Just Had to Ask: So If You Won A Billion Dollars

Hmmm I am sitting here reading this thread when I should be cleaning my house before my mum comes to visit.
 
I always thought it would be cool to fund research for Parkinson's Disease.

A billion would be a big responsibility. It would take a lot of work to manage it. But I'd definitely take a first class trip on Emirates. Several of them. :)

I'm writing this instead of reading a book after working all day, helping people. Does that count for something?
 
I can fantasize and work at the same time. :D Multitasking!

A billion is really the kind of wealth I can't comprehend. You would need to create a way so that the money becomes generational.

There are so many charities - I suppose if I was taking the thought more seriously, I would donate to Nature Conservancy and Audubon. I have a great love for books, I'd like to do something for libraries. I have a heart for struggling students, I'd like to make burdens easier. On a larger making a difference, I'd like to help educate girls all over the world and there are still so many places without water. And St Jude's hospital could use any donations. A billion could save lives.

I still want my outdoor park path rink. :D
 
All I would do for myself is build a 3 bed/2 bath house, no bigger than 2500 square feet, that is handicapped accessible so I can live there comfortably until the day I die. I'd have a tidy little sum tucked away to pay for home health care when I'm old and have 24 hour nurse care so I would not have to go into a nursing home (my home would be my nursing home). I'd give myself a $35K a year budget to live on to pay my monthly bills (cable, electric, phone, etc.) and have a little spending money to go out to eat a couple times a month. That would pretty much make me happy and be more than enough for me to live on each year (note I live in a reasonably priced area of the country ;) ). I might try to plan to go to a US Nationals, a Worlds, and maybe an Olympics, having tickets for every SP and LP event, as a splurge for myself, but I hate traveling so then again, probably not. :lol: I have no kids, husband, nieces or nephews, my parents are gone, not close with cousins at all, and I wouldn't give a dime to my sister or brother (they are rich enough in just daily life and well .... dysfunctional family 'n all)!!!

After that, I would just put it all in a fund and give it away. The majority of it would go to animal shelters and animal rescue groups. For my own likes, I'd sponsor some skaters that I "fanned" on. If I read something in the paper about someone getting burned out of their home, or an elderly person getting scammed, a family in financial need because of medical issues, a young mother/father tragically killed leaving behind young children, stuff like that, I'd send them money. But I would not give a dime to anyone who ASKED me for it because they knew I won a billion dollars. And definitely no political campaigns! :P
 
There is a lot of love and devotion to/for animals in this thread. And as Martha Stewart says, it's a good thing. I love that people have thought about pleasure and duty. Sometimes they are the same thing.


And then I ran into this interview https://youtu.be/IvE84AGMWpE

I don't know if he is being honest or if he is going for shock value.
 
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A few things. I would open up transitional housing for men and women awaiting residential addiction treatment.

I would open up housing for people with developmental delays.

I would also contribute to lodging homes for people with mental health.

Lastly, financially help my kids, nieces and nephews with their education and pay off the house and car and hopefully have money to save.

If I have money left, travel and clothes. I have no intention of not working.
 
I would quit my job immediately. I know what I will do with my time. I will hire a financial planner at the earliest opportunity to make sure that I will have a comfortable life, and I won't just give away my money to anyone who asks for it. It's important to pick who I give it to. Can't help the whole world, so I have to be selective about who/what I help.

I will share some of my wealth with my family and friends. I do want to build shelters for the homeless and have a training center in each, so they can go out and make a living, and not become homeless again. It breaks my heart to see people who have no home and no food, but just giving them those things won't solve the problem. They need training of some kind.

A friend of mine wants to build shelters for homeless animals. I may put some money in a trust for her venture. I also want to donate to certain spiritual organizations and to those who help people made homeless by disasters.
 
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I would open a community centre that lets people work there to take classes for free (for example, if you want learn English, you can take that for free and teach cooking or something) if they can't afford it. The community centre would have departments for education (including an all-inclusive school), a clinic (doctors, nurses, counsellors, psychologist, physical therapy, OT, SLT, music therapists etc.), indoor and outdoor sports centres (including an ice rink, gym, baseball courts, tennis etc.), a restaurant and a café, and community and life skills classes.

We would be adjacent to a farm (that I will also own, and will also be educational) and a huge community garden. We'd offer at least one meal a day to the community, and you could bring something to share or just eat our delicious food. On weekends, we'd have "open house" free community brunches. I'd host book clubs at the community centre, interfaith groups, religious meetings - but everything needs to be open to all. We'd have pets as part of the learning and therapy that happened at the centres, but also some pet free zones for those allergic. Fresh flowers every week.

I'd aim to open one a year, on each habitable continent, and work from there. I would keep working (at the all-inclusive schools, as part of the centre). We'd take donations and after my initial investment, plan to be non-profit. Our profits or donations could go to any other centre in the world, so we'd share funds as needed.

