There are so many strange bits to this story. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/06/us/AP-US-Missing-Lottery-Winner.html "LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) -- In 2006, Abraham Shakespeare -- a truck driver's assistant who lived with his mother -- won $30 million in the Florida lottery. His good fortune may have cost him his life." Truck driver's assistant? That's a job that I did not know existed. I know you can drive in a team, so one driver sleeps to keep rolling. But, wouldn't that make you co-drivers? So what's an assistant? But, the article goes on to say that Shakespeare bought a Nissan, a pawn-shop Rolex and a $1 Million house. Not even a Mercedes and a new Rolex? Focus: You win the lottery of $30 million. (He took the payout of around $17 Million) What's the first thing you do with your new money? What do you buy? How do you invest? Do you give any to charity, church, institutions?
I'd spread it across a few long-standing banks at regular interest and then pay to have myself cryogenically frozen for a few decades. Bing, bang, boom I get into the guiness book of world records for being the popsicle with the highest annual income in the world, and then come out again to be even richer than before.
In Australia, winning are tax free. I would take $24mil and put it in the bank. $1mil straight to my sister, $2 mil to my parents, $1mil to charity. With the $2mil left I would round up my best mates and jump on a plane to somewhere like Vegas and just blow it on hotels, alcohol, cocaine and hookers. Any change and we could stop somewhere tropical for a while on the way home.
The very first thing to do is call my close friends and family, ask them what they would really like to have. Then, disappear from work and all acquaintances. I'd buy some serious amount of land where I'd build a castle. A real castle, with a moat. Cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles etc. The giant swimming pool and hot tub. I'd hire someone smart to do some investing for me. Do some traveling, have adventures etc. And somewhere, somehow find the ways and means of giving Pat Robertson a swift kick in the nuts.
Pay off all family debts, give credit cards to mom, dad, brother and 1 uncle. Spend one year in each country in Western Europe racing motorcycles in each country's respective national championship. Buy a Caribbean beach bar for winter vacations.
I buy a rare scotch and pour 3 three fingers worth. I wash, rinse, and repeat while planning a nationwide golf trip for 4. I don't know which would be better, the realization of winning or savoring the feeling of financial security
Bottle of Johnny Walker Blue for all my friends, excluding the ones I don't give a shit about. A significant amount would go to renting pornstar pussy. Then a trip to Japan where I'd spend maybe $2 million over the course of who knows how long.
Step 1: Put that money to work, making more money. (I don't know how, supposedly a bunch of Jews convert dollars into a smurf colony that farms dollars or something.) Step 2: Use the interest or Jew/Smurf money to pay for a house. Step 3: Buy 5 motorcyles and 3 cars, none of them new, for less than $150K. Step 4: Buy the arsenal I've been dreaming about. ($10K) Step 5: Forget I won a damned thing, and continue on with my life. $30 Million in my bank account would make life harder (especially an UNEARNED $30 Mil), on the whole, than easier. I think most lottery winners find this out.
1. $1 million trust funds for each of my kids. 2. $1 million endowments for my high school and my wife's to be used for scholarships for kids from the same parishes we grew up in. (Parish as in the church community, not the "county" variety like in Louisiana.) 3. Build a new house. Something a little bigger, on about 10 acres, with a stable. 4. Go car shopping. No clue what I'd buy. I'm a big guy, so it would probably be some fancy-schmancy SUV. 5. Spend the summer traveling across Europe with my wife and kids, first class all the way.
See this is why so many lotto winners are broke within a few years. Assuming you had nothing to begin with and suddenly your net worth was $30 million, you propose spending $2million on a blow out with your friends. That is 6.67% of your net worth on a party. That is an obscene percentage to spend on a holiday. A response is obviously 'but I still would have $28 million left', but the problem is when you set the bar with big money spends like that they become the norm. If I was to win $30 million I would like to think before every purchase I would ask myself 'if I had earnt this money would I still be happy to buy this'. I think the majority of people worth $30 million wouldn't contemplate dropping $2 million on a holiday.
