If you won the lottery, what would you buy?
 

I was thinking about this yesterday...I'd probably be the one to keep living life the way I am. :) I'd give some to my church, pay off my parents' house and my and my sister's student loans and then....I want a little townhouse and a dog (a Great Dane). That's it, really. Maybe a cool vacation, traveling to lots of places, but I don't want too many "things." I'd do all the little things I want but haven't had money for--highlight my hair, pay my library fine, stuff like that. But most of it would go to traveling, Europe and Australia in particular. How about you guys?

1. Give half to my parents
2. Set up a trust fund for my brother and sister
3. Pay off my student loans
4. Start a scholarship fund for my chapter.
5. Scholarships for my school
6. Travel around Europe
7. Give some to St. Jude and other various charities.

Aaaacccckkkkk! Something seems wrong about wanting to have a Great Dane while living in a little townhouse! :(

But, to answer the question, I would bulk up my kids' college funds, pay off the house, increase our charitable contributions and invest the rest. We're pretty simple people, and I honestly can't imagine that we would change much about how we live. We would just be able to retire sooner (depending on the size of the lottery winning) than we have planned.

i would:

--keep my apartment and pay the rent forward until my lease was up.
--put credits on all my accounts (utilities and such)
--pay off my debts (credit cards and student loans)
--set up a college fund for my newly born niece
--buy mom a house
--set aside some $ for my own house (in the future)
--new wardrobe
--invest in a great personal trainer
--update everything in my apartment - everything is hand-me-down or just flat out old.
--id help my siblings out too - brother with new baby, sister through culinary school, youngest bro about to start college
--donate money to various orgs (ones ive worked for in the past)
--buy my chapter space (i feel like a house would cost a lot of maintenance, but a legit space to call our own, for meetings, events and such would be sweet)

ah, that was nice to dream. is anyone well versed here on how the lottery actually works when it pays out? like how much gets taxed and how much you really end up with?

Right now we have 5 kids in college so you can imagine what we would do.

I guess the answer to that question would be dependent on how much I actually won and would receive after taking the cash option.


But here are a few things:

--Sell this house and purchase a slightly larger one with a bigger lot for more flowers, more veggies, more fruit growing, and more kids.
--College trust funds for all three kids and all three nephews
--I would go back to school
--Take some cruises
--Visit my friend in Norway
--Become a Kappa Alpha Theta Life Loyal member
--Become an Alpha Kappi Psi Life Loyal Member
--Probably purchase the Toyota Sequoia my husband wants, and replace my car with a hybrid Escalade.
--I would stop looking for a job, and husband would quit his

-pay off my parents' home and send them on a nice vacation
-pay off my brother's student loans and invest some money for him
-buy my husband a motorcycle
-travel, travel, travel
-give a lot of money away to charities we support
-stash most of it away because I hate the idea of buying everything you want just because you can. I much prefer waiting for a great opportunity to make a difference and having the cash there when that time comes!

-pay off my loans
-finish school
-buy mom a house
-buy self a house
-Set up scholarships for my school
-Set up scholarships for Psi U
-Buy chapter a house.
-Donate to charity
-Invest

depending on how much I actually get of course.

I used to do PR for the state lottery, so for the person who asked, I can tell you that my state took out 30% for taxes, and if you take the cash option on a large (annuity) jackpot like MegaMillions/Powerball, you can expect to lose another 20% or so. In the end, you walk out with about half of the jackpot.

A lot of people think that lottery winners blow the money, but in fact I can tell you from having interviewed hundreds of them that in fact almost all of them are very responsible with the money. The most common uses for the money are paying off mortgages, paying off all debt, buying a new car, saving money for kids/grandkids college funds, and...wait for it...giving it away! Most lottery winners give some money to family and friends who need it, and charities. In fact, it's the generosity that often gets them in trouble (if they do get in trouble) - it's amazing how many people come out of the woodwork when someone hits the jackpot. Lottery winners get phone calls and letters from complete strangers asking for money, and any family member with a financial issue seems to feel entitled to some of the funds. Also, many nonprofits add them to their mailing list and hit them up every time a fundraiser comes around.

As for what I'd do with the money...

- I'd pay off all my student loans
- Fully stock up my emergency fund
- Have an awesome wedding
- Buy a house on the lake front with its own dock
- Save up for kids
- Buy a beach house on the Oregon coast
- Pay off my mom's house

- Pay for the rest of school
- Pay off my parent's home
- Pay my parents back for the sorority dues
- Buy my own car
- Set aside money for a home
- Set aside money for my wedding
- Donate to various organizations...probably American Cancer Society, St. Judes, JDRF...just to name a few...there's a lot of causes I want to help lol
- Save whatever's left

Depends on how much I win. If I only win $5, that won't go very far. :p

Assuming I win a multi-million-dollar jackpot:

1. Pay off my mortgage, car loans, and DH's student loans.
2. Make some charitable donations, particularly to my synagogue.
3. Take off with DH for six weeks or so, and travel the world.
4. Build an addition onto our house - maybe a solarium.
5. Invest the rest.

