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Winning the lottery

kretos

Banned
Short intro, I day dream about winning the lottery sometimes.

We all do but it won't happen

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kretos

Banned
first thing i will do is quit my job obviously and hire a lawyer to handle all the bullshit

then buy a chopper and hire 4 hookers and load the chopper with maybe 5mil? and just roam the city and throw money

after that i take them to my new mansion and let them show me a good time, i will give each one 1mil because why the hell not i'm rich, that's the first day celebration
 
F

Foamy

Unconfirmed Member
I'd be even more obnoxious and condescending than I am as a moderately successful person.
In a juxtaposition though I also like to help the down trodden. People with good hearts who have been dealt a shitty hand in life or had piss poor luck.
 

Nymphae

Banned
1. Modest but accommodating house in my ideal location
2. Get a good reliable modestly priced car and truck
3. Tetris The Grandmaster arcade cabinets & a decked out PC
4. Help pay off debts for and set up as best I can my closest friends and family
5. Save the rest, try to donate to worthy causes
 
Big win money = setup my own charity for about half the amount, sort out family and friends then invest the rest with some luxury purchases on the side (beach house with guest house/rooms, car, boat, some toys). Set it up to not run into debt and sustain the charity and way of life just fine with a legacy to pass on. Do good, live well and something meaningful to work on day to day when I choose. Something nice for the wife and kids.
 

mango drank

Member
1. Wait for the stock market to stabilize.
2. Wait too long, by which point the US economy will have undergone runaway inflation.
3. Go to the store and spend $430,392,958 on a loaf of bread because I'm starving.
4. Get mugged and killed by post-apocalyptic raiders on my way home, who steal my bread and use my remaining paper change as toilet paper and kindling.
 
I’d quit my job and hang out with my 2.5 year old as much as possible. I have most of the stuff I want already so I’m not sure what I’d do with it besides not work.
 

Endangered08

Neo Member
1. Lawyer, financial advisor, assistant
2. 100 acres minimum in Tennessee with very relaxed building restrictions, preferably with water access and within 2 hours of a major airport (Knoxville, Nashville, etc)
3. Travel
4. Invest in some fashion into a pro conservative venture
 
Day one I'd quit my job.
After that id divide up the money. 250 into a high yield savings account. 100 million divided among family and friends. 50 million on different lavish things like a big house, private plane, yacht etc. 100 million in various investments in different industries from gaming to real estate.
 

epicnemesis

Member
Buy a house with 10% of the winnings.
Give family 10% of winnings.
Put 20% in a Whole Life Insurance Policy on me and my wife. (To lock up a fairly risk free 4-5% tax free return in my later years)
Keep 5% in a money market.
Invest 30% in a Diversified Portfolio.
Buy a McLaren P1 if the winnings are substantial enough.
Open up a BBQ restaurant (It's important to still work).
Be smart with the rest, having fun dabbling in RE market, Angel Investing, etc.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
The first thing you need to do is take the money out of your control. Hire a financial manager that pays to you a salary every month. That way to u don't bankrupt yourself instantly.

Plus you have an excuse for when people come out of the woodwork asking for money.
 

deafmedal

Member
In all honesty I would buy a 20+ acre of land in the PNW within an hour of Seattle, build my dream house, get some livestock, have a huge greenhouse, a fantastic studio and a large woodworking shop amongst other things. I would also buy a condo around Alki beach and a nice boat. Oh, I’d also grab a new NSX, I’d have the money for the speeding tickets lol. And I’d probably follow TOOL and NIN for a tour, always wanted to do that. And lots of travel...

As I would only need around 100 mil to live the rest of my life as I see fit I would give the rest away- I’d buy my immediate family houses and cut a decent 5 figure check to the rest.
Any charity would be vested to hell and back. I’d also do the pay off christmas lay away thing and randomly buy people groceries. I’d leave the kid all the property and around 5 mil or so in a trust when we croaked.

I would never work for anyone else again. Between my hobbies and interests and taking care of our livestock and crops I would have plenty to keep busy with.

And the giveaways on GAF would be legendary ;)
 
I'd offer square enix 100 million to make me a shot for shot graphical remake of the original ff7.

