You won 100 million dollars, now what?

A US visa cost about $200 USD a person plus sponsorship by a us citizen.. but the problem for Karam would be the US Government..Venezuela is on the US terrorist list..that really complicates matters...even a US citizen who sends money to Venezuela for goods or services becomes a target of the feds... The only way I figure a US citizen could help would be with the help of a ministry maybe..a catholic charity or an evangelist to the county...

Savage Amusement wrote:A US visa cost about $200 USD a person plus sponsorship by a us citizen.. but the problem for Karam would be the US Government..Venezuela is on the US terrorist list..that really complicates matters...even a US citizen who sends money to Venezuela for goods or services becomes a target of the feds... The only way I figure a US citizen could help would be with the help of a ministry maybe..a catholic charity or an evangelist to the county...

Sigh...

Not totally true, while the country is on the terrorist list, people are able to help VENEZUELAN citizens if they want to. A friend of mine who is currently in the US got money for his visa and flying tickets thru a couple in FL.
And I think now it's easier because US government knows the actual situation of my people and now they have also sanctioned our authorities confiscating goods, money and properties.

First thing I would do is give the tithe to my church. After that, I disappear. Immediately. And move away to another state where nobody would ever think of finding me. And then I would change my name.

Samson wrote:First thing I would do is give the tithe to my church. After that, I disappear. Immediately. And move away to another state where nobody would ever think of finding me. And then I would change my name.

That is pretty much what I was getting at in my post

I would see to it that my church has a campus built and paid for(They rent the church they use now).  I'd try to go on missionary trips.  I'd buy my parents a new house and tell my brothers I'd give them money after they finished their education and got a job.  As well, I'd get them all cars.  I'd pay taxes.  Help out those I can with paying for their education or giving them a helping hand.


Then I'd pay off my debts and continue my education.  As for any family or friends who come out of the woodworks, I'd give them a $100 and tell them to get lost.  


As for the rest?  I'd try to invest conservatively with a good portion, maybe $5,000,000, donate a large portion to various Christian charities and then continue on with a job eventually after the education.


Savage, sorry to hear what you had gone through.  Just wondering, what are you going back and studying?

Staybrite wrote:

Samson wrote:First thing I would do is give the tithe to my church. After that, I disappear. Immediately. And move away to another state where nobody would ever think of finding me. And then I would change my name.

That is pretty much what I was getting at in my post

Staybrite, if you win that money, can you adopt me before you disappear?  I promise to be a typical sarcastic teenager type.  However, I will clean my own room and mow the yard (as long as it isn't too big).  We can consolidate our music collections as well.  Can I live in the guest house??? 

Daddy!  Why are you walking away?  DAD-DY!!!!!!! 

Samson and Staybrite's posts hint at what I'm talking about by saying that they'd have to/want to disappear.

If I won $100m, it would be hard to stay in the life I have now.  Unless you're already in super rich circles, all of the sudden everybody would see you as their answer to everything.  I live and work around a difficult area with tons of people who really struggle, and generally many of them tend to believe that their problems stem from not enough money, that rich people (defined as people with more than them, of course) are greedy, etc.  I'd be constantly bombarded by people wanting/expecting me to fix their problems with money -- which would be ok if their problems were really rooted from money -- but it's almost never the case.  I've seen multiple people get substantial disability settlements/back pay type things that should keep them solid for years be back to the exact same dead broke spot within 2-6 months, at least 3 examples off the top of my head, including one family that was living in my basement that got disability back pay for like 6 months plus of course a consistent check from then on out. . . within months of that they were back asking for help and being kicked out of another apartment.  Did anybody ever see the ESPN 30 for 30 "Broke"?  It's a documentary about pro athletes who lost millions of dollars.  It's tremendously interesting, probably whether or not you like sports (I do happen to like sports) (and yes, it's on Netflix).  Anyway, there just aren't that many problems that money solves, but there are plenty of new problems that it creates.  As one of the guys on the ESPN doc said, "Mo' money, mo' problems."  We need a certain amount, clearly, but beyond that, 1 Tim 6:6-8 is more true than most people believe.

Again, I'm not exactly saying I'd turn it down!  And it can be fun to think about what to do with what would look like more money than you could spend, I'm not down on the thread or people having fun with it, just to be clear.

The absolute very first thing I'd do after taking care of immediate family is do something about getting these musical ideas in my head out in prose form.

After that, I've got no clue.  The simple fact is that just living off interest alone from simple savings account type rates for just a few million would more than double my current income levels.  Numbers higher than that are pretty crazy in perspective.....

