Potentially $1.3 billion

[HoneyandChewiespal]

Since I forgot to buy my ticket yesterday nobody won the $900 million lottery. I'm buying tickets today for the Wednesday drawing. So – I know what I'm gonna do when I win. Half the time in the US half the time in Ireland! Maybe but private plane.( commercial flight is so uncomfortable these days wink )

How about you guys? Where do you buy a ticket or not what would you do with $1.3 billion – that's roughly 500,000,000 in a lump sum payout give or take. Dream big and dream often!

[cockerlvr]

Not that I'm actually playing since we don't have lotto in my state, and the lines in CA just over our border are insane! But, I would buy or build a big log cabin, in either Montana or Colorado on at least 20 acres and just live the life I do now. Then I think I'd do what I always say super rich people should do, find needy families and buy them a home.

[HoneyandChewiespal]

Aw cocker. You made me feel selfish - but you're right. Wouldn't it be lovely to have enough money to help others in serious need.
But since this is all about the outrageousness of the amount of cash you could get for a lucky - extremely lucky - $2 input, be outrageous as well. Live your most outlandish fantasy.

[Brit]

About 70% of lottery winners go broke

Quote from article........(I hope this doesn't happen)

History is replete with lottery winners whose lives have gone sour after becoming rich.
The National Endowment for Financial Education cites research estimating that 70 percent of people who suddenly receive a large sum of money will lose it within a few years.
In 2002, Jack Whittaker - already a millionaire - won $315 million in a lottery in West Virginia. Just four years later he claimed to be broke. Whittaker gave away millions of dollars, but people also stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from him and he lost a granddaughter to a drug overdose.
Last year, Urooj Khan died just two months after winning $1 million in the Illinois lottery, from what initially appeared to be natural causes. Toxicology tests run at a relative's request found cyanide poisoning. Police are now investigating his death as a homicide.
Maintaining a stable life such as the Hills are attempting is difficult, said Don McNay, author of "Life Lessons from the Lottery" who has studied winners of big money for 30 years.
"They are beyond exception," McNay said.
Most ordinary people who come into large sums of money become victims of their own lack of financial savvy or discipline, McNay said. People also come under great pressure from friends, relatives and a host of others wanting money.
Missouri Lottery spokeswoman Susan Goedde said the vast majority of lottery winners from the state were "doing great" and if they were good money managers before, they would be after.
"Circumstances may change, they may not work anymore and they have the freedom to travel," Goedde said. "But if they clipped coupons before winning the lottery, they will do it after winning."

[cockerlvr]

My outrageousness would be not working anymore. Really, I love my life. I have everything I need or could want. Maybe I'd buy a motorhome too.
It irks the cra9 out of me to see friends spend thousands on purses, when they know people, good people, hard working people, who don't even have a non-leaky roof over their heads or a working stove. So yeah, I'd help people in need. People of my choosing, not a charity.

And yep, if I won, I'd be OK. I'm good with my money and would continue to be so.

[IrishSetterTom]

I would live off the interest alone just fine.

But to sum up, I would give my business to my employees and a fat bonus, then quickly go island hopping in the Caribbean for a few months with friends and family eventually looking for a beachfront house on my favorite island to live in most of the year. Nix that, I have kids in school. Well, it's nice to dream.

[HoneyandChewiespal]

I'm lucky in that I have a tax accountant as a sister. She's retired and working as a receptionist now but she still knows how to run numbers. And like Cockerlvr my life style once are far less than what they were even 15 years ago. I probably end up spending the money on animal welfare and rescue. But those people that don't have homes to work and provide them with the weight earn a living.
And the stories of those that have gotten enormous amounts of money and then lost it through imprudent and frivolous decisions are good reminder. Reminders it things are not as important as experiences and who we are deep down.
That said I would still love to travel and see people that I only get to talk to on the phone or on the Internet. I'd also probably stop working quite so hard and just do things that I truly enjoy.

[petstimes2]

I would take it over 20 years whatever so I could make mistakes the first year but have more coming in.