I won the Powerball last night!

Take care of a lot of my friends who have had crappy runs of luck in their lives.

And fund AW for the next ten years.

I always figured if I got a big win, half of it would not be mine - it would go to various charities. Of the rest, at least half would end up in savings and/or invested. Then I'd distribute some to family, and repaying a karmic debt to a hospital whose charity program saved me once.

Of what's mine, I'd probably invest in a home (and at least one cat, 'cause I miss pets of my own), a new car (an actual new car, for once - hopefully hybrid), education, and probably some travel/vacation. I'd also look into Lasik. And I'd probably be able to afford a dental visit.

We don't pay taxes on lottery winnings in Canada So all of it would be mine to do whatever I wanted with, but our lotteries usually don't go past 50million. I would take half for my hubby and I to do whatever with, set up trusts for my kids, pay off my daughters student loans by her a car and give her a chunk of money. Charities, probably sick kids, make a wish, and Alzheimer Society, Ronald McDonald House. I would also donate to my local hospital. Its fun to dream isn't it!
Oh and I would have a tiny/cozy little one bedroom log cabin(near my main house) for me to write. Nobody but me would be allowed into it! Just like I know my hubby would build a workshop that was his and off limits to everyone.
Guess I better get cracking on writing a best seller so I don't have to depend on the lottery to fund my dreams

Jan74 said:

Guess I better get cracking on writing a best seller so I don't have to depend on the lottery to fund my dreams

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This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^since I never enter those things. It costs money I don't have to toss.

I'd write all day. Seriously, I don't think I could just lounge my life away, I'd go nuts. Like Brightdreamer, (and I've thought of this) I'd also give half away. All my friends would get healthy in a hurry. I'm feeling pretty lucky lately, so any on you who haven't thus far, time to side-up to me and make nice. First thing I'd do is find out what all my friends (that means you) owe on their mortgages and pay them off. I've got two tickets magneted to my fridge that I haven't checked, so keep checking this thread...

Ambrosia said:

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^since I never enter those things. It costs money I don't have to toss.

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I've only played a few times myself - the odd office pool, more for feigning sociability than actually expecting to win. (Dad considers it "voluntary taxation.")

Using the 4% rule, if you invested 250 million, you'd have an average of 10 million every year in interest to support yourself, donate, and re-invest. I'd probably do that since 10 million is a bit easier of a number to think about and still divides a LOT of ways.

Schedule an appt with my attorney and a financial advisor I know and trust. Once the structure was in place I have a list of charities and a few friends who would all receive a monthly infusion of funds.

MM

First, what MM said about contacting a financial advisor and attorney who are reputable.

Then give to family. Don't know about friends, as that would be a hard thing to determine who gets what. Then give to charities.

Last, I'd have the comfort of knowing we'd be able to afford health insurance and any illnesses that come our way.

After that--I have no idea.

eta: (Don't know why this posted before I told it to, but oh well...)

1. DON'T TELL ANYONE
2. Email attorney who's worked with family before. Tell him to set up a trust with him as trustee to prevent name from hitting papers (some things actually work better in Texas - no lottery tax and legal protection of one's identity by trust)
3. call CPA who is 772 years old and refuses to use email
4.Claim ticket
5. Wait impatiently for money to arrive in bank.
6. 10% to church
7. Tell family / entire family becomes debt free.
8. Vacation
9. Decide if I'm coming back from vacation...
10. Reality wins out. Vacation ends. Come home and start looking at places to live with enough of a yard that my dog can actually run. / get a car that actually comes on when the key is turned.

(I used to have this dream about winning the lottery. I'd go to a car dealership and buy everyone in my family who was of driving age a car and have them come over for dinner. I'd tell them about the win, then hand out boxes with keychains and tell them to go out back and find the car their key opened. Surprise! That would be fun, too.)

Jason said:

Very practical - so you wouldn't splurge on anything?

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Oh, there would be splurging (I'd want to travel a lot, buy groceries that are not loss-leader items, eat out once a while, own a home that didn't require extensive remodeling just to get it up to code (maybe even one in southern cali), get a lot of "peace of mind" medical testing done, have tutors and more expensive extra-curricular options available for my kids, get a gym membership/personal trainer, etc.), but when you have 10 million coming in every year for the rest of your life.... right now my family of four budgets $1800/mo (over half that being mortgage); if we paid off the mortgage and doubled, tripled, even quadrupled the rest of our living expenses, it'd still barely make a dent while simultaneously feeling absolutely lavish.

We are retired, have no debt, a house and a vacation house we love, two cars that are perfectly serviceable, and are in good health. Probably my big splurge would be a week every year for my birthday in New Orleans.

MM

I'd give a huge chunk to my kids and then travel around the world.

Its just a massively incomprehensible quantity of money that i wouldn't know where to start, or how it would impact my writerly ambitions.

Some would obviously go to good causes, lots, in fact. And my friends and family would have no more worries.

For me though, i'd want some land, and a barn where I can do arty stuff. Maybe travel a bit, buy some exotic cuts of meat and experiment in the kitchen, and of course, take the kids toy shopping, and buy everything they cast their eyes on. Give the school a stack of cash, replace the missing play area, and reinstate the lido.

