I did something out of character today and spent $6 on a Lotto Max ticket. I never buy lottery tickets, mainly because I never have the chance, as I mostly pay at the pump at gas stations and avoid the lottery booths in malls. I also see playing the lottery as a waste of money, but I had to go into the gas station today and thought “why not?”.
The few times I’ve purchased lottery tickets have always spurred a momentary daydream. I ponder what I’d do with the money if I won when I buy a ticket. Then I remind myself that if I won, it wouldn’t be all my money, since I’m getting married in July, so I can’t make all of the decisions.
I watched a made-for-TV documentary one time about people who made their living playing the lottery. I would rather just work hard and earn my money the good old fashioned way, but it’s nice to be able to dream once in awhile.
Here’s what I’d do if I won the Lotto Max $32 million:
Sit on It
If I won $32 million, the first thing I’d do is .. nothing.
Well, except for claim the prize and put it in a 100% safe, low interest savings account. This video that Cait tweeted out cites that on $50 million, a conservative estimate of interest earnings would be around $2,500 per day. That’s a lot of money! Even $1,000 per day is a lot of money, so I’d most certainly put the money away and let it accrue interest for awhile. Not that I’d need that $1,000 per day, but some charity would!
The biggest reason I’d sit on the money for a little while (say maybe a month) is because that would allow me the time to evaluate what I wanted to do with it. I wouldn’t want to make any emotional decisions, excited from a huge win, and end up regretting them.
Big Ticket Items
The obvious thing that I’d do with my money after my little waiting period is pay off the mortgage, and buy another vehicle. I’d keep my car but J’s truck is getting old and tired. The last thing I’d want is for him to be stuck on the side of the road with a broken down truck, so we’d get him a brand new one with all of the bells and whistles. If he didn’t plan on working anymore, we’d just get a smaller car.
That would hardly put a dent in the money, especially if it were making a considerable amount of passive income through investments.
We’d of course pay off our parents’ mortgage, fund the early retirements of our working parents, put some money aside to put my tween cousin’s through school and give a chunk to charity.
Quit the Day Jobs & Travel
After waiting, and then spending some of the cash on big ticket items, we would quit our jobs and travel the world. I’m not somebody who can be away from family and friends for extended periods of time, so we would try to rent a house or apartment in wherever we were travelling to, and spend at least a month in each destination so we could fly our friends and family members out to visit.
Meanwhile, the rest of the money would still be sitting in a relatively safe investment, accruing interest and making us passive income.
I’m not somebody who can just not work, as I am a restless person who needs constant excitement, so I’d continue blogging and maybe freelancing, and of course volunteering wherever we end up.
I would be surprised if all of these things together would take up even close to $1 million of the winnings, so we’d have plenty of money to play with when we returned from our round-the-world trip.
Return to Canada and Build Our Dream Home
We’d keep our current home and rent it out or perhaps let my brother live in it for free. We’d then find a perfect chunk of land, and build our dream home. It wouldn’t be huge, as we wouldn’t want to have to care for a massive house, but it would be perfect for us and spacious enough for guests and children and anything else life may throw our way.
We’d buy boats, sporting equipment, and recreational vehicles and outfit our new house with lots of creature comforts. Depending on our boredom level, we would perhaps work part-time, or maybe start a business (like vacation rentals).
Have Babies
Both of us have always wanted to have kids, so after we did all of the things listed about we’d think about having some babies. We wouldn’t be constrained by financial worries or work schedules, so we’d be able to have as many as we wanted and that nature would allow us.
I’ve always wanted a big family (if money and time weren’t an issue), but who knows what would change after actually having kids.
I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, and I obviously didn’t win the lottery, but it’s fun to dream sometimes.
I play the lottery twice a week lol. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine but kind of a taboo thing to do as a PF blogger. I would do the same thing as you in the beginning. Put the winnings in the bank first and create a solid plan. Then go traveling for a bit 🙂 Would you tell your readers if you actually won the lottery? Even $1 million let’s say. For me, if I won I would keep it a secret and wouldn’t blog about it at all.
The first thing I would do is to escape with the DH so we could digest the fact that we won a heaping pile of money and then think out how are we going to manage it all.
I know for sure that we’d give a one-time amount to our close family members, donate to our favourite charities, likely purchase a property and travel. We’re both already self-employed and enjoy our careers to a large degree…but I’d be willing to dial back the hours and do others things of interest with that time.
I’d just sit on it. I never did the math on the $50 million jackpot, but that’s a heck of a lot of money! I always knew I’d just live on the interest and investments… but holy moly, the money generated from that is crazy!
The first thing I would do is to build my emergency fund, secure my daughter’s educational plan add it into my savings and buy a rental property. I would like to travel too with my family and of course I would give my mom. 🙂
Exactly the same things I have in mind should I win the lottery. I was even daydreaming one time that if I won, I’d be very quiet about it and give it careful and well-thought of planning about what to do with the money. I haven’t gotten around to writing them down so when I chanced upon your post, I realized this is what I wanted. Well, in case I win but after several tickets bought and I guess more to come, I still haven’t figured out the winning number combination. Sigh!
If I’d have $32 million, I would buy a house for my family and for my parents, put up a business and spare some money for my kids’ education. Then I would want to travel as well. And I’d like to have a baby girl.
If ever I will be very luck to win a lottery, first thing that I’m going to do is to travel Paris because that is my ultimate dream, secondly, ensure my daughter’s future and build a solid emergency fund. It’s not wrong to day dream sometimes. 🙂
I’ve thought about this a lot, if I won something like a million dollars I would quit my job, invest it wisely and just live a simple life and do things that I enjoy. Maybe try to get part time work someplace where I could work with animals.
If I won something like 32 million that would be different. First I would quit my job. That’s the same 🙂 Then I would probably spend a good amount of time figuring out how to invest this money in safer assets that return more than I would ever really need. I would open an art gallery, I know someone that would make a great art director who I’m sure would love to manage it. I wouldn’t expect it to make money, but maybe after a year it would break even, and in 3-5 years would be profitable. I also like animals a lot so opening up a rescue for exotic animals or something like that… not sure what, but animals are in this future somehow. Other than that I would do a fair amount of travel. I like to travel like a college student, cheap places, local food, occasional bus rides that are too long. I could do that for a while.