Imagine it: you check your 649 or LottoMax numbers, and holy shit. You just won millions and millions of dollars. We're talking fuck-you money. You're set for life, and probably so are all your children. The question is: now what? After you've paid off your debts and bought a fancy house and spent five weeks in Vegas up to your eyes in hookers and blow, what do you do with your life given that money isn't an option? How do you pass your days? Do you persue the low-paying but satisfying career you've always dreamed of? Are you a patron of the arts? Do you tinker in your garage all day long? Most of the people on this board are young-ish. Certainly most of us have decades ahead of us. If money didn't matter, what would you do?
I'm just ... interested in things. All kinds of things. I want to know how to do everything. Consequently, I wouldn't pursue any kind of meaningful career for a long time, if ever. I would spend at least a couple years traveling and taking photos, if not longer. A lot of it would go to family or close friends, making sure they're comfortable. At some point, though, I'd probably turn to a more normal day-to-day existence, and at that point I think I'd just pursue anything that occurred to me to learn. I know a little about electrical engineering, but I think it'd be cool to learn more, so I'd take classes, buy equipment, figure out the fundamentals. I can tinker with my car enough to replace basic parts, but I'd like to really understand the ins-and-outs of the engine and drivetrain. With a lot of disposable income, I'd have the tools and resources to dive in as deep as I wanted. I know what wine I like, but would like to know more, so... you see where this is going. I have a hard time imagining that I'd run out of interesting things to learn about. Basically, I don't need to be extravagantly rich, I just want to have all the time I currently devote to earning money or DIY projects that I do to save money, to be time I can spend comfortably pursuing anything that piques my interest.
I'd become an adrenaline junkie. I'd start with bungie jumping into an active volcano. Yep. My boss put up a bunch of pictures he took doing a rally driving class. I'd definitely do that. Anything that would scare the living daylights out of me with the exception of going to a gym.
If money didn't matter at all... Spend mid fall through spring skiing as much as possible. Summers: Go cliff diving. Eat an incredible amount of exotic food. start surfing. Join some sort of drift-car club.
If we're talking ungodly fuck you money, I buy a building on Central Park West. Not an apartment, a fucking building. I devote the top three floors to my living area. For the rest of the building I devote the first floor to bars/lounges/arcades/etc open to the public. The rest of the building is divided between cool common areas, workshops (woodshop, electronics shop, metalshop, studios, etc) and living spaces. There will be slides and trampolines between floors. It'll be a veritable funhouse. For the living spaces I take applications, and fill them with a mix of artists, scientists, engineers, humorists and other cool types who will do cool things. I subsidize their work and create a vibrant community that produces high quality works of all kinds. Women crave my manly phallus.
I'd start off with a list of countries I wanted to see and stay in each of them for a month or two seeing the sites and participating in a couple activities. After that I'd pick someone I don't like, I can't think of anyone in particular so maybe someone that cuts me off in traffic. I'd buy the company they work for and from behind the scenes promote them up the ranks. Give them a good taste of the sweet life, maybe enough time to make the decision to buy a boat, new car or house. While still riding the highest of highs I'll cut the cord and fire/ lay him off, after which I will make sure no other company in the industry will hire him in a position above assistant janitor. Then I will laugh maniacally as the rest of his life spins out in a spiral of depression and sorrow. Moral of the story: don't cut people off in traffic. Oh, and I'd buy a Ferrari and crash it in front of the dealership without insuring it, then walk back with a smile and say "well, these things happen." I would love to see the look on someone's face after that.
I would buy every commercial spot during the Superbowl. When the game would take a break and the commercials would come on, viewers would be treated to commericals of me doing the most mundane of tasks; Walking my dog, cooking, deadlifting, weeding my garden, sleeping, fishing, taking a dump . . . the list is endless. In most of the commercials, I would be wearing only ridiculous underpants. That is what I would do if I had real 'fuck you' money. If the prudes in the NFL or the network that broadcast that shit wouldn't let me do it, I'd probably build a stadium with a retractable roof. Inside the stadium, I'd make a lake. In the summer when I feel like it, I'd close the roof and crank the AC down to the "really fucking cold" setting and go ice fishing when ever I want.
I daydream about this exact situation all the damn time, so I already have tons of ideas as to what I would do. Of course there are the nice cars and the houses on the ski slopes and the beach and all that. My biggest thing is that I would want to design and build my own home with some very specific rooms/features. Awesome pool, with all the little "that's fucking cool" features, especially a swim up bar. There would be the room in the back corner of the house that opens to the pool that would be setup like a sports bar. Tv's, full bar, pool table, all the pub/sports decorations, everything. A wood paneled room with big leather arm chairs, a walk in cigar humidor and a bar for my extensive scotch collection, basically the Man room. This one is really nerdy, but I would like to build a "LAN party" room, basically a big room with gaming PC stations built into the walls all, a few huge TV's/projectors with all the game consoles, big sofas and chairs and a big full bar. I could have a bunch of friends over and play games and get drunk all day. Also, being a nerd, I would devote some space to collecting various rare memorabilia from TV shows, movies and music. Also I would like an extensive work shop, which leads into what else I would do with my life. There are some hobbies that I would like to get involved in if I had more money. First, I would like to try carpentry. Outfit my workshop with all the woodworking tools needed to build whatever I would want. Also, being a tech guy it would be cool to also have space in the workshop for building and testing PC's and fooling with other electronics. I also would like to try PC Case modding. I would also take the time to work on photography, but all the super expensive cameras and lenses and be able to travel around to see things worth taking pictures of. The other thing I would probably end up doing is frequently traveling around the country to see all my favorite bands. I love live music and a lot of the bands I like are the type that improvise and experiment and never play the same show twice which means that their fans tend to follow them around and see multiple shows in a row. Also, I would travel Europe, buy lots of ridiculously expensive suits, and hire a personal chef so that I could eat the best food every day.
