The Issues when Winning a Massive Amount of Money

Hi guys and girls,

Okay, so occasionally I like to play the lottery over here in England, specifically Euromillions since you can getup to 90 million jackpots and began asking myself the age old question, what would I do with the money if I won. I actually thought in depth about this one. I started off with a round figure of £50 million, you know, enough to never have to worry about money again.

I don't know whether I'm a typical ATSer in terms of my thinking but I didn't once consider what I would buy for myself with it. I've got pretty much everything I need right here already. My mind was wondering about how I would help other people out. I know a few people with big debts and so my first line of thinking was to clear it off for them. Naturally, you'd want to help out where you could.

At the same time, I would want anonymity since people would inevitably treat you differently and you'd also be gaining 'extra friends.' You'd never know who was there genuinely and who was there for the money - at least to the point you'd have to question it.

So, if it were me, a big win would thrust me immediately into a life of secrets to some degree. I also believe that the struggle of life is a learning process and that by bailing out your friends, you're taking the consequences away from their actions, freeing them to repeat their mistakes.

I started to think that winning so much money would be as much a challenge as every day life is, if not more so. I thought about how much of my current life would change outside of my wishes. I mean are these things you COULD keep to yourself. I know many people in my life who would not be able to keep quiet about this kind of thing, regardless of what you told them, and so you wouldn't be able to. (This includes my own mother who can't keep a secret to save her life, no matter what you say to her!)

I concluded that my life would be a series of challenges in stealth. Everyday, I'd get up, tell people I was going to work and research where money was needed most. I'd contribute anonymously to small local organisations who don't raise much money usually. I'm not sure I could do the same for friends because eventually people would begin to realise these donations were coming from their own social network.

Ultimately, if it were me I'd live a life of white lies, the only reasonable way forwards other than giving it all away. I wouldn't invest any of it. £50 mil is more than enough to live on.

What would you do and what challenges would you come across? What is the right way to proceed in this situation?

Th8nker

You WOULDN'T invest any of it?

That's rather short sighted of you, isn't it?

If it were me, I'd invest every single penny of it, then go on living my life like I never won anything.

When you win a large lottery.. the first thing you do is retain a lawyer.

That lawyer/firm can then go ahead with processing the claim of the lottery win. This keeps your name out of the press and announcements which usually let the general public know who won.

This cuts down on the problem of people coming out of the wood-works looking for handouts.

What you then did with your money is a little more private than claiming the prize in the public eye.

reply to post by Th8nker


Hi,

Why not clear the debts of the people you care about, keep enough for yourself, then just give the rest to starving people? And starving animals - anyone or anything suffering.

It seems obvious to me.

you know, call me crazy, but ia lwasy had my own idea/way of dealing witht he people coming out of the woodwork IF i won the lottery, like powerball. ide dress jsut as i do now, maybe less..and point a rifle out the window, when the press shows up, and bluntantly shout out, get of my property now, or i WILL open fire I fugured that shoulds care jsut about all of them away..and of course, dealing with the cops. I figured since cops seem to like undocumented payrolls, ide put hem on one too
Buy a big mansion in a super rich snotty neighborhood, jsut to shoot gunsinside of it, and dres all day like the beverly hillbillys before they got rich*

reply to post by Th8nker

I guess some people might have a hard time when coming into large amounts of money,for example,780,000,0000 Us dollars.Yes with amounts like that of course you would exspect to attract extra attention from freinds , faimly and money hungry women.You life could change over night.Of course you would proberly get a phone call or even a visit from your local bank manager falling over themselfs to get to your front door.Don;t show you photo on tv either.You will proberly have a flock of people trying to rip you off with shonky money investment deals.Do not show your face at the casino.As soon as your in the door the manager will whisk you away to your private penthouse with private gambling high stakes room compleat with high class hookers..Give me the simple life anyday.

I would think outside of my needs. My needs were met. I would look at the needs of my community. How many children are being taken from families by Child Protective Services that have no good lawyers? How many small businesses could use free good advice from experts to avoid failure? How many families are deteriorating due to lack of employment, and could use assistance in finding a job? How many state programs are inefficient and wasteful, where an independent evaluation would make things better? What sort of programs for people exiting the military are available for retraining? What kinds of programs are most effective to prevent prison populations from returning to prison? How can education be supported to make more effective schools? What new advances in science are not being fully developed or broadcast to farmers that could assist farms in production success? What government programs are against business, and how can they be correctly changed for the better?

And the list is endless for those who want to make a difference.

