$1.73 Billion Dollars. What would you do.

gsettle said:

Dang Woody!

You're gonna have to learn to think bigger when you actually win

Okay.

I would like to create and fund a program that teaches inner city kids how to swim. I've been a swimmer all my life and I am as comfortable in the water as I am on dry land. It breaks my heart  when I hear about urban kids who drown in ponds and rivers while trying to cool off on hot days.

I would like to help research ways for firefighters to reduce their core temperature while fighting fires. We essentially wear snowsuits into burning buildings, and it feels almost as hot inside the gear as it is in the building. I have great difficulty cooling off once outside, even in the winter. It's a health and safety thing.

And for those who still make their living delivering the morning newspaper... I would like to buy all of you new mufflers.

In reply to SV reX :

Yeah, but there's a difference between $4M and and $1.7B (or even some level less than half that after the cash option & taxes).  With the latter, I wouldn't be so concerned about trying to invest the money with intent to increase the amount. More just basic maintenance.  For better or worse, I already have access to a advisor for this sort of thing.  I think in PA one can use an anonymous LLC to claim the prize, thus keeping your identity somewhat hidden.   

First thing I'd get would be to lease one of the vacant warehouse buildings in the nearby industrial park.  Then move all of my projects and crap into it so I can figure out what to do with my house.  I would do this via a shell LLC.  Then I would do a cost-no-object repair and renovation of my house, which can be much easier if I don't need to plan for as much vehicle storage as I need now. 

I don't know if I'd buy any more cars... well... probably one or two.  I'd probably buy a lot of bicycles and music gear. 

Work.... that would be interesting... I'd be tempted to keep working for a while longer, although I would definitely change my current living situation in NH. 

Friends... well... in all honesty, I don't have many close friends and most of the ones I do have don't have money problems.  I would start of a music studio company and hire one friend to run it. He wouldn't want it as a gift, even if I could give it to him.  But with a virtually unlimited budget, we could put together a kickass music production facility geared towards the way he does recordings.  Probably located on a property with a house for him and his family to live in as his circumstances would make having the studio within walking distance of the house desirable. 

Family... well... that's a whole different can of worms... 

There's also a strong desire to still do the warehouse thing, then sell the house, build a van or two for mtn biking...  then disappear. 

Figure out what 1.73B worth of getting fat looks like?

I might wash my E36 M3ty jeep and take the Mrs. To the Lexus dealership. 

I sure as berkeley wouldn't tell anyone I had that kind of money. 

It's fun to think about.  Like mentioned above, I know all flack about the odds of winning being worse than getting hit by lightning 10 times in a row, but that's a lot of zeros.
 

First would be to do my damnedest to stay quiet.  Luckily, I don't have a large group of friends, nor do I have a big family of aunts and cousins and such.  Not that ones might come out of the woodwork if they found out, just there's not an immediate issue.
Then, interview a few law firms in another city to find one I think will be OK to setup a blind trust or LLC to accept the winnings on my behalf and not have my name out there.  Work with accountants and tax folks to make sure everything's paid and appropriately distributed in several banks to cover FDIC insurance.  Figure for the first few months, a 1 or 2 % return is fine until I get stuff sorted. 

Then pay off all my bills, all my mom's bills and all my sisters bills.  Give my mom and sister enough to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.  Setup a trust for my son so he can finish out school and, basically, do whatever he wants afterwards.  I have a friend or two I'd probably pay their mortgage or something to help them out, but figure out how to do it anonymously.  (The law firm should be able to help with that)

The accountants can help me figure out investing.  One portion in low risk to take care of the rest of my life, some in mid-risk, some in high risk.  I'd kinda want some to play with the market it a bit myself.  Doing research, making investments, looking for trends, etc.  Not that I would ever need that much money.  We'd have trouble spending a 1% yearly return on the initial money, but having more gives me the ability to help more people.

From there, it's figuring out what to do.  A new house outside of town with some acreage is top of the list.  With a huge barn to store every car I've ever wanted.  Buy at least a new car for the wife, the son and a truck for me.  Gut my current house and have it rebuilt to either rent out or sell off. 

Then it's probably some type of extended travel for the wife and I.  Like a year of just picking a spot, buying first class passage and go.  No real agenda other than what strikes our fancy for the day.  I assume that will also lead into a bit of car buying from other countries and having them shipped to the house. 
Maybe spend a year going to every F1, IndyCar and Nascar race with my son. 

