Powerball up to 1 billion - what tools would you buy?

[LuvMyMan]

I'd try to keep it secret. I fear that if I came into such a sum I would have more "friends" than I ever wanted.

I doubt I would go on a shopping spree. Indeed, I think I would avoid buying much by way of real property at all. Part of the reason for "owning" real estate is for the long-term financial security it can help one attain. But if such security is no longer an issue, I'd just as soon have no property on which litigious sorts might trip and fall.

Yes Sir, when you have big bucks EVERYONE that sort of knows you will want to REALLY know you until you toss some moolah to them.

 

[emigran]

I applaud all of your generosities...!!!
After I took care of all my loved ones' necessities I wouldn't actually know what I would do... it's a realm I've never imagined...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Something like this...
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/n_drug_money1.htm

 

[2jakes]

Someone in the family won $10M Lotto several years ago.

Luckily they were smart enough to hold on to their job.

 

[sheeplady]

I want to amend my answer.

I'd like to give some money to the son and daughter of my friend who passed away. Enough for them to go to college, buy a nice house, with plenty left over. I'd like to give some money to their dad too- to pay off their house, or do whatever he wished with.

Also, a dream of mine for years has been to start a local charity that uses volunteer labor to repair homes of the less fortunate. Kind of like Habitat for Humanity only focused on existing homes. My current plan has always been to wait until I collect my social security to do it (I would then work for free as the director to get it solvent and then pass it on to someone else). But this would set up the organization really nice.

I'd still want money to go to the other things I mentioned, too.

 

[Fading Fast]

Someone in the family won $10M Lotto several years ago.

Luckily they were smart enough to hold on to their job.

It bugs me that since the Gov't runs and profits from the lottery, it advertises the biggest number possible, say $10 million, but in truth what you win is $500k a year for 20 years, plus you have to pay taxes on it. Between the taxes and haircut if you take a lump sum, you tend to keep, at best, about one-third of the advertised number. So, at least in NY State, if you win a $10 million lottery and want the money up front, you'll get about $3.3 million.

I work on Wall Street - and I know everyone hates us - but we are not allowed (and the regulators enforce it) to advertise something so blatantly false - and thank God for that. But the sainted government is not above being deceptive - employing The Boys From Marketing - when it suits its needs even if it makes the same behavior illegal for others. And this doesn't even address that the government makes running lotteries illegal, except for when it does it - so it both monopolizes the lottery and then has poor payouts versus what a private sector lottery would pay.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Read an interesting blurb from Mark Cuban, billionaire, on his advice for the winner. A couple of interesting points:

1. If you're not happy now, you won't be happy when you win the money. However, if you're happy now, you're going to be REALLY happy when you win the money. Money doesn't create happiness, but it does multiply it if you already have it.

2. Suddenly having a lot of money doesn't make you smart. You're still not a smart investor. You're still not an entrepreneur. Don't think you can turn $1 billion into $10 billion. If you had those skills, you'd already be rich. Don't worry about investing, you're much more likely to be swindled than you are to be successful. Keep your money safe and live on it. Live well.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yup. If the winner goes public every con man in the Western Hemisphere will make a beeline for their front door.

I read something to the effect that taking the cash buyout and holding onto it is a bad idea because it'll lose value over inflation. Hey, I've got probably twenty-five years of life left if I'm lucky. However many hundreds of millions the cash would amount to was a lot of money twenty-five years ago, and it's still a lot more money than I'd ever need today. Unless the collapse of civilization comes sooner than I expect, there's no reason to think it won't be a lot of money then.

What I'd really like to do is walk into my cheesy little branch bank here, and say "I'd like to deposit this in my savings account please." At that amount, even the infinitesimal return that account pays would be about five times what I now earn in a year.

 

[HudsonHawk]

What I'd really like to do is walk into my cheesy little branch bank here, and say "I'd like to deposit this in my savings account please." At that amount, even the infinitesimal return that account pays would be about five times what I now earn in a year.

I read a funny story once about Drew Bledsoe when he got his first rookie signing bonus with the Patriots. He deposited the whole thing in his regular old savings account at his hometown bank in Yakima, Washington. He said the first night he called the automated bank line over and over just to hear the computer voice on the other end say "your balance is...one million, two hundred thousand, six hundred and nine dollars, and....thirty three cents", of which one million, two hundred thousand hadn't been there the day before.

 

[AmateisGal]

On FB, one of my friends is having an interesting conversation, saying that she definitely would not want to win that much money because it's a recipe for disaster. I'm not saying it would be easy - your life would change irrevocably in both good and bad ways - but my stars, all the good you could do for people if it was handled correctly.

 

[sheeplady]

On FB, one of my friends is having an interesting conversation, saying that she definitely would not want to win that much money because it's a recipe for disaster. I'm not saying it would be easy - your life would change irrevocably in both good and bad ways - but my stars, all the good you could do for people if it was handled correctly.

I think that's the problem... handling it correctly. And there would be so many critics to how it was handled.

