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Tag along to the "could you be happy" post....

yennyfire

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How would your life change if you won the lottery, say 100 million, after tax (since we're playing, we might as well go BIG!)

Here's my answer:

DH and I have played with this question a few times and always have the same answers. We would pay off our mortgage, renovate our 30 year old home to my satisfaction, put aside at least 10 million for retirement, set up trust funds for the kids (to be handed over when they turn 25), pay off my parents and sister/BILs mortage, set up college funds for all of the kids, and maybe buy ourselves one luxury item (DHs would probably be a car, specially designed for him, since he's 6'5 and doesn't fit in any sports cars...mine would be jewelry, that's a no brainer).

After that, we both agree that we'd donate the rest to various charities around the world. DH wouldn't want to stop working and I wouldn't want to stop all of the volunteering I do in the community. I'd still shop at Target and TJ Maxx, though I might stop clipping coupons and going to two grocery stores each week to take advantage of their promotions, lol!
 

Dancing Fire

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at my age i only need about $7 million net after tax.
 

yennyfire

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Snort...so how would your life change with a cool $7M???
 

Miss Sparkly

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Build two homes next to each other about 2,000 sq ft each. One for my dad and one for DH and I. That way as he gets older he can keep his independence while having somebody close by. Quit my job, go back to school to become a psychologist and honestly probably end up divorcing DH. I know he wouldn't continue to work or pursue school if he knew money was not an issue. I can't live with somebody like that. I would then continue my career as a psychologist and life in general. Most of my investments would be safe and secure as I don't plan on living an extravagant life. My two big splurges (aside from the houses) would be a custom tuba for my dad and a sweet a$$ car for me with a killer sound system. ahhhhhh - falling back to earth now :cheeky:
 

somethingshiny

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We've discussed this a lot in my house. We've figured that we'd be very happy with $3 m. We could live the rest of our lives without working. Of the $3, we'd build a new house in the town that we live in. We'd buy a big (but not luxury) RV for traveling. We'd take a few trips a year. We'd probably spend at least a year just traveling overseas. The rest of the money would be used to build homes for our parents, provide all of our relatives with college funds, purchase a few extravagant gifts and then donate the rest.
 

iugurl

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Ah that would be amazing. I have no idea what I would do! I would definitely set up retirement accounts, I have no idea how much though. I would probably initially only spend 1-2 million. The rest would be put away. :cheeky: I would probably buy or build a house for I don't know 300-400k (houses are cheap here) I would buy all new furniture, that would be a necessity as we live in a 1,000 square foot apartment, plus I would just want new furniture.

I would buy myself a car, probably a BMW or Lexus. We would pay off DH's car. He might want a new car too, I don't know. I would buy a $20,000ish diamond. DH would quit his job. We would take 100k and travel, for as long as that lasted.

I wouldn't feel the need to shop at discount stores for clothing. Now I wouldn't buy 1k tops or whatever, but I would feel fine shopping at Express, Gap type places. You can't take money to your grave with you. Might as well enjoy it while you are alive. I definitely wouldn't blow it, but I wouldn't feel the need save all of it, for what? 100 million in the bank does not benefit me if I feel as though I can't spend ANY of it.

I would probably give money to parents (they are comfortable but not 100 mil comfortable!) and siblings. I would help the ASPCA, and probably other charities.
 

Dancing Fire

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yennyfire|1303345961|2901420 said:
Snort...so how would your life change with a cool $7M???

buy a 1.5 million dollar home.
spent about $300K on a nice koi pond with landscaping.
buy a $150K car.
buy a $100K diamond.
buy couple of nice watches.
save some money for property tax,insurance and maintenance,etc.... (cost about $35K per yr) then i'll play the stock market with the rest of the money.
 

hawaiianorangetree

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Well apart from the standard buying a house on the beach, setting up the kids and paying off debts I would love to fund 2 causes:

1. I would give my friend enough money to set up the training and education programs that she has devised for workers and carers in orphanages across Africa. This is something that she has been researching for her Phd and I would love to be able to bankroll it for her.

