# Guide the multi-millionaire **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183 "2011-08-02T15:42:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/61 "2011-08-03T19:48:17Z")
Well, if that’s the case, wouldn’t I rather have $56 million invested rather than an escrow account that doesn’t accumulate any interest? The tax is going to be only a fraction of my investment income. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/62 "2011-08-03T19:49:37Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I may be wrong, but an escrow account wouldn’t earn interest. It’s just a bucket that holds the money. You pay taxes on it once when you get it, then, because it’s not generating any additional income, no more taxes on it. So? If I pay 40% on everything I make, then I’m netting 60%. Why would I be upset about paying $40 if I get to keep $60? ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/63 "2011-08-03T20:04:36Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I don’t understand this post. The need for a tax attorney (after the fact) comes from calculating _earnings_ on the money. After you pay the initial taxes for the payout, why bother ‘making the money work for you’? Put it in escrow. It doesn’t earn (or lose) anything. Therefore there’s no additional tax burden. Unless, you know, you think you can burn through that much money in your lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/64 "2011-08-03T20:17:32Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Unless, you know, you think you can burn through that much money in your lifetime. Hey, if [M.C. Hammer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mc_hammer#Bankruptcy.2C_lawsuits_and_media_reaction) can burn through $20M in less than a decade, I bet I can easily go through $56M before dying of old age. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/65 "2011-08-03T20:19:15Z")
One would presume (since you’re HERE) that you’re not M.C. Hammer stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/66 "2011-08-03T20:22:16Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > One would presume (since you’re HERE) that you’re not M.C. Hammer stupid. [Moderator Note]This is _not_ The BBQ Pit-keep it civil, please[/Moderator Note] ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/67 "2011-08-03T20:22:29Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > The need for a tax attorney (after the fact) comes from calculating _earnings_ on the money. After you pay the initial taxes for the payout, why bother ‘making the money work for you’? > > Put it in escrow. It doesn’t earn (or lose) anything. Therefore there’s no additional tax burden. > > Unless, you know, you think you can burn through that much money in your lifetime. You’re taking the ‘I want the last check I write to bounce’ attitude, or close enough to it. I’d want to solidify my wealth and launch my family into American nobility status, and that means living on interest rather than principal. I also don’t have any particular problem with paying taxes and would be happy to be doing my part to pay in. Lastly, I have plans for a golden parachute company for certain of my friends and family, and the capital required would be significant enough to require a hefty yearly investment. Working off principal is unsustainable in that scenario. Once $56 mil is gone, it’s gone. $56 mil at 3% is forever. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/68 "2011-08-03T20:24:41Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > The need for a tax attorney (after the fact) comes from calculating _earnings_ on the money. After you pay the initial taxes for the payout, why bother ‘making the money work for you’? > > Put it in escrow. It doesn’t earn (or lose) anything. Therefore there’s no additional tax burden. > > Unless, you know, you think you can burn through that much money in your lifetime. You don’t seem to understand how taxes work. You can’t have a tax burden unless you make money first. Parking your money in really safe bonds will still result in a net gain, after taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/69 "2011-08-03T20:25:39Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Moderator Note]This is _not_ The BBQ Pit-keep it civil, please[/Moderator Note] Apologies, it was not intended as a slight (to anyone other than M.C. Hammer, I mean, comon…TWENTY MIL?) **Bosstone** it was an opinion relayed to me by my father…who had been taken a time or two by unscrupulous people. Some of them investors. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/70 "2011-08-03T20:25:54Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > You don’t seem to understand how taxes work. You can’t have a tax burden unless you make money first. Parking your money in really safe bonds will still result in a net gain, after taxes. I think the idea is simply to avoid the complication of dealing with taxes, not to avoid having any more bites taken out of that $56 mil. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/71 "2011-08-03T20:28:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Moderator Note]This is _not_ The BBQ Pit-keep it civil, please[/Moderator Note] You misunderstood. Put a hyphen between “Hammer” and “stupid”. