# Would you rather accept a billion dollars but you die in 5 years or continue living your life as it is now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800 "2020-10-24T22:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/41 "2020-10-26T00:50:19Z")
No way, I would have to be at least thirty years older than I am now to take that deal. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/42 "2020-10-26T04:33:08Z")
I’ll take the money, even if you reduce it by four zeroes. I don’t expect much quality of life after 87, and my heiress will be 58. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/43 "2020-10-26T09:34:12Z")
I’ll settle for what I have now. On the basis of family history, I have maybe a quarter of a century ahead of me, the last five years of which might be somewhat meh. You could argue that it would be a great deal for an elderly person, but by then you are of an age where you can enjoy most things as much as you did before, and that includes money. All you would have is the warm glow from donating your money to various good causes. I’d rather have the warm glow from my wood stove, and I can afford that. I;m so selfish, I know. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/44 "2020-10-26T11:37:19Z")
I’d snap up the cash in a heartbeat. I’m 62 and never thought I’d live this long. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/45 "2020-10-26T11:56:53Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You couldn’t spend a billion dollars in 5 years. What is this Bizarro talk? One could blow through it, no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/46 "2020-10-26T11:58:37Z")
I get the feeling - really I do - but hang in there. And I’d take the deal in a heartbeat, except that my family is likely to need me for a bit longer than that. If it were 10 years and half a billion, I’d probably say yes. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/47 "2020-10-26T12:32:04Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > You couldn’t spend a billion dollars in 5 years. > > What is this Bizarro talk? One could blow through it, no problem. How? I mean sure, you could give most of it away. I’m talking about spending it on things you can actually use and enjoy over 5 years. What are you going to do? Buy a custom 747 for half a billion? Purchase Buckingham Palace ($1.5 billion)? Purchase 1000x McLaren sports cars ($200k ea). Are you going to tour the world in both your $100 million super yacht AND your jet? Even the most luxurious lifestyle I could imagine actually living over 5 years (i.e. not just buying expensive shit just to have it) would probably only cost in the tens of millions. Maybe a hundred if I really wanted a giant boat (which I don’t). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/48 "2020-10-26T12:40:34Z")
You could pull a “Brewster’s Millions” and spend it on advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/49 "2020-10-26T13:16:53Z")
The dreams I have would consume the Bil handily. Let’s see: my n:o 1 dream is to buy a _massive_ hunk of prime farm land and convert it to an ecological sanctuary. Like here, only bigger: [https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/01/world/knepp-farm-rewilding-scn-cte-spc/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0o3Yw4oRERiiNk8gC-CEXiYGeUYmc-S4jetDwhAnuoXPZltwO4TBV6YSk](https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/01/world/knepp-farm-rewilding-scn-cte-spc/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0o3Yw4oRERiiNk8gC-CEXiYGeUYmc-S4jetDwhAnuoXPZltwO4TBV6YSk). They stopped making land, so I’m looking at a price tag of easily hundreds of millions. Having only 5 years, I would not see the transformation in full bloom, but I would start it, and bask in the glory of actually making a difference, for 5 years straight, and leave a lasting legacy. Also, places change drastically in only a couple of years when mostly left to themselves. Been there. My n:o 2 dream is to sponsor archaeological work, where there are innumerable study bottle necks the world over, that simple money would fix: robust budgets for massive emergency excavations, AMS dating series by the thousands, Isotope studies, aDNA studies, conservation of wetland finds, lavish publications etc. I’m looking at a 100 millions easily spent on archaeo. The money would also mean that the results don’t wait for themselves, as per usual. Hire 20 lab technicians where there were 2 massively overbooked ones etc. It would be a constant 5-year thrill ride to have a daily dose of “Another Ancient Mystery shed considerable light on [let’s be realistic here]”. Dream n:o 3, would be to build and host a experimental archaeology research center, where I would hire thousands of niche experts full time & with open-ended project budgets, to replicate ancient technologies of every type the world over, and publish every result promptly and lavishly. I’d get to see huge progress within 5 years, and spend my days dancing around the vast site like a kid in a candy store. I’d also bleed millions, on a constant basis. Sure, there might be a spell or two of King Midas-type woes, but the diversity would keep me in an extended endorphine rush. And I could always retreat to my sanctuary, and watch animals taking over. Of course I would buy a bunch of very expensive toys, but they would fetch mere tens of millions, at best, as would giving gifts to people I care about. Especially with Dreams 1 and 2, there is no end to the spending, as every additional hectare / study grant / employee would further my goals, no matter how far I’ve gone. Yes, “spending on things I actually use and enjoy over 5 years.” ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/50 "2020-10-26T13:25:49Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I look forward to meeting my grandkids someday. 5 years is a very short time and a billion is less than you think. I very much doubt that a billion dollars is less than I think. If anything, it’s probably more than I think. I’m not Everett Dirkson. I would like to meet my future grandkids, but my future in-laws are probably assholes. I’m content to leave a big inheritance. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/51 "2020-10-26T13:50:15Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You couldn’t spend a billion dollars in 5 years > **[The rise and fall of Quibi, from raising $1.75 billion before launch to...](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-quibi-went-from-raising-1-billion-to-shutting-down-2020-10)** > > Quibi just announced it was shutting down only six months after launching. It raised $1.75 billion but failed to attract subscribers. > **[How Trump’s team spent most of the $1.6 billion it raised over 2 years](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-team-spent-16-billion-raised-years/story?id=73795897)** > > How Trump’s team spent most of the $1.6 billion it raised over 2 years There are lots of ways to blow a billion in less than two years. Those are just two that have been in the news a bunch lately. A billion isn’t that much money depending on what your asperations and risk tolerance are. I could certainly spend a billion but it takes time to start business even @Toxylon 's archaeological center would take years to fully staff. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/52 "2020-10-26T13:56:29Z")
I have two kids. On the one hand, giving a billion dollars toward rational altruistic causes would change many, many more lives than theirs. On the other hand, I’m an irrational primate, and the idea of choosing suicide and leaving my kids heartbroken that their dad didn’t love them enough to stick around? I just couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/53 "2020-10-26T14:02:53Z")
I’ll take what I’ve got, thanks. Time is the most valuable thing I’ve got. Hopefully, another 3 decades’ worth, +/- 5 years or so. I’ve got plans for those years! Many hikes, many bike rides, I want to do again, and many more I’d like to do for the first time. And when I get too old to do those things, I have other plans. And most of all, I want to be there for my wife for as long as she lives, if possible, and I want to see my son finish growing up, and make sure he’s got a good start into his adult life. These things are worth more to me than any amount of money. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/54 "2020-10-26T14:52:31Z")
Right now, at 59 and pretty healthy/comfortable, I’d pass. But ask me again at 70. Didn’t see it strongly observed before, but I’m a pretty confident denier of any afterlife/reincarnation/etc. So this life is all I’m gonna get. Even tho my interests/activities are pretty pedestrian, I figure I have a pretty good chance of 20 more years of them. Don’t think 5 years of wealth would make up for losing 15. The one big factor would be whether I’d be willing to be a martyr for the people and causes I love. Yeah, I know the socially acceptable thing is to say, “Time w/ dad/grandpa is worth any amount of cash!” But a $ billion could buy a BUNCH of wonderful memories, as well as setting everyone I love for their lives. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/55 "2020-10-26T15:25:57Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > The one big factor would be whether I’d be willing to be a martyr for the people and causes I love. Yeah, I know the socially acceptable thing is to say, “Time w/ dad/grandpa is worth any amount of cash!” But a $ billion could buy a BUNCH of wonderful memories, as well as setting everyone I love for their lives. It’s a realistic factor. I’m pretty sure my kids wouldn’t mind a year or two without dad for a few million bucks in the bank. And for a few million more I could affect some other lives and maybe make some kind of point. And then there’s the wonton spending I’ll do just to amuse myself. Add all that to 5 years of life and it looks more like 10 to me, and I’d be good with it. Now, if my life had been different in several ways I could see this differently, but it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/56 "2020-10-26T15:27:38Z")
These tests are always biased. You never know the alternative. It reminds me of Let’s Make A Deal. You can chose door number 1, which is $1B/5years, or door number2, which is…what you have now. But what if what you have now is getting hit by a bus on the way home tonight? The question isn’t fair if you don’t know how long you’ll live if you don’t take the offer. Be it 5 more minutes or 50 more years, it is important to know to make a fair choice. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/57 "2020-10-26T15:43:27Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > hese tests are always biased. You never know the alternative. It reminds me of Let’s Make A Deal. You can chose door number 1, which is $1B/5years, or door number2, which is…what you have now. And, of course, we all know what happens after Monty opens Door #3… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/58 "2020-10-26T16:02:59Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > And, of course, we all know what happens after Monty opens Door #3… 😃 You get eaten by a tiger? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/59 "2020-10-26T16:16:45Z")
If you switch doors first odds are 1 in 2 you’ll get eaten. 2 in 3 if you don’t switch. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800/60 "2020-10-26T16:30:33Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The question isn’t fair if you don’t know how long you’ll live if you don’t take the offer. Be it 5 more minutes or 50 more years, it is important to know to make a fair choice. A deciding factor for me is one that I’d know: I’d know that my wife and children would know I’d given up the possibility of a future with them for money. I’m not one to keep secrets like this. I think that would make their lives much shittier than my sudden death would make them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-accept-a-billion-dollars-but-you-die-in-5-years-or-continue-living-your-life-as-it-is-now/923800.md?page=4)