What Would You Do First If You Won $300 Million In The Lottery?

[Dinger]

With the money that is.

[LibraLiz1973]

1. Help some friends, help some people I don't know

Nothing crazy

[Dinger]

2. I'd Make A Helluva Donation To DU, For Starters

[BulletproofLandshark]

3. Buy houses for my parents and siblings

And then start building my dream house

[reyd reid reed]

4. I'd build a house big enough for my family to live in without tripping all over each other....

then I'd go down to the city utilities and see about paying off all the past-due accounts and bringing people who are at risk of disconnection current. Then I'd do some research at the County Clerk's office and pay off some people's mortgages who were at risk of foreclosure.

Oh, and I'd like to set up some kind of literacy program.

All under the condition of anonymity.

[Bullwinkle925]

5. Gosh - it's so unbelievable - I'll have to think about that ........

Give away the home I'm in now to a needy family. Buy my daughter a home of her own. Build my dream home.
Send some needy bright kids through college. Send my fat arse to a health spa. Donate, donate, donate.

[AlCzervik]

6. buy my Nana a new place with no stairs.

[SPKrazy]

9. That's Sweet!

very sweet!

:hug:

[AlCzervik]

10. she's the best person i have ever known, her and my Granpa Irv.

:hi:

[SPKrazy]

14. That's neat!

I wasn't ever close to my grandparents really. We visited one set quite a bit, but it was always just a couple of weeks a year really. They were both really kind of nervous around kids, and my dad's parents we hardly ever saw. Now they are all deceased.

My mother was my son's "Nana" and she loved my son so much, he was her only grandchild. She died of ovarian cancer in Oct. 2005. She had it from one month before he was born and lived to see him start Kindergarten, her 70th birthday, and her 50th wedding anniversary. All three were things that were her "goals" for her survival since they didn't give her really more than a couple of years after diagnosis.

:hug:

[AlCzervik]

16. aww, she sounds like she was a wonderful person.

My mothers parents were the ones that weren't very good around children but my fathers parents were really wonderful, Granpa Irv died about 2 1/2 years ago and honestly he was the rock in my life and Nana has always been like the bibbidy bobbidy boo fairies out of Disney's Cinderella. I have no idea how they ended up with such a shithead for a son. After my email exchange and follow up phone call with him today i am convinced he was switched at birth.

[Goblinmonger]

7. Shit my pants.

Then I'd call a lawyer and call the financial planner person we know that I trust.

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. Pay off my mortgage, fund the triplets' college education.

Retire, which I probably cannot do until I am 70. Which is 13 years away and my job is so fucking stressful that I am not certain that I can hold out.

Then I'd look to see what I had after taxes to play with to donate.

[stuntcat]

11. buy a farm

I've thought this through. In detail. A lot follows the farm but it is #1 :D

[SacredCow]

12. Regurgitate.....

Can you imagine knowing that you have a little slip of paper worth a fortune, and what many would do to you to relieve you of it? I'd be a frigging basket case in a matter of hours....

On edit- with the money? Probably ensure financial over-security for my son....

[Hosnon]

13. Hire a fancy financial adviser. NT.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. Pay the bills.

Then I'd fix up the house, and probably buy the one on the corner to live in while this one's under construction.
I wouldn't quit working, but I'd be a lot more selective about the types of gigs I took.

Well that was a fun little fantasy.

[Ariana Celeste]

17. finish payment on my moms house.

then i'd pay back my SO's mom for bailing us out of jail and paying for our lawyer.

i have various friends and family members i would do whatever i could to help out.

all of that before blowing some on myself, making some donations, and investing the rest.

[kedrys]

18. First? Buy an accountant, a tax lawyer, a doctor and a judge

Then I'd pay off all my crap, all my parents' stuff, all my sister's stuff, and all my in-laws' stuff. Then I'd set them all up to be comfortable and do whatever they want for as long as they live - which should be longer with $$$ to get real medical care.

Then travel, buy property, hang out, have the BIGGEST party DU has EVER seen, and carry on silly.

After that, not really sure. :)

Oh, quitting my job was in there somewhere. :P

[Dr Fate]

26. Yup- that is pretty much it. n/t

n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Pay off my debts...

buy a condo downtown, start college funds for my nieces and nephews, give lots of money to lots of worthy causes, and travel, partly for fun and partly as a volunteer.

