I would give it to my butler as a Christmas bonus.
And when you’re popped at the airport for possession of $100,000 cash? What then? It’s illegal to move that kind of money without substantial legal hoops to jump through.
Are you that clueless to really believe this???
You don’t think that hundreds of people a day (small time crooks, drug dealers, whatever) go to various casinos in Vegas, cash in $5,000 or $10,000 for chips (getting rooms and meals comped in the process) play a few hundred dollars for an hour or two, then pick up and head somewhere else for a while and then come back later, cash in the chips they have left, thereby getting clean money, a free room and meal credit, all for a little of their time and the possible loss of a few hundred dollars???
You need to stop talking about subjects that you clearly don’t know anything about…
Originally Posted by InterestedObserver
I’d also have to check the news for any recent bank or other robberies (in case the bills were marked), be very careful about how I doled out my loot (since banks, car dealers, brokers, etc…are required to report cash payments/deposits over 10 grand), not alter my habits too much (which might be suspicious) and otherwise just keep it tucked safely away and used (for spending or investment) in small increments/as needed.
It’s all relative. $100,000 is a HELL of a lot to some of us, and the precautions I suggested relatively minor hassles in exchange for having a nest-egg of that size to fall back on as needed.
Unless it is from a sting or a bank robbery (and yes, how would you know? One of the logistical sticking points, absolutely) the bills are perfectly safe to pass as long as it is done in smaller, spread out increments.
I know I would rest a lot easier knowing I had 100 grand under my mattress, lumps and all, as long as I was fairly certain no-one had witnessed me taking it or could connect me to it. And, as I said, as long as I was fairly certain I was not stealing someone’s legit life savings or money for their kid’s operation.
I’d keep it. Anyone who would leave that amount of money at that location . . . for a month . . . isn’t looking very hard for it.
First, contact one of my cousins, who seems to have the Midas touch with anything financial (he inherited this trait from his father). He’d know exactly what I should do with it.
But the immediate expenses would be the two knee surgeries and one eye surgery that I need . . . plus house and car repairs.
Since it’s only $100,000, that’s OK. Much more and moderator would close the thread.
Note to Skald the Rhymer: wouldn’t it have been more fun to put “Need answer fast” in the title?
I’d keep it and it’d become my personal ATM.
I’d still pay utilities and mortgage from my bank account, but ALL other expenses become cash only. I’d shred my debit card.
It’s such relatively small potatoes I doubt anyone would ever notice that I always pay cash at the store or restaurants, bars, the movies, etc.
$100,000 in my personal ATM would go a long way.
I get your point, and it’s a hell of a lot to me, too, believe me.
I’m not trying to ride some moral high horse, just that you and I appear to be built differently. I don’t think I would rest as easily as you; I’d be living with a Sword of Damocles, and I’m still not convinced it’d be worth it.
sorry, missed the edit…wanted to add that one way to alleviate the worry over marked bills would be to spend just a few, small denominations, at a few different locations for usual things and along with legit money.
Then WAIT. Like several months. See if anything comes of it. Then maybe spend a few more and wait some more. See if anything at all comes of it.
In the meantime, good idea to hide the other money very well and off your property, just in case.
My reasoning (which may be completely wrong in this case, never having actually engaged in any such thing before) is that if the bills are marked somehow, the ones passed would be detected, and since the denominations were so small and the transactions so typical, it would be really hard for anyone to pin the bulk of the loot on you. Very easy for you to just play dumb and get off with the story that it was just money YOU got passed during routine transactions. A 10 here, a 1 there.
If accused and the loot was not in your physical possession or connectable to you, I imagine you’d get away with it.
Of course THEN you’d have to find a way to launder the money instead of just spend it in small doses, since you’d be on the radar. But at least you’d know your options.
No, I am not going to reopen a thread about how to launder money.
Do you have any idea how much you need to turn over to launder $100k with an acceptable level of variance?
[Moderator Note]I would also prefer that we not discuss how to launder money in this thread, please.[/Moderator Note]
Maybe not built so differently…maybe just that, as I mentioned earlier, I actually wrote a story about this scenario years back and so have had occasion to think through the details and ethics of it. Not in real life, but when trying to write believable fiction, one approaches it “as if”.
In my story, the character(s) couldn’t bear the stress involved and ended up returning the money to where they found it. They found themselves living in fear of a drug lord or gang members finding them (even though that was highly unlikely given the circumstances…no witnesses, etc…), the government catching them, getting robbed of this stash of cash hidden in their home, and just dealing with the general conflicts/fights/relationship strains over how best to deal with the whole “windfall” (which was the title of the story).
They found, rightly or wrongly (I sort of felt they were a couple of wusses;)) that the strain was so much that they’d rather go back to struggling to eat and pay the bills than deal with it.
So I GET that, I do. And who knows? In real life, either of us might act very differently from how we say we would here. 
No. Internet message boards are real life! 
Rhymers don’t believe in fun, as you would know if you could be arsed to read the SkaldFaq. I feel unloved.
I’m honest. I’d turn it over to the police. If it goes unclaimed and it’s not connected to a crime, and becomes mine, woohoo.
Everyone talking about how they’d hide the dough has obviously never watched “Shallow Grave”
Absolutely! :dubious:
Saw a funny t-shirt the other day…“Video games ruined my life. Good thing I have 2 lives left!” 
I’m sort of surprised no-one has mentioned the novel “A Simple Plan”, by Scott Smith, yet. (FTR, I wrote MY story a few years before he published this ;)) It deals with the same sort of scenario and with the same sort of devastating consequences. The film is ok, the book is better, imo.
I immediately share it with any and all posters on the Straight Dope with the username Meatros, of course…
I suggest that anyone in such a situation do the same.
I’d start a thread about it.
i’d keep it, and silence any witnesses