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/72 "2011-08-03T20:29:43Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I think the idea is simply to avoid the complication of dealing with taxes, not to avoid having any more bites taken out of that $56 mil. I think you’re right. It’s just that the idea makes so little sense… ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/73 "2011-08-03T20:35:21Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > One would presume (since you’re HERE) that you’re not M.C. Hammer stupid. I didn’t see this as an insult. He’s saying you’re not stupid. You’re not MC Hammer stupid. You are smart. “MC Hammer stupid” is a description of a level of stupidity and you are higher than that. The inclusion of a comma makes it an an insult “You’re not M.C. Hammer, stupid.” Fortunately, no comma was specified. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/74 "2011-08-03T20:39:24Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > You misunderstood. Put a hyphen between “Hammer” and “stupid”. You know, it WAS a rules violation if the actual MC Hammer is an SDMB member or registered guest… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/75 "2011-08-03T20:49:14Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I didn’t see this as an insult. He’s saying you’re not stupid. You’re not MC Hammer stupid. You are smart. “MC Hammer stupid” is a description of a level of stupidity and you are higher than that. That’s how I took it: I’m here on SDMB, so I’m not stupid like MC Hammer. In addition to the idea that $56M can be completely spent before the end of one’s life, inflation makes it just that much easier to do. your $56M loses a few percent in purchasing power every year. Assuming 3% per year, 20 years from now you end up with roughly half the purchasing power you did when you first won your nest egg. That puts us truly down in Hammer territory. If your entire nest egg is in bonds, then you’re protected from inflation, and the tax picture is painfully simple. You don’t need a tax attorney to figure it out; hell, you can probably use the 1040-EZ form. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/76 "2011-08-03T22:18:36Z")
> [@ethelbert](#): > > While this may get you good care, I am not sure its the best advice. If you have ever had a long stay in a hospital, the difference between what the hospital bills and what insurance actually pays can be staggering. I would want someone knowledgeable to be able to negotiate for me, and outside of insurance, I don’t know how I would go about this… E.g.,: I had outpatient surgery and was in the hospital for all of 4 hours. The surgeon and anesthesiologist billed separately. The HOSPITAL billed EIGHTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for those 4 hours. The insurance company actually paid $2500 which the hospital accepted as full payment. Moral: you pay yourself, you get hosed. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/77 "2011-08-03T22:46:41Z")
Let me advocate the “annuity” approach rather than the lump sum approach. If you take the lump sum now, you have to invest and manage the money (assuming you don’t take the escrow account approach). You have to worry about people cheating you or stealing from you. You have to be careful not to “run out” of money. Basically you have all the problems of managing a large investment portfolio – whether you do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you. With the annuity approach, you don’t have to worry about any of this. You get one “salary” check a year and you live off of that – no investment portfolio to worry about. No worries about investment people stealing from you. Also, your annual “income” will be roughly twice the amount you’d make on conservative interest on the lump sum. This approach works particularly well if you are already past 50. A 25 year payout if you’re 60 will probably last you the rest of your life. Not having children you want to leave the money to also increases the attractiveness of this method. If I were to win, I’d want to spend my time doing things _I_ wanted to do, not managing the money. But maybe this is just me. J. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/78 "2011-08-04T03:40:41Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So I want to have a contract with a good air ambulance company that will arrange to fly me out on a private jet with medical personnel aboard. While I could pay for this out of pocket, the companies that specialize in this already have the staff and experience to expedite such things. I use [International SOS](http://www.internationalsos.com/en/) (rather, my company uses them on my behalf). Getting my ass out of here on a medivac and to a western hospital is only one of the many services that they offer. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/79 "2011-08-04T03:57:33Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Pay your own way, and you don’t have to worry about paperwork, just a bill. The little card you’ll want to throw at them is [this one.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_Card) A friend of mine was the titanium consultant on that one. He also consulted on the Guggenheim in Balboa, Spain. ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183/80 "2011-08-05T05:51:50Z")
First order of business would be to go to the dollar store. I’d buy a pad of paper and some pens. Any person or organization who asks me for money gets written down on this paper, on the list of those who will never, ever see even one penny from me. I guess let the cameras follow me around for this so everyone knows I mean it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guide-the-multi-millionaire/591183.md?page=5)