POLL - What will you do when you win the Lottery? Gosh I'm bored!

[Whispering Winds]

Funny this topic came up. Real estate for me right now is so slow, I am getting really discouraged and trying to decide if I want to continue into 2011. I love my clients, but so many of them have such credit issues and the time and trouble I spend with them usually ends up being just that. I don't mean it badly, because I never EVER let on that its exasperating to me about how a cell phone company can let a customer get a $1000 bill . . .and the fact that the customer keeps using it when they know they can't pay for it.

So what would I do . . . .give quite alot to diabetes research to help DH hopefully. Pay off the mini-farm we have and offer to buy the 80 acres surrounding it, because I think I could offer them enough that it would be well worth their while to listen to the offer . . . help my kids and grandkids, so they never know skinny times. Not enough to make them lazy, and be sure they are old enough to be sensible when they got it. . .build a kick butt barn and a shed for DH so he can restore the car of his dreams. Buy more Alpacas while the market is down, and get some super deluxe bloodlines added to what I already have. . .invest a ton of it, safely. Fix my house back up, build on a sunroom that i have dreamed of for the past 40 years. . .I wouldn't change the way I live, because I love my life, but just the thought of not having to worry about the utilities getting paid and all that would be such a blessing. Fixed income is NOT fun, as so many of you know. I would also get goats, ducks of every kind and finally my chickens. I would have such a chicken house, people would be asking me to let them live in it!!! And, thinking positive is not a bad thing. We have always been told that "good things come to those who wait", so why not think positive while we are waiting. A good way to play the lottery is to put a buck in a pot at work and let a trustworthy person be in charge of them, or rotate it. So many groups have won, that its just sensible to try it that way.

I think you have to agree to be "published' about winning a big one too. . .In Illinois I think you do. It is hard when people know you have money, because they do come crawling out of the woodwork. Why, you have cousins you didn't know you had!!

I would also secretly take care of some good people down on their luck too. I believe in sharing the wealth, and helping someone who is good and pure and just having a hard time is so good for MY soul, I wish I could do more of it.

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
That's a little eerie... have the same thought... but how I could pay off my mom's and In Laws and dad's mortgages without announcing "We've Got Cash and a Generous Nature" to every leech within a 3000 mile radius... haven't quite figured out yet... and if y'all have seen some of my topics you know I'm not the best at saying no... I'm trying to grow a spine, but my hydroponic grow gel keeps melting under the UV light.

I'm thinking we'd need to have acreage bought, fence (did I mention the razor wire?) up, and house built (or at least started and a trailer out there for the meantime... setup funding so that only enough to live comfy on (what maybe $50k?) comes to us annually and the rest just accrues... think Trust Fund... once that's all set THEN we could do "nice things" and let the chips fall...

Love the visit Ireland and Scotland thing... but have to add in Italia... and maybe Greece... but have to get over the whole 'flying over water freaks me out' thing... maybe if we ALL went, so if the plane goes down we're all toast would ease that a bit. But, I don't need to buy any property over there... I like Texas.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:

... setup funding so that only enough to live comfy on (what maybe $50k?) comes to us annually and the rest just accrues... think Trust Fund...

Think "Trust" before you claim the winnings. From what I understand you can have the ticket claimed by your trust instead of claiming it in person. You'd have to talk to a good estate attorney for details but that's what I heard anyway. May vary from state to state.​

 

[PineappleMama]

Ohhh nifty. That's a good tidbit to think on... for that Someday.

 

[AllTheseCreatures]

Think "Trust" before you claim the winnings. From what I understand you can have the ticket claimed by your trust instead of claiming it in person. You'd have to talk to a good estate attorney for details but that's what I heard anyway. May vary from state to state.

YES. Before you even turn in the winning ticket, hire the best lawyer you can find and form a trust. It won't just be people asking for money, there will be people suing you for your money (for any slight they can possibly imagine). Hire the best financial adviser you can find. Some states will allow you to claim winning anonymously and some will not. Change your phone # and move. You're going to inherit a mountain of problems along with a mountain of cash.

I don't play the lottery, because I have no desire to deal with the fall out of winning. I have heard some describe it as the worst thing that ever happened to them.​

 

[PineappleMama]

*sigh* I wonder if boonies of Texas would be far enough...

Miss Farmer is that why you're talking BUYING property in Ireland/Scotland? Bolt hole?

Vultures are scary enough, I hate to think about jackals.

Arkansas would be out for the same reason... well that and all the freaking cedar and pine...

Hmm... states/areas with Texas type weather (as in not much winter), yet green enough for growing, University nearby for Papa, NOT huge amounts of allergens (Arkansas, Georgia, etc are out)...

Actually, given the drama of late when we have no cash my Someday Plans (not lotto just someday) are starting to look REAL good... maybe I'll research all those tidbits anyways.... and a lotto win would just make getting a mortgage (or not needed one) easier.

 

[RabbitMage]

Quote:
I agree. Maybe I oughta sit down and think about that.

I've got plans for if I ever come into money in any way. My first plans involve paying off debt, finding a solid financial advisor, and then doing NOTHING with that money for six months.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I agree. Maybe I oughta sit down and think about that.

I've got plans for if I ever come into money in any way. My first plans involve paying off debt, finding a solid financial advisor, and then doing NOTHING with that money for six months.

Very smart! We are planning the very same thing! Our lawyer friend says if we ever won we should take a little mad money off the top to spend but do nothing with the rest of the money 'til things have settled down and we've had a chance to think things through really well. He suggests a year.

I realize that this kind of responsibility comes with it's own set of headaches but I've also heard of sane, level headed folks that enjoy their new life very much! As one lawyer on TV said, "If you were a secure, happy person before you won you'll be a secure happy person after you win". I know some folks think that it will be an answer to all of their problems but in reality a lot of our problems have nothing to do with money.
DH and I are awfully happy already but I would gladly trade bill worries for this new challenge.
I agree with terrielacy, I have no intention of telling anyone! The family members I want to help, like our parents, will be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement or we won't even talk about the issue. I trust my folks implicitly but there are family members, on both sides, that I don't trust at all and I won't ever tell any of them!
If all these plans fail, I have no problem with moving to another country. I hear great things about Panama and Costa Rica.

 

[StupidBird]

oooh, yea. Setting up a trust - I've added that to my imaginary list of things to do with the Lotto money.

I've been thinking of "the plan" a lot again since my illness has flared up big time again - and why I've logged back on here at byc!
The lotto would be nice, and merely move up the timetable. Pay off the first and second mortgage (30 and 20G). Get my DH to divorce his super stressful yet decent benefits and good health insurance (thats the sticker) or go without him. Move to a climate not so brutal on my health, as all the docs have been after me for years.

A cabin, just like that 40x40 with 12 foot wide screened porches all around that we both fell in love with the layout. A custom small camper (special for medical equip and air filters) and travel, travel, travel the winter away. The trust to take care of certain loved ones and to keep out the rest - thats the lotto money part. I would even keep the 130,000 mile 2001 pickup truck as my main drive as it is today.

I recognize my barriers to my "plan", and it isn't directly money. Huh. It's fear. Fear of jumping out of the secure job/health care, the same place I've lived 25 years even though I'm not in love with it. Fear of not finding a job, fear that the change really won't help my health even though test trips have proven it so. Fear of leaving the two grown kids behind - but they're also leaving us behind.

Anybody else out there thinking along these lines?

 

[debilorrah]

I can tell you one thing I would NOT do, and that is buy the kids cars. When we hit the boonies I don't want them to have a way out there to continue mooching!!!!!!