I would love to win the lottery. As someone upthread stated, I’d settle into a middle-class lifestyle and be happy.
My wife and I wouldn’t want or need much. We actually hate the idea of a huge house, especially once our younger son leaves the house. So once we figure out where we want to live, it’d be simple to buy/build a house and settle in. Even our list of dream puchases is rather modest: a nice pickup truck, a new motorcycle and a nicely appointed poker room for myself.
As for friends and family coming out of the woodwork, I’m pretty good at ignoring people I don’t want to talk to.
This. The first rule I would make widely known is that anyone who asks, doesn’t get. No exceptions. Then we just buy a hunk of Whidby Island, build a nice house, and pull the door shut behind us.
Depends on how much. If it was around $100K, some of the family would be miffed if we didn’t share. But in our situation, it wouldn’t be smart to share. We’d need half of it to get out of debt and the rest would be saved.
A million would be easier for everyone. Multi-millions – I wouldn’t want to deal with that. The kids and grandkids would expect to never have to work again. Friends wouldn’t be an issue – they’re all in good financial shape and wouldn’t expect anything except a really big party, maybe in Tahiti.
I’ve thought about winning, and about being killed in a car accident on the way to the lottery office to pick up the check. I’d probably rent a Hummer for the trip.
I’m young, but I know that I’ve already settled into my habits and the money wouldn’t push me into an unsustainable lifestyle. I have no real desire to buy a Ferrari or huge mansion. I’m already paranoid about buying things on credit.
The only thing I’d be worried about is the fame and having everyone asking me for a share - I would definitely want to keep it quiet. Just pay off my student loans, maybe purchase a normal-sized house, and just generally have the money available if I want to get a nice steak or a new video game every now and then.
I don’t think I’d have a problem–I’d follow a path somewhat similar to the one PunditLisa described. After paying off debt, I’d use 1/4 for charities, 1/4 for my own venture capital ideas (to try and grow the principle and give some of those late-night ideas a try), 1/4 for other people’s venture capital ideas (with a heavy focus on development projects), 1/4 for my half & 1/4 for Mrs. Devil’s half of the family, 1/4 to splurge wildly off the bat to get the zippitty feeling out of our system while still maintaining focus, 1/4 for income-focused investments, 1/4 for long-term investments, and 1/4 for remedial math classes.
So, yeah, I volunteer to take one for the team and be part of the experimental group.
I want to win the lottery. I’d live much like I do now, and just leave most of the money in savings. I wouldn’t work and I’d travel more. More time for hobbies.
Ironically, were I to win some sort of mega-jackpot, I’d strongly consider going back to college to obtain a degree that I’d no longer have any need for.
Winning multi-millions has no appeal to me. That would remove an awful lot of the fun of acquiring things (and I do love to acquire things)–where’s the sport if you could buy ten of any extravagance and it wouldn’t even leave a ripple in your funds? When I spend more than I should on something like shoes or a purse, they mean something to me, they’re special. Mr. Akimbo and I discuss big purchases and are proud of them when we own them. Being able to just go out and buy whatever I want whenever I want it doesn’t sound like fun, more like the shooting fish in a barrel effect. HOWEVER, a windfall of about $150k would be just right.
I have plenty of good ideas for putting very large sums of money to good work (some of them altruistic, others indulgent). There’s no upper limit on the amount I’d like to win on the lottery, however, I hardly ever play it, because the odds of winning are so dire.
(the fun, for me, would not be in the acquisition of things, but in the ability to try whatever scheme took my fancy, with no fear of financial ruin in case of failure - it would be possible to try some really unlikely schemes).
Without the need to “make a living” I could study whatever I wanted to, for it’s own sake, without having to worry about how I’ll turn it into a career later on. I’d study Philosophy.
This was very entertaining to read. I really liked the panel of bitter, retired, middle school English teachers.
I’ve always been aware of the problems that lottery winners are subjected too just as I realized the living hell Princes Diana would go through when the wedding was announced.
At my age I would put the money into a retirement account and then retire to write history books. I would relocate to a modest retirement home away from the city and give away small amounts of money to relatives that would improve their lives but not corrupt it. If it was a huge lottery windfall then I’d direct non-retirement money toward something like Bill Gate’s foundation where it will be spent wisely.
Count me in the “happy winner” category. I’m not worried about money changing me; I’m worried about money changing the people around me.
And even then, I’m not too worried. I have stable friends. The family? Not so much… but I’m distant from them already outside of holidays, and geographically far away, so I don’t see my cousins showing up on my doorstop asking for money (they wouldn’t get any).
For my close circle of friends, I’ve already got it figured out: post-tax annuities that give them $10,000 a year as a gift in perpetuity, plus their kid’s college money. In return, they never get to ask me for anything again, and don’t get to assume that I’ll pick up the check at every dinner :).
The rest of it gets locked into an annuity for myself, an annuity for charitable donations, and whatever decent percentage of “Go insane in Vegas” money I want to spend one month blowing through in order to get it out of my system.
As for the rest of my life, I love what I do for my career, but I don’t like my job, so I’d probably go into consulting. I’d work my own hours, and still charge folks money-- but I wouldn’t need the money to survive.
I go through phases. I used to daydream about building (literally) a castle on a hill, supercars, houses for friends and family, jetskis and go-karts and servants out the wazoo. That stuff doesn’t appeal to me at all anymore. Now I go back and forth between:
-Not wanting to win, for want of a simpler life and rejection of “cash is king” hegemony
-Wanting to win a small jackpot (< $300k) to relieve all financial worries while I finish my masters and set myself up into a comfortable and financially sustainable/debt-free lifetstyle
-Wanting to win the big bucks, because, as I heard my wife tell someone once: “he’s the only person I know who would never run out of things to do with it.”
I don’t buy this at all. It’s all about your attitude.
I came into a substantial windfall a couple of years ago. I didn’t spend any of it, but invested it. My life is significantly less problematic now. I have gone from worrying that my debts and medical bills would some day bankrupt me, to knowing that if I lose my job, I have a safety net. My anxiety level went down significantly. I get to take (cheap) vacations more often because I’m no longer desperately trying to save every nickel.
Similarly, a very unambitious cousin of mine became a millionaire through inheritance. He socked the money away and kept his low-paying job (which he loves) and his tiny house and his 10 year old car. He takes a nice-ish, middle-class vacation every year as his only extravagance. He’s definitely happier having the safety net. He could never afford to retire on what he makes at his job.
Of course, we come from a family of moneyed, straightlaced cheapskates. We chose friends who are like that too. If we had started spending like drunken sailors, our friends and family members would probably have held an intervention.
It’s nice to have money. I think the problems come when you start to think of yourself as “wealthy,” because that is the first step down the slippery slope of “acting wealthy.” I honestly still think of myself as “broke.” And I think it makes a world of difference, because I spend like I’m poor.
So yeah, I’d like to win the lottery. I would do an excellent job of husbanding my resources. I might even let myself start living a middle-class lifestyle, if I were feeling really extravagant. But the thing is, I’m too frugal to buy lottery tickets. So it’s all theoretical.
Here’s the problem I have with the lotterey: When you win it, you’re taking money from all those poor, desperate bastards you see standing in line spending money they shouldn’t. From all the old ladies and guys just barely getting by who have been duped by the state’s advertising about how much fun it is to play and win. The ones who tune out the mumbled “Please play responsibly” at the end of the commercials.
I don’t need the money that badly.