2. Set up a "pay it forward" charity for a friend who lost her life to melanoma earlier this year at the tender age of 31.
At her funeral service her family asked everyone to " pay if forward" and do the things that she was unable to complete in her life, to keep her spirit and memory alive and to spread word about the dangers of sun exposure and skin cancer. I would love to set up charity where people could use the money to pay it forward for her in their own special way and then share their stories with everyone to help spread the word on skin cancer and keep her spirit alive by passing on her story.
 

y2kitty

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Honestly? I'd give it all away and then write a sappy book about it that would be sure to become a bestseller.
 

canuk-gal

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Dancing Fire|1303348697|2901490 said:
yennyfire|1303345961|2901420 said:
Snort...so how would your life change with a cool $7M???

buy a 1.5 million dollar home.
spent about $300K on a nice koi pond with landscaping.
buy a $150K car.
buy a $100K diamond.
buy couple of nice watches.save some money for property tax,insurance and maintenance,etc.... (cost about $35K per yr) then i'll play the stock market with the rest of the money.


OK DF a Lange for you, my DH and me. Mine would have a diamond bezel ;)) ..

I'd give half to my husband, otherwise he'd complain about my choices; the rest I'd donate it to a Hospital/help build a wing or the like, provide money for Scholarships at the University, food bank, and give some to my family. Oh and I promised to buy some huge Tahitian pearls for Heather, and maybe a big Emerald for Gailey. :cheeky:

cheers--Sharon
 

yennyfire

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Aww, hot, that is so sweet.
Here kitty, that would definitely be a bestseller!
Df, I can't imagine what a 300k koi pond would lok like!
Canuk, sounds like a good plan to me ;))
 

Haven

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I would build my Haven, and then I would build a family compound attached to it so we could all live near each other on a beautiful piece of land with the Haven nearby.

Then I would hire people (family members and friends) to run the Haven, and I would spend my days writing my young adult science fiction series. :bigsmile:

And I'd adopt more animals.
 

Dancing Fire

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yennyfire|1303349844|2901519 said:
Aww, hot, that is so sweet.
Df, I can't imagine what a 300k koi pond would lok like!
yenny..not as flamboyant as you might think... ;))
 

packrat

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I'd build a cool log house out in the country, surrounded by trees and lots of awesome landscaping. Pay off bills of course, buy myself a nice SUV and JD a Toyota or Dodge big full size truck and a vehicle for hunting. I'd buy a building for the gym my brother wants, totally renovate it to his specifications and whatever equipment etc he wanted. I would buy a M/N/O AVC, about 8mm, and put it in the Caleb Meyer bezel I love so much. Money in savings/retirement for us and the kids..something they can't touch until a certain age and even then I'd probably want someone to "handle" it, so just b/c they're 25 or whatever they don't have a sudden windfall to go crazy on. I would contribute to the schools here in town so they have the supplies and equipment they need and I would contribute the money to the town for the new jail system they need. Do some sort of indoor/outdoor waterpark, arcade type deal so people/kids have something fun to do here, pay people well to work there. Start an animal shelter/adoption facility. Organize free spay-neuter clinics for cats/dogs. Look into fostering children, or being some sort of advocate for those that are taken from neglectful/abusive homes and have nowhere to go. Go to Australia/NZ, my dream vacation, and Alaska, JD's dream vacation. Buy some gems and have jewelry made-I'd even splurge and have the pieces made out of gold instead of silver. Buy JD some guns.

I would keep enough to live comfortably but not extravagantly by any means. I maybe would not keep clothes for 20 years-I would go all out and buy new after like..10 maybe. I don't need tons of "stuff", neither does JD, and the kids don't either. I want to contribute to where we live and the people here and to animals.
 

Sam121

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$2 million for a house for my folks
$8 million as their retirement fund
A couple of Langes, Pateks and FP Journes
A nice 6 carat pear
nice car
$30 million – expand my business
$10 million – donate to several causes close to my heart
$5 million: bonds
The rest: mixture of investment in property and stock market

SO and I have discussed this before, and if we ever have children (still on the fence), we don't intend to set up any trust funds - it will all be donated to charity. We want them to work hard and aspire to something all on their own, and we believe with the education and opportunities given to them by us that's good enough. Only thing we will leave behind is a house so they have a roof over their heads, and maybe some of our art collection and jewelry which has sentimental value.
 

