Powerball. What could you do with a 425 million dollar lottery win?

[thestrangequark]

I'd support my local PBS station!

I'd also:
- Finish paying off my student loans, and the student loans of my sister
- Pay off my mother's and sister's houses
- Set my dad up for retirement
- Go to grad school for a degree in neuroscience

[Rarewolf]

Collingwood Nick wrote:

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I'd buy a couple of businesses, properties, then retire and go see the world.

I'd invest in businesses and projects for the good of the country. Get people employed, support the local community. I'd want to make a lasting difference.

1001001 wrote:

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Destroy my enemies, and then finance Firefly/Serenity sequels.

I'd get involved in a production studio too.

Snaploud wrote:

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^Rule #1 about winning the lottery is keeping your mouth shut and asking the paper not to publish your name. Lottery winners would be a lot happier if they followed that advice.

I think even if you did keep quiet, your life as you knew it would be over. You could be preoccupied with new things to spend your money on, new causes to fight. I'm not sure I'd be able to relax. I'll take the risk though!

Miss Chicken wrote:

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All that would account for about 6 million of the winnings. After that I would use the rest to start up a private charitable fund.

What amuses me about charitable donations, is you could wipe out certain smaller charities with a massive donation. Whats the point in them rasing x amount in a year, when you can give them twice that with the click of a finger?

I'd probably do some sort of fund pledge. What ever they raised in a set time, I'd match. Make them work for it (I would say they're not a charity, but they are!) But I'd also have the pledge publicised, and invite those richer to do the same.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I would:

- give some to my church
- give some to my aunt so she can pay for my uncle's medical care
- invest some
- take the rest and move to New York City

[Miss Chicken]

My charitable fund wouldn't make huge donations to any one charity. It would probably work along line similar to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (but with a lot less money).

Some of the things I would like to do would be

*Contribute to the running of the National Library System of East Timor especially with acquisition of books and the training of staff. I would also make annual donations to Book Aid International which provides a majority of the books in libraries in sub-Sahara Africa.

*Set up a company to publish high information/low vocabulary books suitable for people with intellectual disabilities.

*Donate more to Interplast Australia and ReSurge International (formerly called Interplast International) which provide free reconstructive surgery to people in developing countries - especially to burn victims and children with cleft lip and palate.

*Donate more to Kakapo Recovery, Save the Tasmanian Devil and other schemes helping endangered animals. With Kakapo Recovery I, at the start of each breeding season (usually every two or three years), pledge $10 for each chick hatched. If one of the kakapo die I donate $20 in his or her memory. I would dearly like to increase the amount of these donations, but I can't really afford to, but this breeding season I am going to try and get Kakapo fans on Facebook to make similar pledges.

[Grey]

I like doing this kind of thought experiment.

I like the idea of getting a huge sum of money and using it to get on my feet. Pay off my family's debts, buy a house in the area I currently want to live, buy what I need to live a comfortable life there, and do the work that's really important to me. I'd like to save some and donate some to welfare programs in my state (programs that at this time I depend on). And give some of it away to friends and family who need it.

But then I start thinking am I going to have enough? Is this going to sustain me? What if I never make any more money again and this isn't enough and it all depletes so fast and I'm left with nothing?

And then, I kid you not, I get stressed out. About millions of dollars I don't even have.

I feel all freaked out now at the thought of it! It's like this vicious thought that numbers are finite and that means I'll never have enough. I'm pretty damn poor and even then I still have enough. But something about those big numbers just makes me feel crazy!

I cannot imagine ever being happy as a millionaire.

[Gil T.Azell]

Our Lotteries don't get that Big, Next Fridays Lotto max is a cool $50 mil. Tax Free

I'd imagine I'd buy a nice 3-4 bedroom house, and invest the rest so I'd retire.

I also think I get more gold-digging pussy chasing me.

[Lindley]

I suppose I'd buy an airplane and a nice house, and travel a lot.

Come to think of it I'm going to do those things anyway. Just not so soon.

[propita]

CA does not participate in Powerball. Damn! But if it did, the net after taxes would be somewhere around $150M.

What would I do? After talking with taxman and financial advisor, of course...

Pay off:
my house (pitifully small compared to $150M, you know?) and my siblings' and in-law houses
any student loans of family (past and future, as long as they were serious about school and not mooching) and some friends and maybe a few of their kids
buy a house in the LA area, not too big because...why
buy a place in the NYC area because Hubby and I loved it there
buy a place in London area or UK-countryside because I know Hubby would love it there

Since most of the money is left over, set up a foundation or whatever to be able to continue give money away, buying out debt (like/with OWS), etc, without running out too soon. No kids, so don't need to leave anything there.

[Kenbushway]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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I would:

- give some to my church
- give some to my aunt so she can pay for my uncle's medical care
- invest some
- take the rest and move to New York City

You could probably buy a baseball team with that money.

[SeerSGB]

Pay off my parent's and parent in-law's debt, get me and the family a nice house and couple reliable car; trust for both kids and set aside enough to live on in interest bearing account. The rest goes to charity. I'm not a big fan of having money. I know I have to have it survive, but so long as I get the bills and the necessities taken care of with a little spending money left at the end of the month--not much just enough for a game or a book or two--then I'm happy.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Kenbushway wrote:

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You could probably buy a baseball team with that money.

I wouldn't want to do that. I want to *watch* baseball, not own it.

[Ar-Pharazon]

Locutus of Bored wrote:

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With a $425 million dollar jackpot, a single winner’s one-time lump sum cash payout would be $278,300,000.



Depending on which state you purchased the ticket in, your state taxes can range from a low of 0% (California and some other states don't tax in-state lottery winnings) to a high of 10.8% (New Jersey).

Federal taxes would be 25% of the lump sum or $69,575,000. New Jersey (highest) state withholdings would be $30,056,400.

In California (0%), you'd take home $208,725,000. In New Jersey (10.8%), you'd take home $178,668,600 (not counting back taxes, outstanding student loans, mandated child support payments, etc. which they would collect as well).

Sounds like a pretty damn good chunk of change to me (especially since I live in California).

http://www.inquisitr.com/411183/powe...million-prize/
http://www.afterlotto.com/lottery_calculator.html

I'd always thought the grand total of taxes was closer to 50%, due to it being lottery winnings.

Either way, being in my mid-40's, I'd go for the 25 or 29 yearly payments rather than give up around 40% for a lump sum.

It would also prevent me from blowing through a lump sum in some ridiculously short amount of time.

[Melakon]

I could:
Get off disability, which is less than 1/3 of what I was earning 22 years ago.
Have needed medical surgeries done.
Move out of the desert to somewhere near a coast.
Rebuild my video library after someone stole half of it 18 years ago.
Shop for clothes someplace other than Goodwill.

Or... spend it all on hookers and booze.

[sojourner]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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I wouldn't want to do that. I want to *watch* baseball, not own it.

Box seats. At EVERY stadium.

[SeerSGB]

Ar-Pharazon wrote:

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I'd always thought the grand total of taxes was closer to 50%, due to it being lottery winnings.

Either way, being in my mid-40's, I'd go for the 25 or 29 yearly payments rather than give up around 40% for a lump sum.

It would also prevent me from blowing through a lump sum in some ridiculously short amount of time.

The long term payments makes for a good ideal. But my only concern would be could it be lefty behind payable to my heirs: Wife, kids?