Then I'd buy a plot of land and build all the houses from my childhood in a cul de sac orientation and invite my immediate fam to live in them. Both my grandparents homes in the states, the home my father grew up in in Italy, my mothers childhood home and my own. Maybe also my current home so my kids can always remember it.

Beyond that I wouldn't buy anything extravagant. Just live the rest of my days in peace with my closest loved ones. If you couldn't tell I'm really sentimental....


Almost forgot I'd want to start a charity to do something good with my newfound time/money. Not gonna just give to some charity where I dont know where my money is going.
 
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God Enel

Member
I’d just buy a fucking good backpack and travel the world like the lowlife I am. Without worries and stress. Stay where I like it and move on when I’m tired of it. As the years pass I’d buy a nice home and spent the rest of my days there.

At least that would be my ideal plan. But most probably I’m gonna go crazy and die from an overdose of heroin lol
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Wow. What to do if I won say, a hundred million on the Euro Millions?

First, I'd call my manager and tell her I quit. Then I'd buy a house outright. Nothing on the scale of a mansion, but something big enough that I could dedicate a room to be a library/study and house all my books.

I'd then give tens of millions to charity. Something like the NSPCC and change the lives of disadvantaged children.

Next I'd take a year off. Travel the world with my family. Stay at the best hotels and fly first class only. After that I'd probably start my own business by opening an independent book shop.
 

LokusAbriss

Member
tenor.gif


wtf is a reverse gangbang? Is it a group of ladies pegging you or something?
I guess, him and a lot of lady friends. Either you shoot your protein real fast and it becomes the lamest party ever, or you die from a heartattack through a viagra loaded frenzy with 30 super models. Still a better way out than living through more corona waves.


I would buy a normal house. Give some money to close family.
Then I would buy a nice warehouse. Gym, gaming area and car workshop all in one.
Buying some fun track cars and some cool 90s sport cars. GT3 RS, GT86, M3 E36, M3 E46, 993 Turbo and so on.
And get a credit card for the wife, so she leaves me the fuck alone while enjoying my hobbies.
 

West Texas CEO

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
I guess, him and a lot of lady friends. Either you shoot your protein real fast and it becomes the lamest party ever, or you die from a heartattack through a viagra loaded frenzy with 30 super models. Still a better way out than living through more corona waves.

I can't imagine the smells of such an endeavor. It must be like going through a seafood market after the refrigeration went out for five hours..
 

LokusAbriss

Member
I can't imagine the smells of such an endeavor. It must be like going through a seafood market after the refrigeration went out for five hours..
With 500 million, one should be able to replicate the Dan Bilzerian lifestyle to some extent. Not some fishy brothel slum in thailand were our european pensioners flee to.
 

Rathalos

Banned
I'd buy a big house in a good area, pay off my families bills, treat all my gaming buddies to top of the line PCs and just enjoy life with no stress. I've never left the country so I'd definitely travel. I also have some medical issues I'd get private treatment for.
 
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I think this was from a Reddit thread I've seen.