1. Pay off remaining credit card and student loan debt.
2. Buy land. build a house.
3. Share with my family.
4. Travel. travel. travel.
5. Give to my church.
6. Give to AXiD - start a scholarship.
7. Give to my school.
8. Give to the USO.
9. Buy my husband a truck, so I can buy a camper.
10. College funds for future kids.
11. Buy a house on the beach.
12. Invest the rest.

Peter Gibbons: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Lawrence: I'll tell you what I'd do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.
Peter Gibbons: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I were a millionaire I could hook that up, too; 'cause chicks dig dudes with money.
Peter Gibbons: Well, not all chicks.
Lawrence: Well, the type of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.

/Office Space'd

I'd buy 37 million more lottery tickets and try to go double or nothing

Nah, I'd probably just invest it. I'd buy a house maybe though.

Simple.
- Pay off student loans.
- Dump all of it into my bank account, apply for and get my UK visa, and leave the USA forever. Spend rest of life researching, reading, doing good things for other people, cycling, and restoring historic properties.

I am just curious as to why you would leave the USA forever?

It would depend on how much money was involved, but I like to think I would:

1. Tithe
2. Split the proceeds with my mother & brother
3. Set up an account so I could live off of the interest
4. Move into a major condo (yes, I already know where)
5. Travel
6. Get a puppy
7. Write the Great American Novel
8. Repeat

1. Pay off my student loans
2. Pay off my car
3. Buy a house
4. Pay off my parents' house
5. Pad my nest egg
6. Travel
7. Donate to charities

1. Pay off student loans.
2. Pay off credit cards and personal loans.
3. Pay off parents' house and their debt.
4. Buy a house with a big yard.
5. Stash some away for retirement.
6. Stash some away for kid's education.
7. Give away to friends and family.
8. Give some to John!! :D

1. Pay off all of my debts.
2. Buy a nice, historic home in OKC. Set aside enough money to have it completely restored.
3. Make sure my brothers and family are well-situated financially
4. Donation to my undergrad school
5. A letter to my law school saying "Thanks, I gave at the office."
6. Set up an educational foundation for my chapter.
7. Set up a trust to purchase and manage a new house for my chapter.
8. Figure out what I want to do with the residue after putting together a good estate plan/financial plan.

1. Set up a good college fund for Baby WinniBug
2. Pay off Mr. WinniBug's student loans
3. Buy a nicer house
4. Donate to the building fund for the small Catholic school that I work at
5. Donate to the S. June Smith Center, my local chapter and whatever other charities/philanthropies we want
6. Buy better cars
7. Get Mr. WinniBug a boat
8. Invest the rest so we won't have to work
(I would help out my parents and my sister, but I don't think they'd need it)

minDyG's lottery novella
 

Wow, y'all are much less shallow than I am! :D The last mega millions jackpot billboard I spotted read $253 million, so with that in mind (and assuming we're in a utopia where there would be no taxes taken out), here is my dream list of crap I'd want (and oh yeah, I'd put the money in a savings account so it could be accruing interest while I took my time getting all of the purchases in order ;)):

-Pay off all debts (student loans mostly, some medical stuff, and the car)
-Pay to fix the repairs we need to resolve at our (rental) house
-Go back to school to finish my Bachelor's and also get my Master's and possibly a PhD
-Buy a house in Augusta or Aiken with 3-4 bedrooms and a big fenced in yard (preferably with a pool) to live in while we figured out things
-Buy a ton of crap to fill the house up with: 3 flatscreen t.v.'s (one for the living room, master bedroom, and finished basement), 3 sound systems with Blue Ray players, an amazing washer and dryer, all new kitchen appliances (fridge, oven/range, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, toaster, blender), ironing board and iron, FURNITURE galore (entertainment center, new bedroom suite for us (old bedroom suite would go to the guest bedroom), new bedroom suite and hope chest for Meredith, dining set, living room set, art pieces for the walls, lamps, benches, hat racks, room dividers, etc. etc. etc.)
-Two words: designer shoes. (And dresses, purses, shirts, pants, skirts, scarves, jewelry, perfume, et al.)
-Hire a nanny and a maid...the maid I would literally use every day (well 5 days a week), but the nanny would only be on an as-needed basis
-Hire a really high end agent and start going on auditions; for that matter, do whatever it takes to get my Equity card
-Buy a single engine airplane and get my pilot's lisence
-Buy several new cars: A Corvette for my husband, a black Mercedes convertible (a la Lauren Conrad's car) for me, and a couple of hybrid SUV's; one for off-roading and one for looking swank in the city

