Update on 10/20/18: No winner on $900M! It’s now up to $1.6B! That’s a “B” For BILLION. Staggering. And it could go up to $2B by the time of the next drawing on October 23. I didn’t bother updating the numbers below because, frankly, it just blow my mind what a single ticket winner would be able to do to help others and pay it forward with that kind of money.
Update on 10/17/18: No winner on $654M! It’s now up to $900M! Can that amount of money even be fathomed for anyone that isn’t Bill Gates? And $900M is chump change for him (he’s worth $96B). But for us regular people? Wow. Numbers in double parentheses (()) below reflect revisions based on new jackpot for the next drawing.
I haven’t done a lottery post in a while…I do them everytime the lottery post gets big, and it’s funny that my “what I’d do” list always changes in small ways. So for today, MegaMillions is up to $654M (($900M)). Take home in my state would be $282,720,000 (($354,246,000)) after taxes. What would I do (after consulting an attorney and financial planner to create an anonymous trust to pick up the money for me so we don’t have to go public as a winner)?
Straight off the top, I’d be generous to others:
1) 10% to churches ($28.3M) (($35.4M)) – likely not just my church, but a couple I’ve supported over the years. I think it would be exciting to see the programs those churches could build not only in their communities and through missions around the world.
2) 10% to charities ($28.3M) (($35.4M))- imagine what that kind of money would do to fill local food banks, help women seeking shelter from domestic abuse, children in need of basic provisions, animals who need loving care, and people whose lives are torn apart by disasters like Hurricanes Maria, Florence or Michael (just to name a few options)!
3) 8% set aside to give monetary gifts to friends/family ($22.2M) (($28.3))- that’s the most that Denis and I could give as gifts and avoid taxes on our part. And to each person we’d jointly be able to give $30,000 without that person having to pay taxes themselves. As an exciting example, Denis and I can give my sister $30K, and her husband $30K, their son $30K and their daughter $30K, and they would not have to pay taxes on that money. A tax-free gift of $120K to a family of four – how amazing is that? At $22M+ (($28M+)) we could either give money to 720 ((943)) people (not sure I know that many people well enough to give them money *lol*), or dole it out to a more select group of 100 people for at least 7 years ((9+ years)). That’s awesome. I think I’d likely do this anonymously somehow, but at some point people in our sphere would be able to piece it together and narrow it down to us. So that would be tricky if we wanted to stay somewhat anonymous. *lol*
4) Start a college scholarship fund that pays out twenty-five ((fifty)) $15,000 scholarships a year to students in need. Don’t know the parameters of how we’d determine who the scholarship winners would be, but we’d figure it out. $10M (($20M)) to initially fund the scholarship and allow it to be successful for a very, very long time.
That leaves us with just under $194M (($235M)). That’s CRAZY.
Housekeeping stuff to make sure our kids are taken care of:
5) Money set aside for each kid (and my sister’s kids while we’re at it) to go to any college they want ($1M) (($2M))
6) $10M (($20M)) trust funds for our kids, with payoffs in 1/3rds every 7 years, starting at age 35. This way they’ll be forced to finish college and figure out a career of some kind. ($20M) (($40M))
And now the fun stuff with the remaining $173M (($193M))!
7) NYC Apartment so we can go anytime and also enable our family and friends to go anytime as well ($5M)
8) New cars – you know I’m upgrading my 2005 Hyundai Elantra the first chance I get. And with the kids about to start driving, they’d probably want their own cars as well. What car would I get if budget as no problem? I’d actually probably take over the Toyota Highlander that Denis is currently driving, and let him get a new vehicle of his choice. But I’d put in a custom stereo and convert the moonroof to a sunroof. Other than that, the Toyota is a sweet, sweet ride. The kids would still be required to get “regular” cars – no souped up specialty cars for them (they can buy those when they are older and on their own). But for Denis – the car world would be his oyster. ($200K)
9) I’ve always dreamed of buying acreage (5 acres? 10 acres? 20 acres?) and building a lovely dream home – not sure if it would be in SC, or wherever we’re thinking of retiring (since there’s no guarantee we’d want to retire in SC), but I’d set aside $10M to buy land and build a dream house somewhere.
10) Vacation planning here we come – come summer time, we’d splurge on a 3-month trip to travel the world. London, Paris, Rome, Prague, Munich! Iceland and Switzerland and Sweden! You name it, we’d go there. No idea how much that would cost, but it would have to be a lot ($1M between airfare, hotels, and spending money for four people).
Would I continue working? Certainly not a 40-hour-a-week desk job, but I’d try to do something. I once thought that I’d buy acreage to start an animal rescue with a mix of paid staff and volunteers, but the rescue would also have an all-in-one vet, grooming, and kennel business that is open to the public at prices anyone can afford. The profits from that business would go to help the local community. I think that’s a cool idea, and if I won the lottery I’d shell out $5M to see if I could make it happen somehow. And I think Denis would love to try opening a bar/restaurant. $2M at most for that venture.
What’s left after that? A whopping $150M (($170M)). Invest the rest, and assuming 4% annual interest earnings equaling $6M (($6.7M)), we’d have more than enough each year to continue giving to others, helping friends and family, and enjoying life along the way.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
