TrekBBSer's Millions!

[Trekker4747]

In the 1985 Richard Pryor comedy "Brewster's Millions", Richard Pryor's character learns he's been left the entire fortune of a recently deceased distant relative; $300 million dollars.

But there's conditions.

In order to inherit the money Pryor will first be given $30 million dollars which he has to spend in 30 days at the end of which he must have no assets, that were not already his, to show for it. The money must literally be gone.

So how would you do it?

First of all some ground rules, same as in the movie.

Well, first we're going to adjust the amount for inflation which brings it to just north of $60 million, which is what we'll call it.

You have $60,000,000 to spend and 30 days to spend it in, should you be successful you'll get the inheritance of $600,000,000.

The conditions, breaking any of these rules forfeits the challenge, and you must return the money.

1. You cannot tell anyone about the challenge in order to have them help you spend the money.

2. At the end of the 30 days you cannot have any assets beyond what you entered the challenge with.

3. You cannot spend more than 5% on donations.

4. You cannot gamble away more than 5% of the money.

5. You must spend the money on tangible items, i.e. if you buy property, businesses, etc. it's considered part of the inheritance and you must spend it by the end of the month.

6. You cannot damage any of the items you purchase (in order to null-out their value.)

7. You must get value for any staff you hire.

8. You cannot give the money away either on its own or through an item.

In essence, you must literally spend the $60 million and end up with nothing to show for it in one month.

How would you do it?

(And you may adjust the values for your country's monetary system, if you must. )

 

[JarodRussell]

Do a Star Trek fan film that gets cancelled after a month. That should burn it up.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Idea 1: Buy a 60 million dollar drone, fly it over restricted airspace in Iran or North Korea. I don't have to damage it - they'll either do it for me, or force it to ground and refuse to give it back. But since I will refuse to acknowledge their right to take my property, it will be gone without me having given it away.

Idea 2: Find a worthwhile satellite launch that is getting ready to take place. Buy the up to $3 million dollar satellite and the single use rocket and fuel, and then donate the satellite back to whomever was the intended user once it is up.

Idea 3: Quickly build a website with a questionnaire on it, but don't build a database to store the answers. Then get fast food joints on college campuses to provide $60 million worth of meals to any students who agree to visit the website and answer the questionnaire. The meals aren't donations, they are part of the expense of a very poorly conceived market research project.

 

[Miss Chicken]

First of all i would give the 5% to charity and gamble the another 5%.
After that I would invest in art that was worthless or short-lasting. I would then have hold an exhibition in a very expensive venue. I would hire security guards, tour guides etc and hold an exhibition and advertise on TV, radio, any other ways possible etc and then charge a silver coin admittance fee.

 

[auntiehill]

I would throw a HUGE party, complete with shuttle buses, a vast supply of food and drinks for anyone who asks. I'd rent out the convention hall or football stadium. I would buy out all the nearby hotels and pay for tons of parking. I hire security guards, bands and rent carnival rides, pay for the staff to run everything. I'd rent every chair, table, light, misting machine (it's hot as crap here), umbrellas, speakers, you name it. I'd run it for at least 3 days, if not more, and I'd even pay for the cleanup afterwards. Everyone near the city of Houston would come and enjoy themselves. After it was all over, I'd have nothing to show for it except a really nice memory.

 

[sojourner]

Too Easy. Just rent items for 30 days. You'd have to rent some really big things, but once the thirty days is up you'd have no assets.

 

[trekkiedane]

First of all i would give the 5% to charity and gamble the another 5%.
After that I would invest in art that was worthless or short-lasting. I would then have hold an exhibition in a very expensive venue. I would hire security guards, tour guides etc and hold an exhibition and advertise on TV, radio, any other ways possible etc and then charge a silver coin admittance fee.

Plus: have all your TBBS aquiantances flown in (first class of course) from around the world.

 

[Mary Ann]

Now that's a great idea!

 

[Pingfah]

I'd hire all the biggest rock bands in the world to come and play a concert in my living room. Metallica alone would cost $1 million, chuck in Queen, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, RCHP, STP, AC/DC, even very grudgingly The Rolling Stones, but only because they cost a fortune.

You could burn through $60 million in a month easily, and all you'd have left at the end of it is some great memories. Apart from The Rolling Stones.

 

[Leviathan]

Hire a financial planner, preferably a hedge fund manager to look after it, gone in 5 days.

NEXT QUESTION!

 

[Kommander]

1: Buy up 15 minutes worth of advertisement time during the Super Bowl.
2: First complete commercial break: Video of my face while I play video games.
3: Second break: Me reading a list of people I don't like and why I don't like them.
4: Third break: White text on black background: "I don't really care for football, so now I'm making you wait five minutes for more football because I can and I'm a dick like that."
5: ???
6: Profit.

 

[Captain Ice]

1. $1.5 million to my church
2. $1.5 million to Phoenix Children's Hospital
3. All expense paid trip to Vegas for a week for myself and all my friends with us gambling $3,000,000 with instructions to lose.
4. $54 Million dollars spent on advertising during the Super Bowl/World Series/Daytona 500/World Cup with the advertisement just being the test screen and tone to trick people into thinking the channel went on the fritz.

 

[Captrek]

I think I'd spend it all on sex. At $2M per day, that would be a hell of a party. Would deflowering a virgin be considered a violation of Rule #6?

 

[Kestra]

I'm confused as to if these are actually meeting the guidelines. How does the tangible part work?

 

[Melakon]

I'd establish theatre scholarships for students at every college in the country. I don't care whether I'd get a larger amount or not.

 

[Avalon]

^^^ Doesn't work. If you don't follow the rules and complete the challenge, you have to give the money back.

 

[Captrek]

I'd establish theatre scholarships for students at every college in the country. I don't care whether I'd get a larger amount or not.

You should care, because if you get the $600M you can use it to establish a lot more scholarships, and whatever other causes you might want to support.

 

[Melakon]

Well, if I received a check for $60 million to spend, I'd probably have a heart attack anyway. Largest amount of money I ever had at one time in the bank was about 40k.

 

[Deckerd]

You could burn through $60 million in a month easily, and all you'd have left at the end of it is some great memories. Apart from The Rolling Stones.

They'd never get their zimmers through your front door.

 

[Sephiroth]

so I can buy businesses/property? I'd start by buying Capcom, split my donation % between the prevent cancer foundation (preferably during AGDQ so I could donate to tripping up speed runners) and a few other charities. I'd buy Detroit and turn it into a theme park. If I had any left over after that, hello Kickstarter.