Once we get that out of our system, it's just investing to do charity work.  There are a number of ways to make a difference in people's lives, and I'd like to do that.  I always thought buying a number of inexpensive new cars from a dealer and setting it up that the title stays open until I give it away.  Something like 10 Honda's or Chevy's that are inexpensive to run and insure and have a huge dealer network for any warranty stuff.  Work with an insurance company to make sure to have their insurance paid for a few years.  Put a few gift cards in the glove box (with like $10k on them) for things like groceries, gas and general items.   Then, randomly give them out to the homeless or beggars on the street.  Not sure if I would do it, or hire the first few folks to help me do it.  Basically, try to positively change people's lives by giving them the tools to start.
In addition, come times like Thanksgiving or Christmas, buy out every Thanksgiving meal thing at the grocery store, buy everything on a wish tree, buy all the bicycles needed for any local bicycle drive, buy all the coats for kids, etc.  I'd figure out how to do it anonymously so it's always a surprise and doesn't fall into being "expected" every year or something. 

Although, it would be tempting to see if I can influence the federal government.  A half a million dollars to every congressperson might get me some sway to get things done......

Edit: For my car collection, it would probably be very weird.  Of course, I'd have a Porsche or two, maybe a Ferrari or two, but most of it would be collections of oddness.  Every Si made since the beginning. A collection of hot hatches from the '80's and '90's.  A full collection of micro cars (maybe start the micro car museum up again).  Maybe a few pre-war cars. 

-Rob

As I already have 160 acres out of town and far enough away from people...

I would pay off all debts I have.

Hand my siblings a million each and tell them to never ask me for more.

Look after the few things the house needs, windows, siding, shingles, doors, deck.

Build a quonset with power for vehicular storage, just gravel floor, lights, plugs for battery maintainers. Buy something better for snow removal in the winter at the farm. 

Build a decent sized, well laid out / decently equipped shop space. Big enough for a long term project and a vehicle in for maintenance and lots of space to move around. Mezzanine for parts storage, shelving for consumables, nice 2 post hoist. With windows and big doors

*Maybe* rent a studio space in town to stream out of (Starlink is great, but still gets chunky when streaming sometimes) but that adds a bunch of extra costs for minimal return unless I went to full time content creation and upped the number of ads way up to the annoying level. 

Invest 95% of the rest, put the other 5% into basic savings so its easy to access if something comes up. Probably stick out the day job for awhile, but look into traveling and seeing things and places that I have always wanted to see and experience. 

SV reX said:

Hide from my friends.

Hahaha, with this money you could legitimately go to the moon

rob_lewis said:

appropriately distributed in several banks to cover FDIC insurance.

I've had this thought, too.  With a sum this large, I wonder if it's even possible to find enough banks.

Thinking about it, I don't think I would hide from my friends. I might hire them though. 1000 acres would need a few people and a billionaire needs a posse. 

I have 0 interest in having that much money.  There is a point where it's more of a burden than a good thing.  When managing the money becomes the job, it's not fun anymore.

One of the biggest issues is knowing who is a real friend and who is a money friend.  I know some very wealthy people and most are pretty lonely, because while they do not have to work, most of the people they know do, so there is no one to hang out with on a regular basis.  It's nice to be able to just fly somewhere for 2 weeks, but you either do it by yourself, or pay for someone else to come, and that gets old quick.

It's still fun to dream about though, that's crazy money.

I'd start with a google search to figure out what national law firm is near me that handles high net worth estates, and get someone who is a partner to set it up so that I can claim it anonymously. Depending on the state, this may mean a trust, it may mean an LLC, it may require looping ownership of the LLCs... But I'd be taking every effort to avoid having my name attached to anything that is in any way attached to that jackpot.

Set up a 6-12 month exit strategy from my job. Some how make it look like I'm still working, at least for a few years.

Then I have 3-11 properties that I'd want to buy, depending on what is available when. And while 11 seems like a lot, it is really 5 spots with adjoining lots. 

I'd consider setting up an trust fund to pay for maintenance and taxes in perpetuity on the properties - I say consider, because that may be far too complex. Or it may not. I dunno. I'd be paying the estate lawyers/accountants to figure that out. I'd be asking about it.

I'd give my siblings a set number. 

I have 6-10 charities that I'd give donations to. I'm not sure how much of the overall that would be, nor am I sure when it would happen - all at once? Lump sum at once, then annually thereafter in smaller amounts? Dunno. Lots to figure out still.

And then I'd probably have a beer.