I would buy a lot of stuff though, serious binge shopping for tat.

Last time someone asked me this question, I was working in the buy-to-let department of the company I work for (boring mortgage company day job). My answer was "invest in buy-to-lets" and everyone thought I was joking. Except I wasn't.

So yeah, I'd invest in property. With that sort of money I'd buy myself a really nice place to live and buy a block of flats and let them all out. Somewhere where I'd get a decent amount of rent and live off the rental income. I'll look into other ways to invest money as well (on account of the ridiculously stupid amount of money that's mentioned in the OP), to get a decent return on the investments, i.e. more income. (I'll make sure I have the best financial advisor for all this.) I'm not that much inclined to a luxurious lifestyle so surplus income would probably end up going to various charities but of course I wouldn't go without anything that I wanted and I'd make sure my kids get whatever education they want without student debt or having to live off beans on toast for their whole time at uni (but I wouldn't give them too much because I don't want them to be entitled brats either... let them stand on their own two feet a bit. I'd help them get on the property ladder though and they'd inherit all my riches anyway.)

At some point (once it's all established and I have enough money to not need any other source of income), I'll turn to social housing, i.e. building affordable homes for low income people and families, with the rent money from those homes being invested back into the communities that live in them. You know, like how council houses were supposed to be run. And maybe fund a homeless shelter and/or other project(s) to help the homeless back into work and housing.

I'd probably end up supporting Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre (which is about a 30 min drive from me, yay!) in their work rescuing and rehabilitating apes and monkeys and also support work/projects protecting wild apes who are endangered, e.g. orangutans whose habitat is in danger from logging. I'll support various human charities as well though... humans are my favourite genus of ape.

I'll stay living here in sunny Dorset (probably closer to Monkey World though) but I'll have a second home in London, in zone one or two. Nothing too luxurious (cause London house prices are bloody ridiculous, even if you're a multi-millionaire).

I’d have to hire a financial/an accountant wizard right out the gate. Knowing how I am, I’d give most of it away to whoever and all plucked the appropriate heartstrings. If I managed to hang on to a decent chunk of the windfall change, I’d—like Undercover and so many others—spend it on travel... see through my own eyes all the geographical places I’ve always wanted to see (and then culturally eat my way through every site visited!).

My top priorities would be paying off my student loans and my mom's mortgage (neither of which would put much of a dent in my winnings, fortunately).

Then I would consider buying a car and having top surgery or a breast reduction (I'm not certain about surgical gender transition right now, but it sure would be nice to know that I had the ~$7,000-$10,000 I'd need and that I'd be free to choose whatever surgeon I wanted).

I would buy myself an Adobe Creative Suit subscription, and one or two good computers for graphic design and playing games.

After that, I would put a lot of it in savings, preferably in separate categories: emergency funds, funds for future purchases, and retirement. I would support my mom and figure out an amount to donate to charities and non-profits.

It would be kind of nice to stop working full-time or have more flexibility in choosing a job that I really like without concern about benefits. But I would hopefully want to find a good accountant who could go over this with me. I would want to make sure that my money was sustainable enough for that.

I'd do nothing for six months (aside from collect the winnings and disappear). While I was disappeared, I'd engage a GOOD lawyer and a highly reputable financial advisor. Most of the money would be invested so there would be a continual income stream. There are charities I would donate to regularly - but ONLY the ones who agree NOT to bombard me with solicitations throughout the year. If I'm going to donate, I don't need you to send me reminders - and if I'm not going to donate, you're just wasting the money you got from other donors by sending all that paper to me.

I'm estranged from most of my family, but they'd probably all want to be my new best friend if I won a lot. It wouldn't work for them. The only one of my family I would give money to is my one sister who I still communicate with fairly regularly (plus, she's doing it pretty tough right now so it would be nice to be able to ease a lot of her worries).

After the six months was up, I'd buy a house somewhere along the coast (Mr C is a surfer) with LOTS of room around it. That'd be my splurge, I think. Oh, I'd also pay off all my bestie's debts and make sure she had enough to live on that she could tell her family to take their demands for her time and attention and shove them - and make sure she got to come out for a visit - flying first class, of course.

Other than that, life would go on as usual - just in a different location and with no money worries at all.

I clicked on the headline, fully prepared to congratulate you and ask how you'd spend what I presumed was a large amount. Congratulations! And you won $2 more! Woo!

If I won $250 million -after taxes-, I would fund domestic violence shelters and homeless shelters, donate to charities, get through my bucket list (which is not that expensive, mostly "I want to star in this theatre production before I die!"), have a personal driver, and not worry about things I do. Pardon me for not being more creative; my mind is boggling at the mere idea of that amount of money.

Jason said:

What to do with the winnings?

Not only did I get my $2 back but I won $2 more!

Okay, so its not a huge windfall, but does raise a fun question:

If you won the lottery ($250 million, after taxes), what would you do?

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My family always plays this hypothetical, so I usually troll them and say I'd donate all the money to federal government or perhaps an oil company.

This is great pipedream for when you're working a dead-end job.