Hey tilda swintons - what would you do if you were awarded $130,000,000 in post-tax lottery money?
you head to the gas station to catch a 6-pack and maybe a bag of chips or some rillos. you pass the cashier a twenty, and they mention your change will get you a couple lottery tickets. you're in a good mood and we all hate coins, so you just tell 'em you're down and to choose random numbers.
a week later, you wake up and see the winning lottery numbers on the news.
hopeful curiosity turns into a flooring disbelief as you pause the tv and check the numbers four times over.
you scramble to find and unlock your phone, heading straight to google.
"winning lottery numbers"
"how to tell if you won the lottery"
"lottery number checker"
everything checks out.
"how to claim lottery winnings"
you go to claim your prize, and you can choose between $130,000,000 in post-tax cash now, or $210,000,000 spread equally over the next 30 years.
which do you choose? what do you do with it?
This reminds me a lot of this reddit post on what goes wrong for so many lottery winners, and steps you can take to avoid that.
Its crazy to leave that amount of money in your car once, but to do it after you've already had your car broken in to is insane.
That reddit comment actually makes me a little upset, because that comment (which got quite a few gildings), was stolen directly from another website
Funny enough, you bringing this to my attention made me go on a search to find the original. The earliest instance of this text I can find is from this AR-15.com post in 2009.
I also found it here on http://youwonthelottery.com/, but google cached that website on April 18th, 2009, vs the AR-15.com post in Feb 2009.
I take the lump sum.
I'd spend my time mostly learning artisan crafts, taking care of my land, get a degree or three, and occasionally travel.
It's really an insane amount for money, I couldn't reasonably find a way to spend it all. For a conceptualization, check out the first three minutes of One Hundred Million Dollar Penny (second half is political and irrelevant)
I used to live there too.
I'm only in my late-20's, but my dad was active duty and I spent some time in uniform myself. I've lived in a lot of different places, all over the country.
Some of my friends had migrated down there over the years, and once I got out I joined them. I spent 18-months figuring out what to do next, and having the absolute time of my life. I fell in love with that city, the people, and those mountains. My work experience brought me to DC, but I would love nothing more than to go back.
Be quiet. Not tell anyone.
Invest. Into diverse assets, in many markets, mostly bonds. With this amount of money even 1% yearly would be more than enough.
Get healthy. Get the top quality health insurance. Full health check up every 6-12 months. Gym membership with a personal trainer. Hire the most skilled psychotherapists.
Give. Give gifts to my friends and family (but not crazy big gifts, in order to not reveal my true power level). Donate regularly to my favourite content creators and non-profits.
Work. Work on stuff I always wanted, as much as I want.
Learn. Maybe get a new degree. Maybe even go for a PhD. Learn languages with native speakers.
Rest. Travel more, in more diverse countries. Stay there longer. Get to know places, rather than just spend a week. Hire a maid.
I feel like this should be enough.
1 million to all immediate family members. Buy a decent house, clear debts, get a few non-essentials like some sweet tech or adult toys. Travel a bit, take some time off.
Hire a financial planner to help invest the rest and live off of $200,000 per year. Then work wherever I want doing whatever I want including trying to have a new side is gig or hobby every year or two.
This is a great example of how hard it is to imagine that much money. In order to get down to $200,000 a year (assuming a modest 4% return) you'd have to spend like $125,000,000 of that money, investing only $5M. Alternatively if you invested that entire $130M right off the bat you could give your immediate family members (assuming two siblings and two parents) a salary of $1M/y and still have $1M/y for yourself (well, less because I did not factor in capital gains tax).
Take the lump sum, immediately put everything barring $3mm into many, many bank accounts (the FDIC insures up to $250k per account, so while it'd take a while I could manage to protect myself at least to a decent extent) and take a nap before figuring out what to do with the rest of it. (Interest is enough to live on at that amount of capital.)
Probably take $500k from that and dedicate it solely to playing along with /r/WallStreetBets for a while just for fun (I mean, hey, I already had the luck to win the lottery, apparently). Another $500k'd go to paying off my girlfriend's student loans, and with the remainder of that $500k...I'ven't a clue. Get a dog, probably.
