If I had a billion dollars I would...

Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Snorting his way across the USA
1. Buy Facebook
2. Ban me me's
3. ?
 
buy new socks without holes in them. also, I'd overindulge in a couple of other things that I can't seem to think of right now...
 
I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend who works in securities.
 
Get an experienced lawyer that knows how to to handle big money then….
Pay off my niece & nephew’s medical school bills
Put $5m into quality securities for me
Put $5m into trust for my cousin who has severe medical issues
Endow chairs at the 3 universities I attended ($500K each)
Set up computer science scholarships at same 3 schools
Set up aviation/ aerospace scholarships at my current university
Donate $5m to the band at one of those schools
Donate half billion to charities (list TBD)
Build a new building for the computer science dept at my current university with sufficient office space, labs and independent network so the school’s IT dept has NO input or control and we can finally teach our students.
Donate $5m to local animal shelters
Whatever is left .. taxes, more charities, maybe a new cirrus….
 
kyleb said:
Create the hookers and blow version of Willie Wonka's factory.
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I would like to change my answer to "buy ALL the golden ticket chocolate bars"
 
Sac has a Bare Naked Ladies song on perma repeat?
 
I always thought I'd have myself a nice turbine helicopter and learn how to fly it if I ever won a lottery... but then I think most lotteries of a million or two probably wouldn't be enough to keep that sort of hobby going for long. Yeah, a billion would probably do it....
 
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build a 300 knot, 1200 mile range, 6 seat, vtol, autonomous, hybrid electric bio-diesel, biplane, that you don’t need pressurization or oxygen masks to fly. Or a license either I guess, since it’s autonomous. But I might need a billion from one or two of you other folks to make it happen…..
 
Buy a second or third tier EFL football team and try and get promoted…yes I like soccer that much.
 
I’d buy Mooney. Then I’d buy a Staggerwing, a 195, a Beech 18, a Beaver, and an Aerostar. Then…I’d buy a small refinery.
 
I'd take a couple of days off work. And probably buy an airplane. A slow piston single, so as to reduce the likelihood of becoming one of those guys that gets their checkbook ahead of their skill. Maybe a Cherokee 6. A nice reliable aircraft. Not a k-car.
 
In 1980 I got suckered into attending what turned out to be an Amway recruiting meeting. There was a speaker and an audience of maybe 50, assembled in a huge mansion-like house in California.

The speaker’s agenda began with an effort to stir feelings of greed and excitement about getting rich, before telling you that this was all about Amway, which sold soap and similar mundane household supplies, in one of the earliest multi-level marketing schemes. He didn’t want you to know about selling soap until he got you excited and dropped your defenses. One of his schticks to excite you was to point at the gorgeous house and ask isn’t this great, what lots of money can buy? followed by asking the audience breathlessly “what’s the biggest thing you would do with a billion dollars!”

Audience members took the bait and shouted that with a billion dollars they would buy things like a big boat, or a private jet. I just shook my head at the silliness.

They had no idea about numbers, no idea that a billion dollars was at least 100-fold more than the cost of their dream back then.
 
There is a thought exercise tossed out by one of the time management guys, probably more than one, that was to ask the question "what would you do with a million dollars", that then led to the question "why wouldn't you do whatever that is now?" Now in some sense, silly things, it might not work. But if "quit your job" was on the list, then that asks the question "if you're not happy doing what you're doing now for a living, why are you doing it?" Along the lines of life is what happens while you're planning for it.

I've done a version of that, what would I like to do when I retire, and instead do some of those things now. It's actually how I got started flying, more or less. The argument being "why not now?"

As to a billion vs a million, I think it's because a million really isn't as much as it was in the 70's, when these exercises were tossed out. I can't quit my job for a million dollars, or relocate across the country, not without other concessions. Even in charity, what's a million? Applied properly, could be a huge win for a lot of people and causes, but it's not going to make a dent in existing large programs.
 
Buy a smattering of thousand acre ranches across the US and Canada and go for the Super Slam. All 29 big game species in North America.

5 different deer species, 3 different elk, 3 moose, 5 Caribou, 4 bear, mountain lion, musk ox, bison, mountain goat, pronghorn, and 3 different rams. I've currently got 4 of the 29.
 
Warlock said:
Buy a second or third tier EFL football team and try and get promoted…yes I like soccer that much.
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Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhaney are doing just that. And filming it for a tv. Welcome to Wrexham. It isn't bad.
 
1. Pay off my mortgage
2. Put $1.0 mil in a trust fund for my niece and nephew.
3. Buy a reasonable airplane
4. Buy one of those super deluxe Sprinter vans and hire a fellow to drive me to/from work
5. Put about $50 mil aside
6. Donate the rest to the ASPCA
 
Get a 3rd class medical
Get my PPL
Get my IFR ticket

Anything left over goes into investments, charity, and a nice, small piston single.
 
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I would buy all the lottery tickets, so I can be sure to win big!
 
A couple weeks ago, I heard on the radio about a survey that asked what would you do if you won the lottery. I was surprised that the #1 answer was "leave my spouse".
 
lsaway said:
A couple weeks ago, I heard on the radio about a survey that asked what would you do if you won the lottery. I was surprised that the #1 answer was "leave my spouse".
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That's because their ultimate goal is to turn a large fortune into a small one.
 
lsaway said:
A couple weeks ago, I heard on the radio about a survey that asked what would you do if you won the lottery. I was surprised that the #1 answer was "leave my spouse".
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Then you’re down to a couple hundred mil at most, after taxes, the divorce split, and lawyers. If it would be worth that much to be rid of them, then why not do it now, when it would be so much cheaper?

My wife and I have had the “large lottery win” discussion a few times. Yeah, with a billion we’d make a few lifestyle changes. For starters we’d move to a state with no state income tax (and be very vocal about it to our current state). The money saved would pay for frequent trips back to see the kids and grandkids. There would be more travel - much more. Then there would be a trust fund so that our descendants would not be able to live the life of spoiled a*****e idle rich, but would at least have an education and some help when they need it.

A billion dollars would allow us to do everything we wanted and never touch the principal. I don’t think we’d make some grand gesture large donations up front; we’d be able to donate tens of millions every year and not even feel it.
 
...wear drop-flap underwear to work the day after I got the money.

Nauga,
and his exit briefs
 
Get a low deductible health insurance policy.

—

I think someone here, or on another forum, long ago, recommended starting a family foundation. You’re going to get hit with all sorts of financial requests. That seems to be what “breaks” typical lottery winners. Have a quarterly meeting with the board (family members) and decide what requests to consider. That seemed like sound advice.
 
DaleB said:
Then you’re down to a couple hundred mil at most, after taxes, the divorce split, and lawyers. If it would be worth that much to be rid of them, then why not do it now, when it would be so much cheaper?
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My guess is that these people are only staying together because they can't afford to live on a single income, or can't afford to split up. It doesn't matter how cheap it is if they can't afford it.

DaleB said:
My wife and I have had the “large lottery win” discussion a few times. Yeah, with a billion we’d make a few lifestyle changes. For starters we’d move to a state with no state income tax (and be very vocal about it to our current state).
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I live in a no income tax state. If you move to Texas, don't spend all your money on a large house or real estate because the property taxes will suffocate you. The state has to get its income somewhere if it is not getting income tax. Even though I don't have a mortgage, I still say I really don't own my property. If I can't afford to pay the high property taxes, the state will be owning my property.
 
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