If you won a 50 million dollar lottery
02-03-2005, 09:21 AM
#11
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Originally Posted by jmc1971' date='Feb 3 2005, 12:20 PM
I hope you would all contact a high-end estate planning attorney. I happen to know a couple of good ones. 
02-03-2005, 09:35 AM
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Nah...we don't care if you spend it. But giving it away (to non charitable donees) will keep us up at night. The CPAs are the kill joys! Yeah, that's it. It's all the CPAs fault! 
...waiting for Rob and Morris....
The CPAs are the kill joys! Yeah, that's it. It's all the CPAs fault! ...waiting for Rob and Morris....
02-03-2005, 09:55 AM
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I don't know what I'd do, but I'm mindful of the old proverb "Be careful what you wish for."
Last Sunday's Washington Post Magazine had a cover story about a West Virginia man who collected a $134 million jackpot.
Here's the link:
Rich Man, Poor Man
Cliff's notes version: everything went to Hell.
I'd like to think I could handle a $50 million windfall, but like any other life-changing event, nobody can really predict its effect. What would we do?
Travel. Build a garage. Fill it with lots of sports cars! And, sadly, probably get an unlisted phone number...
Last Sunday's Washington Post Magazine had a cover story about a West Virginia man who collected a $134 million jackpot.
Here's the link:
Rich Man, Poor Man
Cliff's notes version: everything went to Hell.
I'd like to think I could handle a $50 million windfall, but like any other life-changing event, nobody can really predict its effect. What would we do?
Travel. Build a garage. Fill it with lots of sports cars! And, sadly, probably get an unlisted phone number...
02-03-2005, 03:26 PM
#14
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Originally Posted by jmc1971' date='Feb 3 2005, 01:35 PM
The CPAs are the kill joys! Yeah, that's it. It's all the CPAs fault!
...waiting for Rob and Morris....
...waiting for Rob and Morris....
02-03-2005, 03:47 PM
#15
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I think you have to be very disciplined to win the lottery and come out ahead. Before you decide what you'd do, I think you have to figure out what not to do.
For example, you probably don't want your kids to know exactly how much you've won. You don't want to let the amount of money derail their careers. You certainly don't want them to think that now they don't have to work.
You don't want to get involved with every stock broker, money manager, financial advisor and shyster that promises the sky. You need to find one or two that you can trust and not listen to the rest of the noise.
You need to turn a deaf ear to all of your distant cousins and long lost friends who only need a few thousand dollars to get by. You will find that you have friends and family that you never knew that you had.
You need to convince yourself that your winnings are not all of the money in the world and that your spending must have a limit. Now more then ever you need a budget and the discipline to live by it. You probably can afford that mansion or that Ferrari, but if you didn't need it before, why do you need it now?
You need to invest the money wisely. If done right, you can live off of the interest and dividends and not touch the principal. If you are really good, you might even be able to make the money grow. You need to diversify you portfolio. $50 million is far too much to put in any one basket.
You need to do some estate planning. You need to make sure you will is in place, and you need to make sure that everything is accounted for.
You need to put some money away for taxes.
You need to get a good, competent CPA. That is essential. A lawyer could come in handy as well, under certain circumstances.
You especially need to avoid letting the money turn your head. You are still the same person you were the day before you won, only richer. All that changed was the money.
Those are some of the things that I would do.
For example, you probably don't want your kids to know exactly how much you've won. You don't want to let the amount of money derail their careers. You certainly don't want them to think that now they don't have to work.
You don't want to get involved with every stock broker, money manager, financial advisor and shyster that promises the sky. You need to find one or two that you can trust and not listen to the rest of the noise.
You need to turn a deaf ear to all of your distant cousins and long lost friends who only need a few thousand dollars to get by. You will find that you have friends and family that you never knew that you had.
You need to convince yourself that your winnings are not all of the money in the world and that your spending must have a limit. Now more then ever you need a budget and the discipline to live by it. You probably can afford that mansion or that Ferrari, but if you didn't need it before, why do you need it now?
You need to invest the money wisely. If done right, you can live off of the interest and dividends and not touch the principal. If you are really good, you might even be able to make the money grow. You need to diversify you portfolio. $50 million is far too much to put in any one basket.