Disclaimer: I'm a theist but not of the Abrahamic faiths. I have minor biblical scholar and scriptural skills. Also I am not a scientific/legal or medical expert in any field. Beware of my Contagious Memes! & watch out that you don't get cut on my Occams razor.All of this is my personal conjecture and should not be considered the absolute or most definitive state of things as they really are. Use this information at your own risk! I accept no liability if your ideology comes crashing down around you with accompanying consequences.

Explanation: S&F!

1stly 50 [puts little finger to side of mouth DR Evil style] Million Euro's would suit me fine! [OL is an Aussie so 50 million euro is about 83 million Au$ and lottery winnings aren't taxed ]

2ndly What would I do with it?
I would....

A] Take care of my own financial sitX. 1/6th of total winnings.
B] Take care of close friends and family..i.e set them up for life. 1/3rd of total winnings.
C] Set up trust funds to distribute the earnings on invested funds on yearly basis. Philanthropy would be my main aim here. 1/3rd of total winnings.
D] I'd invest a massive 1/12th of the winnings to ATS [about 7million Au$ ]
E] I'd play around with the last 1/12th of the winnings.

Personal Disclosure: I'd make sure I was drawing a yearly salary from a trust fund run by my MUM! she's my gaurdian and if she sez no then even my goddess or G/f don't even get a say and I like it like that!

P.S. this would be the demographic that gets set up 4 life...

Family:
Mum
Dad
Younger bro
Youngest bro
my Gran [mums mum]
my eldest uncle [mums older bro]
my youngest uncle [mums younger bro]
my youngest uncles son..i.e my cousin
my aunt in england [fathers older sister]
My G/F

Friends: 4 very close life long mates of mine.

All would recieve 2 million Au$ but must sign contract with penalty clauses if they ever ask for another cent!

The issues and organizations I would support will have to wait for another post as I havent really got a accurate handle on what should have priority and make my list. I would hope to support at least 10 sitX's.

P.S. I'd probably also invest some of my own money in getting everybody well educated in not going financially crazy ...especially me!

Just thinking about this topic made me realise that winning a large sum of money is a potential nightmare and may prove to be a bigger problem than its worth. I guess you can deal with such a cash boost so long as you're sensible about it but then again, £50 mil for one person isn't sensible. A pretty grand dilemma disguised in the form of something everyone dreams of happening to them.

Th8nker

The downside is that I have this uncle that really goes through a lot of money and strong arms me every two weeks when I get a paycheck. The police won't do anything about it and not giving him any just once means things get harder on me. He has already said should I win a lottery he is going to take half of it, maybe even more.

I just someone had the ability to stand up to Uncle Sam and make him more responsible and leave me alone.

I've thought about this in the past and one idea I would love to try out is to set up my own business in an area that has high unemployment, where the business would employ local residents and be a NON profit making company.

Meaning, everyone gets a fair wage. At the end of the tax year (presuming there is a profit) money is taken out of said profit and put into a bank account, which will then act as your cash flow for the following year, any profit above that would be split among the work force EQUALLY, if people believe they are going to be paid an above fair wage with the chance of a fat wedge each year they will (as long as welfare is looked after as well) be harder and more loyal workers.

Ahh well, there is a classic well documented effect known as lottery winner's syndrom. People who have never had money who suddenly gain a lot of it tend to spend it fivolously and quickly on junk and then end just as broke if not more broke than before. It is tragic.

I have often thought about this, though. It is an excellent excercise for seeing what your priorities in life really are. Here is my list.

$50 Million (don't feel like converting the Euros..)

$25 Million set aside in a money market or trust fund for dealing with taxes. I actually am proxy friends with a great CPA who I could dedicate to this task. lol

$1 Million given to myself and my family to play with for one year. I would retire and do NOTHING except play for a year. That will get all of the materialism out of my system and allow me to focus.

$500,000 to tear down and replace my existing house. I would build a super energy efficient house.

$3 Million towards an neighborhood utility initiative. Basically a clean local renewable energy plant that is big enough to service our local neighborhood. The cogen money would be used to maintain and upgrade the facility.

$5 Million towards a pet project of mine...a school/resort sort of thing. The school would be for people who want to learn various trades such as carpentry, blacksmithing, basic farming, physical and performing arts, as well as leadership and management. The students would all dress in period garb..not sure which period. The resort part would be live shows, a old world style village, etc. Not so much a ren fest.. more like an actual dark ages town (only with better sanitation). Still flushing out the idea, though.

Some of the remaining $15.5 Million would go into various investments...likely giving inventors with great ideas who can't get past the big oil and big auto groups a chance to see their inventions tried. And a good chunk of it would go to certain charitable groups.