Black Jade

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First, I would want to know how much I would have to pay in taxes off the top. then I would get financial advice as to how to minimize taxes as much as possible. Taxes on these big wins are huge.
then I would get financial advice as to how to make the money make money. I would not want to spend anything out of the capital but to live off the interest only.
Then I would make a budget. First off, 10% would have to go to my church.That's non negotiable. I would have to prayerfully consider what other charities I would give to. Me and my mother have had an interest for some time in creating a charity in the country she's from to help kids get an education. We are going to do this anyway, we don't need to win money to do it, a little goes a long way there, but we could give mroe and help more kids. I would probably just in general give more to the charities that I am already giving to, because I have been with them for a while and know they spend the money on the cause, not on salaries and perks for themselves. But there's so much more in the world that we can't afford to give to now. I know of some Ukrainian orphanages that could use some more $$$.
I don't think I would even tell my kids I had won a lot of money, if I could avoid it. they are at that stage of life where they are establishing themselves and we are trying to get them independent--they don't need to think that there is an everlasting gravy train. which any money you would win wouldn't be. I read somewhere that 90% of lottery winners, no matter how big the payout, are broke within 5 years.
I don't really need or want a new car. I definitely don't want to move. there are rooms in my house I would like to redecorate. I think we would maybe get help with some things. My husband enjoys the mowing and yardwork but maybe we could have some landscaping or something done. We would travel some, I'm sure. We would figure it out once we knew how much income was actually coming in, which would take a while.
It would be fun to win a lot of money (provided I did not have to take publicity photos or have publicity that would make me or my kids a target and could be private) but the things I would do, I can do now--just slower. My dad used to say that if you couldn't keep within your income with $100 a week, you wouldfind you couldn't keep within your income at $10,000 a week and I have seen in life that it is true. It is not, usually, that getting more money would solve your problems, but that you need budgeting skills that would work with whatever amount of money. I was terrible at budgeting, I did this program called Crown Financial about five years ago and it helped a lot.
Also, it is a surer way to wealth to save than to win the lottery. You would be surprised how much you can save when you put your mind to it. You can get to your goal bit by bit--it is surprising how fast.
But of course acquiring money you didn't work for is more fun. I inherited a little money about ten years ago unexpectedly--it wasn't all that much but it was a surprise. Taxes on it were not much. I gave the 10% for charity and then prayed about what to do with the rest and it was surprising how far that money went. It just kept going and going. I educated a child from my mother's country with it all the way through high school, whcih was very rewarding. she is doing so great now. It is better than buying any jewelry (though I love buying jewelry). I made a budget and of course I got a few things for myself after that--some furnituremostly and it was surprising how far the money went--much further than it should have for the amount it was.
 

Black Jade

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Whoops, I jsut noticed you said, after tax. sorry.
 

Autumnovember

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-Pay off school loans
-Pay off parents house/any outstanding bills
-Pay off sister/BIL's house
-Buy a house
-Put some into a retirement account or whatever they're called :)
-Pay for both of my nephews educations
-Travel the world
-Buy my dream car
-Set up trust funds for future kids
-Donate for Leukemia research
-Put the rest away
 

Dancing Fire

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canuk-gal|1303349621|2901515 said:
Dancing Fire|1303348697|2901490 said:
yennyfire|1303345961|2901420 said:
Snort...so how would your life change with a cool $7M???

buy a 1.5 million dollar home.
spent about $300K on a nice koi pond with landscaping.
buy a $150K car.
buy a $100K diamond.
buy couple of nice watches.save some money for property tax,insurance and maintenance,etc.... (cost about $35K per yr) then i'll play the stock market with the rest of the money.


OK DF a Lange for you, my DH and me. Mine would have a diamond bezel ;)) ..

cheers--Sharon
Sharon..i'll keep that in mind. ;)) i'm afraid the closest that i'll ever come to hitting the big one ($80 mil) was 4 yrs ago when i missed by one number... ;(
 

TravelingGal

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I know this sounds strange, but I do NOT want to win the lottery. Since the odds are miniscule, I don't worry about it too much. :rodent: TGuy plays when it gets huge, and I have nightmares that we might actually win - because let's face it, no one ever turns down their winnings (so I combat this by not playing.) I LIKE working. But if I won, would I want to work? And being a working professional is a big part of my life...I pride myself on my accomplishments.

