What would you do if you had $1 billion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sheesh, these answers

How about set up a trust to help people and animals in need. So much good could be done with it to improve the lives of others. Would still have more than plenty for oneself, family & friends.

How about making that your post, pp, minus the sheesh?

[Anonymous]

Put $900M in a private foundation and make it my job to grant it away over the next 25 years. Not just to registered 501c3's but anonymously to help pay off medical debt for individuals, support for parents providing care for disabled or elderly relatives, or otherwise help people in distress.

Of the remaining $100M:

I'd give my mom $5M, which would occupy her mind to think of how to spend it -- probably to community organizations. Give each of my five siblings and my husband's four siblings $1M each. Give each of our nieces and nephews $100K as a downpayment on a home or towards their education. Keep my home, but do the addition, pool, and landscaping we can't afford to do. Buy two vacation homes, and willing one after my death to each of my children.

Give each of our children a trust fund to pay for their children's and grandchildren's education, $500K towards a home or a business, and $1M that they can't tap until they're 60. So they have a substantial downpayment for a home but they have to work to keep it, they have no worries about being poor in retirement, no worries about being unable to afford their children's education, and they have access to vacation homes to make family memories. But they're going to have to work. I know better than to solve all of their problems about how to afford their day-to-day lives. I work with very high net worth individuals and their kids are screwed up.

After providing for family, friends, and causes we care about, what we'd have left would still be more than enough to keep us happy living off the interest.

Nice fantasy so thanks OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put $900M in a private foundation and make it my job to grant it away over the next 25 years. Not just to registered 501c3's but anonymously to help pay off medical debt for individuals, support for parents providing care for disabled or elderly relatives, or otherwise help people in distress.

Of the remaining $100M:

I'd give my mom $5M, which would occupy her mind to think of how to spend it -- probably to community organizations. Give each of my five siblings and my husband's four siblings $1M each. Give each of our nieces and nephews $100K as a downpayment on a home or towards their education. Keep my home, but do the addition, pool, and landscaping we can't afford to do. Buy two vacation homes, and willing one after my death to each of my children.

Give each of our children a trust fund to pay for their children's and grandchildren's education, $500K towards a home or a business, and $1M that they can't tap until they're 60. So they have a substantial downpayment for a home but they have to work to keep it, they have no worries about being poor in retirement, no worries about being unable to afford their children's education, and they have access to vacation homes to make family memories. But they're going to have to work. I know better than to solve all of their problems about how to afford their day-to-day lives. I work with very high net worth individuals and their kids are screwed up.

After providing for family, friends, and causes we care about, what we'd have left would still be more than enough to keep us happy living off the interest.

Nice fantasy so thanks OP.

Good answer, but shocked no interest in private train car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put $900M in a private foundation and make it my job to grant it away over the next 25 years. Not just to registered 501c3's but anonymously to help pay off medical debt for individuals, support for parents providing care for disabled or elderly relatives, or otherwise help people in distress.

Of the remaining $100M:

I'd give my mom $5M, which would occupy her mind to think of how to spend it -- probably to community organizations. Give each of my five siblings and my husband's four siblings $1M each. Give each of our nieces and nephews $100K as a downpayment on a home or towards their education. Keep my home, but do the addition, pool, and landscaping we can't afford to do. Buy two vacation homes, and willing one after my death to each of my children.

Give each of our children a trust fund to pay for their children's and grandchildren's education, $500K towards a home or a business, and $1M that they can't tap until they're 60. So they have a substantial downpayment for a home but they have to work to keep it, they have no worries about being poor in retirement, no worries about being unable to afford their children's education, and they have access to vacation homes to make family memories. But they're going to have to work. I know better than to solve all of their problems about how to afford their day-to-day lives. I work with very high net worth individuals and their kids are screwed up.

After providing for family, friends, and causes we care about, what we'd have left would still be more than enough to keep us happy living off the interest.