Since we live pretty simply anyway, I wouldn't have any great desire to go nuts all the sudden. I'd pay off the few debts we do have and arrange to do the same for our immediate family. I'd sock some away for the kids to go to college and maybe set up an account to help them get started when they've graduated. I would include my nieces and nephews in that plan. In short, I'd do whatever I could for my immediate family, but only them. The rest I don't see or associate with any other time, I'm not gonna suddenly start now. Then we'd take an extended trip to Ireland and maybe other places in Europe. I would love to see that part of the world. When we return I would then buy the old family farm from my cousin and get it up and running to grow our own food as much as possible. I am an animal nut, so I'm sure the place would soon look like a petting zoo ( more than it already does now ). And there would be some very happy charities of our choosing.
$10,000 for tutoring so you can finally get that GED. Focus: I would give away 10-15 million right off the bat to most of my friends and relatives. I would have dinner with each in turn, and at the end of the meal hand them a nice fat check. I'd then hand out a few million anonymously to some charitable organizations. I'm sure I could get by just fine with a third to half of that 30 million.
I've thought about this in the past, mostly because I have the privilege of being in a family filled with blood sucking leaches. Therefore, I would have to be very careful about it. So, the first thing I would do, after staring at the numbers and confirming that I had indeed won, would be to find a good attorney. Under no circumstances would I be making the claim on my own behalf. The second thing I would do is find an accountant and discuss, for tax purposes, whether or not it would be better to take the lump sum, or take the payouts over 20 years. I suspect the 20 year payouts would be better, but I'd want to make sure. Meanwhile, I'd continue working. Once I had confirmation from my attorney and accountant regarding making the claim and the payout, I'd still be working. Next, depending on the accountant's advice, I'd set up an anonymous account, maybe the Cayman Islands. Then I'd have my attorney make the claim on my behalf. I might also wait 4-6 months, depending on the size of the pot, before making my claim. People tend to forget things after a while, so hopefully there'd be some bigger pots won and people would be focusing on that. I'd pay off both of our debts. Then I'd buy a reasonable condo in South Carolina, and maybe a home in Philly. I'd wait for a weekend when my wife was working (keep in mind, this is 4-6 months after the 'win') and have all of our stuff professionally moved to our new home. I'd then go pick her up from work and tell her we're going out to dinner. Then I'd tell her everything and take her to our new home. I'd quietly resign from both of my jobs, giving two weeks to four weeks notice, depending on the job. I'd buy a couple of reasonable cars, one for me, one for my wife. I'd probably write more often, (the crowd gasps 'dear God NO') or volunteer at SPCA a couple days a week and live out the rest of my life quietly, and quite happily. If my wife wanted to work, that's fine by me. I'd work on my golf game in my spare time. I figure my initial purchases would cost around $1,000,000 or so, but after that, there isn't anything big I'd buy, probably travel a bit during the year. Not exciting, I know, but that's what I'd do.
After paying off my student loans and the debt of a select few individuals, I'd get on a plane. No one would see very much of me for a couple years. I'd be traveling constantly, staying in the very modest apartments I'd own or rent in a half-dozen geographically convenient cities, taking pictures, and writing. That's pretty much it. If I missed family and friends, I'd send them a plane ticket and have them meet me somewhere. Charity and investment and all that other shit comes after I'm tired of exploring the Earth, which could take a while.
If I walked away with $17 million I'd put away 13 of that right off the bat. I'd throw it in a safe, consistent mutual fund (or maybe even just a savings account) that yields 2% or better and live off the interest. Even at 2%, that would be $260K in interest alone per year (before taxes on capital gains, of course). I could live off of that very easily. With the four million left over, I'd buy a nice-sized parcel of land--at least 100 acres--and build the house I've always wanted. With whatever was left over, I'd pay off all my debts, get a nice car, and charter a yacht big enough to have a bunch of friends hang out on it for a little while in the Caribbean.
See the problem with this is $260k a year is pretty good money right now, in 50 yrs however when you are grey and old not so much. Hell 2% is lucky to be inflation.