Because I have money, I'd buy things. And buy other people things. And people may secretly hope that I will buy them more things...and because I'm somewhat perceptive, I'd know that - and feel perhaps taken for granted. When I buy my kid something, I'd buy the best...because why not - you can't take the money with you right? Then I'd have a kid who might become a snob.

I like being working class. Upper middle class even. But boy would I hate to be rich through the lottery.
 

TravelingGal

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Oh, and all the luxury things I do and buy...what's FUN about it is the research, trying to find deals and stuff in my budget. With travel, while I certainly would like to stay at grand hotels, the fun is finding secret gems and good value.

The reason I love nice things is because I love EARNING them. I really think being able to afford it so easily would take the fun out of it for me.

But I realize I didn't even answer the question...I wouldn't even have a clue how I'd go about spending 100 million. I mean, I'm actually sitting here thinking about what I would WANT, and I don't know what I could want that would add up to anything close to 100 mil.

Now, if you asked me how I'd spend 2 million...boy, I could answer that quick!!
 

GingerP

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I agree with TGal, I think $100M is way too much for those exact reasons. But...I don't think I'd scoff at $40M or so to:

- Invest $5M for retirement
- Keep $1M cushion emergency fund
- Give my parents, siblings, and in-laws $2M each to do as they wish
- Keep $1.5 M for travel and food
- Keep $2M for discretionary spending
- Set aside $1.5M in case I decide I want to try my small business idea
- Set aside $10M for angel-investing
- Donate $5M to various charities
- Use $1M (or however much it costs) to buy a small boutique winery & B&B

:D

ETA: Last line
 

Jennifer W

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TravelingGal|1303363155|2901675 said:
I know this sounds strange, but I do NOT want to win the lottery. Since the odds are miniscule, I don't worry about it too much. :rodent: TGuy plays when it gets huge, and I have nightmares that we might actually win - because let's face it, no one ever turns down their winnings (so I combat this by not playing.) I LIKE working. But if I won, would I want to work? And being a working professional is a big part of my life...I pride myself on my accomplishments.

Because I have money, I'd buy things. And buy other people things. And people may secretly hope that I will buy them more things...and because I'm somewhat perceptive, I'd know that - and feel perhaps taken for granted. When I buy my kid something, I'd buy the best...because why not - you can't take the money with you right? Then I'd have a kid who might become a snob.

I like being working class. Upper middle class even. But boy would I hate to be rich through the lottery.

You just articulated everything I was thinking!

I don't buy lottery tickets, for pretty much these reasons, neither does DH. I don't need or want that type of change to my life. I like it the way it is.
 

missy

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I would set aside enough for our comfortable future/retirement. I would pay off our mortgage. I would buy my sister and her husband and kids a new house. I would give my parents and sister and her family enough money to make their future comfortable.
I would donate the rest to a number of charities close to my heart. There is nothing I really want other than that. I just want security for our future and for my family's future.
 

zoebartlett

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I dream of winning the lottery all the time. Think I should begin playing? :bigsmile:

Since we're dreaming big, I'd:

1.) pay off our school loans and our mortgage.
2.) pay off my parents' and my IL's mortgages as well.
3.) buy a larger home (maybe 2! One would definitely be on the coast somewhere.)
4.) My mom has always dreamed of having a 2nd home in Ireland and another one near my sister, who lives across the country. My dad would love to go to Portugal, where his family is from. I'd make that happen.
5.) Buy new cars for my husband and me.
6.) Plan a few vacations to places I've always wanted to see. Hawaii would be first on the list. We'd fly 1st class. :bigsmile:
7.) I forgot that I'd pay off my sister's house as well.
8.) Donate to a few charities.
9.) Save the rest.

My husband would definitely want to retire early. He'd probably give his notice the day we won. I think I'd keep working though. I think.
 

yennyfire

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TGal, I'm with you. We don't buy tickets either. :bigsmile: I agree that there are major problems with winning that much money and I don't want to have them! While it would be nice to give a lot of money to charity, we give to quite a few as it is, and I feel good about that. I agree with you that part of what makes me love what I have is because we worked hard for it, planned for it and saved for it. I am incredibly proud that I built the fence in our backyard myself (if you don't count the auger I hired to dig the holes for the cement for the posts). I love the fact that I tiled our laundry room and painted the cabinets in there myself. There's a sense of satisfaction that I get from those things that I would not get if I had just paid someone to do it for me.