[Jamastiene]

20. Buy this land where I live now and start

looking for a contractor to build my storm shelter/root cellar. I've always wanted a nice hiding place/underground music studio. After that, I'd build a nice little cabin above the storm shelter/root cellar/underground music studio with a skylight for gazing at the moon while I write songs and howl.

[hyphenate]

21. The first thing I'd do

is figure out exactly how much of the money I'd get after taxes and everything.

Two, find an accountant.
Three, find a lawyer.

I figure that you would get $125,000,000 after the government was through with it. I'd put $100 million away in investments and stuff, and live quite contentedly on the other $25 million.

Things that would be priorities to me: homes wherever I wanted to live, for me and my family; nice automobiles; the best health care possible; travel.

Things that would be priorities to me outside of my needs and desires, would include: political causes; animal rights; environmental causes; women's rights; the defeat of the troglodytes in government and the triumph of Democrats in all branches of government. :)

I think my main occupation would be as a TV producer after that, helping to find good scripts, pay for making pilots and trying to be an executive producer of some quality programming. My goal would be to get Emmy nominations and eventually, wins. My hope is to sometime in the not so distant future to get up on the stage holding my Emmy and make a politically charged speech. And after that, to thank all my enemies for giving me the desire to go on and make something of myself because the "best revenge" is "living well." :D

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. What would I do with the money?

Set up trust funds for my grandchildren.......

I have some good friends who could use some big bucks......

They would get whatever they needed, and pronto...

Figure out which charities were the most worthy, and set up to fund them indefinitely....

Travel, party, and like that too......

[Strawman]

23. Splurge on a vacation

Get the hell out of town and lay low for awhile, then take some time to decide what to do.

[grannylib]

24. 10% off the top for church/charity, split between my favorite Lutheran

seminary and college (fund to pay tuition for those who couldn't afford it otherwise, or to help pay back loans for those out of school), Habitat for Humanity, and several other causes I've longed to support

[Nicole]

25. Call my financial adviser

and get him to come over for a meeting. In the past I've always went to his office. It would be nice to have him come here for a change, which I'm sure he would do for that kind of money.

As for buying stuff, I would buy all my immediate family members new houses.

[EFerrari]

27. I would pay my vet.

:rofl:

[Initech]

28. Buy a wall map of the globe, throw darts at it, then go to those places.

And assuming I hit the ocean, I would go to the nearest major city.

And then when I got back, I'd do the same thing again.

[Evoman]

29. Buy a night with Paris Hilton.

Then I'd spend the other 399,999,998.

I'll tell you what I WOULDN'T do...buy a house and buy a bunch of shit to put in it. That kind of money means freedom to me...with that kind of money, you DON"T HAVE TO make investments like houses. Why get freedom, and then waste it by encumbering yourself?

[wildhorses]

30. pay off all my and my immediate family's debt.

start trust funds for the kids. buy up the reamining 30-40 acres around me. build my dream house nothing outrageous...about 2800 sq ft.

contribute liberally to my favorite charities..cancer, diabetes and hiv

buy my dream horse and my dream ski boat

and TRAVEL THE WORLD!!!

[BlueIris]

31. 1) Nice, serviceable used minivan, (to move the contents of my rented room elsewhere)

1A) Better health coverage, 2) Some new pants/shoes, 3) See a better dentist, 4) Condo, 5) There are some DUers I know who need some assistance so they can make a fresh start and begin living out their true lives on this earth, (lildreamer, I'm looking at you--and that house you want for your family) 6) I promised a blogger friend of mine that if I won the lottery I'd give him money to continue his quest to rid the world of fascism/preserve real history. Oh, yeah, and my family needs some stuff.

[QMPMom]

32. Give a large chunk to my neighbors, my sisters, parents and

nephew. My husband has already decreed that if we are ever so lucky that his sister and her kids get nothing. I'd then make a large donation to a charity I would love to support but don't have the funds to do so now. Then we move.

[leftofthedial]

33. take a nap

[Random_Australian]

34. Wait until the taxman was done with it, then give 90% odd to charity.

I wouldn't keep more than $30,000 of it. The rest I would give in large segments to the needy in my family and on DU.

[krispos42]

35. Hire a tax lawyer and a financial advisor

So I don't screw something up!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

36. Quit my job ...

and tell them to kiss my black booty. Because I am tired of my team and I working hard and always getting the shaft.

[conscious evolution]

37. Start another Summer of Love

[Justpat]

92. Why don't we do this anyway?

I'm up for it.