Why wait until you have that kind of money to get those musical ideas?  Use your contacts here to get some help with it.  Surely there are a couple of people who play that could collaborate with you.

Sav, thanks for sharing that is incredibly interesting (at least to me). Would love to get your thoughts on a 401K since companies seem to cram them down our throats... But we also have a pension so hopefully by the time I retire I will have both a 401K and a pension.

As for what I would do if I had the money:

1) Pay off my house. It was built in 1956 and is rather old but a good, solid block home. If a hurricane hasn't blown it away in 60 years, it won't blow it away at all. 
2) Put a metal roof on house. 
3) Buy a new truck and something for my wife. I drive a 2000 Ford Ranger with less than 100,000 miles on it. I paid cash for it when I drove it off the lot. I was lucky enough to trade and pay cash to get it. Our 2005 Caravan is paid for as well and the thing is tough. I love our van, with over 150,000 miles it still drives well and the inside still looks new (due to the fact that my wife doesn't let the kids eat food or keep junk in it).
4) I would NOT quit my job. I would probably continue to work for a while just to keep from getting bored. I get 4 weeks vacation so I would save those for when I needed a break.
5) Donate money to the Billy Graham Museum. I love that place! We visited a few years ago and I have sent them money ever since, at least once a year.
6) College money for kids, put away safely.

and I am sure there is more I would do but I read in today's local newspaper that someone went into K-Mart and paid $10,000 on unpaid Layaways for Christmas. That is awesome! I would do that too. 

And Savage Amusement, would love to get your take on 401K's either on the forum or privately because essentially it IS the stock market and I do contribute to my plan at work.

There are folks who "earn" 250 million in a contract, and then continue to work after that and get another 250 mill, cause you know, that first 250 mill can only go so far...

I'm no investment professional Mike, but absolutely take advantage of your 401k, if you're able at least try to max out however much your can contribute that your employer will match (or match half of, or however it works in your situation).  SA may have a different perspective on this, but 1) stocks go up over the long-term.  Of course the future's different and maybe we're on the brink of real economic collapse (in which case it won't much matter anyway), but a steady, consistent investment in a diversified portfolio should increase.  Forget brokers, don't try to move it around every couple months, and when it dips don't be discouraged, you're just buying more shares "on sale."  It won't matter what they're worth until you need it anyway, much like it doesn't matter what your home is worth until you sell it.  What SA says about nobody knows the future and being burned on oil is right -- the brokers or "experts" don't really know much more than anybody else.  2)  Whatever your company matches is free money.  Even if the market dips, as long as you're receiving more in matching than the dip, you're ahead.  It the market lost 20%, which would be catastrophic -- but you're matched at 50%, you're ahead by 30%, which is outstanding.  If the market stays basically even and you're matched at 50%, your investment is earning 50%, which is absolutely stunning (good investments "should" earn around 10%/year).  And if/when the market goes UP, PLUS you're getting free money?  IMO it's really foolish to not take advantage of that.

Again, SA or others may have a different perspective, and I've read some stuff but not that much.  So this is my understanding/opinion, but don't take it as gospel.

DO take this as gospel, though:

Proverbs 23:5:  In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.

Proverbs 11:28:  Trust in your money and down you go!  But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.

Thank the Lord and pray that I do right with this gift...
Get an Attorney
Pay Taxes on money.
Give some money back to God
Live off interest and invest
Pay off our debt. My wife would want a new house, but I Love our house
my dad and brother have put a lot of time and labor into it.
Have my wife quit her job. So her and I can go to Church together she
always seems to work Sundays. Get closer with my wife all we do is
work When where together all we do on our free time is work around the house and pay bills.
I would still work but less. I'd go crazy if I didn't
I would get surgery to fix my leg or get a couple new pairs of shoes made that are light weight.
Finish working on our house. New furnace and change the whole house over to hot water heat instead. Redo all the plumbing.
of forced air. Finish our basement and put garage door openers up.
Also get a garden tractor been mowing with a push mower and snow blowing for years
and it's hard on my leg and hip. Putting in new bathroom with handy cap accessible plus
a small elevator or stair lift. My wife and I have poor health Also a newer car been driving a
1988 Buick LeSabre. Promised my wife if we ever had the extra money we would put in a
hot tub which I'm against. Not good if you have high blood pressure and she does. I would rather put one of the small in-ground pool with jets and seats. Pay some of my family's debt but not all of it.
Plus start fishing again I really miss that working two jobs. Other than that I would live
the same just take better care of myself instead of working myself to death and eating better.