I
 

soocool

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There is a woman nearby who did win about $10 million in a lottery a while back when she was in her 60s. She still lives in the same home for the past 50 years. She did have some home improvements made. She is close to 80 years old, drives a modest car (she really should not be driving). She lost her husband a number of years ago, has no children, or any family for that matter (no one ever comes to visit her).

Basically, she is cheap. Neighbors often help her out (that is the kind of neighborhood we have). People check on her daily as she has fallen in her home a lot and once she was lying on the floor 2 days before someone found her. She has never thought about doing something nice for everyone in the neighborhood and she has never given one penny to charity. I know this because she says it all the time.

I would think that if I won big, I would give back to the community somehow. DH and I are comfortable, but I would put enough money away to make sure we would be taken care for, I would put money away for DD and her future children in a trust as well as my sister and nephews. I would set up a number of scholarships for deserving kids. I would also buy up a lot of land in the area and donate it the township to ensure that our community stays the way it has all these years - small and uncluttered.
 

iLander

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I would buy an fixed-rate annuity with a quarter of the money, and live off the payments. I would buy a stock market index fund with another quarter. I would buy an apartment with a Central Park view at the Dakota or the Plaza.

Then I would hire a lobbyist team to lobby on behalf of the American worker and push a "Made in America" agenda in Washington. I would start a charity, coupled with a top PR firm, that would recognize companies that manufacture American products. I would start an awards show that would be televised passing out awards to American companies and I would provide a special "seal of approval" type thing for manufacturers to use. The point is to get Americans to be loyal to purchasing products made within their own country, even if they cost a little more. Buy 1 American pair of shoes versus 3 Chinese pairs. The companies would have to pay for the privilege of being on this list (sliding scale) to make the charity self-sustaining.

I think I would go through my $100 million very quickly, but hopefully I could make an impact to help a lot of others.
 

princesss

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I love playing this game.

1) Pay off my school loans.

2) Pay for my siblings schooling (under the same rules that my parents pay for it, which has a GPA and a time limit).

3) Find a good financial planner to make sure I don't burn through the rest of the money like crazy, because there is a lot I'd like to do and if I'm not careful, I can definitely see the money disappearing fast.

4) Buy properties in a few countries so that I could travel a lot but still have a home base in each region. They wouldn't have to be huge, spectacular houses, but a nice flat in a few cities would be lovely. It would also make it easier to travel with my cats, because I can't leave my furballs.

5) Actually, before all of that, there is a person in my life who has cancer, and if they'd let me, I'd take care of everything. After how important this person has been to me over the last several years, I can't think of anything I'd rather do than help take care of them.

6) I'd find a charity to work with. After a year or two of just traveling, I'd want to pick one of the houses and live there for a while, learn the language, and then find someplace to volunteer. I couldn't be happy if I wasn't *doing* something, but the money would give me the luxury of being able to choose to do something that really satisfies my soul.

7) Gym, gym, and more gym. I'd have a trainer and maybe hire a maid/cook so that I can always have delicious, healthy meals without having to cook.
 

dragonfly411

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SO and I have discussed this a few times and this is what we'd do:

1) Buy a large sum of acreage in Tennessee. The land there is pretty inexpensive, it's a great investment, but even more, we'd know that the land we buy would be more like land preserved for wildlife. We'd put a small cabin on it and go up there for vacations and to ride ATVs and that's really it.

2) We'd buy back my family's old ranch outside of town. It was 52 acres and combined everything we wanted. It had 10 acres of pond, and 20ish acres of planted pines with the rest as a big yard by the house and a pasture for horses. It had a 5 stall barn, and arena that we put in. The house was this huge log cabin with huge windows and wrap around porch. It was my heaven, and I ache for it every single day. The neighboring farm grew blueberries, and our property had abundant wild black berries. It was everything I've ever wanted.

3) We'd invest a LOT of it, to know that our children will be set for life some day.

4) We'd donate some to various causes, including cancer research, and as many animal rescues as we could.

5) I'd buy a couple of barrel racing horses. We'd probably rescue as many pitt bulls and arabians as we could.

6) Get SO a new truck... his is coming to it's end.

That's about it. We already have a lot of the things we'd like to have, save maybe a big fishing boat.... but I don't think it'd be a top priority.
 
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