The curse of the lottery- What would you do if you won?

[pyrxtc]

well, we would move to a new house, something DH really wants to do, with lots of acreage (30 plus). We would get DH the commuter car he needs, but we are doing that anyways soon. I ahve a friend who's DD have Lukemia and I would pay off their house and then they would just ahve to worry about hospital bills and taking care of their DD. I would also give them a grant, to help pay off those hospital bills. I ahve a cousin who's having a rough time despite both of them working thier but off, I would help them somehow. another cousin with a son with Down's sydrome and another cousin who's son has a spine problem, very expensive. I know they could use some help too. My parents are well enough off, they have money to do what they need. My sibling are the same way. they have the money they need. the only one of my relatives who I would help if they asked is an Aunt that has helped me in the past. I would do whatever she asked of me, granted it was for her and not to help out her kids (who half of them have problems with themselves.)

We would vacation but I would pay for a full family trip to Hawaii. And I want to take the family to Alaska and Europe. What we are buying now for the DVC will still be good for us. I would keep my car and we would live in the same town as before. I know my Dh would still work but would probably open up his own resteraunt or somethng and I would still want to do photography. Kids would still have to work to pay for their cars as they got old enough but not much else would change. We try to be frugal with our money. Oh, but we would buy a lot of stock in Disney and other companies we are interested in.

oh, and I would get the new car for my mother she has wanting for the last few years but my thier DD's keep getting married and they spend they money on that. But she really needs a new car, hers is breaking apart slowly.

 

[PaulaSB12]

If I won the lottery, first I would build a house, second get pregnant, then make sure my mother had anything she wanted so she can live how she deserves to be treated and pay for my neices and nephew university courses so they have no debts to pay when they finish. Oh buy into DCV (animal kingdom!)

 

[Ruana74864]

If the lottery was big enough I would by Disney. . If not I would publically anounce that I do not give contributions to anyone who contacts me!!!!! I would make my charitable contributions to those I already contribute to. I also have relatives who would come out of the woodwork. However, I have no problems saying NO. I would help my mother and children. Set up funds for grandchildrens (6) college funds and set the rest up in trust funds for them. My husband and I don't need the money. Well, maybe a retirement fund of 1 million and then live off our retirement plans and the interest on the mill.

 

[Camicar]

It would depend upon how big the win is.

If it's something small, like a million which only comes to about $425K after taxes, the only big change is that I would quit my job the next day.

If it were a large win, I would still quit my job. We would have a discussion about whether we wanted to stay here until my dd graduates high school or not. If we decided to stay, then the minute she graduates we would be outta here (hate living here). We would give money to local charities we know do good work if and only if they did not publicize our names as the donors. We would not tell anyone, including family, that we won -- unfortunately I've seen people act like piranhas over paltry amounts so I don't intend to deal with that on a grander scale. (I've seen it personally. And on another board a woman wrote to complain how her brother who had won after taxes $400K 'owed' her some of his money because he was single and she had 4 kids and a house she couldn't afford and he should know she needs the money bec he's already had to bail her out once. The number of people who agreed with her was astonishing.) We would travel.

 

[inaminute]

The very first thing I'd do is change my telephone number to an unlisted one. I certainly don't want to hear from any long lost relatives. Then, I'd find a good lawyer and financial planner. I'd claim the money only after I had a plan for where it was going.

Of course, there would be a certain amount set aside for fun--a month-long trip to Disney, new cars, shopping trip--whatever I wanted. After that, I'd stick to my plan for the money.

 

[dawnball]

DH and I had some fun discussing this for awhile. But I think we've become financially stodgy. For any large (1M net after taxes or more) conversations all boil down to:

1) Call the lawyer, set up a trust, give the trust the ticket. Wait a few months. Let the lawyer claim the funds for the trust.

2) Invest the money - DH has 2 major investment houses with different biases that he'd split the money between. I'm fairly sure he already has some idea what types of investments he'd put it in, but it would all be under wealth management at that point.

3) spend the interest, don't touch the principle, with a bias towards donating any of the interest we don't spend. You can't spend yourself into the ground that way.

4) DH wants a custom bicycle. I want a hybrid Fit with keyless entry.

That nets you a fairly steady lifetime income of $50K/million/year if it's invested conservatively. However, I only play a few times a year when the jackpots get above $100M, so assuming 50% cash value and 50% taxes - that starts at $25M, or $1,250,000/year to dispose of. I think we'd spend most of our time trying to find productive uses for it.

 

[Snow_White]

First off, I would pay off my mortgage, my parent's mortgage, and my brother's mortgage. I don't think my day-to-day life would change at all, but we would go on a whole lot more vacations and I would be very generous with presents

 

[Kahana-ri]

We would move back to CA!!
Pay off our debt
I would pay off my mom's house and my in-laws, they are great people
I would give my siblings a nice chunk to leave comfortable
Make sure my grandmother and Aunt were comfortable as well
Put away money for my two sons
Take my children school abroad
We of course could become DVC members

 

[hentob]

Travel. I would really , really travel.

My main concern would be to take care of my children and my youngest brother. Their educations are paid for, but they would be able to take more "risks" after graduation.

I am not into jewelry. I am not into handbags. I would buy high end, non-name brand luggage (nothing says STEAL ME like Louis Vuitton ) like Filson. No bling for me. I like simple, well made products.

My splurge would be on good wine And, of course, high end ingredients and kitchen wear to cook said high end ingredients.

We would probably move to a "college town" and be permanent students.

Sigh

 

[zulaya]

Assuming a goodly sized amount, DH and I have had our fantasy...

1. Pay off our mortgage
2. We'd pay for our church's expansion
3. Donate for a new building of our kids charter school and totally outfit it.

After that, taking care of our retirement investments, kids college accounts and more DVC points, we'd consider giving some money to some relatives.

I do believe in changing phone numbers and making it unlisted...no use giving the dogs a bone to chew on if you don't have to.

 

[Jaklackus]

Already have a plan written out in the safe.....although living in FL the FLA Lotto jackpots are nothing like the spectacular Powerball and Mega Million jackpots that I grew accustomed to living on the MA/RI border...so we would have to scale back a bit.

call lawyer and financial planner and set up trust....work anonymously as possible....move if we absolutely have to.

pay off house and update it

Pay off the other debt-not much just annoying

get hubby a new truck for his business

buy new car for me-not a mini-van

get hubby too much insurance for his business and then a little more...even though he's incorporated I still don't want to risk it.

pay for the kid's educations.

invest, invest, invest

if it is a considerable amount won:

build new to our specifications, acreage, inground pool, solar panels to get us off the grid,

pay off houses and debts of both of our moms so they can stop working full time....but clarify that it's a one time only bail out since they tend to run up debt, roll it into refi on their houses and start again...this is after both of them burning through 6 figure inheritances from their parents in the past 10 years....there is a difference in debt levels about 150k...still not sure how to fairly handle the difference.We would also build 2 guest houses on property for our moms to move into when they spend themselves silly again.

Throw some money into accounts for nieces and nephews to help with college later on.

DVC

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

we would try hard to not tell a soul. Too many people would expect too much. We would also continue to live as we do now, maybe just get anew van, since my green machine is a bit scary