If I had a million dollars

[donk]

Taking the following pictures to show friends from away made me think of this.

The story is as follows.

The father wins 5.5 miilion in the lottery (tax free) and gives his son 1.5 million of it. His son proceeds to build the dream house and take over the family business. If you can't tell, the shapes to the right of the house are junked cars.

Makes you wonder

Now what would you do if you had 1.5 million dollars. Yes I know its only CDN $, but convert that to a large enough sum in local currency that would give you life options.

 

[Chet]

For starters:

1. I would buy a sign for the aforementioned rich hillbilly that reads, "Kunstler Estates" and bribe the local officials to rename the street "Andres Duany Way". (Becasue doesn't he always get his way?)

2. I would endow Cyburbia.

3. I would take naps.

4. I would pay to be hypnotized to scrub that image of El Guapo out of my mind. (you know the one, EG!)

5. Quit work. Or maybe just stop showing up.

6. Golf.

7. Stock : three words: Archer Daniels Midland.
(They are supermarket to the world ya know)

8. Buy the rights to the Segway Human Transporter and resell it to General Motors, thus assuring that sidewalks will be SHT free zones forever. *EVIL LAUGH*

9. Take more naps.

10. Real Estate speculatin, but just as a hobby.

11. Buy crap at flea markets and sell it on eBay. I could double that million in no time!

YAY - 1000 posts!

 

[nerudite]

1) I would initially travel a lot.

2) Buy a comfortable house here, and some property in the Sierras in CA and a nice beach cabin in Nova Scotia. I would rather own a few little cabins and a smallish house than one big monster house. I'm all about escapism and low day to day responsibility.

3) Pay off some of my parents' debts.

4) Invest the rest in stock so I can actually retire someday. My dad's a stockbroker/investment counsellor, so I would probably get some ideas from him. But then... uh... maybe not (see #3).

In any case, winning $1.5 million is a bit of a headache right now due to two sets of federal taxes I need to pay. Even though the Canadian side would be tax fee for lottery winnings, Uncle Sam still takes money from me. That and due to Canada's commonlaw regulations, I would likely get hauled into court by my boyfriend's ex-wife to up child support. So, right now poor and happy works okay for me.

 

[Habanero]

A million dollars!!!!

1. Pay off school, mine and immediate family, including oldest brother's law school
2. Make soap and do domestic stuff I don't have time for currently
3. Get a certificate to teach yoga or pilates
4. Buy another weimeraner, one just isn't enough
5. Buy an older home, gut it, and start over (nothing is tall enough with me at 5'11'' and James at 6'7'')
6. Tour Europe for a full summer
7. Invest so I can the $$ can supplement my current income

oh.. and I'd buy my sister a monkey just so I can sing that line out of The Bare Naked Ladies' song..

 

[Tom R]

$

I'd probably have a coronary and my ex would get the money via my son.

But, if I survived, I'd buy a small farm with a wood lot and some water, preferably a pond, buy a pickup and a fishing boat and a pair of Golden Retrievers and let them do what comes naturally and sell the pups....and somewhere install an old fashioned (chemically based) photographic dark room.

 

[el Guapo]

Really:

I'd get the Volvo 240 overhauled and add dual airbags.
I'd go to India with the Misses for a month and buy my in-laws a big AC unit.
I'd buy the wife a (used) Mercedes Benz like she has always wanted.
I'd make sure my son got a shot at going wherever he wanted to for university.
I'd buy the folks a live-in nurse.
I’d endow the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Scholarship Fund for the children and spouses of EOD techs killed in the line of duty.
I’d pay off the house.
I'd get braces.
I'd endow Cyburbia. About 15K.
I’d buy the first and last rounds at Denver.
I’d invest the rest in socially responsible funds and companies.
I’d take Beaner hunting.
I'd get bTurk the lawyer he'll need eventually. (But not a real Lawyer - that would be cruel)

 

[prudence]

It's Canadian $$$...

I guess buy a couple of tacos and a Penthouse...is there any $$$ left??

 

[Chet]

Re: It's Canadian $$$...

I guess buy a couple of tacos and a Penthouse...is there any $$$ left??

I assume you mean the magazine and not the top floor...

 

[prudence]

Re: Re: It's Canadian $$$...

I assume you mean the magazine and not the top floor...

Top what??

 

[Cardinal]

1. Buy a couple hundred acres in the Baraboo Range (west of Madison), build a home and plant an apple orchard.
2. Travel more often, and further.
3. Buy every round between the first and last in Denver (see El Guapo's post).
4. Spend a fortune on women, then ultimately step up to a golden retriever or australian shepherd.

 

[kms]

1. Pay off the house and help out my family with theirs.
2. Use some to send my kids to the good universities of their choice.
3. Invest for our future.
4. Give some to charity, probably one that helps Appalachian families. The church will want a cut, too!
5. Take the kids to Disney World in the middle of the school year, like the rich families do!
6. Go to Italy, Ireland and Great Britain.
7. Buy a second home somewhere in North Carolina or VIrginia.
8. Save some.
9. Revive our town's daily newspaper.
10. Replace our 10 and 20 year old car and truck.

 

[Tranplanner]

1. Pay off debts (car, wife's tuition)
2. Spread the wealth around a bit (family)
3. Buy a house - midtown Toronto, with a garden and within walking distance to the subway
4. Build one kick-ass model railway in the basement of the aforementioned house.
5. Buy a cottage property - maybe a hobby farm
6. Donate to some worthy causes
7. Try to live as normally as possible

I don't think I could retire right now on a million dollars.

 

[Downtown]

Since a million doesn't go as far as it used to, i'd invest it all, and then gradually with the income:

1. pay off house, car and student loans
2. travel - take rob out to the rocky mountains, my sister on a pub crawl of ireland
3. buy my poverty stricken little brother furniture for his empty apartment
4. send my parents to the carolinas from january to may every year since they hate the cold,
5. stay home with the six kids i've always wanted to have, but couldn't afford because of daycare costs.

 

[Planderella]

A million dollars won't go very far for what I really want, but for the time being, I'd:

1. Pay off student loans, car loan, credit cards, etc.
2. Buy a house for myself and family
3. Invest the money
4. Give to charities
5. Buy a ridiculously expensive watch

 

[PlannerGirl]

Humm buy my dad a condo on the beach and send him on a dive trip to the Great Barrier Reef

Buy Scott the CLK he wants

pay off student loans and save for law school

invest to save up for a house in Lyon Park *Arlington*
that pretty well uses up a Mill

 

[Mastiff]

Invest it. All of it. Live like a street person for a year or two while I triple the money...

And watch who treats me like crap, and who is kind and generous to me even though I smell funny, have no job, and talk to myself.

Then show up in a new suit and screw with all the mean people while giving back to the kind folks in spades.

How's that?

 

[El Feo]

invest to save up for a house in Lyon Park *Arlington*
that pretty well uses up a Mill

My wife and I looked at a house in Lyon Park when we still lived in Arlington - it was very affordable *snicker* at $249,000. And it was a spacious 900 s.f.!

At any rate, my list would be:

Pay off debts, including mortgage.
Pay off my folks' mortgage as well.
Share a little with my brothers.
Give to some charities.
Restore the house.
Finally get a pilot license.
Sell my pickup, now that I've about rung all useful life out of it, then buy a 1948 Ford F1 that I can actually work on myself, now that I have the time (I'm rich).
Invest the rest.

 

[PlannerGirl]

I donno how long ago that was but now they are going for 350,00 for the "cheap" (read needs ohh a few hundred grand in work) houses