:hi:

[Burma Jones]

38. Register Republican and stop associating with you proles

:sarcasm:

[Saphire]

39. go to Tahiti and then decide what to do next.

[crim son]

40. Take down the "For Sale" sign in front of my house.

Buy a new car to replace my piece of crap. Look into ways to help the homeless & battered women/children in our town.

[BarenakedLady]

41. Hire a lawyer

And then get the ball rolling.

[donheld]

86. Where do you find a lawyer for that type of thing

:shrug: I've always wondered about that.

[BarenakedLady]

91. Hehe

I didn't mean a lawyer to handle my money. ;)

[NewJeffCT]

42. Make sure my relatives are taken care of for life

Then, I'd probably have a very environmentally friendly house built for my immediate family (wife & daughter)

Buy some property outside the US

Make sure DU can get a server upgrade to handle those high traffic times without sacrificing any service...

Donate to my favorite charities and to some prominent progressive Democrats.

[NashVegas]

43. Buy the Company I Work For

and fire the incompetents running it.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

51. Right on!!!

:thumbsup:

[MissMillie]

44. give everyone in my immediate family $5 million

except for my kid. He's already proven he doesn't know how to manage money. I'll definitely help him out, but he won't see any actual cash for a very long time.

[noonwitch]

45. Pay my mom back a penny over the total I owe her

The penny is to be a bitch.

[TheBaldyMan]

46. become ginormously fat. I'd eat and drink my way into an early grave.

[NewWaveChick1981]

47. Pay off everything I owe.

Second, I would quit my job. :)

[RFKHumphreyObama]

48. Put aside some money for a loved one's ongoing medical treatment

Make sure that my dad and my sister and BIL are looked after

I'll probably try and give some money to my aunt and my cousin's children

Donate some money to my favorite charities. I'd probably give some money to my Church and my political organization

I'd try to set myself up financially

Then I'd give myself a holiday enjoying the places in the world I wanted to see

[guitar man]

49. Quit this damn job

and contact an investment firm. It should pay enough interest and divedend income where I would never have to touch the 300 mil and my family could live quite comfortably. :)

[Justpat]

50. Buy a farm, breed some great horses

and contribute to liberal causes as much as possible.

[havocmom]

52. There would be some good, safe housing for some college kids

with low rents further discounted for good grades. When they graduated, they would get a surprise of all rent payments + interest as a parting gift as they go off to the working world.

My daughter's rent would be paid up for however long it takes her to decide where she wants to buy a home as her base of operations. She and I might take a trip to Ireland.

Havocdad and I would have an orchard, and a bigger garden. Havocdad would do some fly-fishing a couple years earlier than planned and I would be the darling of the local DEM headquarters in the area we are planning to move to.

There would be some gifts to a couple groups that work to actually EDUCATE kids.

There might be a couple more dogs in the household too.

Edited to add: Havocdad will need a beater truck to get him to where he can fish ;) Maybe a new ice chest and lots of champaign

[NMDemDist2]

53. buy a new car

hire a green architect for my new house

[BreweryYardRat]

54. Buy a private island and build a nice house for me and my dad.

And, of course, pick up a boat.

[Pacifist Patriot]

55. Retain an attorney

[dysfunctional press]

56. move to hawaii, and buy one of these-

1959 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible

[grace0418]

57. Figure out the most creative way to quit my job. My latest idea is that I would

go into the office in the middle of the night (assuming I found out about the win in the evening) and completely clear out my cube as if I was never there. Then when they call to ask why I didn't show up for work, act like I had no idea who they were.

Can you tell I fantasize about this a lot?

[mcscajun]

67. That's brilliant. Ten points out of ten for style.

:hi:

[grace0418]

81. Thank you. Thank you.

I have tons of different ways I've thought about. That one seems like the trippiest though. Now if only that would come true. I suppose I actually would have to start by buying a lottery ticket.

[mcscajun]

84. Yup. Buying a ticket will actually improve your odds tremendously.

from 0 in nearly unattainable to 1 in nearly unattainable. That's a Huge Leap. :)

I feel the same way; I'd love to win, but haven't made a habit of buying tickets. I buy them only sporadically.

[ThomCat]

58. Find reasonably safe places to invest it

and spend the rest of my life giving away as much of the interest as I could to good causes. The interest alone would be at least a few million per year.

