Lottery Dreams!

I used to post lottery dreams all the time when the jackpots got big.  Haven't done it in a while, so I thought I'd start off 2011 with a nice little lottery dream since MegaMillions is set for $290M for tomorrow's drawing.   And yes, I believe Denis bought a ticket for us.  I'm assuming the take home lump sum would be about 50% (can't verify that since I can't access my lottery website right now) – which is $145M.  Wow.  That's crazy.

1. Divide $15M tithe between three churches: ours here in Charlotte, our old church in NJ, and a start-up church also in NJ that we've supported financially in the past.
2. Divide $15M among various charities, including Compassion International, World Vision, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, American Cancer Society, Samaritan's Purse, and various other local/regional charities, just to name a few.
3. $6M trust funds each for CG, CB, our nephews Peter & Andrew, as well as our nephew Jesse and our niece Molly.  To be paid in thirds on their 25th, 30th and 35th birthdays (total: $36M).
4. College funds fully funded for CG, CB, Peter, Andrew, Jesse and Molly (total: $4-5M).
5. Create $1M scholarship funds at Denis's college and my college
6. Buy homes for Denis's sister's family (or pay off mortgage if they want to stay where they are), Denis's brother (should he desire to do leave where he is), and my sister's family
7. Pay off our debts as well as all debts of of my parents, my sister's family, Denis's brother and his sister's family< Once those are done, then it's time to have some fun! 8. $12K gifts to various extended family members and friends (that's the max we can give in any one year without those people having to pay taxes on the gift). 9. Buy a place in New York City and move back there permanently. 10. BIG celebration vacation for the extended families. 11. Invest in my mom's business so she can really knock it out of the park. We'd still end up with about $58-60M to invest and use to live off the interest.  Presume only a 3% interest return, and that's about $1.8M each year we'd have to live on without even touching the $60M.  At that rate, we'd still have plenty each year to splurge on more gifts to family/friends, and more donations to churches/charities.  That's amazing.  And scary.  And wow. I used to dream about using lottery money to own real estate all over the world.  A place in NYC!  A beachfront home in Hawaii!  A castle in Scotland!  50 private acres in the country!  But I don't wish for that anymore.  Over the past few years I've changed, and now I'd much rather the money be used on PEOPLE than PLACES.  I mean, each of those first seven items listed above (eight if you count the first item on the "fun" list) is giving to people in some way, whether it's giving to churches and charities or helping family/friends.  And the benefit of winning the lottery is that I'd be able to quit working and spend my days volunteering and giving back to the community in which I live, as well as being home when CG and CB get out of school each day.  THAT would be very cool. Happy dreaming!

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