- dutifully and gladly pay the taxes
- build warehouse-sized garage, buy a drop-deck 18-wheeler to convert to a home and park it in the corner as a house.
- finish all the car projects by installing four 2-post lifts and two 4-post
- Trust/annuity
- travel.  Tons of travel.  Everywhere.  There are currently 195 countries.  I want to see at least 100 of them, and not on a bus tour with a bunch of people like me, I mean pack a backpack with my passport and a protein bar and book a flight.  Find a yurt to rent.  Shop at the local markets.  Eat meals with interesting people.
- sign up for all the classes; paint/body, welding, transmission rebuilding, French, Spanish, and voice lessons to get back to my former glory
- when I die, the trust will transfer to my nephews along with grandpa's old 125 acre farm in WV to be converted to a day-use, camping, hiking, and nature center.

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

gsettle said:

Dang Woody!

You're gonna have to learn to think bigger when you actually win

Okay.

I would like to create and fund a program that teaches inner city kids how to swim. I've been a swimmer all my life and I am as comfortable in the water as I am on dry land. It breaks my heart  when I hear about urban kids who drown while trying to cool off on hot days.

I would like to help research ways for firefighters to reduce their core temperature while fighting fires. We essentially wear snowsuits into burning buildings, and it feels almost as hot inside the gear as it is in the building. I have great difficulty cooling off once outside, even in the winter. It's a health and safety thing.

And for those who still make their living delivering the morning newspaper... I would like to buy all of you new mufflers.

Brilliant!  You need to talk to Angry Corvair. 

John Welsh said:

 

In reply to wae :

uh ok i give up?

In reply to rob_lewis :

To avoid crossing FDIC lines you'd have to open accounts in about 6000 different banks. 

SV reX said:

I had a friend go from an annual salary of $40,000 to $4,000,000 almost overnight.

There's a thread I'd love to read about. 

SV reX said:

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

I would like to help research ways for firefighters to reduce their core temperature while fighting fires. We essentially wear snowsuits into burning buildings, and it feels almost as hot inside the gear as it is in the building. I have great difficulty cooling off once outside, even in the winter. It's a health and safety thing.

Brilliant!  You need to talk to Angry Corvair. 

Pretty sure SVreX is talking about this:

childo used to treat exertional heatstroke in firefighters

which is in the ballpark but not exactly what Woody is looking for.  My vision would be a cool suit with a portable high-efficiency power pack that can be quickly recharged and easily swapped.  firefighters already wear and carry a ton of gear.  it would have to integrate with existing gear and add at most 2-3 kg to what they're already carrying.

i would volunteer to work on design and development, or adaptation of existing technology, to make this happen.  especially if the $1.7B was mine.

Just in case anyone is curious about a rough breakdown

This has annuity vs lump, federal taxes, and then a breakdown by state taxes, which you can then click through and see what the annuity payouts would look like. 

$755 Million after taxes in lump sum.

Step one, never go back to any job ever. 

Step 2 hire a full time accountant to manage the money, his pay is based off a percentage of income he makes off that $750M ($5M goes out instantly to pay certain people/things etc). 

Step iii take a month to travel.

step quattro buy the biggest baddest toy hauler that can carry 4 vehicles, full time driver. Proceed to fill up hauler with 4 of the sweetest korean b-spec cars I can build and give them to my friends to drive. 

John Welsh said:

 

Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:

Figure out what 1.73B worth of getting fat looks like?

Exactly like what $45k/yr looks like, just with better shoes

Honestly, it's a harder question than it seems. 
 

It's not about what would I buy with basically unlimited money. It's about how would I love. And the answer is, I'm not sure. 
 

So much of my identity is wrapped up in being cheap or the need to make money that I am honestly not sure how I would live if there was literally no reason to ever think about money again. 
 

I love my work, and enjoy owning a business. But part of that is because I need an income. I think running a business without and financial incentive at all would get boring quickly. 
 

I love my little house on the lake. But part of that is because it was inexpensive. It's kinda crappy in some ways. But the opposite extreme is also unappealing. If I bought a vast place with caretakers and no concerns about costs with no luxury withheld, I'd get bored of that too. 
 

I like crap can cars. But part of that is because I can't afford better ones.  And if I could avoid the best, it would be boring to live that way day to day.
 

For me, part of life is the challenge of facing the struggle from time to time. And part of that often relates to money in some way or another. 
 

Sure. I'd buy stuff. Lots of stuff. And I'd give away an awful lot.  But eventually I'm really not certain how I'd want to live if money were literally no object whatsoever. 

Start my own SPEC Kswap Prius Racing League where my friends all come over and race a fleet of turbo K swapped Prius around my personal race track.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Exactly.