On the Cool million cash caps Pepsi is running. Several people at work are collecting them, and every one of them has all the letters except the M.
It must be the rare letter, though I am not sure how many are made. I have to send them all in and get entered into a drawing. This is where I am sure I will fail. LOL, I have terrible luck at drawings. The odds are probably pretty low, 1 in several hundred. I am sure they didn’t make a whole lot of M’s.
The Grand prize is 1 Million dollars as either a lump sum, or 20 years of 50,000 a year. I know most people would pick the Lump sum, I don’t think I will(If I win of course). I think less taxes would be paid on the 50k a year, and I would just end up blowing the 580k I got after taxes. (or a bit less than 580k I imagine)
Hell, 50k a year is more than I make, and I don’t have to work. I can go to school full time and not have to worry about cramming work, exercise and school into tiny little periods.
With the lump sum I would probably blow it on a house, a nice car, bigscreen TV, and then have like one or two years to live off the money before running out. I think with the 50k I would be more restricted, and therefore be able to go to school. Don’t think I could suffer going to school every day knowing I have several hundred thousand dollars in the bank and could easily go to Rome or something.
What do you dopers think? What would be the best course of action. Taking the lump sum and investing it (to avoid temptation), or living off it for 20 years at 50k?
(even though It is unlikely I will win, it is nice dreaming about it)
Hey Epimetheus, remember me? Your long lost second-cousin (thrice removed)…Aunty Nancy says to say G’day.
Oh, and I don’t really want to bring it up, but cousin Darleen’s new puppy has this terribly rare cancer that only a vet in Uzbekistan can cure.
And our house burned down last night, which was a bit of a bummer seeing the car got knocked off the day before, so we can’t even live in THAT now. AND we weren’t insured.
And the bank have threatened to send around a hit-man unless I make a payment on the credit card…
But don’t you worry about that…
Enjoy your winnin’s…and just remember…we’re thinking of you!
Hey Epimetheus, remember me? Your long lost second-cousin (thrice removed)…Aunty Nancy says to say G’day.
Oh, and I don’t really want to bring it up, but cousin Darleen’s new puppy has this terribly rare cancer that only a vet in Uzbekistan can cure.
And our house burned down last night, which was a bit of a bummer seeing the car got knocked off the day before, so we can’t even live in THAT now. AND we weren’t insured.
And the bank have threatened to send around a hit-man unless I make a payment on the credit card…
But don’t you worry about that…
Enjoy your winnin’s…and just remember…we’re thinking of you!
Kittenblue- Went out and bought 11 pepsi’s. Now have all but one. I need an O.
I have: C O L M I L L I O N. That last O is going to be a bugger to get a hold of.
Ruby- You sound like the guys at my work. LOL.
I seriously doubt I am going to win. I will send it in for the drawing, but I never, ever win anything. If I drive by a Casino, money teleports itself out of my wallet. That is how bad my luck is. The fact that I got an M, well it is a fluke, a fluke I doubt will duplicate itself. I spent over 100 dollars on powerball tickets one summer when I worked at a convientent store, and I never even won a free ticket.
My luck is abyssmally bad. (I am such an Optimist aren’t I?)
Lump sum. Spend $50K as “mad money” to get it out of your system, then put the rest into long-term investments (to keep your hands off it) that pay decent returns (to supplement your normal income).
If you take the 20 years, you may spend a few years living comfortably, but those will be years that you are outside the job market. The longer you hold off going back to work, the more you will be perceived as an older, underskilled worker when you attempt to re-enter the job market. (And even if inflation stays low, each year at $50K will be less “real” money than the previous year. At the end it is gone. With the long-term investments, you still have capital at the end of the 20 years.)
Tom raises some good points but Epimetheus doesn’t want to have normal income. I would take the annual payments and invest a portion, say $10~15K, every year. That way, I could quit my job and still earn more than I do while working but I would also have a good-sized nest egg after 20 years.
