We’re finishing out tech week for summer conservatory today and tomorrow, so my posts might be a little light (or altogether absent, we’ll see). But in the meantime…
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Now there’s some perspective for your Thursday morning. Ted and I actually bought a Powerball ticket last Sunday – a first for us and, obviously, just for fun. So, of course, we cracked open the conversation about what we’d do with the money if we ever won any sizable amount worth writing home about (which, for us, would be anything more than the $2 we paid for the ticket). Odds are certainly looking slim because we don’t actually play the lottery more than once every five years, so I guess that’s step one, but it’s fun to at least consider what one might do with $400+ million smackaroos.
If I won the lottery, here are my top 5 things I’d do with the money (in no particular order):
1. Pay off anything we owe anybody (which is minimal, but still…)
2. Save and invest – we’d rest easy knowing that we’d have access to money if or when it was ever really needed. We could actually retire comfortably when the time came, and know that we will always be to – even now – pay our rent and utilities, cover all our medical expenses every month, afford car repairs when they are needed, and – in the future somewhere down the line – maybe even build the modest but beautiful house Ted designed.
3. Do good, help those in need, support important causes, and leave the world a better place than I found it
4. Take one epic trip across the world to experience all the food, cultures, people, animals, landscapes, art, history, ways of life, and amazing adventures that make the world such a beautiful and incredible place to call home (this would be my one splurge)
5. Spend more time with my long-distance family and friends
I know what I would do, but I also know what I wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t quit my job, want to live outside the current salary I earn, buy a new car(s), move to a large fancy house, hire service people, buy lots of new clothes or other material things, live extravagantly, become an unrecognizable person, change my priorities, or even tell anybody beyond immediate family that anything was different. I wouldn’t allow it to affect my work ethic, my passion for what I do, my relationships, marriage, or sense of self. I would hope only to continue living the wonderful life we do now (only with less finanical concern), soak in more great life experiences, and help make the world a better place and change other people’s lives.
What 5 things would you do if you won $425 million?
