Powerball? What would you do?

[Jake101]

just think of all the clothes you could buy! haha, but seriously, what would you do?

[alan]

I got $20 worth of tickets on my lunch break. I've actually put some thought into this. What I'd do with the winnings:

For myself:
1.) Retire.
2.) Buy a multi-million dollar home in Highland Park, TX... the kind with a big brick wall around it and a big garden with a stand-alone greenhouse.
3.) Furnish that house.
4.) Buy a 150ft+ yacht (with a helipad), hire a full-time crew, and travel the world with my family for a couple of years.

For family:
1.) Buy new homes (or pay off existing homes) for my immediate family on both sides (brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents).
2.) Fund 529 accounts for all of my cousins' kids on both sides of the family.
3.) Get my dad's mom out of a nursing home and into a more private, permanent residence with full-time care.

For charity:
1.) Donate to the SPCA of North Texas
2.) Donate to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children
3.) Donate to my mom's church (Our Lady of Guadalupe) in Mission, TX.

Going forward:
1.) Hire a full-time money manager.

Of course, you could never do this with just a few million, but we're talking about an annuitized jackpot of over $300m so it's easy to be generous and hard to be frivolous. Even after a home purchase, yacht purchase, gifts, and donations, I expect I've still spent well under $50m (the bulk of which will be the yacht). That leaves a quarter of a BILLION dollars going forward.

[Deke]

Call a lawyer

Travel

Make sure my family is set

Invest

Start some sort of non-profit organization to contribute back (based on the fiancee, probably come sort of animal sanctuary)

Buy a few more cars, nicer house, clothes, etc.

[bruschetta]

Keep 1/10th of it for my family.

Donate 9/10ths to ease my conscience.

[LesserBlackDog]

I've never bought a lotto ticket. I feel like I've already won the lotto of life in a lot of ways. But I guess if I did unexpectedly come into a gajillion dollars, I would do the following:

Buy/build a modest home on decently-sized, undeveloped land near the mountains close to the town where I grew up.
Buy/build a second modest home near my parents' lakeside cabin.
Buy a small sailboat and learn how to sail.
Buy a vehicle with 4WD.
Adopt a dog and a cat.
Give up lawyering and take up music, writing, and enjoying the outdoors as full-time occupations.
Create a non-profit advocacy foundation, endow them with the remainder of the money, and pay myself a decent salary as an officer for the rest of my life.

[shad0w4life]

I think mine was:

Turn it into billions, donate to gates charity warren buffet style

Buy a huge house and adopt a lot of kids and hire some nannys


Buy some fun toys too...and trophy wife.

[alan]

Hmmm... I just did a search of various homes for sale in the DFW metroplex. I may be revising my home price estimates upward... Good thing I could afford it.

Oooohhh... Found one with a 4-lane bowling alley and a glass-windowed 8-car garage for collectibles overlooking White Rock Lake. It's not Highland park, but it'll do nicely.

[Jessy Diamond]

I think mine was:

Turn it into billions, donate to gates charity warren buffet style

Buy a huge house and adopt a lot of kids and hire some nannys

Buy some fun toys too...and trophy wife.

Definitely a trophy wife.

Anyway, we don't have those kind of jackpots around here. They usually top at around 50 millions.

[alan]

I forgot to add something... I'd like a to have an art collection. Portions of it would be made public via either permanent loans to local museums of by funding my own museum. I've always enjoyed the Dallas Arts District and would like to give back somehow.

[TheMichaelD]

I have a personal vendetta against Peru. I'd fund an army to conquer the land and rule like a king. I'd be a kind but vengeful ruler.

[mr. mr.]

pay for schooling/loans of my close friends and family, girlfriend, gf's family.

take care of family as needed.

maybe try to buy the mets.

i'd need to find some sort of rewarding career. can't imagine i'd want to kill myself being a practicing attorney, at least not for a firm.

would maybe try to open some sort of business, most likely self-serve frozen yogurt, which i love to death.

[bremersm]

[COLOR=#000000]1. Lawyer[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]2. CPA[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]3. Claim Prize[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]4. Pay off everything[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]5. 10% to church[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]5. New house on golf course[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]6. Pay off parents and inlaws house[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]7. New cars (911 Carrera S, Audi RS4 Avant, and Cayenne Turbo for my wife)[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]8. Tag Heuer Monaco[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]9. Tickets to every F1 race next year[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]10. Buy into my father inlaws business[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]11. Donate to FSU for life time tickets[/COLOR]

[alan]

11. Donate to FSU for life time tickets

Nice catch. I forgot about A&M football box seats for life for me, my brother, my dad, and our spouses.

[Jake101]

8. Tag Heuer Monaco
@bremersm
Really? You could go much , much higher

[robert12]

I would buy some politicians. And shoes.