An accountant'd probably be my first thing after that.
I think I'd go get a Ph.D or something. Maybe a few. I don't really care for not knowing things.
But before even thinking about getting or not getting a Ph.D probably renting out a small area in a snowy, isolated place and just cuddling with my girlfriend every day for a few months. That seems like a good idea.
I don't think you quite understand /r/wallstreetbets
With the second option it's $583 333 per month. Triple that is what I'd calculate as "money enough to keep me alive and well for the rest of my life, doing wtf I want". So I guess I'd get the 130 one to just not be bothered with receiving money every month. Then, an apartment in Lisbon, another in Istanbul. First $500k gone. The rest I'd split in three parts, one to charity, one to family, one for me. Then I'd just go on with my life like I'm used to. Frankly there are a bunch of things that I'd like to buy now that are in the $100-$5000 range, but having bought them, I doubt I could burn through a tenth of what I would have (~$43 million; if I spend $5k per month for the coming 60 years [I'm on my 20s], I'd only spend $3.6 million, ~%8 of the sum). IDK what I can do with the rest that I don't find obscenely boring. I'd end up putting it in a bank letting it just be.
I purposely haven’t read other people’s comments to avoid biasing my response.
I would take the lump sum.
I wouldn’t tell anybody except my fiancée.
hire a lawyer
hire a financial advisor to invest a large amount of that money
pay off my student loans
start working part time and spending the rest of my time traveling and enjoying life
maybe try to start my own little solo business
write a novel
buy a house
do research on charities and give
Tilda swintons? Every day it's worse...
I won't accept being called by anything other than Tilda Swinton from now on.
I'd take the lump sum, if they allowed it I wouldn't tell a single soul but I'm pretty sure they make you publish your name, and then I would just go back to work every single day. About a year after I'd probably give some to my mom and dad and sister.
I'd then get a jump on fixing up my hiuse and property. I have a small historic house on 3 acres in the city I live and work in. Got it for a steal because it needs work. I'd get the foundation repointed and have some jacking work done under since the floor is level but some joists are sagging after 100 years.. Id the n add about 415 square feet on the back for two more bedroome and a second bathroom.
I'd then slowly fix uo the rest of the hoise and continue my job and save the rest for retirement and retire early most likely.
PAY OFF ALL THE DEBT
Hire an accountant, tell no one, blah blah, all the usual boring stuff. Yeah, but then what....
I mean a lot of it depends on what my wife would want to do, but besides that....
I'd be Mark Shuttleworth 2.0 and fund a free computing company/institute. Someone else can probably think of something more worthwhile to do with the money, but I have to stick with what I know, and at least I know that free software and free hardware will help a lot of people out. Especially if we could get that holy grail of a smartphone with open specs that doesn't steal the soul of everyone who uses it.
Going back get another degree would be fun, too....
I would quit my day job, pay off my mortgage, invest the rest, and spend the rest of my life writing without a care for whether anybody reads me.
I'd take the lump sum, hire an attorney to set up trust funds for my sister/BIL and their kids with a portion of the funds. Have the attorney walk me through what is involved in setting up a charitable trust/foundation so I can spend my retirement as a philanthropist. Get a financial advisor to help me figure out what to invest in to make sure I can live comfortably. Buy land somewhere and build a house for me and my dogs.
I'd spend a hell of a lot of time researching how to win the lottery without ruining my life. Once I figured all of that out (not an easy task, but I see no reason to do that research now...) and felt secure both about my money and my life (I'd probably hire some security at my home), I'd pay off my debts (student loans and a mortgage), blow a fair amount on land and either expansions to my current home or building a new home, set aside enough to live modestly for the rest of my life without having to work, do the same for my family, and become a philanthropist with the rest. I don't need a ton of money... But it'd be amazing to be able to travel a few times a year and to spend my time as I saw fit (most of that time would go toward learning about permaculture principles/gardening).
Fun to think about, but also a little discouraging. It's pretty much my only hope right now for financial independence (don't worry, I only spend $4/week on lottery tickets), and I am well aware of how slim that hope is.