I'd also buy a plane and a hire nice pilot. Set my family and my assistant at work up for life, however they wanted, and build a couple of small houses for me to live in in each location.

But I'm actually pretty content with what I have ;) (and I have been in the process of planning a much-scaled down version of the above for the past five years....)
 
Assuming that I won "today".... My current life is fairly comfortable, so I'd like to think that it would not change too much. I'd probably hire out more tasks like house cleaning and yard work, but I'd like to stay in my current home. A little would go to my family, but not as much as they would expect.

I'd fund research into mapping the brain, with special emphasis on young brain development and addictions. I'd also dump some money into selected elementary, middle & high schools. And like others, I would fund animal shelters. Women's health clinics would likely be on my list, as well. Maybe alternative energy development. Choices, choices...
 
On a radio discussion program, discussing the newest lottery jackpot of 600, 000 million or more, said that the majority of big lottery winners who take lump sum settlement go threw the money in the first 5-10 years. Just because they never really could fathom how much it is or how to manage it.

I might see if Warren Buffet would let me purchase a day or more of consultation and get tips/ideas on how to remain grounded with that much money. Then begin to use the money wisely.

I do have charities and dream vacations, a condo and a car in mind. But would seek advice from someone who has remained grounded in the face of that much wealth
 
Not too much would change about my lifestyle. I would probably work part time to have more vacation time for travel, but I am happy with the content of my work and my work colleagues. I just got through creating my dream home in NYC, and my father has a beautiful vacation home in Gig Harbor, Washington that I would keep as is, so I don't think I would buy any more homes. I prefer to travel and see different places rather than come back to the same place regularly enough to make upkeep on another home worthwhile.

I would definitely keep money available to help family members with big ticket items if needed, but I really want my sons to have the experience of working for a living and wouldn't immediately give them any income from trusts. My parents are in pretty good shape financially, but there are a few more peripheral relatives I would want to help out. I would actually donate the bulk of the money to the schools my children attended; their high school is a charter which is highly ranked but operates on a shoestring budget, and it would be great for them to be able to offer the teachers a decent living wage so that there isn't such a revolving door. My older son's university could definitely put a bigger endowment to use, and they are also run by the Congregation of the Holy Cross which has numerous missions around the world in impoverished places. I also donate to some Anglican charities for rural schools and hospitals in places around the world I have visited, and they could do a lot of good with a big endowment as well. Finally, my younger son and I traveled to Indonesia a few years ago and were shocked at the environmental degradation and total lack of any awareness about deforestation, loss of habitat for wildlife, and pollution of the waters. I would want to finance a massive cleanup, buy some land in North Sumatra to create a truly protected preserve for orangutans and tigers, and fund an environmental education program for the young people.
 
The charities that I contribute to now (very little money as I'm broke) would have a whopper of a payday.
I would hire a chef/nutritionist to prepare inventive, delicious, healthy meals specifically geared towards my mother and her heart and kidney problems. I would hire a lot more help for Mom so I could get out and about sometimes.

I would make sure that my extended family and friends were comfortable and then I would want to travel the rest of my days. There is no reason for someone to have that much money alone so my goal would be to make sure I died a "poor" woman. There is an endless supply of those who need help.

I would look at more dogs as I think a number of posters in this thread have taken all of the cats. ;)
 
once_upon said:
On a radio discussion program, discussing the newest lottery jackpot of 600, 000 million or more, said that the majority of big lottery winners who take lump sum settlement go threw the money in the first 5-10 years. Just because they never really could fathom how much it is or how to manage it.

I might see if Warren Buffet would let me purchase a day or more of consultation and get tips/ideas on how to remain grounded with that much money. Then begin to use the money wisely.

I do have charities and dream vacations, a condo and a car in mind. But would seek advice from someone who has remained grounded in the face of that much wealth
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The bolded portion will make it 600 Billion - just being nitpicky. :)

Last night it was 800 million for PB and expected to reach 900 million today. If nobody wins today, it will be more than 1 Billion. My gut feeling is that someone (or multiple people) will win today. I hope it will be ME! :lol:
 
FWIW, when I win tonight, I will not be claiming it. Instead, you'll see an attorney from the best high net worth law practice in the area accepting the check on behalf of a trust.
 
I'd hire a financial planner.

I'd have another child.

I'd set up my mom for life and travel with her.

I'd pay off my mortgage, get a new car, and buy a new house.

I'd set up educational funds for my kids, nieces, nephews, and their children.

I'd plan a lot of trips. It's the one thing I really want to do for fun.

I'd hire a personal trainer and a chef.

I'd set up scholarship funds for disadvantaged children to go to great schools- from elementary school on- as well as fund arts education.

And I'd set up a no-kill shelter in Puerto Rico, for all kinds of animals, with an educational component, outreach, low cost spay/neuter and vaccinations, etc., and a set of grants for rescue organizations on the island.
 
