There was a book out a while ago about how bad it is to win a lottery - how it affects most people negatively. I haven’t been able to find that book, but I think it would make a very interesting read.
My husband and I have a plan should we ever have a windfall like that - it involves accountants and investment advisors right at the start, so any work we do after we win is of the “want to” rather than the “have to” variety. There is little doubt in my mind that I still would work at something, because it is good for your soul to spend at least part of your time doing something worthwhile, but the whole nature of it would change.
I like your foreign bank account ideas, QuickSilver. Grand Caymans, here we come!
Well, I’d buy a house. Then, I’d start my own business. I’d use the profits to clean up and better educate my old hometown, and create more businesses there.
I’m not sure. If I quit my job, I’m not sure what kind of career I’d ever be able to have. But on the other hand, I’d also be very tempted to work on other projects, like novels.
Pay off student loans
Buy a nice funky house in an old, but artsy, neighborhood
Set up trust funds for my nephews
Buy some electronics and other toys
Look into grad school
Travel
Buy a nice big chunk ‘o land , like 100 acres , butting up against a nise wooded area with lots of trails for horseback riding, and build the best stable EVER. Indoor riding arena. Outdoor arena. 30 12’ X 15’ stalls , maybe 6 12’X 20’ for foaling stalls. 4 stallion stass with their own private attached paddocks. Nice cushy office overlooking the indoor arena. Then the horses to go in it. Arabians and Friesians. Yeah baby.
My house would be a 2 story log house with a big wrap-around porch. Huge stone fireplace. The dogs would have an acre or so fenced in . A built in swimming pool is a must. Hot tub on the back patio.
I would give my closest friends each a huge chunk of money, just because, and if they were so inclined , I would build them each houses on my property, so we could all be close. I’d buy them horses if they wanted them.
Nice big donations to some of my favorite causes. The Exotic Ferline Rescue Center. Our local Humane Society. The Gordon Setter Club of America Rescue. If I had a big enough win , I would build a homeless shelter. If not , a sizable donation to one.
I would try to make a lot of people and animals very happy.
A tithe-plus to my church if it’ll accept it & not give me crap about playing the lottery. If not, the tithe probably will go to the Salvation Army.
My debts & a large sturdy energy-sufficient house with an expanded library.
A trust that will give me enough to live comfortably off the interest.
Perhaps, a small trust or house or college ed to some poorer friends, whichever they’d prefer.
World travel- the MidEast (if safe), the British Isles, Washington DC & New England, Australia to visit some Net friends
A media production center to tape my Christian dramas (one about Mary Magdalene and another about Renfield- yes, Dracula’s lunatic), and tape & distribute my religious & political messages.
Endow the FriarTed Chair of Christian Conservative Scholarship
Lol reading some of these posts it is no wonder many lotto winners go broke. I really don’t think I would be comfortable just throwing money at my friends. I would feel like I was buying their friendships and would alienate the friends I didn’t give diddly too. And you might have them coming back asking for more.
My very first inclination would be to secure the airline tickets for our family to make it to Germany in August 2006 for the big 40th birthday bash. First class air and a nice sized car and probably accomodations the whole way.
Invest most of it, hire a financial consutant to do so, give a whole lot of it to illiteracy programs and the homeless shelter here, quite my effing job and finish my book, travel to UK and Europe for the summer.
And put some of it away for my youngest son’s college (older kids are taken care of, thanks to my sister’s will–she never changed it when he came along–an oversight, since she loved him to pieces).
How much money are we talking about, anyway? And since when are lottery winners “automatically famous?” Anyway:
Pay off all the debt I’ve already accumulated, and then put myself through the rest of school debt-free.
I’d give a bunch to my parents so that they could either A) finally hire professionals to do all the nessecary repairs/maintanence to our 90-year-old house, or B) sell the house as is and move someplace nicer than suburban NJ.
The rest…I’d probably keep enough to be comfortable, but end up giving away any ‘excess’ to various charities. I’ve already got a list of “organizations I wish I could donate more to, but can’t, because I am a flat-broke college student.”
Old joke.
[Phone call]
“Honey, I won the lottery. Pack your bags.”
“Great, should I pack for the Caribbean, or the Mountains?”
“I don’t care. Just pack your bags and get out.”
I’d buy a server. A big fookin’ server. Nah…bigger than that. Nah…even bigger than that. And leave it on someone’s doorstep.
Hey, eleanor, you know your husband gets half, yeah?
Anyway, the plan:
Quit jobs.
Pay off debts.
Give 25% of the win to my father, 25% to father in law, with instructions to help out other family members as appropriate.
Buy house.
Invest most of what’s left. Begin drawing interest.
Furnish house, including, yes, a server room, a phone switch - nothing fancy, maybe a BCM 50 - and a gaming room, with top of the line PCs, 27-inch monitors, the works.
Take vacation to Hawaii.
Wife starts home business. I take care of kid and house.
Why are you joking? You have obviously thought about it a lot. Winning the lottery isn’t much good if you are still restrained by the same, hesitant thought patterns as you were before. You would be able to hire a very good, discrete person to handle the problem just like you would be able to afford a maid. That is what having real money is all about. Things that you want simply appear and people that you don’t want do the opposite.
I’ve thought about this many, many times. As a matter of fact, most of my financial planning begins with “when I hit the lottery . . .”
First, pay off debts, including balance on mortgage.
Give sis some to fix house, but not so much that she thinks I’m the gravy train. Set up college funds for her kids.
Invest about half in a mix of growth and income stocks, nothing too risky, but somethig that will grow and outpace inflation. Forget money exists until retirement age (a little over 20 years).
Sell existing home in the city and either buy a nice chunk o’ land and start an herb farm/spa, or leave the U.S. and buy a home somewhere in England (not in London, somewhere in Somerset, perhaps) and become an eccentric ex-pat. Either way, have plenty of room for the pooches to play.
Start a small literary publishing company to give emerging talent a boost. I get to pick the emerging writers, of course.
Travel in style – no more crappy youth hostels and dingy B&Bs for me!
Continue to give to the charities I already donate to.
