After taxes, as a lump sum, I believe it would be around $210 million.
I don’t think it is the amount that ruins you, but the attitude. (I’d sure like the chance of finding out.)
But I would do the usual stuff - pay off the house, replace my deck and the carpets, trust funds for the kids to get them thru college and maybe a down payment on their first home, tithe it to my church and other church-based charities, a couple new cars, stuff like that. And everybody in the family gets $10K just to blow on whatever they want.
Then invest in very diverse, very low-risk investments. Put at least a million into something as inflation-proof as the mind of man can devise. But figure a 3% ROI after taxes, and that’s six million a year. Then find a good health care plan, and quit my job.
But if you weren’t my friend before I was rich, you ain’t my friend now. So I don’t think I would have any trouble saying No to all the folks who come out of the woodwork with their hands out. Get an unlisted number with caller ID, and laugh at their sales pitches on the answering machine before I delete them.
If they come knocking at the door, the dog will soon disabuse them of the notion that I care about their sob stories or business pitches.
Why would you have need of a health care plan? Your nest egg earns more for you in a single year than you could possible spend on a lifetime of health care, even if you ate nothing but sugar-dipped bacon from now on. I would think that any plan other than “pay cash as you go” could only limit your choices.
I don’t play but I didn’t throw a buck into the pool that one of my co-workers started. There is no fucking way I am going to be “the guy” who didn’t play and all of the other co-workers won. I don’t care how miniscule the odds.
I don’t have expensive tastes and I make a comfortable living so I don’t want much more than I already have. I’d see a lot more live music though. I would definitely guarantee all of my nieces and nephews a bachelors degree of their choosing, no strings attached. This would have the added benefit of cutting the strings of Dad and Step-mom. Most of the rest would go to my very own Super PAC.
You know, if I was worried about blowing through this all at once, it might be smarter for me to receive it in the 26-year installments of $$10-20 million/year. Yeah, you’ll lose a fair amount to inflation, but at the end of year 26 you’ll be 26 years wiser and might have saved a good chunk of the last 5 years ($50-100 million) worth of earnings.
So, yeah, maybe in years 1-4 I burn through $50-80 odd million, but I still have $300 million coming my way. I’ll be OK.
In the unlikely event that I’d hit a big lotto (unlikely especially since I haven’t bought a ticket in ages), I know I’m not savvy enough to manage a mega-jackpot by myself. I’d be getting me a good lawyer and financial advisor for certain. I also know full well I wouldn’t be buying myself mega-millions worth of toys and stuff. Some stuff, but not tons. I’d pick some good causes and set up foundations to do good deeds - scholarships top of the list.
But like someone upthread mentioned, I’d be looking to hire a chauffeur, since I also dislike driving. And I’d hire a housekeeper. And a landscaper. And maybe even a cook. So I’d be stimulating the economy. To do otherwise would be selfish!
I am pretty sure winning that much money wouldn’t ruin my life and I can think of all sorts of cool and socially useful things to do with even that large a sum of money.
I think the bigger challenge would be how to distribute some of that money to family, friends, and various “deserving” strangers in a manner that would not ruin thier lifes.
Yeah, I know that sounds like a “me wiser than others” kinda statement…
No no no! You don’t answer your phone and door yourself, you create a short term job and that persons responsibility is to turn down all requests for money in the most amusing (to you) fashion possible. They answer the phone “Shodan’s Flunky, what request can I reject for you” and turn in a daily report that you can giggle over while drinking your morning coffee.
This is why I buy lottery tickets. So I can dream of creating jobs like this.
My business partner and I were just discussing this sort of thing, If I won $300 odd million…how many staff would I need.
We concluded that since we would probably be getting some serious house upgrades, a housekeeper/general household help and a full time groundskeeper/maintenance type would be a bare minimum. The lawyer and accountant will be on retainer. possibly add in a cook if we did alot of entertaining.
The big debate here was to go for live in staff or offsite. I was more leaning live in he was more offsite.
Is $400 million enough to purchase your own nation? Like, what if you just bought an island, Seward’s-Folly-style, threw up your flag, bought a cheap cruise ship, and just sailed the world on your nation?
You’re not hurting anybody, you’re not raising an army, you’re not seeking a seat in the U.N., and unlike Sealand and places like that, you actually bought your land in a legitimate business deal. You’re just coming into port, buying their fuel, giving them tourists, and hiring their dock laborers, so what would they care what you call yourself?
You’re a nation when other nations say you’re a nation- so would they?
When the jackpot gets to a very large amount–for example, $210 million–instead of one drawing for the entire amount, why not split the jackpot into three pots, and have three drawings, each for $70 million?
So you buy one $1-ticket, which ends up giving you three chances to win $70 million.
If given a choice between
1–One chance for $210 million
2–Three chances for $70 million
…who the hell would choose #1?
And with an even larger jackpot, say $500 million, why not seven drawings for $71 million each?
This idea must be flawed…so many winners that each winner’s fractional share would be small? [“small” being relative…]
The problem is they can’t change the rules on the fly like that.
In Canada they’ve structured one of our lotteries that way and it’s been pretty successful. The jackpot is a maximum of $50 million (remember no taxes on lottery wins here) and any extra dollars that should go into the jackpot spawn “Maxmillions” Additional draws for $1 million each.
It’s a purely hypothetical question for me, since I don’t play the lottery. Many good suggestions here, though.
I really like the idea of $1,000/week for life (didn’t know about that option). I’d be less likely to do something stupid in that scenario.
I’d love to win a million bucks or three, but over 5 million at once frankly scares me. I think it might make me even crazier than I already am, and I’d quickly become one of those tragic stories.
I have always loved this kind of idea, especially under current economic conditions. Making a couple dozen extra millionaires a week might be an appealing option. Sure it doesent sound like quit the job and run money but a certain percentage of them would. Not enough to go all barbie dream home, but enough to be the quivalent of a basic middle class job for a winner. If this was someone working part time and going to school im sure they would quit to focus on school, opening up that job to someone who needs it. After a year or two the drawings might draw more interest because lots of people would know someone who had won. That person isn’t going to move to beverly hills and rub elbows with the rich and famous, but their friends will see folks who now have a lot fewer worries about the bills or a stay at home parent with the kids where they both used to have to work. Not enough money to make you a target for thieves, scammers, kidnappers, etc. I don’t think I personally would quit over $50K a year but I would work less and worry less.
That sounds ideal–wish the interstate lotteries in USA would do this. These gargantuan jackpots are gross–the money would be more effectively deployed if distributed over a larger number of winners. I know I’d buy tickets more often. [Always keeping in mind something I read years ago, about the poor odds of winning lottery: “Playing the lottery amounts to a voluntary tax on one’s own stupidity.”]
