I can do it. I know a range of things in the industry and some of them aren’t flashy or trendy but I would still like to do them. I love the problem solving parts of it. Thanks for that.
That is somewhat of an issue. I already made the decision never to get married again just because it wouldn’t work for me and I am never having anyone interfering with my daughter’s lives or competing with resources. My ex-wife never even new about this possibility until post divorce when it was finalized and we were together 17 years. I wouldn’t mind having a girlfriend but, despite my user name, I am really particular. That would have to be a secret until she dumped me for being an ass and would never know the specifics. I live 1700 miles away from the tiny town where I grew up and there are a number of people from home with the same situation. My friends from home probably know but they can’t be around enough except to have a nice visit. Some have asked to come and a few are welcome. There is no harm in that but they have to buy their own plane ticket.
There’s always angel investing too – something that should be easy to do in MA. You can stay in the loop and provide direction and vision without getting bogged down in the grind. Of course being an angel investor might not be compatible with being an introvert, but it would let you be close to your kids.
And that touches on the really interesting part of this thread (and I think where you were going with it too). Everyone dreams of getting rich and getting their freedom, but a lot of our restraints are choices we make. You want to be near your kids and you need something to challenge you day-to-day. Any future course-of-action has to take these requirements into account. A lot of the restrictions we chafe against each day are the very things we want the most.
[quote=“CaveMike, post:17, topic:553792”]
Well said. That is what I was getting at. If I just wanted to spend money, I could be at a bar tonight trying to pick up the hottest twenty two year old there but I chose it to spend it at home with you fine folks. Oh well, hookers and blow will always be there tomorrow. They always are. I really did get another notice of a lot of money right before I started this thread and I wanted to share a real reaction. I have to go to bed now though. I have to be up early for work in the morning.
Ha! You were right; I wasn’t expecting that response.
I’m pretty sweet…most of the time. My coworkers seem to like me enough and I like them. I do get a little sassy sometimes, but only when I’m cranky, for whatever reason, or mischievous. I can appreciate your frugality, but I need a bike I can race on, so it needs to be a decent one (not necessarily top of the line, but not Huffy either). I’m practical, though, with other people’s money and if it were my own, I’d be buying my bike from a recyclery, for a couple of reasons. First, so that a perfectly serviceable bike doesn’t get thrown in the trash heap and, second, the cost of the recycled bike goes to help disadvantaged kids get their own bikes.
Well, I’m really just kidding, because as much as I would like to have a bike, I don’t expect a perfect stranger to buy one for me because I asked over the internet. I didn’t even have the courtesy to say, “please.”
Enjoy your windfall!
Hey, I have brown eyes too! Unfortunately, I can guarantee you backtalk. And insolence. Lots of insolence.
What do you think of the idea that winning a lot of money usually ruins people’s lives?