Let’s Play a Game

So last night I bought a Classic Lotto ticket. The jackpot last night was $9.2 million and tickets are only a buck so I thought what the heck. You can’t win if you don’t play, right?

This touched off an all night game of  ”What Would You Buy” between myself and Mr. Oaks. It was decided that a 9 million dollar jackpot would pay out about $5 mil after taxes, so we played with that number. It went pretty much like this:

• Two million would go straight into stocks. I’d get a nice little trust fund/nest egg going.
• $500k would go into a CD or bonds or some safe investment, where it would slowly grow and be waiting for when I needed it.
• I would take half a million and pay off my mom’s house and car, pay off my grandparents medical bills, and do other nice things for family members.
• I would give Mr. Oaks and Mr. Garee $50k each to buy a car or whatever they want. I would pay off Ms. Reitz‘ college.
• After those things are taken care of, the fun starts. First thing I’d do is go buy a car. Either an Audi S6, a Subaru Legacy GT, or a Volvo V50R. And I’d pay cash, just for the fun of it.
• Then, and I do mean immediately, I’d drive that new car to Easton to the Apple Store and do my best to spend 10 large.  I’m talking about a 13″ MacBook Pro (for carrying with me) and an 8-core Mac Pro with a 30″ HD Cinema Display. And a new iPod touch and whatever other toys I thought I might need.
• While I’m at Easton I’d probably spend a few hours just shopping around. I know I could spend some time in Bang & Olufsen, and it wouldn’t be hard to drop some coin at Nordstrom. I’d drive that new whip to Polaris, too. There’s a Finish Line there where I can grab some new kicks, not to mention Brooks Brothers (for those of you that know me well, you know why I want to walk into that store more than any other dressed in old jeans, a nasty t-shirt, and my steel-toes).
• Next would be a new place to live. I’m not sure if I would buy a house or a condo, but you can be sure it would be wicked cool – lots of mod furniture and super cool touches. An awesome foos table is a must, as is a monster (80″) TV and stereo system.
• The boys’ (and maybe a couple girls) and I would go to the World Cup,Champions League Final, and maybe Euro 2012. Also, there is not a single Crew game that I would not attend – home or away, foriegn or domestic.  We’d probably take in a few EPL matches too. I know for sure that I want to go to St. James Park and the boys would want to visit The Emirates.
• I’d see a Sox/Yanks weekend at Fenway. There is only one person in the world I would take with me.
• College would be paid for. For myself, my mom, and that one other person (you know who you are).

I’m sure there’s more. I’d buy a digital camera and a point and shoot, I’d get a lot of new clothes and shoes, I’d buy a new watch or two.  I’d get my teeth whitened. I’d probably spend a cool million in the first month.

It would be no problem, really, if you knew there was more where that came from to spend a lot of money in a short time. After the car and the house and the travel, the little things all add up pretty quick. Especially when “little things” are $5,000 – $10,000 apiece. The challenge would be making the money last.

I don’t think I’d stop working altogether. I’d certainly finish my degree, cause $5 million won’t last forever and I’d have to get a job at some point out of boredom. But I would certainly take some time to travel.

So what about y’all: If you suddenly had a check for $5 million what would you do? That’s life changing money, but how would your life change? I know there’s a lot of things we all have in common (houses, cars, etc.) but what would you do differently with your windfall than I would with mine?