So, what the hell DO you do if you are unlucky enough to win the lottery?
This is the absolutely most important thing you can do right away: NOTHING.
Yes. Nothing.
DO NOT DECLARE YOURSELF THE WINNER yet.
Do NOT tell anyone. The urge is going to be nearly irresistible. Resist it. Trust me.
/ 1. IMMEDIATELY retain an attorney.
Get a partner from a larger, NATIONAL firm. Don't let them pawn off junior partners or associates on you. They might try, all law firms might, but insist instead that your lead be a partner who has been with the firm for awhile. Do NOT use your local attorney. Yes, I mean your long-standing family attorney who did your mother's will. Do not use the guy who fought your dry-cleaner bill. Do not use the guy you have trusted your entire life because of his long and faithful service to your family. In fact, do not use any firm that has any connection to family or friends or community. TRUST me. This is bad. You want someone who has never heard of you, any of your friends, or any member of your family. Go the the closest big city and walk into one of the national firms asking for one of the "Trust and Estates" partners you have previously looked up on http://www.martindale.com from one of the largest 50 firms in the United States which has an office near you. You can look up attornies by practice area and firm on Martindale.
/ 2. Decide to take the lump sum.
Most lotteries pay a really pathetic rate for the annuity. It usually hovers around 4.5% annual return or less, depending. It doesn't take much to do better than this, and if you have the money already in cash, rather than leaving it in the hands of the state, you can pull from the capital whenever you like. If you take the annuity you won't have access to that cash. That could be good. It could be bad. It's probably bad unless you have a very addictive personality. If you need an allowance managed by the state, it is because you didn't listen to point #1 above.
Why not let the state just handle it for you and give you your allowance?
Many state lotteries pay you your "allowence" (the annuity option) by buying U.S. treasury instruments and running the interest payments through their bureaucracy before sending it to you along with a hunk of the principal every month. You will not be beating inflation by much, if at all. There is no reason you couldn't do this yourself, if a low single-digit return is acceptable to you.
You aren't going to get even remotely the amount of the actual jackpot. Take our old friend Mr. Whittaker. Using Whittaker is a good model both because of the reminder of his ignominious decline, and the fact that his winning ticket was one of the larger ones on record. If his situation looks less than stellar to you, you might have a better perspective on how "large" your winnings aren't. Whittaker's "jackpot" was $315 million. He selected the lump-sum cash up-front option, which knocked off $145 million (or 46% of the total) leaving him with $170 million. That was then subject to withholding for taxes of $56 million (33%) leaving him with $114 million.
In general, you should expect to get about half of the original jackpot if you elect a lump sum (maybe better, it depends). After that, you should expect to lose around 33% of your already pruned figure to state and federal taxes. (Your mileage may vary, particularly if you live in a state with aggressive taxation schemes).
/ 3. Decide right now, how much you plan to give to family and friends.
This really shouldn't be more than 20% or so. Figure it out right now. Pick your number. Tell your lawyer. That's it. Don't change it. 20% of $114 million is $22.8 million. That leaves you with $91.2 million. DO NOT CONSULT WITH FAMILY when deciding how much to give to family. You are going to get advice that is badly tainted by conflict of interest, and if other family members find out that Aunt Flo was consulted and they weren't you will never hear the end of it. Neither will Aunt Flo. This might later form the basis for an allegation that Aunt Flo unduly influenced you and a lawsuit might magically appear on this basis. No, I'm not kidding. I know of one circumstance (related to a business windfall, not a lottery) where the plaintiffs WON this case.
Do NOT give anyone cash. Ever. Period. Just don't. Do not buy them houses. Do not buy them cars. Tell your attorney that you want to provide for your family, and that you want to set up a series of trusts for them that will total 20% of your after tax winnings. Tell him you want the trust empowered to fund higher education, some help (not a total) purchase of their first home, some provision for weddings and the like, whatever. Do NOT put yourself in the position of handing out cash. Once you do, if you stop, you will be accused of being a heartless bastard (or bitch). Trust me. It won't go well.
It will be easy to lose perspective. It is now the duty of your friends, family, relatives, hangers-on and their inner circle to skew your perspective, and they take this job quite seriously. Setting up a trust, a managed fund for your family that is in the double digit millions is AMAZINGLY generous. You need never have trouble sleeping because you didn't lend Uncle Jerry $20,000 in small denomination unmarked bills to start his chain of deep-fried peanut butter pancake restaurants. ("Deep'n 'nutter Restaurants") Your attorney will have a number of good ideas how to parse this wealth out without turning your siblings/spouse/children/grandchildren/cousins/waitresses into the latest Paris Hilton.
/ 4. You will be encouraged to hire an investment manager. Considerable pressure will be applied. Don't.