Grindboy wrote:I'm no investment professional Mike, but absolutely take advantage of your 401k, if you're able at least try to max out however much your can contribute that your employer will match (or match half of, or however it works in your situation).  SA may have a different perspective on this, but 1) stocks go up over the long-term.  Of course the future's different and maybe we're on the brink of real economic collapse (in which case it won't much matter anyway), but a steady, consistent investment in a diversified portfolio should increase.  Forget brokers, don't try to move it around every couple months, and when it dips don't be discouraged, you're just buying more shares "on sale."  It won't matter what they're worth until you need it anyway, much like it doesn't matter what your home is worth until you sell it.  What SA says about nobody knows the future and being burned on oil is right -- the brokers or "experts" don't really know much more than anybody else.  2)  Whatever your company matches is free money.  Even if the market dips, as long as you're receiving more in matching than the dip, you're ahead.  It the market lost 20%, which would be catastrophic -- but you're matched at 50%, you're ahead by 30%, which is outstanding.  If the market stays basically even and you're matched at 50%, your investment is earning 50%, which is absolutely stunning (good investments "should" earn around 10%/year).  And if/when the market goes UP, PLUS you're getting free money?  IMO it's really foolish to not take advantage of that.

Again, SA or others may have a different perspective, and I've read some stuff but not that much.  So this is my understanding/opinion, but don't take it as gospel.

DO take this as gospel, though:

Proverbs 23:5:  In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.

Proverbs 11:28:  Trust in your money and down you go!  But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.

Oh yes, I do take advantage of it and make sure I hit the company max. And starting in 2015, our Union negotiated a new contract and the company agreed to no dollar cap. Right now it is at $1500 a year. With no cap it can go beyond that.

401K....my brother in law lost $450,000 in his 401 k.....he worked for a major corporation (union) for 15 years and had put tons of money in the 401 k...the company eventually filed for bankruptcy and he lost it all and his job and had to start over at age 50... This is happening to people all the time... keep in mind if the company is investing 401k in the stock market when it goes down you lose your investment and theirs..if that company's stock goes down you lose money...if that company files for reorganization or goes under you lose money (maybe all of it)..if the stock market has a major correction (happens at least twice every year) you lose and have to climb back up...alot of company's take the profits of all their employees and roll that into a different account that earns interest and they keep the interest..banks do the same thing..the kicker is its legal.
I am not saying to not invest in a 401k..just check it out and see how your company's works (some company's 401k is not stock market invested) and watch it close...
.............

First, pray and thank the source of life and Giver of of all good things. And, pray for wisdom.

..then pay off my mortage and all debt. Then, set up some college and trust funds for my kids.

..pay off my parents debt.

...give a chunk to the church and various other groups doing the work of Gods Kingdom.

....buy some nice stuff for my wife and kids.

...buy myself a new mountain bike.




...after that..not sure.

Since this thread has side lined slightly toward investment strategies, I'll through in.

Real estate, if you can afford it.

If you have enough for a down payment and since interest rate are so low, you can, in the right market, buy a house and rent it at a profit. The feds are supposed to drop the 20% min down payment sometime soon.

d@v!d wrote:Since this thread has side lined slightly toward investment strategies, I'll through in.

Real estate, if you can afford it.

If you have enough for a down payment and since interest rate are so low, you can, in the right market, buy a house and rent it at a profit. The feds are supposed to drop the 20% min down payment sometime soon.

This is excellent advice if you can afford enough properties and you charge enough rent to make money after repairs, upkeep and the like. I know this because my wife and I tried and we were unable to do either of these things.

Gandalf the White wrote:

d@v!d wrote:Since this thread has side lined slightly toward investment strategies, I'll through in.

Real estate, if you can afford it.

If you have enough for a down payment and since interest rate are so low, you can, in the right market, buy a house and rent it at a profit. The feds are supposed to drop the 20% min down payment sometime soon.

This is excellent advice if you can afford enough properties and you charge enough rent to make money after repairs, upkeep and the like. I know this because my wife and I tried and we were unable to do either of these things.

In my area, you could buy a $1 million dollar home and get at least $3000 a month or more. Where else could you gross $36000 a year in interest on $1 million besides the topsy turvy stock market?

Of course this is provided you had that money to invest. This thread gives us 100 times that to go with.

