If and when I get 3rd book published, all three books are gonna get advertised and promoted in newspapers and magazines in a whole lot of major cities.
Win 7.7 million in the lottery =
Self publishing with 6 million going into serious publicity including occupying the sides of NYC subway stations and television ads. Keep 1 million for general purposes.
Win 812 million in MEGA BONUS JACKPOT!! =
I’m a published author and I’m running for Congress. You really need more schizophrenic genderqueer polyamorous people in politics! Keep 4 million for general purposes.
My fairy godmother bestows 11.5 billion dollars upon me, along with a compellingly good cover story and stuff =
I start a foundation for genderqueer and gender-variant kids, run lots of paid ads in magazines and newspapers and television spots to insert myself into the international dialogue about gender, start a separate fund for defending psychiatric patients’ rights and specifically to represent psychiatric patients in commitment hearings, advertise against NAMI, and run for Senator as an independent candidate.
My fairy godmother’s grandma steps in and anoints me with a 750 billion dollar annual budget =
I start a new religion and buy land in every nation that will allow me to and set up actual physical churches; I buy or create television networks, publishing companies, etc; start new political parties in the various democracies that allow such, invest in changing the policy planks in the others.
I’m closing in on retirement with sufficient savings, no debt, and kids all well situated. Yesterday we booked a trip to Africa, so we can pay for whatever we wish - but generally, our wants are pretty low. Certainly well within income/savings. So it would have to be a pretty sizeable chunk of cash to do anything other than just be subsumed into savings.
With a million cash, I might retire tomorrow instead of in 5 years or so. Or maybe - just maybe - we might buy a nice 2d home. But we are fortunate that we have/do pretty much whatever we want. We do not consider ourselves rich. I guess I’d like to think that we would share any “found” money with our kids - or increased charitable donations.
I got a big fat special bonus in 2021 because our business profited mightily from COVID. Executives got hundreds of thousands, even millions. We grunts (but still corporate) got a few thousand to low five figures. Front line workers got a few hundred to a couple thousand.
I donated the entire after tax amount to three food banks. Then I calculated the tax “savings” from that donation on my tax return and donated that as well in 2022.
Basically, I donated over 90% of the nominal amount of the additional bonus. I was surprised that my wife was in favor of this, she’s normally a lot less philanthropic than I am, when it comes to serious amounts.
If my kid gets merit aid for college, I plan to endow scholarships in Pakistan in the amount of that aid. We have saved enough to cover a quarter million in college costs, so any aid she gets feels like a windfall, assuming she gets aid from the “best” school she gets into. My wife hasn’t bought into this idea yet, but we will bring her around.
Our kid has pooh-poohed the idea of us giving her any unspent college savings as a down payment on a home, or grad school or a wedding. She says us paying for her college is enough. Anything beyond that, she’s going to wait until we are dead to collect.
Some of 1, 2, 3, & 5 – get a few extra house/car payments in to provide a cushion, maybe a new smartphone, and help out some good causes like local shelters.
No, it’s not bad, it’s wise! Did you know that, with the IRS, you are not innocent until proven guilty, you are guilty unless you can prove yourself innocent. If they render a judgment against you, you have to prove your innocence to them or, if necessary, prove it in court. It is a costly uphill battle.
One year we were hiking to the top of the mountain in the interior of St Martin (Pic Paradise). It’s a real challenge for me, but I’ve done it a few times.
Near the top I saw a roll of cash with a rubber band around it. A couple thousand dollars (Canadian currency). About ten minutes later we saw a young couple walking down the trail towards us, searching the ground. It felt so nice to return their cash. They’d just arrived and we were on our last day.
Of course it’s wise. But it might be bad in the sense of “always thinking about things in relationship to work” since I spend most of my working time preparing tax returns.
I get it! I hate having to work on my own equipment or software problem at home because that’s my job all day long. Once I leave work, that’s it and that’s all! LOL
I appreciate people thinking about tax implications! When Mr. Legend and some of his former colleagues formed an LLC and started a business, he was the only one who’d worked as an independent contractor before. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the others didn’t realize they had to pay estimated tax quarterly! Now that the business has grown and become more stable, the tax accountants take care of all that, but that first tax year was rocky.
Well, you don’t really “have” to. If you don’t, you just pay an extra penalty and interest come next April 15th.
But if somehow these bozos thought there was never going to be any income tax paid on their share of the business profits, then … well … it sux to be them later when reality finally intrudes.
It turned out to be surprisingly successful for the first year of a business! The downside to that is that it was a shocking amount (for the other three) of unpaid tax. The thing with an LLC, though, is that it’s not just the problem of the people who didn’t pay quarterly. The entire entity is liable, collectively and individually. It worked out well in the end, though. They came up with a system of figuring taxes that covers the entity’s obligations while being fair to each partner. Now all they have to do is work out how to do that when a partner semi-retires!
Shortly after I got my first IT job in 1977 I found an interest slip for some kind of US government instrument. I took it to the bank where I’d recently opened an account and asked them to use the serial number to track down the rightful owner and return it; they thought I was nuts, but said they would try. I’m not sure whether they did or not, but several weeks later the amount — about a month’s salary — landed in my account. It certainly helped bridge the gap between my training stipend and my first full paycheck.
Now, like every time I think of the incident, I find myself hoping that the person who lost the slip didn’t really need it.
Ahh. I had assumed you’d structure a small LLC like that with S-corp style pass-through taxation. So the LLC always owes nothing, but the “members” = partners owe individually.
My late first wife was an attorney who did a lot of small biz formations like this. If she were alive her advice would be to figure that out and write it into your founding docs right friggin’ now. Especially if the partners have unequal ownership shares or do different functions, like one is manage, one is sales and one is manufacturing / delivery. Those situations are made to trigger bloody divorces whether the business is faltering, cruising, or booming.
They’re working on it right now! When they started the business, it was on a Three Musketeers basis - all of them worked at their specialties and were compensated exactly the same. A fifth, silent, partner who put up most of the initial investment gets dividends only, and there’s language in the agreement about how heirs will be compensated without putting too much of a strain on the company finances. Now, over a decade later, they’re figuring out the fairest way to accommodate part-time work and retirements.
After seeing everything that has to be considered in drawing up legal agreements, I won’t hear a word against the legal profession!
I’m in the no debt, significant savings group. No big purchases planned or needed, nothing I really want. Retired, so I guess I’d add to my investment portfolio managed by my financial advisor, and I have some home improvements I need done. I’ve lived frugally for so long, I can’t imagine wildly spending money. Even the thought of having food door-dashed seems outrageously extravagant.