Investment managers charge fees, usually a percentage of assets. Consider this: If they charge 1% (which is low, I doubt you could find this deal, actually) they have to beat the market by 1% every year just to break even with a general market index fund. It is not worth it, and you don't need the extra return or the extra risk. Go for the index fund instead if you must invest in stocks. This is a hard rule to follow. They will come recommended by friends. They will come recommended by family. They will be your second cousin on your mother's side. Investment managers will sound smart. They will have lots of cool acronyms. They will have nice PowerPoint presentations. They might (MIGHT) pay for your shrimp cocktail lunch at TGI Friday's while reminding you how poor their side of the family is. They live for this stuff.
You should smile, thank them for their time, and then tell them you will get back to them next week. Don't sign ANYTHING. Don't write it on a cocktail napkin (lottery lawsuit cases have been won and lost over drunkenly scrawled cocktail napkin addition and subtraction figures with lots of zeros on them). Never call them back. Trust me. You will thank me later. This tactic, smiling, thanking people for their time, and promising to get back to people, is going to have to become familiar. You will have to learn to say no gently, without saying the word "no." It sounds underhanded. Sneaky. It is. And its part of your new survival strategy. I mean the word "survival" quite literally.
Get all this figured out BEFORE you claim your winnings. They aren't going anywhere. Just relax.
/ 5. If you elect to be more global about your paranoia, use between 20.00% and 33.00% of what you have not decided to commit to a family fund IMMEDIATELY to purchase a combination of longer term U.S. treasuries (5 or 10 year are a good idea) and perhaps even another G7 treasury instrument. This is your safety net. You will be protected... from yourself.
You are going to be really tempted to starting being a big investor. You are going to be convinced that you can double your money in Vegas with your awesome Roulette system/by funding your friend's amazing idea to sell Lemming dung/buying land for oil drilling/by shorting the North Pole Ice market (global warming, you know). This all sounds tempting because "Even if I lose it all I still have $XX million left! Anyone could live on that comfortably for the rest of their life." Yeah, except for 33% of everyone who won the lottery.
You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Let me say that again. You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Right now, you'll get around 3.5% on the 10 year U.S. treasury. With $18.2 million (20% of $91.2 mil after your absurdly generous family gift) invested in those you will pull down $638,400 per year. If everything else blows up, you still have that, and you will be in the top 1% of income in the United States. So how about you not fuck with it. Eh? And that's income that is damn safe. If we get to the point where the United States defaults on those instruments, we are in far worse shape than worrying about money.
If you are really paranoid, you might consider picking another G7 or otherwise mainstream country other than the U.S. according to where you want to live if the United States dissolves into anarchy or Britney Spears is elected to the United States Senate. Put some fraction in something like Swiss Government Bonds at 3%. If the Swiss stop paying on their government debt, well, then you know money really means nothing anywhere on the globe anymore. I'd study small field sustainable agriculture if you think this is a possibility. You might have to start feedng yourself.
/ 6. That leaves, say, 80% of $91.2 million or $72.9 million.
Here is where things start to get less clear. Personally, I think you should dump half of this, or $36.4 million, into a boring S&P 500 index fund. Find something with low fees. You are going to be constantly tempted to retain "sophisticated" advisers who charge "nominal fees." Don't. Period. Even if you lose every other dime, you have $638,400 per year you didn't have before that will keep coming in until the United States falls into chaos. Fuck advisers and their fees. Instead, drop your $36.4 million in the market in a low fee vehicle. Unless we have an unprecedented downturn the likes of which the United States has never seen, should return around 7.00% or so over the next 10 years. You should expect to touch not even a dime of this money for 10 or 15 or even 20 years. In 20 years $36.4 million could easily become $115 million.
/ 7. So you have put a safety net in place.
You have provided for your family beyond your wildest dreams. And you still have $36.4 million in "cash." You know you will be getting $638,400 per year unless the capital building is burning, you don't ever need to give anyone you care about cash, since they are provided for generously and responsibly (and can't blow it in Vegas) and you have a HUGE nest egg that is growing at market rates. (Given the recent dip, you'll be buying in at great prices for the market). What now? Whatever you want. Go ahead and burn through $36.4 million in hookers and blow if you want. You've got more security than 99% of the country. A lot of it is in trusts so even if you are sued your family will live well, and progress across generations. If your lawyer is worth his salt (I bet he is) then you will be insulated from most lawsuits anyhow. Buy a nice house or two, make sure they aren't stupid investments though. Go ahead and be an angel investor and fund some startups, but REFUSE to do it for anyone you know. (Friends and money, oil and water - Michael Corleone) Play. Have fun. You earned it by putting together the shoe sizes of your whole family on one ticket and winning the jackpot.

