Upon winning the lottery, What would you do?

[Chief Pride]

just curious, would anyone keep working at their job?

what would be the first thing you do?

[Taylor]

I'd at least finish out the school year. And you better believe we're going to Atlanta.

[Jeff K.]

Depends what the job was. If it was something like cleaning toilets, then yeah, quit that in a heartbeat. But if it was something like factory team driver or race team driver, then just keep that job and the money.

But first order of business, to be honest, get a DB9.

Then save rest of money for kids and future. Might also take a trip.

[Billfred]

First thing? Get the claim form filled out, checking no on the publicity release part of the form. (In South Carolina, that is an option.) Given the choice, I would want as few people as possible to know about the win--the last thing I need is everyone who I sorta kinda knew in second grade at Harbison West Elementary coming up asking for money for something or other.

However, a look at the South Carolina Education Lottery's claim form indicates that information on it is subject to the state freedom of information act. Assuming that the jackpot were large enough to enable me to quit my job, I imagine someone would file a FOIA request trying to smoke me out. Therefore, the second thing I would do would be to seek a leave of absence from my job, take some of my winnings in cash, find a decent motel in the middle of nowhere, and lay low for a while. Once all the potential fame has passed, I'd do my best to go back to a normal life and keep my net worth between myself and my accountant. Any charitable giving would be handled in the same manner--quietly.

[skimoose]

Well, it depends on how big the lottery win was... I'd keep working for awhile.

If you're talking over $20 million lump sum.... I'd keep working... not for my current employer, but for my own venture.

Then, not in any particular order...

Set up a little trust fund to sponsor my FIRST team for a long, long time.

Set up a little scholarship fund to guarantee at least one student per year on my FIRST team a scholarship.

Take some nice vacations.

Take care of my children's educations and getting their adult lives started.

Take care of my wife's and my parents.

Go back to school.

Make the world a better place. (I think I covered that with some of the above, but I'm sure I'd think of more!)

Once you've departed this Earth, you're remembered less for the size of your bank account and more for the size of the improvements you've made to society.

[EricH]

First thing: pay the government.

Not totally sure afterwards.

[JaneYoung]

I would pay the taxes on it.
If it was a tidy sum then it would start working really hard for me in the causes I believe in.
Those causes always involve children, the elderly, animals, our global environment, and the future -

And I might get a nice cushion for my rocking chair.

[Andrew Y.]

you know iv actually thought deeply about this...

50% divided into 100k accounts with interest
25% to charity, NPO's,
the other 25% to pay off credit card bills and debt (car). and will have enought to buy my parents a nice house, buy myself a house, finally get that 6in lift kit for my rubicon.

[Lil' Lavery]

After taxes:
Buy a car (nothing too flashy, point A to point B type of thing).
Pay for school.
Reserve a copy of Rock Band for the PS3(yes, it's that good. I've played it)
Save 50% of the remaining amount
Give 50% of the remaining amount to charity

[KathieK]

I pass a Powerball billboard every day on my way to work. As the numbers change, I do some mental math and figure out approximately how much I would get out of the jackpot if I take it in a lump sum, take the taxes off the top, then pay it out to myself over the next 30 years... (and people think I'm paying attention to the traffic! Hah!)
The first thing I would do is give my two-week notice. Then take two weeks' vacation.
We'd have a big party for all our friends and then invite them all on vacation with us.
We'd put some aside in trust funds for the kids.
Then we'd set up a Connecticut Robotics Education Center (I already have the building picked out) with dorms, classrooms, a facility to hold tournaments, machine shops, etc.
Then I'd figure out what other charities I wanted to support.
Then, if anything was leftover I'd buy a used car to replace my Jeep. Well, OK, maybe a new Jeep. Or maybe a lamborghini... hmmm...
Oh, and a log house in the mountains.
And a beach house at the beach.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

I'd keep doing what I'm doing. (Finish school and then teaching)
But I'd use it to buy a house and maybe a car. I'd fill the house with crazy nice things (flat screen and speakers in everyroom, automatic appliances, one of those voice activated servant computers like they have on Star Trek, etc.)
Probably start some FIRST teams.
But that's about it.

[Wayne C.]

disappear

[Tottanka]

First thing, i'd buy a Hybrid cool car.
I will also finish my degree, though not through the army as i currently am doing.
Sponser about 3-4 FIRST teams, and visit as many regionals as i can.
Charity of course, abouy 50% wll go for savings for my and my family's future...
20 million dolars is a lot of beer though

[Elgin Clock]

In kinda particular order, but at the same time in random order as well.

1) Pay off the taxes right away - Kind of a given with most lotteries.

