Powerball lottery next wed is for $340 million. What would you do with $340 million.

vanity ^ | 10/16/2005 | self

[Lokibob]

The powerball lottery next Wednesday will be for $340 million. Thats more than 1/4 of a billion (with a B). The cash option is 164.4 million, which means that the winner, AFTER TAXES, clears approximately $100 million.

Now my question is: what would you do with $100 million?

[GRRRRR]

Pay the bills, sell the house, buy a Class A motor home, drive to all the Nascar races or hire a driver, then go on a long, long cruise around the world..oh, yeah...quit work...play a bunch of golf too.
Give a bunch to my family too, so they could come with...go to a bunch of baseball games and pay them so the Cubs could win one or two...then go on another long cruise

[Theresawithanh]

I'd tell my boss goodbye and I'd even be nice, even though I wouldn't want to be, and I would travel my butt off, all over the world! I'd probably also try to ride every roller coaster at all the theme parks of the world, too. I've wanted to do that ever since I saw a show about it on TV.

[HitmanLV]

I live in Nevada, so no state/city tax for me, so my take-home amount will be closer to $ 107 million.

I'd buy a nice home here in Las Vegas around the $ 1.5 million mark. I'd furnish it to my taste with a nice game room, pool table, classic pinball and video games, some video poker and slot machines also, and also do some cool stuff like expand my DVD collection to around 5,000 titles or so, set up a nice home theater, a nice home office, give away my Saab 9-3 and buy a Lexus GS430, and buy a Saab convertible. I'd do a complete makeover of my wardrobe. I don't think this spending would go past $ 2 million, though.

I'd take $ 5 million and place it in staggered Tax Free Municipal bonds, so that I get an interest payday every 3 months or so. That would pretty much be around $ 150,000/yr. That would be my everyday spending money for expenses and stuff (food, upkeep, utilities, gas, DVDs, books, etc.) and some mad money (nights out, new clothes when the mood strikes me, splurging on the newest/nicest cell phone/PDA every year, nice quarterly vacations, etc).

That leaves $100,000,000. I'd set up a trust to protect it. I'd expect a nice 6% return on that a year - $6 million. I'd give $ 2 million of that annually to my fave charities. I'd dip into some of the rest (maybe $300k-500k) as needed to pay for kid's tuition, a new car now and then, a bride's car now and then, occasional home upgrades, or a planned major purchase.

Also, I don't travel much except to NYC 2x a year so I would indulge myself by chartering a nice private jet to make me and my family, friends, etc back and forth between LV and NYC. That's a big pricetag, 2 roundtrips probably around $ 100k-120k or so, but what the heck, it's the only way to fly! I deserve it! Add incidental expenses - limos as needed when traveling, nice dining, nicer hotels, etc.

So now I would still probably have around $3.25+ million a year in interest. In the first year I would use some of that tp buy a nice home for my parents. In years later, I would just keep any excess in the trust so that the interest compounds.

I'd work out my will so that upon my expiration, 1/3rd of the nestegg would go to charities I like, 1/3rd to my bride, 1/6th divided among any children I may have, 1/12th divided among my siblings and 1/12th among neices/nephews.

No money would fully vest for anyone until they reach the age of 40.

That was a nice mental exercise! Thanks!

[Dashing Dasher]

What would I do with $340 Mill?

LOL!!!

I'd buy Dago Red, for one!

Dago Red on Ebay

[patton]

Ok, not even I can afford that. LOL.

[Dashing Dasher]

Reserve - not yet met.

lol..

[A knight without armor]

Me, too. I always thought I'd give a million dollars to certain people who have been so kind to me. And I would definitely seek advice as to how to give them a million dollars plus extra so they would not have to pay taxes out of it. I mean I want them to end up with a million after taxes are taken away from them.

[newzjunkey]

Also a group home just for respite so Moms and Dads who have spent their lives caring for a severly disabled child/adult can take a break on a reg. basis.

Your Sainted good works would be the stuff of legend! That you even thought of this gives me pause that there's some hope for humanity.

[skinkinthegrass]

I would buy 30 building lots in one of the richer neighborhoods where the people are complete snobs John F'n Kerry, Ted "swimmer (HIC!) Kennedy...et.al.",and build a bunch of houses and donate them to Katrina victims from the Ninth Ward.

LOL!...buy the land surounding/next to USSC Justice Souter's Home in NH...open a Strip Mall w/ plan to expand...and other things. :D

[skinkinthegrass]

KEWL PLANE! :D

[rfreedom4u]

Pay off my bills, set up college funds and trust funds for kids. Have my dream house built. News cars. Pay off my parent's house. Give some to each of my brothers and sisters. Set up a charity for children who lost a parent in the war. Run for governor of Texas. Get my wife to quit smoking. Buy a boat, plane etc...

[murdoog]

I'd give a huge chunk of change to my brother and my sister. I'd donate a lot of money to the University where I teach.
Also to the school my niece attends.
Also give money to Free Republic and The Counter-Clinton Library. I'd put $25 million into a conservatively managed account so I could take out $1 million a year. I'd put $5 million into active trading of stocks, options and futures. (But keep an eye on leverage so I wouldn't lose more than $5 million).
The first year I would probably spend $1 million on my security and privacy. I would spend $1 million completely foolishly. I'd put $60000 in I-bonds (the max allowed) and of course, give my favorite waitress a big tip (thanks to R.Scott for that one.)