You need to do some estate planning. You need to make sure you will is in place, and you need to make sure that everything is accounted for.
You need to put some money away for taxes.
You need to get a good, competent CPA. That is essential. A lawyer could come in handy as well, under certain circumstances.
You especially need to avoid letting the money turn your head. You are still the same person you were the day before you won, only richer. All that changed was the money.
Those are some of the things that I would do.
02-03-2005, 04:02 PM
#16
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First thing I'd do is buy a nondescript car (Taurus wagon, etc.) and spend 6 months touring the country. This would accomplish three things:
1. Allow me to figure out where I'd live. (Hint: Ohio wouldn't make the short list.)
2. All of the long-lost cousins that I didn't even know I had who needed operations would have either gotten well or died by then.
3. Most of the fly-by-night "investment advisors" would have someone more recently rich than me to offer their "expertise" to.
I have a friend who owns a number of rental properties. (We jokingly call him a "slum lord.") His renters aren't the most sophisticated people in the world. One tenant won a couple of million in the lottery: the vultures picked him clean and he has nothing to show for it except a bunch of "great investments" that never panned out.
I'm reminded of the old saying that "when someone with money meets someone with experience, the one with experience usually gets the money and the one with money gets the experience."
1. Allow me to figure out where I'd live. (Hint: Ohio wouldn't make the short list.)
2. All of the long-lost cousins that I didn't even know I had who needed operations would have either gotten well or died by then.
3. Most of the fly-by-night "investment advisors" would have someone more recently rich than me to offer their "expertise" to.
I have a friend who owns a number of rental properties. (We jokingly call him a "slum lord.") His renters aren't the most sophisticated people in the world. One tenant won a couple of million in the lottery: the vultures picked him clean and he has nothing to show for it except a bunch of "great investments" that never panned out.
I'm reminded of the old saying that "when someone with money meets someone with experience, the one with experience usually gets the money and the one with money gets the experience."
02-03-2005, 04:34 PM
#17
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Originally Posted by RedY2KS2k' date='Feb 3 2005, 05:02 PM
First thing I'd do is buy a nondescript car (Taurus wagon, etc.) and spend 6 months touring the country. This would accomplish three things:
1. Allow me to figure out where I'd live. (Hint: Ohio wouldn't make the short list.)
2. All of the long-lost cousins that I didn't even know I had who needed operations would have either gotten well or died by then.
3. Most of the fly-by-night "investment advisors" would have someone more recently rich than me to offer their "expertise" to.
I have a friend who owns a number of rental properties. (We jokingly call him a "slum lord.") His renters aren't the most sophisticated people in the world. One tenant won a couple of million in the lottery: the vultures picked him clean and he has nothing to show for it except a bunch of "great investments" that never panned out.
I'm reminded of the old saying that "when someone with money meets someone with experience, the one with experience usually gets the money and the one with money gets the experience."
1. Allow me to figure out where I'd live. (Hint: Ohio wouldn't make the short list.)
2. All of the long-lost cousins that I didn't even know I had who needed operations would have either gotten well or died by then.
3. Most of the fly-by-night "investment advisors" would have someone more recently rich than me to offer their "expertise" to.
I have a friend who owns a number of rental properties. (We jokingly call him a "slum lord.") His renters aren't the most sophisticated people in the world. One tenant won a couple of million in the lottery: the vultures picked him clean and he has nothing to show for it except a bunch of "great investments" that never panned out.
I'm reminded of the old saying that "when someone with money meets someone with experience, the one with experience usually gets the money and the one with money gets the experience."
great post!
02-03-2005, 04:42 PM
#18
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Originally Posted by RedY2KS2k' date='Feb 3 2005, 08:02 PM
I'm reminded of the old saying that "when someone with money meets someone with experience, the one with experience usually gets the money and the one with money gets the experience."
02-03-2005, 05:02 PM
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First off, I'll make sure the kids and relatives are taken care of and then I'll be traveling. There is a lot of places to enjoy so why not take advantage of it. Life's too short but don't forget the old saying about a fool and his money
02-03-2005, 05:28 PM
#20
Originally Posted by RedY2KS2k' date='Feb 3 2005, 09:02 PM
I'm reminded of the old saying that "when someone with money meets someone with experience, the one with experience usually gets the money and the one with money gets the experience."