Go out and have some fun for me! 
Congratulations!!
What a lovely problem to have - you can create your own job!! I understand the need to be busy and contribute to society. How about some IT work for a non-profit group that’s near and dear to your heart? The pay would be minimal - but that’s not an issue! You could create a low-cost consulting firm that specializes in non-profit IT. Something along those lines would allow for more free time.
Set up trust funds for the girls - obviously, college tuition and all that -
I’d find a good financial planner and get my own family’s status taken care of. I would then probably go about running my own charitable foundation, getting involved with projects that need smaller commitments at a time, instead of massive monetary commitments. Show your daughters what responsible philanthropy looks like.
Man, my great-grandfathers were fucking bums.
Can you buy me a lion? I don’t need any type of enclosure since the backyard is plenty big enough. My neighbors have a bunch of small dogs if he gets hungry.
There will be NO DISCIPLINE! And if you ask again, the spankings will commence.
I think you missed my earlier question, Shagnasty, about what you think about the idea that winning a lottery ruins people’s lives.
Or else you’re studiously avoiding answering it, and I have rudely drawn your attention to it.
Neither of the above are true. I just forgot to answer although I meant to. I firmly believe that any lottery type winnings ruin most people and that simply isn’t going to happen in this case. My ex-wife’s uncle won a $4 million dollar lottery in the 1980’s and went through every single stereotype lottery winners have including depression, extreme gain, divorce and loss of everything. That isn’t a tremendous amount but it could have set him up for life if he did it the right way but he failed miserably and is a very lonely obese old man now with nothing.
I almost questioned my own sanity for even posting this because it is almost a forbidden topic in my family. My daughter’s are young and I already had to deal with other people finding out and saying off-hand remarks to them. That will not be tolerated and I had to deal with it. They can’t handle that information and aren’t allowed to know it other than how I choose to present it.
Your question is a good one though. I like to think of myself as exceptional in this regard but talk is cheap, now I have to live and show it.
Congratulations! I think if I could do whatever I wanted it would be to take some time off for a while and then either work part-time or volunteer. I would start a scholarship fund too. I get a scholarship for school right now and am very grateful to the family that established it, as that is less in student loans to take out.
It would be gratifying to help support local causes and events, like the library. I love to read and it would be so fun to purchase a large quantity of books and other media for the other people in my community (and the shelves to hold them, if needed).
I’m not sure how many people I would tell because that could get weird.
It would be so nice to leave Michigan after the new year and go south until the end of March. I don’t like Michigan winters… too long and the lack of sunlight is depressing. Money doesn’t buy everything, but it can buy choices and it can buy freedom. I envy you your windfall.
Sounds like you have the chance to get things set up right for yourself and your daughters. Don’t delay getting your will, financial plans, new investments, and trusts set up. I don’t know how close this bank is to you, but I worked for them in Chicago in the 90’s and the Trust/Wealth Management departments are superior. You won’t really have any idea about what kind of yearly income you can really work with until you have everything set up, and paying through the accounts/trusts properly.
It’s a relief to hear someone speak sensibly about new-found wealth, and not cracking off about how big a house to get next, along with all the junk and expense to fill it!
Once you really see how much you have to work with as real income, that’s when you’ll better decide what you really want to do with your time. I’ll bet you won’t stay working for an employer for long after that! One of my favorite uncles did a good job making his own wealth, and now he spends a lot of time with his wife and kids, and works as a consultant/contractor when he wants to. It’s a pretty sweet way to live.
What’s it like? Is it. . . wonderful?
My husband and I like to blue-sky about what we’d do with a big lottery win (like a lot of people). We think that we’d have a good handle on it, but I suppose everyone who gets the stuffing kicked out of them by a big windfall of money thinks that.
Hey, if you’re unhappy with the curse of wealth I’d gladly carry that burden for you. That’s what friends are for, right?
Sounds like you are going to do just fine… 
Would you like to invest in my movie?
First, congratulations. It’s nice to hear good news. Make sure you get everything in order for your girls–that is most important.
Start a business making the world a better place a bit at a time. Some sort of IT-based human rights project/organization and hire me to work for you. I am unemployed currently but a very hard worker and I would love to have a job helping society. Sort of a Google or SDMB for human rights (gay rights, equal pay, fighting poverty, etc.) You could develop a clearing house of resources for people who need them. You know you always wanted to be a freelance Socialist! Plus, you would be raising your kids with a social conscience. (Not that you aren’t now or anything but Dad using his money for good is an excellent model.)
Interesting thread. Once we get by all the jokes, I hope that there is real advice here. Many of us may be in this situation (to some significant amount) as we get older.
Congratulations, Shagnasty! The advice about the windfall you’re experincing is, as you well know, bound to have a lot of different angles.
You say you want to work, and that’s fine, but maybe you should take some time and explore some options while you’re still young enough. You have the power to redefine what work means to you. It might not necessarily mean a traditional job or a business, per se.
Not necessarily. Someone had to own the rights and an understanding of randomness would tell you that it is more likely to be dumb luck than acumen that resulted in his ancestors owning them.
Have about a tax-deductible contribution to the St. Andrews Food Pantry here in Portland?
If I were in your shoes, I don’t think I’d ever work again, at least not in the traditional “get up every morning and go to a job” sense. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t consider myself lazy and I think I have a good work ethic. I don’t hate my job, and I strive to do it well. It’s just that it’s ultimately a means to an end: I work because I have to have money, and if I had money I wouldn’t have to work. I have no doubt I could find any number of worthwhile endeavors to occupy my time. (And no, it wouldn’t be hookers and blow.)
So my question is: Why don’t you quit your job?