[northzax]

59. take a two-month long leave of absence from work

and blow the whole thing on hookers, booze, drugs and gambling. I figure that will take three weeks, the next week is for the hangover, the last month is for rehab.

then it's back to the grind.

[SPKrazy]

60. Get A Lawyer, An Investor, A Tax Accountant, and a Publicist

and I'd hire all of them before I ever claimed the lottery ticket... and it would all be done in a very controlled manner and no one would know I'd won except the people I chose to tell and the above named hired hands because otherwise one has a disaster on their hands.

Money does weird things to people who otherwise might have cared about each other. Greed, lust for money, is the root of all evil, not money itself.

[KamaAina]

61. Set up a foundation for NOLA

Even leaving aside a generous amount to support myself in the manner to which I would soon become accustomed, :-) the rest of that pile would generate at least $10 million a year in interest income. That is considered pretty good money in, as Bush** would put it, "that part of the world".

edit: considereed? Anything like fricasseed?

[supernova]

62. Take a vacation

for maybe a month or six weeks and while away decide how I'd like to handle the money. I've often thought it would go something like this for me:

1/3 Charitable foundation focusing on the arts in my community (the arts aren't just entertaining for me, they are life-giving)

1/3 Money for the rest of my life (house, pension, estate and tax planning etc)

1/3 ????? Don't know yet

[bigwillq]

63. Hire a financial adviser/lawyer.

And then go on vacation.

[philosophie_en_rose]

64. QUIT. MY. JOB. DRAMATICALLY.

Actually, first I'd cash the check and deposit the money. Then, I'd quit.

I like the people that I work with, so I would bring in a bunch of treats and supplies that the office doesn't supply. Then, I'd say how much I like them, but that I'm movin' on up!

:P

I'd then immediately retire my parents and grandparents. They will never, ever need to work again.

Not sure about anyone else. I suppose I'd give something fancy to the siblings and spawn of siblings, but that would be secondary.

The terrier trio, however, will get a wider dog door installed. So that they don't head butt each other trying to get in and out at the same time. :)

Other than that, I'd pay off my student loans and save the rest. I'd probably give the condo up and buy a house somewhere.

[S n o w b a l l]

65. Get a boob job, botox, a nose job and liposuction...

just kidding...I don't need a boob job.

[mcscajun]

66. There wouldn't be a member of my family who owed a single debt.

That would be the very first order of business.

Then I'd bulldoze this ancient wreck of a house I live in and donate the land to the town as a pocket park or community garden. :)

There'd be some major charitable doings and other things, but you did ask what I'd do first, and charity begins at home, it just shouldn't end there. :hi:

[GoneOffShore]

68. Buy an apartment in Paris.

[Twillig]

83. Get one in Monaco. No taxes, you know. (n/t)

[GoneOffShore]

89. Yeah, but it's Monaco. That Grand Prix thing and the casinos.

Besides, if you win the lottery you're going to worry about taxes?

:shrug:

[Missy Vixen]

69. Consult a lawyer

Form a trust. Receive the money through the trust. Most likely pay off our house.

Julie

[MichiganVote]

70. First, buy the professionals. Second, fun. Third, determine a few pet projects

Fourth, more fun. Fifth, sloth...very serious sloth. Sixth, opportunity to make politicians salivate. Seventh, travel. Eighth, housing, lots of housing. Ninth, rub shit in the noses of crappy family members by rewarding the family members I like. Tenth, the environment...its the way and the money of the future.

[AZBlue]

71. Pay the Student Loan people and tell them to GO TO H*LL!!!

Then, I'd get both me and my parents homes and cars. I'd make sure my mom went to the doctor and got some of her health issues attended to (she's not old enough for social security yet and has no insurance). I'd help some family members and friends who need a financial boost. I'd open an animal sanctuary. I'd hire a personal trainer to help me lose weight (I have quite a bit to lose). I'd find some other worthwhile causes to support and I'd start a foundation or two for some of my pet causes (including senior care, animals and adult literacy).

Then, the next day... ;)

[Ava]

72. set up college funds for my siblings and I

:hi:

[Gatchaman]

73. I'd buy www.freerepublic.com

and turn it into a she-male porno site.

[driver8]

74. Pay off my mortgage, all of my family's mortgages, put money

away for college for my children and all my nieces and nephews.

I would quit my job, also.

