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What Would You Do if You Won $100,000,000?

Funny thing is studies show that the declared level of happiness doesn't increase permanently after winning the lotto. There is euphoria at first but after some time it goes back to normal. I remember one article saying that what really affects people's level of happiness in long term is moving to live closer to the nature. But yeah, money plays role in that one too.
 
Funny thing is studies show that the declared level of happiness doesn't increase permanently after winning the lotto. There is euphoria at first but after some time it goes back to normal. I remember one article saying that what really affects people's level of happiness in long term is moving to live closer to the nature. But yeah, money plays role in that one too.

In general, if you're not content with what you have now, you won't be content with what you have later.

In some ways, that's a good thing, in most ways, it's a bad thing.

A bigger house, better car, fancier things, it won't make you happier. Eventually you get used to it, and there's always somebody with more.
 
This is something I've thought about. I heard of an NBA player that sent everyone in his family a check when he hit it big. Basically said "here is some money... this is it... I've shared... don't ask me for nuthin… don't ask me to invest in nuthin" in nicer legal terms. I'd absolutely do something like that for brothers and sisters and my wife's family.

Breaking off a chunk for them with the caveat that I'm not investing or providing anything else is a nice way to take care of them. Essentially its a buyout.
If one of my siblings won the lottery I wouldn't expect a dime. We all get along great and they aren't selfish at all, but it would be strange to get a hand out like that in our family and I would probably offend some of them pretty bad if I tried to give it to them. On the other hand, I am sure that if someone on my wife's family won they would give us at least $1M, but they would be offended if I didn't share with them after winning. It is what they think family should do.
This difference in family culture was the root of the first big fight me and the missus had in our marriage. Her dad offered to help us with $ while going to school, and I took it as him saying I wasn't man enough to take care of his daughter and he/she took me turning down the money as a rejection of their family. Thankfully we have all learned how to communicate better LOL
 
I’d definitely quit my job. Like, pronto. Most of my conscious hours are dedicated to other pursuits already, so I’m ****ing primed to strike it rich and live well. I just amp up what I’m already doing.

Initially, I’d put it all in very safe, low rate of return, investments. This is an unholy amount of money, and that yield is obviously more than enough.

The goal at first is to STOP thinking about money as much as possible. If I need a new tool or a tutor for a project I’m interested in, then obviously I acquire those things without hesitation. But the emphasis here is on unbridled learning.

Then, once my focus and perspective have become sufficiently unalloyed from money, maybe I discover within my batch of personal projects something that I’d like to scale up and include other people. So I’d build the infrastructure for that.

And I’d establish a scholarship fund with three separate awards: arts, science, and applied technical schooling. In addition, I’d be funding doctoral and/or post-doctoral research on the climate.

I’d get a nicer house. And I’d get a kick *** cabin.
 
The guys on my shift and I regularly get in on the big power ball draws, so this is a topic of regular discussion in the office. The consensus from the guys is generally never having to sit in a room with me for 8 hours again is the way forward. (people are ****ing unkind)

Its interesting that some of the guys are like i'll never work again and others (myself included) take the view that they'd need to do something.

I like the point about getting back to nature makes people happy. I spent 8 weeks on my land in Tassie last year and it was great, I'm living about a ten minute walk from the CBD now and I find the concrete jungle of my block of flats alienating.
 
In general, if you're not content with what you have now, you won't be content with what you have later.

In some ways, that's a good thing, in most ways, it's a bad thing.

A bigger house, better car, fancier things, it won't make you happier. Eventually you get used to it, and there's always somebody with more.

I’ll speak for me here. My house here in NJ would sell for 600K. In SLC I assume I’d get a lesser house. I’ve looked at real estate there and it’s expensive. Not NYC expensive but damn expensive. So why would I want a 2-4M house there? I mean, my home here is on a solid 1/2 acre but the house is almost 50 years old and has issues. Mostly the basement. You can’t understand it if you don’t live it, but these sump pumps and the basement suck. In the ten years we’ve lived here, we’ve probably spent around $15,000 on the new French drain, new sump pumps, or snaking the lines. That’s more than a mortgage payment a year. And because of these issues, I can’t finish the basement. Lest I want to risk 50-100K of mold issues developing. So that’s where my mind is. That, and that I’d like more land for the kids to roam and explore and that I’d obviously like upgrades (new siding-mine is original, bigger house with bigger rooms...just new...not 50 years old. I mean, we’ve redone the kitchen and bathrooms but still. In our town, what I’d like would probably run us $950,000 to 1.2M. It’s a big upgrade but nothing insane based off of what we have now and the fact that we’d have won 100M. In SLC that would be even more.

On top of that, real estate is just smart. Obviously we could be buying at the peak of the market but long-term, it’s a fairly safe and prosperous investment.

One thing that I didn’t mention that I’d love to do is start my own nonprofit. It’s a retirement dream of mine. Start one where 100% of the donations go to charity. Not 30% or 60% or 90%. 100%. With 100% transparency. That’s important to me.
 
I remember one article saying that what really affects people's level of happiness in long term is moving to live closer to the nature.

I read a study that zookeepers are happier and have higher job satisfaction than most other people ...so buy a zoo?

Seriously now. Isn't it interesting that humans are social creatures yet activities that take a person away from lots of people tend to lead to more happiness.
 
I read a study that zookeepers are happier and have higher job satisfaction than most other people ...so buy a zoo?

Seriously now. Isn't it interesting that humans are social creatures yet activities that take a person away from lots of people tend to lead to more happiness.
Animals are an excellent outlet for social interaction. That’s not an intra-species phenomenon.
 
That's way too much money. But I'll take $10 million, please.
 
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