 

[Fading Fast]

On FB, one of my friends is having an interesting conversation, saying that she definitely would not want to win that much money because it's a recipe for disaster. I'm not saying it would be easy - your life would change irrevocably in both good and bad ways - but my stars, all the good you could do for people if it was handled correctly.

It's the anonymity thing that would drive how it worked for me. I am 100% confident that if no one knew, I could handle it well, but if everyone knows, even away from the swindlers and pushers (who, as Lizzie and others note, would be absolutely relentless), all your personal relationships would be effected and, just my guess, not always in a good way.

Yesterday, I saw a Megamilions (or something like that) ad on the side of a bus stop and the jackpot was $22 million (meaning $7.3 million to the winner, see my earlier post for the economics). I was thinking that it would be a great time to win that one as you would fly under the radar with the big Powerball number out there. And I know that I could manage quite well adding $7.3 million to the old nest egg.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

From what I understand, three people had the winning number & should recieve around half a billion each, big let down for the person who thought he was going to win it all & was planning on buying 13 Boeings with it.

 

[GHT]

Lottery or not, next time you are in NYC, pizza and beer is on me.

Tell you what, I'll stand the cost of the pizza & beer, you be our guide around NYC. And just for good measure, I'll, sorry we, that's my shirt maker and I, will show you around our capital city. She will even make you a souvenir shirt. Who needs a lottery win?

 

[Fading Fast]

Tell you what, I'll stand the cost of the pizza & beer, you be our guide around NYC. And just for good measure, I'll, sorry we, that's my shirt maker and I, will show you around our capital city. She will even make you a souvenir shirt. Who needs a lottery win?

I'm on board - lovely offer.

 

[vitanola]

Having grown up in modest circumstances with two parents who barely survived the Depression, every thing you said above resonates with me. I am fortunate to be, while far from rich, able to afford "affordable" luxury items, but rarely buy any as I don't find I really care much about them and the echo of my past always rings in my head. But not having to worry about money would be the best luxury ever: I'd give my entire lottery winnings to my now deceased father and still-living, but not well, mother if it would redo history and make them able to have not lived their entire life in fear of the Great Depression returning.

That's why my first entry in this thread (I think) was that I'd provide financial security for my family and most of the rest would go to charity and think tanks. Yes, we'd buy a few nicer things - but less than 1% of what we could with that money, as neither my girlfriend nor I care about having a ton of stuff - but not worrying about money and helping others would be an incredible luxury to have.

I have always thought that it would be nice to endow a think tank of my own, say "The Rexford G. Tugwell Memorial Institute of New Deal Studies at Hillsdale College", the "Foundation for the Seapration of the Church and the State at Liberty University", or the "Pope John XXIII School of Liberation Theology at Ave Maria University".

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have always thought that it would be nice to endow a think tank of my own, say "The Rexford G. Tugwell Memorial Institute of New Deal Studies at Hillsdale College", the "Foundation for the Seapration of the Church and the State at Liberty University", or the "Pope John XXIII School of Liberation Theology at Ave Maria University".

And to think I had the paperwork all set up for the Earl Browder Foundation for the Study of Twentieth Century Americanism.

 

[Fading Fast]

The reason I would split the bulk of the lottery between charity and think tank is the I want the charity to help people in need now and the think tank to steer our political, social and ethical discussions in a direction that I sincerely believe will help everyone over the longer run.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

Yup. If the winner goes public every con man in the Western Hemisphere will make a beeline for their front door....

.

And most of them would probably be relatives. Just out of curiosity, does the winner have to go public or can they stay anonymous? I'd definitely want to stay anonymous and mostly because of ne'er-do-well relatives that I wouldn't want hanging around. I'd have to hire armed security to keep them out of my house...and that wouldn't even be a deterrent to some of them. I have one relative who called my mom so many times in one day asking for money that my mom had to turn her phone off. If I suddenly came into an enormous amount of money I really don't think I'd live much differently than I do now. I'm at an age, middle-aged heading toward being a senior in a few years, where I have no desire for a big mansion or luxury automobiles. Now we live in an 1100 sq ft condo that I have to climb stairs to get to, so I would buy another house due to arthritic knees, but I wouldn't want more square footage - too much to clean and I'd never be able to have a maid because I'm just not comfortable with someone else doing my house cleaning. I wouldn't travel because I've already visited places I wanted to see and I have no desire to leave the lower 48. I'm not into clothes or jewelry (I don't really like to shop) and I don't collect anything. I do read, but am too frugal to buy a book that I can borrow from the library. So I guess I'd put aside enough for dh and I to live on the rest of our lives, take care of our dd, my mom, and my MIL for the rest of their lives and try to help others with the rest of it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Depends on the state. If you live in Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio or South Carolina no disclosure of any kind is required. But even if you don't, as noted earlier, you can form a corporation or a foundation or some such with a generic-sounding name and turn the winning ticket over to it. That way the "XYZ Consortium" or whatever gets the publicity, and you can be anonymous until someone looks up the corporate records and finds out just who's behind XYZ.