Thursday 30 May 2013

Jon Bear Journal: What would you do if you won the lottery?


 
 
Recently the United States had a Power Ball Jackpot of 600 million dollars where one winning ticket was sold in Florida.  While some lucky person or family now has both the means to indulge their material desires and the stresses that can be part of winning such a lottery prize, most of us are left with a ticket that’s a dud and our thoughts about what we would have liked to do with that kind of money.  I can be a bit of a “dreamer” sometimes so I can get a little lost in my thoughts while fantasizing about a financial windfall like that.    Keeping in perspective that money does not buy happiness it is still kind of fun to talk about it with a friend when you’re holding that ticket in your hand the night before a record drawing.
 

So what would you do?  Or better yet, what do you think you’d do?  As I imagine the fantasy never translates perfectly to the reality.   First of all I would get (hopefully a good) financial advisor before I cashed in my ticket and accepted the lump sum payout.  With a $600 million dollar jackpot that would leave me with approx. 258 million dollars after taxes.  Being a New York State resident, my tax burden would be greater than any other state in the country. >.<  I still love New York anyway.
http://www.usamega.com/mega-millions-jackpot.asp *lotto prize payout and tax info*

In first deciding how I would share the wealth if I had the sole winning ticket I would have to consider that I have kind of made a pact with God where I said, “God If I ever win such a prize that I promise to give about half of it away”.  After all, if I couldn’t live the rest of my life comfortably on ohhh 130 million dollars (not to mention the interest it would make) then perhaps I never deserved it in the first place.  Never mind the fact that the good Lord has probably got those prayers for winning millions of dollars on the back burner.   The $128 million dollars I had to give out to others would be dispersed something as follows.

15 million:  To Mom (thanks Mom hopefully that pays off part of the debts I owe you) =)

45 million: 15 million to each of my siblings and their families.  Hopefully with the astronomical cost of a college education that money will be enough to get my nephew through college in 16 years.  I think my niece who is entering college this year will be taken care of at least.

10 million:  To my best friend and his wife and son.  I don’t see myself throwing around a bunch of money to my friends over the years, but my best friend is like a brother to me, so he and his family would have to get a goodly sum.

6 million:  2 million each to be given to my 2 Aunt’s and 1 Uncle’s families.  They could all use an extra 2 million I would guess and then they could decide how they might like to spread it out between my cousins and their families.

10 million: To my co-workers who get in with me on the group tickets that we buy for that Jackpot. That is assuming I won on a ticket I purchased separate from the group of course. 

10 million: 5 million to each of my undergraduate and graduate college programs

14 million: To be dispersed among the other friends I choose.  Carlyn girl might get a little so we can get an even fancier website.  Not that this one isn’t the best ever already!

18 million: To be dispersed between the charities I choose.  I think that I would like to find an Education related charity, a Health related charity, a Science related charity, and a History related Charity and a Poverty/Humanitarian related charity of my choosing.

I’m not the best at Maths  but I think that makes up the 128 I promised I’d share right off the top.  Now for the fun part!  A few things I might like to buy for myself.  =P

I would like a Tuscan Inspired Mansion.  For some reason I love the look.  The only potential problem I have is that a lot of Tuscan designs are for warm weather areas.  I think I would still wish to live in a Northeastern U.S. state.  I’m also not keen on owning multiple homes.  I figure if I ever get lucky enough to own a multi-million dollar mansion that I better spend a lot of time there.   I’m sure with the right money though, someone could custom design one for me that would stand up to the Northeastern Winters.
 

 
I wouldn’t have a fleet of cars, but one Jaguar and one Audi would be nice. >.<
 
 

Season tickets to see the New York Mets at Citi Field would also be great, but I would likely donate my luxury box seats to a charity for ill children for half of those games.
 

I do enjoy travelling to exotic places.  Well, at least I imagine I do, as I don’t know that I have really been to any “exotic” location unless parts of Florida count as exotic?  I would probably take a big vacation once every few years and one place I would definitely love to go is to this underwater resort (The Poseidon Resort) in the Fiji Islands.   I do love the cold weather, but every once in a while the soul yearns for an escape on some Island adventure right?
 
 

So that’s a little portion of what I might do with my millions.  Now if I ever do win I might have to get Carlyn to edit out some of this blog post.  Just to get rid of any evidence of the things I promised to do.  I would do it myself, but I might be employing professional blog writers to make my posts at that point. >.<

10 comments:

  1. That's all very generous Jon. If I had to give away half a fortune, I would give it to charities and worthy causes. The money that I would give to friends and family would come from my share.

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  2. That would be extremely kind Carlyn. I think/ at least I would hope that I would continue to give to charities from my remaining portion over the years. I would be dilligent and involved in the charities I chose though to make sure that what ever contributions I made were not wasteful. The more money you have to make interest on or invest soundly would also allow for potentially more money to donate to worthy causes over the years or start my own charitable organization.

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  3. wow New York has high tax...
    if I won the lottery honestly I'd want to keep it all for myself. but to live wealthy by yourself is no fun so I guess I'll be spending it the right way like you do! travelling sounds really good :D

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  4. Haha Prisilia! =) That's very honest. I'm sure you would help people out if you won too. Where would you like to travel?

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  5. If ever i do win the lottery. I will probably spend it on charities too. And then travelling so I can eventually write a book. And some photography equipment and expensive photography classes so I can be a good photographer. I'll most probably use the money to help me achieve my dreams as being rich isn't really one of my dreams. hehehehe

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  6. That is very wise lle. Pursuing and achieving your dreams will go a lot further in bringing you happiness than wealth ever will. Of course, those are the words of a poor man (me) lol, so take it with a grain of salt. >.<

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  7. wow you are so nice xD give almost all the money to people you love xD what about give me some too? xD

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  8. that would be really awesome! and omg that bedroom's view is too prettyyy <3

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  9. This is the golden question! My aunt won a significant amount of money from the lottery and she decided to invest some of it in a retirement fund and stocks. She opted to receive cash for structured settlement payments for her winnings, and she paid down her debts as well.

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  10. Inge: I won't say how much >.< but SURE.. if I win that much money, you can have some. =P And haha.. it's always easier to say.. "oh I'd do such and such"... before I won the money, so I'm not sure I deserve to be called nice until after I win. =P

    Mitha: awesome might even be an understatement! =D that hotel in Fiji looks amazing... soooo OVERLY indulgent.. but amazing! Perhaps I'd be better off buying a few nights there for someone who might not ordinarily get that luxury if I won? (not that I would ordinarily get that luxury... haha)

    Delores: wow... I'm happy for your Aunt. That's great! The structured settlements are intriguing but you never know how the tax burden will change over the years. It's easier to invest when you get the lump sum and get the taxes out of the way in one fell swoop. Paying down debts is the way to go! =)

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