Tell nobody at all, put aside maybe 20k for any intermediate expenses and put the remainder somewhere with the least substantial risk (probably diversified to some extent, but making a profit not being a consideration at all - I'd even be willing to shoulder a small loss if it came to that) for a few years. Continue life on the current trajectory for the next 1-2 years, but spend that time seriously rethinking what to do with my life (and in a broader sense, the money) now that practically every barrier is no longer a problem. Probably the first things I'd be considering would be ways to help society outside of direct philanthropy and possibly enabling avenues for self-improvement, but realistically I'd have to admit the possibility that a better idea may come along if I were to really think about it over time.
Part of the problem with these hypotheticals is that it encourages people to make quick decisions to come up with an answer, which is enjoyable but almost never actually produces what would be a reasonable course of action.
I would take the annuity. I don't trust myself with that kind of money. If I took the lump sum I would end up blowing it all and have nothing left within a few years. By taking the annuity I would still have money thirty years later. If I was stupid and blew all my money one month, I would have a chance to do better next month, and the next and the next. I would have thirty years to get money management right.
I would do everything in my power to collect anonymously, and if successful I wouldn't tell anyone other than my lawyer and accountant. Not my family, not my friends, nobody. I would "launder" my money, not in the hide-it-from-the-IRS-illegal-money-laundering way, but to give friends and family a plausible explanation of where the money is coming from. I would buy a car wash or something.
I would learn to invest. I know I would be terrible at it at first because I know nothing and have no experience. But that's what the annuity is for. I would learn by doing. If I make a bad investment and lose money I'll try again next month. Rather than relying entirely on financial advisers who may or may not try to con me, I would seek to learn for myself how to invest and what makes a good investment.
I would give my family members modest gifts. I would try to seek a balance between gifts large enough to be helpful and small enough to not cause dependency or greed issues. I might buy a family member a car, I wouldn't buy them a house. I would help with college tuition for nieces and nephews. I wouldn't invest in any of my family's business ventures.
For myself I would focus on learning and life experiences. I would go to trucking school and speed a few years trucking. I would buy a boat and sail around the world. I would get a pilot's license and a plane. I would travel the world. I would go to school for various things: engineering, biology, anthropology, art and mathematics.
Full time school, probably rent a place to live until I'm done, buy/insure a car, that would literally just be several tens of thousands. Maybe go on some trips during school breaks. I would hold on to all of it, however, until I was done with school, but I started this whole mess with the intent of finishing.
After graduating, I would find ways to make it work for me, and grow reliably. Conservative mutual funds and the like, but I would want to see tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars come back to me every year that I could live off of, fund things I deem to be important, and just help with regular life without spending my "savings," as it were. I would want to have a bunch aside maturing in a bank account so that I could have a retirement fund should the investment/retirement plans not work out. I would probably still work on having a career, but I would do so comfortably, simply so I could stay sane.
Take the lump sum. Same thing: secure a financial future for myself, family, and very close friends. Move to Washington, where the mountains are close and the land is so beautiful. Once I’m able to live off my money, I’d start funding independent researchers. Try to find super-intelligent people with high-impact low-probability ideas, and get them working on it until something succeeds. I’d hire a personal assistant to run that, a financial manager so I don’t need to stress about my money, and go climbing most of the year.
I'm pretty sure it was intentional -- a few people have suggested Tildas, Swintons, and Tilda Swintons as possible demonyms for the people of Tildes. I actually really enjoy having no fixed name for the community.
Sincerely, a fellow Tildenean.
To answer the question: I would probably ask a lawyer (or team of lawyers) what the best option would be. Most would recommend the lump-sum, but an essentially 60% return on investment over 30 years makes the regular installments option pretty attractive as well.
Either way, I'd probably end up investing most of it and using the capital gains/dividends to pursue some kind of activism.
As a side-note, my autocorrect suggests 'tildestian' -> Palestinian.
I'd dig sth. that didn't have the tild- thing in it. Otherwise it's half life before we'll get the first sex-toy joke will always be quite short. If this ever goes public, that will be the first and longest-living way people will refer to us. It's stupid but it's internet after all...