After satisfying all of my petty material needs, I would obviously make many large contributions to various organizations. I would probably donate something like $100,000 to each of the following: Delta Gamma Foundation, American Heart Association, the United Way of Aiken County, SC; the Democratic Party, New Hope Baptist Church in Thomson, GA, and getting a community theatre started up in Thomson, GA. Additionally, I would like to set up a scholarship endowment for theatre majors at UGA and for Delta Gammas at UGA.

But of course I'd take care of my family, too. These are the things I'd do for them:
-Pay off my parents' house and all their other debt
-Buy my sister a new car and give her enough money for a down payment on a house (and I'd likely finance her mortgage too but I wouldn't just buy a house for her outright unless we were just rolling in so much money we truly didn't know what to do with it)
-Establish $500,000 trust funds for each of my ten nieces and nephews and for Meredith for them to pay for college and then some
-Pay for my sister to finish college
-Pay for my other sister to finish college
-Give my brother a big chunk of change for whatever he wanted it for (he's pretty responsible, more or less)
-Pay for my sister-in-law to go to school to become an RN
-Buy my mother-in-law a house (she really deserves it)

Alright, I've been keeping track of the estimated costs for all of these things and I'm still sitting on $141,585,650. So to complete my fantasy, we'd keep our GA/SC home as a vacation home, move to either LA or NY where I'd pursue my acting career, and enroll Meredith in the best private school available. All this is while my remaining winnings sit pretty collecting interest, and my husband would probably want to start a grocery delivery business or something else to satisfy his need to be somebody's boss. :rolleyes:

Ahh, to live in a fantasy world!
But I suppose the adage is true...I have no hopes of winning the lottery if I never buy a ticket!

I always respond to these things, then I delete them because they become so personal. :)

I have a plan and have had one for quite awhile:
-pay off debts, mortgage, etc for myself, my dad and my brother and a few select friends who have worked their tails off their whole lives but will never be ahead
-set up trusts for my kids
-give my ex-husband an equal amount as I would keep for myself, before he bothered going to Friend of the Court for it in child support
-buy a house in Atlanta, a beach house somewhere on the Gulf, a houseboat at Dale Hollow Lake, sell my current house in Michigan and buy a different one
-buy an RV and start a one year, around the country trip spending one week in every state
-donate to the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation in several ways including an endowed scholarship for my chapter of Initiation, one for Occupational Therapy students, and one for IT students, as well as a large donation to the general fund
-after my year of travel, I would start a charitable foundation

This is all I can think of off the top of my head.

-I'd donate money to cancer research, diabetes research, charities that supply remote villages with clean, drinkable water and food, local food banks, women's shelters and humane societies.
-I'd also buy that vacant, old hotel downtown, restore it and turn it into a homeless shelter.
-I'd get my family completely out of debt.
-I'd make both of my parents retire.

For Mom:
-A new house in the city, just a few minutes away from the beach.
-All new furniture, electronics and appliances to furnish aforementioned house.
-A new wardrobe.
-A weekly spa appointment.

For Dad:
-The best plumbers, electricians and contractors in the region to help him finish his renovations.
-Any Vintage Car(s) that he wants.
-All new furniture, appliances and electronics for his house.
-A new wardrobe

For Grandma:
-A beautiful cottage out in the country, with a huge yard for her pets and nice garden.
-That Truck she always wanted.

For Grandpa:
-Tickets to the World Series.
-Rinkside seats to the Gold Metal Hockey game in the 2010 Olympics.

For My Friends:
-A spa vacation every summer
-Shopping Spree!

For Me:
-Cancel my student loan application
-Put money aside to buy my dream house after university.
-A Hybrid
-A vintage Les Paul Goldtop guitar and guitar lessons.

Lol, I heard once from a Dane rescue worker that the size of the place really doesn't matter if you get them as puppies. By the time they've gotten big, they've learned how to navigate your things without knocking everything to pieces. It's the size of the yard that really matters. Meh, if it turns out that's not true, we'll up the ante on the size of the house. After all, I can do that in my fantasy. :)

-pay off my mortgage
-pay off the rest of my debt (student loans, car, credit cards, misc. bills)
-pay off my parents mortgage
-put money away for my "future" kids (because I will have them) college expenses
-give some money to my brothers
-donate to charity (Ronald McDonald House, Breast Cancer, AIDS)
-travel Europe
-definately put a huge chunk into a CD that I can't touch without massive penalties (mainly because I don't trush myself :), being honest)
-I'd then buy the car I actually want and buy a home closer to my new job.