Today I broke my own rule (buy just one ticket, you need just one ticket to win) and bought 5 power ball tickets. Initially it was going to buy 10 but if there is no winner tonight, I will want to buy more than one the next time. The odds of winning are infinitesimal (sp?) whether I buy 1 ticket or 5 or 10 but it made me feel better. :)
 
I'd stay very low key. Buy a nice but relatively simple house for my family...just to be modestly comfortable and never have to worry about basic necessities. Then I'd make a huge donation to my favorite ballet company expecting nothing in return.
 
I'd spend it on extirpating blue gum eucalyptus from public lands in California.

If there was any left, I'd spend it on extirpating ice plant.

:)
 
I'd set up a trust fund to take care of my mother, siblings, and their children and grandchildren. I'd help my cousin who was downsized out of his job two months ago and has been having trouble finding another. I'd buy a larger house with room to do all my crafts and a room for music. I would travel around the world.

A large part would go to charity. My mother lost most of her eyesight due to complications from diabetes, my two older brothers died of heart disease, and my nephew died as a result of heroin addiction so these are three areas I would contribute to. My hometown is slowly dying because of lack of jobs. I would try to help bring in new businesses to provide employment and would provide funding so young people would have something to do for entertainment. There is too much vandalism and drug usage going on now.

A $1 million Powerball ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven less than two miles from my house. Unfortunately, it wasn't sold to me. I would be happy to win $1 million.
 
Pay off my brother's mortgage and my nephew's student loans, set aside a trust fund for my son and buy my school so I can run it as I see fit. FIRST step, give everyone a pay raise which we have not had in 8 years.
 
I would make sure my entire family and myself were comfortable and set up for life. Definitely travel a lot and have a few nice, but modest homes set up in places I enjoy visiting.

But really, after that, I would give a lot of it away to causes and charities that I believe in.

What's the point of all that money if you can't make a positive difference with it?
 
Cachoo said:
So If You Won A Billion Dollars
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For the life of me, I could not figure out why you would post something like this. :huh: And then Vash01 posted this...

Vash01 said:
Last night it was 800 million for PB and expected to reach 900 million today. If nobody wins today, it will be more than 1 Billion. My gut feeling is that someone (or multiple people) will win today. I hope it will be ME! :lol:
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So I googled one billion lottery and came up with this:

$900 Million Prize, 1 In 292 Million Odds — And A Few More Lottery Numbers

I'm all :eek: !!!!!!!!! In Canada, our lottery is big news when it hits 60 million. I never would have guessed that there would be such a thing as a one billion dollar lottery. That to me is the work of a moron. A lottery with one thousand million dollar prizes? That makes sense to me.
 
once_upon said:
On a radio discussion program, discussing the newest lottery jackpot of 600, 000 million or more, said that the majority of big lottery winners who take lump sum settlement go threw the money in the first 5-10 years. Just because they never really could fathom how much it is or how to manage it.
Click to expand...

I always heard that the vast majority of people who play the lottery have poor money management skills already, which makes sense to me, given that winning the lottery is not a good financial plan.

But the minority of people who won the lottery AND had good money management skills continued to demonstrate good money management after winning.

As one study put it, the amount of money changes but the habits don't.

So I think that those who already have money in the bank would just end up with more money in the bank.

The first thing I would do if I won would be to pay the taxes. Can you imagine the check? :P. Then I would follow my mom's advice for windfalls--save a little, spend a little, give a little away.

:lol: at PeterG. The store where my daughter works sells lottery tickets and when I dropped her off and picked her up today, the line to the cash register was out the door. I was :eek:. Until she explained about the lottery, I had no clue.
 
Since I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life, I had no idea at first either, that the question was based on an actual lottery. I still really can't wrap my head around that kind of money. I think my financial advisor would be more excited than me - I'd be terrified to actually have that kind of money! :yikes:
 
Prancer said:
The first thing I would do if I won would be to pay the taxes. Can you imagine the check? :p.
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If I'm not mistaken, they take the taxes before you get the check anyway. You know, Uncle Sam and your state are gonna make sure they are taken care of first. :lol:

I can't even wrap my head around how it would be to win money like that. (Even if after taxes you'd "only" get about 35-40% of it). I'm pretty sure I'd opt for the 30 year pay out, so I wouldn't blow through it all, even though I "like" to think I'd be savvy enough not to do that.
 
DBZ said:
I would make sure my entire family and myself were comfortable and set up for life. Definitely travel a lot and have a few nice, but modest homes set up in places I enjoy visiting.

But really, after that, I would give a lot of it away to causes and charities that I believe in.

What's the point of all that money if you can't make a positive difference with it?
Click to expand...

In addition to beauty, comfort and convenience, there is also the power and status that comes with wealth.

When I see the mansions and estates of celebrities (recently saw one worth $40 million), I can't even imagine wanting such a property. They are beautiful, but way too big for me and require far too many staff and too much maintenance. Unless you had a vineyard or were raising horses, what would one do with all that acreage?

I'm sure the dream home I would envision if I came into wealth would be well under $5 million in Vancouver.
 
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