[Kat45]

75. Give a huge amount to my church so we won't have to sell the building

We're looking into merging with another church so we can keep being a church community, but it will never be the same. Particularly sad that this happens to progressive churches like mine.

[ContraBass Black]

76. Quit my job and spend the extra time on school.

[Truthiness Inspector]

77. Set up an animal sanctuary

On a large piece of land where the animals could live out their lives in peace.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

78. Take everyone on DU Lounge to dinner!!

[XemaSab]

79. Sit down with a financial advisor

and figure out how to use it to make more money indefinitely. :D

[Shell Beau]

80. I don't know what I'd do first, but I know that I would

1. Give!!!
2. Save!!
3. Spend!

In that order!

[WCGreen]

82. Get me a couple of real 'spensive hoes and some peruvian flake and the

presidential suite at the local Ritz Charlton....

And act like a rock star...

Then, invest it all in munitions factories and Pharmacuticals......

[Courtesy Flush]

85. Humor is lost on some people

We had this discussion at work. I said if I won that kind of money I'd spring for new seat covers for my truck. A co-worker stupidly said "But you could buy a whole truck what that much money". But I don't remember her ever getting a joke the whole time we worked together.

[donheld]

87. Give $1 million to my 18 co-workers and make them quit

the hell-hole that is outsourcing their jobs, for a start.

[seemunkee]

88. Travel

For about a year.

[hippiechick]

90. give most of it away ...

... I'd be happy with $2-3M to live on for the rest of my life.

[dropkickpa]

93. burst into tears.

Then buy a life size statue of a brontosaurus constructed solely of peeps.

[blockhead]

94. I'd buy a new ass.

Mine has a crack in it.:)

[ganeshji]

95. I would take steps to insure my family would never see any of it.

I know that sounds harsh, but they have proven that they are financially responsible. At least, that has always been their justification for not helping me out when I've desperately needed it. They have stated many times that "it's not about the money." I would see if that's true. Then I would give money to the causes I care about like homeless pets and people, hungry people, AIDS research and making medicine and treatment more available and accessible, making more clean water available, electing liberal candidates, the sick people of Bhopal, women's shelters, my sponsored kids in Calcutta, literacy initiatives, I could go on and on.

[ileus]

96. buy a robotic pool cleaner.

[leftyclimber]

97. Pay off my student loans.

And then with the rest of it, I would buy a candy bar and a Coke.

[RedStateShame]

98. Pay back my college loans in 1-dollar bills with obscenities written on each one.

[azmouse]

99. Pay off my house before I completely lost my mind

and did something really stupid with the money!

[Zavulon]

100. Get a good accountant and keep as much of it as possible out of Bush's hands.

I don't mind paying my fair share for government, but I insist on getting value for my money. I'm certainly not now.

[jmowreader]

101. Start a company and hire Drug War victims to work there

I'd first have to find a very creative way to get canned from my current position. Passing out kaegogi (Korean grilled dog) recipes to people whose dogs dig their way out from under their fences would probably do it. "Your dog gets out of the yard? Only one way to solve the problem. Here ya go, sir. Cook him and eat him, and you won't have that problem anymore."

The only problem with that plan is that this IS Fayetteville, and these crazy bastards might actually try it.

I would then work to solve one of the major problems facing America today: the fact that people who get tossed in prison for simple possession of marijuana have a hard time finding suitable employment after they have served the state. We can most certainly figure out something for newly-emancipated weedheads that would be intellectually stimulating, financially rewarding and beneficial to society...and that doesn't involve selling pot to attempt to make ends meet, which works only until the government catches you doing it.

Oh, and I'd also do the other basic shit--pay off the house, buy a nicer one, give some to charity, some to relatives, buy a car that the driver's side door handle works on...

[LSK]

102. how much can I send to the DNC, DSCC and DCCC????

:shrug:

Might also help AAR with their debts too.

[Muddie]

103. The money?

Hopefully I can buy my way out of college. :p Haha
But mainly, I'd get a house for my family, and then use the extra money for college for the kids.

[Q3JR4]

104. I would pay off all of my debts

and all of my parent's debt and tear down their old home build them a new one. I'd probably buy myself a house that was small enough to be comfortable to live in but big enough that I could have guests over when I wanted. I'd then invest the rest of the money in such a way that I could continue to draw enough money to support myself and my parents for the rest of our lives (or as closely to that goal as I could).

Then I'd commit myself to working full time with various non-profits in the state who's work I agreed with.