What would you do if you found a bag filled with a Million Dollars?

[Lord Garth]

This is the type of thing that would only happen in a movie. For the sake of argument, though: You should hand the money to the police. BUT if you want to not do the moral thing, then at least plausibly live within your means to avoid arousing suspicion. Not that I advocate this.

Either be good and moral or own being evil and corrupt.

 

[urbandefault]

Bonfire.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I would find it strange since I live in Scotland.

And that would be something like twice the Scottish GNP

 

[Nerys Myk]

We talking singles, large bills or what? 'Cause lugging around a bag full of singles is gonna be rough.

 

[Lord Garth]

We talking singles, large bills or what? 'Cause lugging around a bag full of singles is gonna be rough.

I thought they didn't print anything larger than $100 bills anymore? So it'd have to be 10,000 hundred-dollar bills laying around. That type of thing doesn't get left behind by accident. So they were in a hurry and there was a hit. Or it was hidden for them to come back to. Or planted. Either way, there's a crime involved. And I wouldn't want to touch that million dollars with a million-foot pole. The last thing I'd want would be mafiosos tracking me down and knocking on my door.

 

[Jayson1]

New twist. All the bills in the bag are filled with money where the newest bill is 5 years old. Also the bag and money is in such condition you can tell it has been lost for many years. Which means that any search for it must have already happened and never ended with anyone finding it. Which was as I recall a plot to the time travel show "Journeyman" only that money was way,way old going back to the 70's I think.

Jason

 

[Nerys Myk]

Go all Oprah and give everyone one on the TrekBBS a gift.

 

[Kor]

If I found a bag with a million dollars, I would consult with an attorney to see what to do next.

Kor

 

[Avro Arrow]

I was under the impression that the law in regards to found money was, finders keepers,losers,weepers.

This is why you shouldn't take legal advice from The Simpsons.

In Canada:

In British common law, which still applies in Canada when there is no conflicting statute on the books, the rule dates back to the 1722 case of Armory v. Delamirie. ... The court ruled that the finder of an item does not have an absolute property right in it but he does have title superior to everyone except the rightful owner.

(Source)

More legal details:
https://www.courthouselibrary.ca/how-we-can-help/our-legal-knowledge-base/what-finders-law

I think after a certain time, if no one claims it, you can keep it.

Again in Canada, in the 1949 case of Bird v. The Town of Fort Frances:

Chief Justice James C. McRuer decided that when the police could not discover who the true owner was, they were obliged to return the money to the finder.

(Same Star article as above)

 

[EmoBorg]

A million dollars isn't what it was. Even I am a dollar millionaire.

I'd hand it in to the police - karma and all that.

That is true. If i include my inheritance, i am also a dollar millionaire. I just need to be nice to my parents in the meanwhile. .

 

[ALF]

Yes this is more or less the plot of "A Simple Plan" only now it's your turn. Would you keep it? I would like to say I would turn it but who are we kidding. Of course I would keep it. Once you do the research and find out this money wasn't stolen from innocent people or anything like that. I know I would want to do something positive like donate it to people who help people with mental illness and keep just enough to make sure my mom and families utilities were taken care of each year and maybe buy the most expensive life insurance. I have no interest in fancy cars or big houses or anything like that. Granted with the basics out of the way I guess I could buy a few extra things like Blu-Rays and whatnot and maybe vacation once a year but nothing special.

Jason

Blu-Rays? Have you seen Breaking Bad? You'd be drawn and quartered by Gus Fring and his goons in a flash! There's no way that amount of money goes missing without a burly crew of roughs in hot pursuit.
Free Money's great but I'd rather sleep soundly at night.

Haven't seen A Simple Plan but I love the cast, will check it out.

 

[psCargile]

I was writing a story where guys were stuffing bundles of small bills—ones to twenties—into an army duffle bag and had to calculate roughly how much money it could hold by volume, then play around with the denominations until I had a good number that fit the story, which amounted to fifty thousand dollars. I forget how many actual bills would fit, but obviously if they were all 100 dollar bills, it would be more—I might still have that on a spreadsheet—but I don't think even a duffle bag stuffed with $100 bills will be a million dollars. And it will be heavy.

So either it's one huge bag and you need a forklift, or three to five bags and you need some buddies.

In any case, I'm not looking into mysterious bags, so the money stays.

 

[Marynator]

Oh dear Jayson, I think if you wanted to ask what people would do with a windfall, you should've made your scenario something with no guilt strings attached, like say:

"What if Warren Buffett showed up at your house and offered you $1 million dollars because he chose you at random, and he has covered also your tax for his gift. What would you do with your new money?"

 

[1001001]

Rain down a horrible vengeance on my enemies.

Then maybe some FroYo.

 

[Sophie74656]

Such a large amount of money seems shady. If it was a smaller amount like a few thousand i would turn it in since that would probably have been someone who dropped it. A million seema more likely to have criminal connections

 

[Kor]

I once noticed a wad of bills on the ground at a public transit station. It probably amounted to somewhere between $20 and $50. As soon as I reached down to pick it up, a lady swooped in out of nowhere and started profusely thanking me for finding it and saying she dropped it and had been looking everywhere for it. There was no way to verify her story, but I didn't want to cause a scene, so I just let her have it. That was my good deed for the day.

Kor

 

[Marynator]

One time, when I was little, my mother sent my sister and me in to a Big-V to buy some candy. I remember when I was standing in line, I dropped a quarter, and this old man behind me bent down really quickly and picked it up. And I thought he was going to hand it to me, being nice and all, but nope he put it in his pocket. I was only a little girl, so I was way too afraid to do or say anything, but I remember feeling heartbroken. What a creep, he saw me drop it and he knew it was mine, what on earth would possess a person to do something like that?

 

[ALF]

Don't think I've ever found more than a $20 bill at a time... on the other hand, been lucky enough not to lose more than $20.

To answer Jayson's question (but perhaps using Marynator's revised scenario) I wouldn't change my lifestyle much at all. I would probably try and sit on the cash and try and keep things more or less the same - maybe make some anonymous donations?

A life in the pursuit of leisure certainly has some appeal... and it would help if no one knew. That's got to be the worst part of lottery winning, because part of the deal is to have your face and name plastered everywhere, ensuring no one ever treats you the same way again.

Money can't buy happiness, however it can procure freedom from toil - which sounds a lot like happiness to me.

 

[ALF]

One time, when I was little, my mother sent my sister and me in to a Big-V to buy some candy. I remember when I was standing in line, I dropped a quarter, and this old man behind me bent down really quickly and picked it up. And I thought he was going to hand it to me, being nice and all, but nope he put it in his pocket. I was only a little girl, so I was way too afraid to do or say anything, but I remember feeling heartbroken. What a creep, he saw me drop it and he knew it was mine, what on earth would possess a person to do something like that?

Sorry to hear that happened to you. On the bright side, young you learned a valuable lesson: people are crooks. What on earth would possess a person to do something like that? Just greed. Perhaps a perverse pleasure thrown in, too.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Scenario #1: Found money. Police. HOPE nobody claims it. IF not, pay whatever applicable taxes are and then see Scenario #2.

Scenario #2: Given money: Buy a nicer house, that actually has display and storage room, maybe $250,000, and closer to my new job than my current home, but still relatively nearby for the sake of our doctors. The rest of it goes towards retirement. My plans to retire jump forward about 7 years, so I finally have a shot at not dying at my desk. Life continues basically unchanged.