What if you won the lotto? How to survive?

I'd take care of my Family both short & long term and those I loved I would share the wealth to a degree. Buy off grid land & house, have a simplier life style that my Family could enjoy without the everyday ruckus of life.... Being happy poor or rich is what you make of it... I'd like to try the rich side for a while
 
I would buy everyone in W&SS their one dream knife. Then I would buy one hundred canoes.
 
Whatever I did with it, I would use only that amount needed to ensure my current standard of living and then give the rest away to some noble cause that would put it to good use.

I have met many very wealthy people in my life. They are not necessarily smarter, happier, or any more able to deal with the day to day problems than folks who are squarely middle class. In many cases, they are actually less so.
 
Just 10 million? That's really not that exciting. I usually start these daydreams with two billion. One to play with, the other one to invest. You can really have some fun with one billion bucks.

But, if we're limited to 10 million... Pay off the houses for the immediate family (three houses total, about 1 million to pay off). Sell my house and spend about a million on a new one. Invest about three million to start a family business. Invest another three million in stocks. Buy a Porsche and a 50 foot sailboat.
 
I know a couple who won it big @ 15 million. He immediatly hired a lawer and financial consultant to help him with his "money trouble". There are ways to make people happy without giving it all away....

He paid off family member's houses but had a contract that willed the house to him upon death.

He invested most of it and set up accounts to spread the dividends among family members and friends. That way he kept the money and the recipients were more than happy to receive a $40,000+ cheque every year for the rest of their life.

He gives to charities and buys gifts for people.

In a nutshell, he spends all the interest and prettymuch leaves the "cash cow" alone.

Rick
 
I have very few friends so any sudden new ones would be highly suspect. I would do the family thing for sure and set up some trusts for down the road. After that it's buy a few toys, some land and build a house. I don't want anything fancy house wise though I do need need a good sized garage/workshop. I'd put up wind and solar power so I was as self sufficient as possible. Once the initial items were paid for I'd probably end up spending less money a year than what I do now...

If my two wheel addiction didn't need paved roads I'd be way out in the middle of nowhere but I would still be close to it. :D
 
I'de tell my little bro to quite his job. He's got a terrible employer who treats him like crap. Then.....i'de go fish'n...............for a month or so............


Honestly if i got enough to pay off all my debt, and get a nice house with enough land to do whatever i pleased i'de be happy. Of course i'de wan't to put some back for the kids to, and have enough to start some sort of business of my own.
 
Save enough to buy a nice house on a big piece of land. Buy a new truck and a few other toys (guns, etc) and invest the rest.
 
It would be really easy for me. I only have one friend ( that may sound bad but he's the best friend anyone has ever had and I don't feel like I need another). He and his daughter would be taken care of along with my brothers. My parents would get my house and my wife and I would have a small ranch 10-100 acres...Eventually.

5% interest on $8,000,000.00 is $400,000 so the way I would accomplish all of this is a CD or savings bond to pay out annually which could never be cashed in. I figure that would give me $250,000.00 a year to live off and spend...Uncle Sam would take the rest.


David
 
I'd make sure my immediate family is taken care of and throw a few bones to those I actually consider to be friends. I then would throw the mother of all parties and go on the spending spree of a lifetime because ultimately you can't take it with you so enjoy it while you can.

It would be great to finally be able to afford some of Magnussen's handywork :D
 
This part right here: "...say pay off the house of each family member in my immediate family..." would destroy all those involved, their relationships to each other, and to you.
 
I would help out the family...a little bit..but for the most part, I have no problem telling people to "get bent". If they think you owe them something, then they either should send you a bill or take you to court.
I would get some land off the beaten path and build the house I really want, and set up the kids futures...other than that, live it up...remember, you could get killed in a car wreck the day after winning!
 
10mil net?

600,000 into stable foreign accounts. The swiss bank type thing. 200,000 into less stable but well selected foreign accounts. No touchy. doesn't need to be accessible in 2 hours, 2 weeks is fine. No touchy. this is the "US seizes assets" scenario money. Or whatever.

$4,000,000 into a locked down, rock solid, family trust. "family" by my definition. make it airtight, make it manageable, give each adult a current value $1000 monthly check with a $50/month increase annually for 4 years and then a floating indexed increase rate that matches 'true' inflation + a few per cent but capped at half of capital growth no matter what. Currently there would be 4 adults being paid, adding 1 in a few years and 3 more on the way over the next couple decades. so far, so the math might allow some modifications.

one million each into 3 charitable trusts- one dedicated to the SD zoo and wild animal park, one to the Smithsonian, and one to veterans' rehab grants.

The final 2 million into a land/housing trust- again airtight as possible, with a purchase of 3 properties totalling not more than $750,000 and a defined improvements/maintenance budget not to exceed one half of net annual gains.

There's 200,000 left over, and that's just crazy money. I mean, I'm setting up the trusts so that there's going to be no rent/bills, and a basic allowance forever. Might as well add in a 6 month contract with a nanny and do a world tour!
 
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I would have one heck of a shop! And spend some time going to knifemaking and survival seminars, courses etc, that would be fun. Maybe go back to school and take courses I've always been interested in.

There's plenty of charities I can think of that I'd like to support. A nice self-sufficient ranch would be great; I don't need solid gold sinks or any of that nonsense. Honestly I'm a pretty simple guy and could probably never spend that kind of money. I can barely balance a checking account, so I'd definitely look for a lawyer to deal with the tax issues and stuff.

Land. Lots and lots of undeveloped land. Figure some way to turn most of it into a park or wildlife-preserve type deal. I think that would be cool.

I don't think it would "ruin" me... I'm fairly down to earth and my wild days are behind me. If someone had handed me a million when I was 20, I probably would have blown it all on sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. :rolleyes:
 
I'd travel for a couple years, and then set up a studio on my family's land in West Virginia. I'd have some more kids. Then I'd farm, paint and travel for the rest of my life. I might get a beach place somewhere too. I might set up an artists residency on my land so that interesting people would come, hang out and work for a few weeks at a time.
 
Can you somehow make a trust or something to claim the winnings while keeping your identity a secret? There would have to be a way to keep your privacy because without it everyone and there brother would come calling once they knew who won.

Even if it just kept the casual person looking from finding out who won it would be worth it, but the better the lock on that info the better!

I'll never win as I do not play, but it would be interesting. I need little, but I would move somewhere else, somewhere with even outdoors stuff to do, better scenery.
 
Why's it gotta be lump sum? Most lottos are payment over time which nets you more money in the long run.

lawyer + financial consultant

talk to the wife, see where she wants to live... then move there and find a job I really enjoy, I'm convinced the wife would go overboard for a while, so I'd probably see what I could do to limit spending.
 
My son is mildly autistic, it would be a godsend to know that after I die, he could be taken care of. I'd make that happen. I'd have a nice, small house my wife and I could take care of as we get older...in Wyoming or some other place, build a house out back for my son and live the rest of my life in peace and harmony with nature with the occasional burst of automatic weapons fire because I would buy a couple of them as well.

With that much money I would have enough to support the only five charities that interest me. St. Jude's Children's Hospital, The National Rifle Association, The Gun Owners of America, The Boy Scouts of America and The Girl Scouts of America, in that order. I have no church to give it to, Saint Jude's does God's work on earth if God exists, that's all that matters to me in that department.
 
I'd buy a big chunk of land somewhere nice, then invite you all to a 12 day camp out and survival fest in my backyard:)
 
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