I prefer living in the UK. It's a matter of lifestyle, pace of life, and overall enjoyment. Spending a few years there, then coming back to the US...I realized how much I don't like living here. It's got nothing to do with "hating America", it's got a lot to do with generally being happy in every day life. Plus the work I want to do is more widely supported, healthcare is good, and so is the fly fishing.

pay off my folks, my brother's, and my home
give some to God
invest a lot
my business expenses
buy some misc play things

- the obvious - become debt-free, pay off parent's home, buy new cars for parents and teen children, 10% to the church, finish funding kids' college funds, invest for retirement, buy land and build my home out in the boonies - THEN:
- Gamma Phi Beta Foundation - 1874 Society and unrestricted gift.
- finish funding the Katrina Clanahan Druart Scholarship at TX State - named for a sister who died far too young of colon cancer.
- donate to the Dr. Martha Brunson scholarship at TX State - she was my mentor.
- big donation for the TX State Alumni Association's new building.
- build a parking garage (a FREE one - for those with parking permits) near East campus at TX State - future generations would rise up and call me blessed.
- purchase tear-down houses near the campus for the return of my chapter . . .someday.

1. Pay off all debts
2. Donate to charities where the majority of the money actually goes to help and not for administrative costs
3. Help out family (but not the ones that are a-holes)
4. Scholarships for AOIIs (from a fund with my name of course)
5. Travel, lots.
6. Buy a home in France
7. Move to Europe - France, Ireland, or Italy, or maybe set up a home in each one
8. Save for kids (who will still have to work one day so they learn the value of $$)
9. Put it in an interest bearing account and invest
10. new car
11. Start a foundation of some sort to encourage the study of foreign languages by Americans from early childhood ages

I don't know if I would still work. I like my job a lot, but I think I could stand to not have my principal being such a pain in the ass. The students are mostly great though. I would definitely not have the commute that I have now and would not stress about not having things that I would want for my class.

Depending on how much I won, I would buy a small island. :)

Have you seen Richard Branson's spread? It's incredible.

Just off the top of my head, because it is fun to dream once in a while!

1. Pay off all debts.
2. Set aside enough money to take the boys through their doctorates debt-free, if they so choose.
3. Pay for our nieces and nephews undergraduate degrees.
4. After that, then we would set up various investments so we can live on the interest.
5. Donate to the AOII Foundation (including endowing a scholarship for my chapter of initiation and the local collegiate chapter). I'd also earmark donations to Hosparus of Louisville, our local humane society and our local Golden Retriever rescue group,
6. Donate an equal amount to the charity(s) of DH's choice.
7. Home repairs. I doubt we'd move right now based on the boys' ages, but would definitely invest in some creature comforts and updates!
8. Travel. When I say travel, I mean wherever the heck we want in first class.
9. New--or newer--cars for DH & I. No, we wouldn't buy cars for the boys but would keep DH's current car for their use (it's 8 years old, in great condition and completely paid for already!)
10. Membership at Disney Beach Club Villas.
11. Upgrade our Blue Jackets season tickets to ice level.

I can probably arrange for you to have the Mad Crapper,if you wish.

MC should join me this weekend for a Bash of his kinfolk! Picture rolling meadows, filled with dozens of them - fluffy heaven!

I forgot to add that my ReMember Dues would be paid much more regularly, when I hit a lottery. ;)

Cute term! :D

Damn! You beat me to it!
--Help mom
--Pay off student loans, all debt
--fix up the family home (it's been paid off for 20+ years)
--purchase investment property
--invest in my 401k & my $$ market fund
--travel with camera in hand
--Donations:

• all SGRho programs
• Save Darfur
• UNICEF
• programs that help children in the U.S. Foster care system
• Teach America
• Dr. MLK Jr. Memorial
• All NPHC programs/foundations
• NAACP & Urban League
• UNCF and HBCU's

That's it, for now :)

ETA:
cars and motorcycles!
Lotus Elise
Kawasaki Ninja 500 ( like the one I had before)
Ducati 999

:eek::rolleyes: lady, you don't know nothing about a Lotus Elise.:D

NP, you don't need a lot of money to own an Elise. Around here a good used one will cost you about $18,000-$25,000 to start. (not sure about insurance cost though:() I like the Exige and the 340R better though.

http://lotusphere2007.com/wp-content...cup-255-02.jpg Exige :D
http://www.lotus-elise.nl/Buyers_Gui...r_main_web.jpg <<<340R...Soweeeeeeet:D