in short, think about what you'll do with the winning very carefully.

personally if I win something big like that, I'll still go to work but probably switch to part time instead. I'm not gonna tell anyone outside of my parents for at least a few years while slowly buying houses for myself and my parents (despite how I feel about them). gonna eventually move to the house I got for myself and get an Ariel Atom to drive and have some fun. get a good gaming setup. go travel. then put the rest in some investment.
 
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YCoCg

Gold Member
500 Millions is a lot, once you secure yourself and put away enough money to make sure the rest of your life is comfortable then you could seriously help out as much of your family as you want and then extend that to local businesses and stores and keep that positive influence.
 

Liljagare

Gold Member
I would travel and live on seafood, just pour that crab into me.. I would pay for a new liver so I could drink cava and eat caviar all day.

I would be guilty of gluttony and see every sight in the world.. :p and give everyone I know a nice sum.
 
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Amory

Member
I think I'd rather win a state lottery for a couple million dollars than a powerball jackpot for hundreds of millions

With a couple million dollars, I could pay off my current mortgages and all other debt and basically live life on easy mode while still having a purpose (I'd still have to work, my hypothetical kids could have a normal upbringing, I couldn't go crazy with buying shit I don't need, etc). But since we wouldn't have debt payments every month, we could afford to go on expensive vacations every year, drive nice cars, take time away from work, and that kind of stuff.

And you wouldn't have the kind of nightmare attention that powerball winners get, though I'd imagine there'd still be some of that.
 

natjjohn

Member
Love the post here that’s a couple down with this breakdown of how bad winning can be and how people just have a bad time. After this though, is advice on what to do and passes the eye test. Would follow that type of playbook if a massive win.



If someone on GAF wins and uses this advice, remember me and include me in the family set aside amount. Thanks!
 

synchronicity

Gold Member
People like to think money would solve all their problems. New ones will just take the place of the old ones, and they will seem (subjectively) just as oppressive/significant. More comfort doesn't equal better life.
 

Anki

Banned
Depends of the amount of money, but i would buy small island or house on the beach and spend my whole life enjoying sun, ocean and kick ass psy trance parties.
 
Short intro, I day dream about winning the lottery sometimes. So I want to read other peoples reactions and responses to winning say, 500 million dollars (or your countries currency).

What youd do day one, where would you move? Cut people outta your life? I'm just fascinated by the concept.
If I had that kind of money, I would still work, in fact I would save to be able to buy houses and apartments at least four to rent them.

i will be fool would spend my fortune on other pleasures, he would only go on a trip once a year to Europe, Asia or Beaches in Mexico.
 

Ballthyrm

Member
  1. Don't tell anyone and don't marry anyone without a prenup
  2. Go to multiple financial advisors and make them compete with one another
  3. With this new help, don't pay / dodge any taxes
  4. Buy a couple of other nationalities
  5. Start making money from investments
  6. Tell everyone how they should work more and how you're contributing to society
  7. Set up a charity to buy yourself a conscience
 
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Nester99

Member
I would ask my father to cash the ticket so the lotto win would not be in my name and forever on my google search record. Then gift to me 90% of it.

I would buy a compound or 2, lots of land. Think Zuckerberg in Hawaii

I would go to all of The World Series, Stanley cup finals and the super bowl games.
 

p_xavier

Authorized Fister
My parents had won a tad more than a million 5 years ago, and you definitely need more than that to have a lifestyle change.
 
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kraspkibble

Permabanned.
£500m is just too much to make sense of so first thing I'd do is get professional financial advice.

It's ridiculous to think about. Do I give myself £50,000 a year to live on? 100,000? 250,000? 500,000? I would hope to live another 50 year yet so even if I spent 1m a year that's still leaving a shit load of money.

I'd give my mum money too. Say she lives to 90 and gets 1m a year too then so far I've only accounted for £80m

Let's just make it £100m. I'd probably put £100m away and never touch it. If I can make interest off it then great but whatever.

The remaining £300m I'd honestly just give away. Probably some to charity but one thing I'd love to do is invest it in my favourite sports team. I could probably become the owner! Seriously though...I wouldn't want to run a business so I'd just be the sugar daddy lol.
 

Ballthyrm

Member
You know there are services that can get you a storage container in other countries that will act as your legit legal address in that country for as little as $26 a month.

For example, the dumb Americans who flew to Italy on their private jet just to be sent away at the customs.
Well...

They could have said, i'm Cyprus or New Zealand with their 2nd passeport, a.k.a Covid restriction is only for poor people
 
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