$586,000,000........

[Rob Wright]

........is the expected jackpot for the Mega Millions Lottery, and may be higher before the drawing.

What would you do if you won this kind of money? What would be the dream/guilty pleasure?
1 thing I would like to do is by a huge RV, and travel around the US for a couple years. There are so many places I would love to visit. Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Redwood National Park, etc.

[speedyy400]

You could always buy Ellusionist, Theory 11, Dan and Dave, etc… haha

[xela]

I don't think E, T11 and D&D are public, are they?

Anyway, after taxes that number would be closer to 325 mil. I would:

- Invest 25 mil into bit coin
- Instantly open an organization that moves a family from a third world country, sets them up in the US, and pays for their children's education through college, every year, using another 75 mil.
- Spruce up my life - buy a decent house, a good car, and what have you, using 10mil.
- Set aside 90mil to live off of the rest of my life.
- Set aside 50 mil as back-up money, probably in the form of gold.
- Hire two full time security guards/drivers.
- Use everything else to run for city council and then state senate, because they're part time jobs where you can initiate change!

If there is anything left over I'd probably use it to fund some crazy project, like start up a video game company, direct a film, or what have you.

I'd also probably hand out 10-50 grand to everyone I liked that I knew, and tipping 100% would certainly be fun, as would giving homeless folks random lumps of cash.

Not sure what else there is to do with that much money, or how people piss it all away and then end up homeless/depressed/dead.

[speedyy400]

It was more of a joke than a serious answer lol I don't know if they are public though. Could always invest in Facebook =p On a more serious note, yes I do not understand either how people manage to spend it all and go broke. Most people that win it wish they never did in the first place. I suppose you just have to be extremely smart and stick to your plan from the beginning.

I really like the idea about bringing a family over to the US. That would be sick. And worth every penny. How do you decide who gets to come over?

Also, bit coin is dropping out. I read an article last week from the LA times I believe, that they are beginning to crash and are not worth as much as they used to be. I assume they will return to startup price eventually. I don't have a full grasp of bit coin so I cannot say much on the topic, I'm just stating what I read about them from the times. I was curious if I should get some money together and invest in it, but I saw a couple of people relate it to pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes. I would much rather keep my penny's under my mattress =p

I would honestly spend one year traveling the world. I wouldn't be buying my own jet or anything. Just simply flying business class works well for me. Try not to break the bank in the first year. Then I would probably buy a nice house where it is warm. Startup my own small business to keep me busy instead of trying to make more money. Also would be throwing a lot of it to my family. They are all struggling over in Ireland so I'm sure they could do with it. It is so much money that it is tough come up with ways to spend it. I really wouldn't know what to do with it...

[xela]

How do you decide who gets to come over?

I would pick a country at random, visit it, and explore the town. I would meet folks and see who I find. The organization would most likely get tons of donations, as well, so it would be fucking awesome to use additional funds to help boost the town as well. For example, by building a network of roads or spreading free, high speed wifi throughout the town.

I like Bill Gate's approach. The guy basically decides "what do I feel like funding today?" and then does it.

If anyone here ever comes into big money, take a look at Gates & Buffet to see how you should be spending it. Those guys are awesome.

[Rob Wright]

I always thought it would be cool to stand in front of a store just handing out gift cards. I wonder how may people would pass because they thought it was fake or something.

[Curt]

Also, bit coin is dropping out. I read an article last week from the LA times I believe, that they are beginning to crash and are not worth as much as they used to be. I assume they will return to startup price eventually. I don't have a full grasp of bit coin so I cannot say much on the topic, I'm just stating what I read about them from the times. I was curious if I should get some money together and invest in it, but I saw a couple of people relate it to pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes. I would much rather keep my penny's under my mattress =p

I have followed bitcoin pretty closely for the last little while, it is an extremely complex thing. No one really has an exact final value of the platform but I have a hard time believing it will completely drop to pennies. It is very debatable topic and would take hours to go over but I think that there is a place in the world for cryptocurrency. As for the price dropping, prices have dropped > 50% multiple times and bounced back, even grew. I remember back in the summer when it hit $250 and people were saying it would never get higher... now look at it $700-1200 depending on the day of the week.

Sure, it's definitely a risky investment but the payoff has been and could still be enormous. Heck, I only invested a small amount a couple weeks ago (granted I moved most of it to Litecoin, a different cryptocurrency, and made a ROI of 350% in a week. I am not saying I know it's going to be worth hundreds of thousands per coin, I am just saying that it's as easy to say that as it is to say it's going to nothing, every financial expert has differing opinions.

As for the question, my answer isn't too different from Alex's

I would set aside a fair amount to guarantee a comfortable lifestyle, even if I was to lose the rest. Much of it would go into investments of various sorts and various risks. Max out my Tax Free Savings Account and use that for some high risk investment, since gains in that account are not taxed. It would take me ages to decide what to actually buy, since I tend to be very critical of my purchases. As Alex said, I would really enjoy helping those out who are in need and tipping wait staff well, the thought of that just makes me happy.

[Don Boyer]

1) Live a comfortable lifestyle, free of work, but not a lifestyle of excess - no ridiculous mansions, yachts, helicopters, private jets, etc.  Put my stepsons, nieces and nephews through college or pay their existing college debts.
2) HIDE!  Once people know you have "fuck you" money, they come crawling out of the woodwork to find you.  I might even change my identity.
3) Produce decks of playing cards.  Maybe even purchase USPC, if Jarden's willing to part with it.  That company's been needing some TLC for a number of decades now.
4) "Serve the cause of justice" in ways that might be questionably legal...    But no superhero nonsense!
5) Create or fund a college that will charge no tuition to those with the intelligence but not the means to obtain an education.  Make said college available to adults as well as newly-minted high-school grads.  Said education comes with a price - a small percentage of future income is donated back to the school, to pay forward the exceptional deal they received to future generations.

And before any of that happens - HIRE A GOOD ATTORNEY, if not an entire law firm!

As far as those who manage to blow their lottery winnings, kill themselves, etc., it's simple.  Being a multimillionaire doesn't come with an instruction manual - and even if it did, few people bother to read these days anyway.  Many people indulge their less noble urges, blowing away cash like it's going out of style.  "Friends" start coming from everywhere wanting a taste of your good fortune.  They buy or create businesses that, due to their utter lack of experience, are destined to crash and burn.  They make terrible stock investments.  They make ridiculous purchases of property, vehicles, etc. that cost astounding amounts of money to maintain.  They practically throw money away in any number of ways.

Make enough terrible choices, and you can blow away even the largest of fortunes.

[HandSkillz]

So turning that into a lump sum payout and minus taxes I'm thinking you land about $175M.

The first thing I would do is quit my job, and ultimately focus on becoming a magician that can perform free of charge to every and anyone - particularly somewhere like a kids hospital.

I would then buy 6 houses in total, spending up to $30M (partly as an investment for my family) - 1 for my sibling, 1 for my parents, 1 for my fiancees parents, a beach house in the Caymans, a ranch in CO or TX with a lot of land, and more of a temporary house up here.
I would straight up put away $50M in savings and not touch it for at least 10 years.
I would spend $1M on a kick ass wedding.
I would set aside $50M as a fund to give money to charity ever year.
I would have $4M to give to other friends and family if I know they're struggling or need help paying off debt.
I would hire an awesome personal chef.
I would have kids and set aside $20M to their futures via a universal life policy with cash values.
Put the rest in a checking account and not worry about buying the brand name items at the grocery store.

[sprouts1115]

Ok my number is 03,29,45,57,70 and megaball is 11.  post your number and if I win I'll give you 5 million each.  In turn, you do the same.