Winning the Powerball, Part II

Last week, I did a little dreaming, wondering what I would spend the money on if I won the $32.5 million Powerball. But five things was not nearly enough for what I would like to do with that sort of money, and so, as I thought I would last week, I am writing Powerball, Part II this week. With last week’s “spending”, I should have about $12 million or so left.

1.  I’ve been reading a lot about investing for the future lately. With all that my parents have had to go through with “spending down” to qualify for Title 19, you might find this surprising. My parents had a modest little nest egg of under $150,000 socked away for a rainy day. Unfortunately, it poured on them. Even if it hadn’t, $150,000 is not nearly enough to last through a retirement should things go south.

 I would take $4 million and set it aside in investments of various kinds--$2 for hubby & I, $1 for each of the boys. By the time we retire in 30 years, that amount could reach amazing numbers. I used a Roth IRA calculator just to figure an approximate value. If we were to put just $2 million of the $32 million aside, we could have some very golden Golden Years. That investment alone (if you can invest that much in a Roth—I don’t know; I’m just learning about this stuff), would generate a balance of over $5 million and allow us to withdraw $329,000 annually to “live on” when we retire.

Giving that money to the teen would generate just over $9,900,000 by the time he “retires”, allowing him to withdraw over $613,000 annually. The 12 year-old would start his retirement with over $12,600,000 and be able to withdraw over $783,000 annually for living expenses. Makes me wish I had that kind of money right now.

2.  I have loved horses since before I could say the word. Some of my earliest memories are of horses—the Clydesdale that stepped on my foot when I was four and instead of freaking out, I pushed against his leg and he moved. “No big deal, Mommy,” I declared to my frantic mother. The Shetland that I won in a raffle and we couldn’t afford to keep when I was about six; the Arabian filly that I was given for free and we couldn’t afford to transport, let alone board when I was thirteen (Dad put the kibosh on my riding her from New Hampshire to Connecticut, and at the time, I had no idea why).

At any rate, I would get myself a small stable—mainly comprised of “rescue” horses and Arabians. The rescue horses because I could help them, the Arabians for showing and riding. The actual number of animals would fluctuate, but I would have a dozen stalls in the barn. I would have paddocks and trails for riding.

3.  Vehicles. My hubby is a vehicle nut. I would buy at least two or three “fun cars”—the ones you only use to race at the track (not professionally, of course) or to go off-roading in. For myself, I would probably buy an old Mustang (circa 1966) or a Monte Carlo SS (the ones with the straight back window, not the bubbled one), and possibly, just maybe, I might splurge and buy myself a Bughatti Veyron. I love speed and power.

Hubby could finally get his Jeep, and his Subaru BRZ (although with more cash flow, he may change his “dream cars”.

4.  Businesses. I would buy a couple of businesses. Our kids have always been X-sports types. BMX-ing, air-softing, parqour, whatever it is, you can be sure it’s not a mainstream sport with my kids. Well, not mainstream is frowned upon in our society.

One business I would have is to open parks around the country where kids could go and participate in these sports. The very basics would be free, but if they wanted more advanced stuff (mil-sims for the air-softing, for example), there would be a different area and a small fee. They could rent the equipment. There would be food and drink and a place for Mom & Dad for the littler kids.

I would also like to open a combo book store/internet café. I know books are going out of style, but by combining it with the café as a nostalgic place to meet, it could be a viable business. I know Barnes & Noble already does this, but I want my own place—someplace where authors, both famous and local, could come and meet the people, have book-signings, and where those who were illiterate could come to learn to read (offered as a service).

Finally, I would open up a line of non-snooty, just sensible, healthy food restaurants. That does not mean I would be serving the lawn up as a beverage or a main course. I’m not into all that fois gras stuff. Just sensible—fruits and steamed veggies, along with baked, boiled, broiled, and steamed poultry and fish. Rice in many varieties would be offered. Steak and potatoes would also be served in my restaurant, but would cost a bit more. Everything would be fresh. There would be no soda, but water and fruit drinks and teas. I might have Gordon Ramsey come in and prepare a signature dish or two for the place.

5.  I can’t think of any other material things that I could do with the money, and so I will put the final thing as volunteering. With my current schedule of work and kids and work and hubby and work and parents and work and writing and work, I am unable to give any more of myself without coming apart. I would love to volunteer somewhere—a nursing home, an animal shelter, somewhere like that, to give back to the community.  

Oh, and a caveat about the donating money section from last week—on thinking about it, I would very likely just put money aside into an investment account for each place that I wanted to donate to and give them the interest every year, perhaps setting it up as a trust or something. That way, instead of a one-time donation of, say, $500,000, I could give them maybe 5%-10% of that every year for the life of the investment. At 5%, that would only be $25,000 per year, but in the long run, they would receive more. Does that make sense?

At any rate, I think I’m out of money. Hope those businesses do well!