2) Hire my own parents as consultants for investing/money matters. Then secure them a place to call home for the rest of their lives. No mortgages, no rent, no more of that ever again.

3) Lock money in a CD or some other kind of secure investments (IRA's CD's) etc... (I know myself, I would be wayyyy to tempted to blow through all of it right away if I didn't do something like that right away.)

4) Drop work & focus on School (pretty much studying the same thing I'm going for currently (ME) maybe or stray off into a more focused field like Architecture.) Any college would be an option at that point. And since I won't be juggling work & school which I loathe, I could actually learn something in my classes, and not just get a passing grade.

5) Pick some land (somewhere) and secure it to build a home on (been working on that plan since High School) & raise a family and all that jazz.
(Oh, and it has to include a field house big enough to host a mini-comp. With full shop capabilities as well.)

6) Secure my brother & sister's college career was all set. Wherever they wanted to go, 100% paid for - All living & school related expenses.

7) Upgrade everything in my life. (Electronics, cars, etc. etc.) Basically have a lot of toys.

8) Travel... and by that I mean both overseas, in the USA, and maybe for one year just go around everywhere a favorite band of mine tours and go see every show. (It doesn't even have to be in the front row everytime either.)

9) Invest in projects my current friends/family have. I know of a bunch friends/family of mine have currently, and that would be my first case of charity.

10) Secure my team endless sponsorship. (not 100% - we still want to teach kids the importance of fundraising, and working together as a team) but we would just have more options.

11) ~10 FRC teams a year would be sponsored. - Applications would be filled out and the need to maintain existing teams in financial trouble would preside over starting new ones. (That's just how I feel about that matter, my personal opinon.) And I would visit every one of them to try and help out as well. I'm not just going to write a check and be nameless. I want to be involved.

12) All clubs or organizations I am currently involved in or have been in the past would get some kind of donation if they are still in existence.

13) Put some money into programs to study medical issues that people I know have, or my own to help find cures/better treatments.

14) Side projects of my own. We all have little ideas that we think "if only I had the time or money" (no matter how silly they may seem at the time) we would jump at the chance to focus on. This would be my version of "work" if the other 13 items above didn't count as keeping me busy enough. lol

15) Last but not least... try and breathe and enjoy life and chill out.
(kind of hard to do with this huge to-do list above, but it can be accomplished)

[KarenH]

Oh, KathieK, your ideas are so sweet, you really don't deserve this, but--

I guess I'm really being a party pooper tonight!

Real Life Happens--

Originally Posted by KathieK

The first thing I would do is give my two-week notice. Then take two weeks' vacation.
We'd have a big party for all our friends and then invite them all on vacation with us.

Three days into your vacation with your friends, while doing nothing spectacular, you break both your legs and must be medi-vac'd to the hospital, where after emergency surgery and two casts, you are sent home in a wheelchair. One of your dearest friends cuts her vacation short to go home with you and help take care of you while you recuperate.

Meanwhile, the rest of your friends, whom you firmly ordered to continue enjoying their vacation in your honor, get severe food poisoning from a world-class restaurant. One-fourth of them continue the vacation after a couple days alternating between bedroom and bathroom. The rest of them wind up in the hospital the day after you get sent home from it, so you can't even commiserate with them. Three of your hospitalized friends are so ill they become comatose for two months, and require two years before they can walk again.

One of your "friends" later sues you, because you invited him on the vacation, so his illness is obviously YOUR fault. Although he eventually loses, your lawyer fees add up.

We'd put some aside in trust funds for the kids.
Then we'd set up a Connecticut Robotics Education Center (I already have the building picked out) with dorms, classrooms, a facility to hold tournaments, machine shops, etc.

Although you still have 30 million USD left from your winnings after paying everyone's hospital and nursing home bills, the neighbors to your proposed CREC building object to your plans. Some are convinced that it should really become an indoor mini golf center. Most think that having a youth center nearby will attract too many teens, along with drugs, vandalism, and other supposed "teen" problems. A few even accuse you of being racist for proposing such an idea. (Reminder: this is real life, which doesn't necessarily make sense.) The zoning and planning commission meetings drag on endlessly...

Then I'd figure out what other charities I wanted to support.
Then, if anything was leftover I'd buy a used car to replace my Jeep. Well, OK, maybe a new Jeep. Or maybe a lamborghini... hmmm...

But you actually decide you'll subscribe to a charter jet service so you can visit...

Oh, and a log house in the mountains.

in southern California, where the annual fire season takes place where your log house was...

And a beach house at the beach.

...in Malibu, where a brush fire roaring down a nearby canyon collides with the heavy ocean swell from a tropical storm 1,000 miles away to the south. Your remaining friends take bets on which will destroy your beach house first...