I'd get way more involved in the gaming industry - I'd start my own company publishing clever indie games and not really concerned that we make almost no money (which is why I haven't chased this dream already) - or I'd try and become more active and relevant in eSports, maybe open up a clear and transparent promotion/tournament company. On the side I'd be taking the "Gotta catch em all" approach to a education, because I am petty enough to be concerned people will judge me for having not earned my money, having a few masters degrees on the side would make me feel better about myself.
To be honest, I would probably follow the exact same plan: go to school, get an advanced degree, become a professor at a university somewhere. I would probably continue to travel and work abroad if I found something that interested me, but I would plan to end up doing the same thing. I like the idea of taking a lot of time to learn and do cool shit in my off time and having a lot of money means I can learn archery from an Olympic champion instead of a redneck deer hunter, but the results are still up to me. Fuck the idea of living like a member of Motley Crue, I would want to sock away my riches and just be comfortable. I would attempt a life of quiet, stable, affluence. More J.K. Rowling or Warren Buffet's lifestyle than trying to live like a Kardashian. I wouldn't buy a Ferrari or any of that ridiculous shit, and I wouldn't court attention as a newly rich asshole. Fuck the guys who try to spend money on ridiculous shit to look cool, I would make myself comfortable, interesting and fun. Oh, and I would have a wallaby, the biggest chameleon I could find, an emperor scorpion, a golden eagle, a meercat, a poodle (yes, a poodle....fuck you and fuck allergies, too), and any other manner of weird and cool creatures as pets. I would take them to hospitals to cheer up sick kids and terrify normal people, because what's the point of having weird pets (and friends and relatives) if you don't use them to torment other adults and delight children?
Honestly I'd figure out what I needed to live comfortably and give the rest of it away. I would find causes and charities I liked and support them. However if any greasy shitbags hit me up for money I'd take out a wad of 100's and then light it on fire right in front of them as I told them to go fuck themselves. Although one thing I'd do for sure is buy a new facility for my clinic and then buy the building we're in right now just so I could have it doused in diesel and watch it burn to the ground. And if the historical society raised a stink about my plans because this 100 year old shithole is on the historic register or some bullshit I'd pretend to donate it then the day before the paperwork was to be signed I'd have some people arson it to the ground for me anyway.
I'd buy an apartment in New York, Paris, and Montreal, and a house in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. I'd buy my dad a Jaguar. I'd spend an obscene amount on clothing and shoes. I'd start my own organization combining something with lady stuff and art. I'd also open a bookstore/cafe, because I always thought I would be perfectly happy doing that but I think only millionaires would willingly open a new bookstore these days. I'd spend most of my time travelling. Oh, and I'd get a pug.
After philanthropy and supporting worthy causes, helping my friends to have enough to pursue what they really wanted out of life I can think of a few things. I recently discovered how much I love programming. My goal for my life is to close the gap between languages - when I say this I mean between not just English, Spanish, French, Urdu but between machine languages and human languages so that all things can communicate seamlessly. That I could pursue with little sleep until the day I died. I'd mix that in with martial arts training in origin countries, surfing every cool spot I could find on earth, snowboarding every week for a year and having an amazing tinkering workshop for robotics, carpentry, metal work, computers and engines of all types. I'd be fulfilled with that.
Re: Re: You've won the lottery...now what? Two sets of twins at the same time And coke, lots and lots of coke.
Build a giant trombone/accordion factory around my ex-wife's house. Seriously though, in addition to the things everyone else is saying, I'd get custody of my son and have my criminal record cleared somehow.
I would keep my current job. I consider myself fortunate to work with military working dogs. It's not glamorous and I'll never get rich on that alone but it's so very satisfying.
And there's a mistake. You give millions to cancer research and I promise 5 assholes just got nice new houses. When you get fuck you money you don't give to charities, you start your own damned charity, you keep control of where the money goes and still get the tax write off. If we look at the lottomax right now it's at 50 million and we keep every damned cent up here. 1 cheque 50 mil all mine. I think I would firstly agree with the wife that be take 5 million "Brewsters millions money" In other words, get rid of it, buy stupid shit, give 25 grand to random friends or even a hobo, rent the hockey rink and have an open bar party, hire Nickleback so we can just have them sit on those throw a ball dunk tanks (but filled with paint), put on a 100K fireworks show for shits and giggle, but I get to press the button. Just some good old fashion fun. Then 10 million to college funds for my kids and nieces and nephews so they don't get buried in debt by 20, paying off /buying houses for my brother, and parents, and in-laws where ever they want, and even set up some trusts for my parents to live comfortably in their retirement and go golfing every day or work in a woodshop with the best tools, whatever they want. Invest the bulk and spend the after tax gains every year but leave the principal. As for charity work, I also liked the idea of keeping my old listed phone number and checking messages regular and after a year go through the list of everyone and everything that asked for money, send then fuck you letters explaining why I am spending funds on people that need it, not greedy groups that feel entitled to my good fortune.
I would try to find ways to invest the money in some sort of scheme to make poor people poorer. In all seriousness, I would want to set up a charity that teaches the less fortunate in society things like financial planning, how to shop for real food on a budget, and cooking classes. I have no clue how well this would go over, but anything to get them saving, and not eating at the McDs would be awesome.