Nice fantasy so thanks OP.

Good answer, but shocked no interest in private train car.

It would be kind of cool if you were doing a tour somewhere.

https://www.privaterailcars.net/index.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love this question! I'd put aside enough that my husband and I would no longer have to work since we're already close to retirement. I'd like to be able to travel, etc. while we're still young and healthy.

- I'd create scholarships where one of the largest factors was what did your parents do to volunteer in the community? My kids have been helped so much by coaches, religious teachers, people who clean up green spaces, etc. I'd love to have a way to return the favor to them.

- I would anonymously give money to people and organizations. Randomly. Middle school team needs money for a national chess competition? Check sent. Football teams equipment stolen and needs replaced? Check sent. Just completely random. I think that looking for the recipients would be a nice hobby when I wasn't traveling.

- I would set up a foundation/donate to something existing to give whatever is remaining on my death. I'd probably save enough for my kids to help them, but not so much that they didn't have to work.

I LOVE the idea of random donations. I’d love to spend time perusing the internet for these random needs, then fulfilling them! It’s like the Angel Tree on steroids!

Craig of Craigslist used to do this. No applications, no proposals, just... a check in the mail one day. I was working at a small nonprofit years ago, opened the mail, immediately called my boss. "Did you forget to tell me about a $50k grant? No? Well, we just got a check for $50k."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d run anti-corruption ads and PSAs on how government works and what it does for us.

I’d buy small newspapers and radio stations in rural areas and do the same. I’d only have professional journalists and no lies would be tolerated.

I’d buy a an old, remodeled house with lots of character and have it professionally decorated.

I’d give my two best friends a lot of money and take us on a trip together.

I love all these. Especially the newspaper one.

[Anonymous]

I would finance a major motion picture for maybe $200 million. Adapt a book into a screenplay, hire a top-notch director and give him/her complete creative control, get an original score from someone like John Williams or Vangelis or Hans Zimmer. I wouldn’t even care if it made money. I just want something creative and unique that people will still be watching 100 years from now.

[Anonymous]

I'd pay a hit man

[Anonymous]

A thousand chicks at the same time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would finance a major motion picture for maybe $200 million. Adapt a book into a screenplay, hire a top-notch director and give him/her complete creative control, get an original score from someone like John Williams or Vangelis or Hans Zimmer. I wouldn’t even care if it made money. I just want something creative and unique that people will still be watching 100 years from now.

You need to spend some of the money building a time-travel machine. Vangelis is dead.

[Anonymous]

Get another dog.

[Anonymous]

Travel first class all over the place. A penthouse in NYC and in Aruba

[Anonymous]

Buy small newspapers and radio stations all over rural areas and staff them with real, ethical journalists.

Start a non-profit that teaches kids about government and civics in a neutral, honest, educational way.

Start an organization that does nothing but investigate and report on corruption and white collar crime.

Start scholarship for rural kids to study abroad or in major US cities.

Donate to politicians who run on anti-corruption platforms.

Buy apartments in Paris and New York, and houses in Alys Beach and New Orleans.

Give my friends a lot of money and take us on annual trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy small newspapers and radio stations all over rural areas and staff them with real, ethical journalists.

Start a non-profit that teaches kids about government and civics in a neutral, honest, educational way.

Start an organization that does nothing but investigate and report on corruption and white collar crime.

Start scholarship for rural kids to study abroad or in major US cities.

Donate to politicians who run on anti-corruption platforms.

Buy apartments in Paris and New York, and houses in Alys Beach and New Orleans.

Give my friends a lot of money and take us on annual trips.

I like all this.

I'd get involved with world central kitchen too just to hang out with Jose.

[Anonymous]

Pay off our debt
Help each of our two kids buy houses (or give them a certain amount of money and they can decide what to do with it)
Get my parents into more suitable housing
Travel
Possibly buy a good friend the tiny home she wants. That would remove some stress from her life.