I’ve been thinking about something recently. If anything, I am preparing myself for a future event in case it happens. I don’t want it to be something that I am not ready for so it is better to prepare, regardless of the chances of it actually happening, just in case it actually does happen. I’m talking about winning the lottery.
Now, I am generally a reasonable person, and I know that my chances of winning Powerball or Mega Millions are probably a few million to one. However, not playing said lottery reduces your chances to zero, so why not spend a few bucks a week to play some random numbers in the event that you could walk away with a few tens of millions of dollars.
Now, back to the original premise of this little post: I have been considering what I would do if I was to actually win the lottery, especially in the amounts that it is currently at. I think the Powerball jackpot for Saturday is at $120 million or so, and Mega Millions for tomorrow is around $310 million. The actual cash value is much lower, but I think that I could manage to survive on $63.7 million and $198.2 million, respectively.
What got me thinking about this is the stories that are around about poor folks that win the lottery and lose the money in a rapid manner, mainly by buying dumb things and giving money to family and friends. Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that I wouldn’t buy dumb things or give some money to family and friends. But by planning for something, regardless of the chances of happening, is probably the best way to prevent a total loss of all your winnings.
So now I get to the primary reason of this post. I pose a hypothetical to you, one that I will answer in depth in my Monday posting. Say you win a Powerball jackpot and walk away with $80 million. How would you spend your money? What would you do to try and guarantee that your money would last a while? You can even scale it down a bit if you can’t comprehend $80 million. I know it is hard for me. But just take a few minutes and think about what you would do with the money.
Comment away. Until next time…
Robert Writes About... 
For me, I would invest a good portion of it. I mean, if I invested just 8 Million with the average return of 5%, I would be able to support a 300K lifestyle just on living off the interest. That would leave me with what over 70 million. And 300K is a ton of money when you don't have to pay for a mortgage, which I wouldn't, student loans. I think I would still work, though it would be in something I am passioante about where I don't need to think about how much the salary is, and is also felixble so I could go off and do what I want, when I want. Other things I would want to do is to take care of Mom and Dad, get them in a nice place and make sure they never think about anything again. I would want to set up college funds for the nieces and nephews so they never have to worry about getting a crappy job just to pay off student loans, I would take care of all family members mortgages and student loans, so they are all have one less thing to worry about too. Then I would have a huge vacation with everyone…probably something where we are not sharing a house though, that is just asking for stress!