$345 million vs $900 million

FlightlessDuck

Y kant Donald fly?
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
The PowerBall jackpot for today, 10/17/2018, is currently at $345 million.
The MegaMillions jackpot for Friday, 10/19/2018, is currently at $900 million.

When the money gets that high, do you honestly see a difference? Isn't $345 million more money than any one person should have to begin with? How much better would it be to have $900 million, honestly?

I mean, you can give 3x the amount of money to charity, right? So there's that. But from a practical living standpoint, doesn't it all just seem ridiculous at some point? In fact, wouldn't it be better to win the $345 million, since the MegaMillions jackpot would attract a whole bunch more media attention?
 
I always say to DH I'd rather win the $1million prize for having all the numbers except the powerball number. He thinks I'm crazy. But...A, I don't want the hassles of every Tom, Dick and Harry I've ever known begging me for money...and B, high class living doesn't appeal to me AT ALL. $1million is, what, $500-600K after taxes. We'd continue a normal life. Be more comfortable, for sure. But could still live in my perfect 1900 SF townhome and drive my used Nissan and go to Red Robin for dinner...etc. Though DH dreams of winning enough to retire. Maybe a couple-few million.

At any rate...these pots are a crazy absurd amount of money. But I'm in...someone has to win it.
 
Though DH dreams of winning enough to retire. Maybe a couple-few million.

Management is coming to my office Thursday. This made me think about things your boss asks you during a review, like "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

I see myself waking up late and reading the newspaper over a nice cup of French press coffee, then taking my dogs for a walk, going to the gym, and then doing laundry and reading a book or watching a bluray or something until my wife comes home from work.
 


Management is coming to my office Thursday. This made me think about things your boss asks you during a review, like "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

I see myself waking up late and reading the newspaper over a nice cup of French press coffee, then taking my dogs for a walk, going to the gym, and then doing laundry and reading a book or watching a bluray or something until my wife comes home from work.
Sounds like my DH except cross off reading a book. And he'd say he'd be fine doing laundry and walking the dog if he didn't have to work...but that wouldn't last ;). But what you wrote is something he'd say...he would lead with 'have a good cup of coffee and then hit the gym for 2 hours...'
 
The PowerBall jackpot for today, 10/17/2018, is currently at $345 million.
The MegaMillions jackpot for Friday, 10/19/2018, is currently at $900 million.

When the money gets that high, do you honestly see a difference? Isn't $345 million more money than any one person should have to begin with? How much better would it be to have $900 million, honestly?

I mean, you can give 3x the amount of money to charity, right? So there's that. But from a practical living standpoint, doesn't it all just seem ridiculous at some point? In fact, wouldn't it be better to win the $345 million, since the MegaMillions jackpot would attract a whole bunch more media attention?

Meh. If they're not over a billion, they're not worth paying attention to.
 


I’m not sure at what point it becomes more than I could possibly spend, but I would think both numbers exceed that point.
 
I would finance and set up a charity that helps people with cancer make their budgets re: bills. Oftentimes when my Mom was sick and neither of us could work I had to call up the gas company or the electric company and beg them not to shut us off because I had a person with cancer living in the house. The electric company was pretty good about giving you 30 days or setting up a budget, but the gas company, oy.

I would take all that money and help that way, plus I would buy grocery store gift cards and send them out to those who need to make ends meet. I'll never forget cooking for my Mom and eating a single egg myself for dinner.

Yes, I'll take the cash payout and then set up my charities. I would also help Make-A-Wish and St. Jude.
 
I dunno. At only 345 million, I might have to give up maid service. Better to have 900 million. LOL The whole thing is ridiculous. DH and I will generally buy a ticket (single ticket) when it gets that high figuring "what the heck" and then spend the evening perusing real estate on Maui figuring out which mega millions place we'd buy.
 
I’m not sure at what point it becomes more than I could possibly spend, but I would think both numbers exceed that point.
Local news just stated $345M would result in a $199M lump sum payout.

Figure $100M after taxes. Yup, I would be set for life.
 
It really depends what you want to do with the money. I have an idea I'd like to pursue that would require several hundreds of millions of dollars to fund, and would help adults with developmental disabilities live independent, productive lives in a supportive environment within the community. Something like that to build and fund for perpetuity takes a LOT of money. I couldn't do it with a $5M or $10M or even $50 million jackpot.
 
Local news just stated $345M would result in a $199M lump sum payout.

Figure $100M after taxes. Yup, I would be set for life.

I remember a guy who won something like $250 million. After buying his dream home & some other things, he invested the rest VERY conservatively. The balance was earning $16,000 per day. He said he didn’t even bother trying to be frugal. He just tried to keep his spending under $16k/day and that if he blew $30k today, he’d just buy nothing tomorrow so he’d be square again LOL.
 
When I see the big number, the end result is typically 25-30% of that after lump sum and taxes are considered. Then I start thinking about how much my entire family needs to be taken care of, mortgages paid, student debt paid, enough so no one has to work at a job they hate, so my parents and aunts and uncles can retire, and so my wife and I can quit to do something meaningful. That will take a lot...
 
First thing I will do (and really what I should do now) is to set up a family trust.

Then buy a few new houses, set up a few other trusts (to give away money), get new houses set up just right, get relatives to sell their houses (don't want any crazies coming around), collect $, quit job.

Invest money, live off principal with interest to go to charitable causes, etc.

I would like to try to spend $250 million :)
 
It makes no difference to me, but to the people who already have that amount of money, I know it's a difference. The "keeping up with the Joneses" drive doesn't end once you've actually achieved riches.
 
Management is coming to my office Thursday. This made me think about things your boss asks you during a review, like "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

I see myself waking up late and reading the newspaper over a nice cup of French press coffee, then taking my dogs for a walk, going to the gym, and then doing laundry and reading a book or watching a bluray or something until my wife comes home from work.
What a boring way and a waste of life that would be.
 
I have no idea what we would do. We’d have no debt and make sure no one else we knew didn’t either. My life would change drastically. It can’t not change. You couldn’t do the things you used to.
 

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