So SA appears to be gone, but my understanding is that a person's 401k is their money.  The only way I can fathom that a company going under would cause somebody to suddenly lose their money is if it was all in the now bankrupt company's stock, which I suppose could happen but would be stunningly unwise.  Perhaps it IS a question to ask about anybody's company's 401k plan.  I'm fairly certain it would be unusual, however.  My wife's, for instance, we have the ability to choose how much to invest in what -- different types of stocks, bonds, etcs.  If the company was to suddenly disappear, her stocks etc. would 100% still be her stocks.  Certainly it's true that stocks go up and down as will anything with any real upside, but I don't think that makes them bad investments.

I've never invested in real estate outside of buying a home for our family, but absolutely it can be a great idea as well.  I actually have a "rich uncle" (I have no idea how rich, maybe pretty good, maybe just well set up, I don't know) who made an excellent living buying and renting places.  There are huge hassles with it, of course, but money can be made.  That said, David, I think it can/should be FAR better than your numbers.  I don't know if residential is a lot different from commercial, but in looking at commercial properties, a lease rate is typically 1%/month of a listed purchase price, so that a $1m property would lease for closer to $10,000/month than $3,000.  Maintenance, upkeep, unrented gaps between renters would eat up a chunk of that. . . but under normal circumstances the property should itself appreciate, so there ought to be 2 different financial benefits if it can be worked right.  Certainly money to be made.  But the numbers you gave, making $36,000 from $1m for a 3.6% profit, would not be considered a good return on investment.  At 5% interest on a 30 year fixed mortgage for $1m would be over $5000/month.  Charge more for that $1m house bro!

A million its still too much money, with 10K I will make it happily!

d@v!d wrote:

Gandalf the White wrote:

d@v!d wrote:Since this thread has side lined slightly toward investment strategies, I'll through in.

Real estate, if you can afford it.

If you have enough for a down payment and since interest rate are so low, you can, in the right market, buy a house and rent it at a profit. The feds are supposed to drop the 20% min down payment sometime soon.

This is excellent advice if you can afford enough properties and you charge enough rent to make money after repairs, upkeep and the like. I know this because my wife and I tried and we were unable to do either of these things.

In my area, you could buy a $1 million dollar home and get at least $3000 a month or more. Where else could you gross $36000 a year in interest on $1 million besides the topsy turvy stock market?

Of course this is provided you had that money to invest. This thread gives us 100 times that to go with.

That was part of our issue too. We had a small-ish house in a small town - the mortgage is about $350. We could only charge about $500 and keep someone there - that isn't much wiggle room when, oh... the capacitor on the A/C unit goes out or you have to replace a signifcant portion of the wiring or...

Grindboy wrote:So SA appears to be gone, but my understanding is that a person's 401k is their money.  The only way I can fathom that a company going under would cause somebody to suddenly lose their money is if it was all in the now bankrupt company's stock, which I suppose could happen but would be stunningly unwise.  Perhaps it IS a question to ask about anybody's company's 401k plan.  I'm fairly certain it would be unusual, however.  My wife's, for instance, we have the ability to choose how much to invest in what -- different types of stocks, bonds, etcs.  If the company was to suddenly disappear, her stocks etc. would 100% still be her stocks.  Certainly it's true that stocks go up and down as will anything with any real upside, but I don't think that makes them bad investments.

I've never invested in real estate outside of buying a home for our family, but absolutely it can be a great idea as well.  I actually have a "rich uncle" (I have no idea how rich, maybe pretty good, maybe just well set up, I don't know) who made an excellent living buying and renting places.  There are huge hassles with it, of course, but money can be made.  That said, David, I think it can/should be FAR better than your numbers.  I don't know if residential is a lot different from commercial, but in looking at commercial properties, a lease rate is typically 1%/month of a listed purchase price, so that a $1m property would lease for closer to $10,000/month than $3,000.  Maintenance, upkeep, unrented gaps between renters would eat up a chunk of that. . . but under normal circumstances the property should itself appreciate, so there ought to be 2 different financial benefits if it can be worked right.  Certainly money to be made.  But the numbers you gave, making $36,000 from $1m for a 3.6% profit, would not be considered a good return on investment.  At 5% interest on a 30 year fixed mortgage for $1m would be over $5000/month.  Charge more for that $1m house bro!

Our previous company did this. Gave us stock as match in the 401K and then went bankrupt. Some of the share holders sued and we eventually got some money back. I think I got about $230 back but i had invested about $7000 in company stock. Not bad when some people at work had over $250,000 in company stock. Luckily, we were bought by another company and they now match dollars instead of stock. I stay away from my company's stock. Not that it is bad but I was burned once before. Thanks to a new union contract they now match with $$$ instead of stocks.