I know I'm not alone in this. I always fantasized what my life would be like if I ever won the lottery with a substantial amount of money. If I won at least 20 million dollars (after taxes of course), would I quit my job? Would I tell my family? Sell my house and move somewhere warm? Take the lump sum or spread out the winnings over 20 years? How would my life change?
I've heard the horror stories about people who've won big jackpots but managed to lose it all either because of unscrupulous people (including family), bad money management (which is at the heart of it), and just not knowing what to do. Some people even lost their lives because of those same reasons.
I definitely feel like I would not tell my sisters if I won. I wouldn't be able to hide it from Dom but I would implore him not to tell his family either. I would definitely opt to not make my name public. That would mean hiring a lawyer and I believe setting up a trust and having that trust be named. I can just imagine every Tom, Dick, and Larry coming out of the woodworks begging for a piece of the pie.
I wouldn't want my neighbors to know either which means keeping the same car or just buying a newer car that's a few years old. I probably wouldn't quit my job right away either. Maybe stick it out for another six months to a year and then make up a different excuse for leaving. Thankfully age may help out here. Ideally I would love to early retire at 55 if possible. I'll be 52 in October so that'll only be 3 more years after that. So I could definitely rock that excuse.
As an aside I'm still keeping the faith that Blackberry will allow me to have that dream happen. I also invested in a "blockchain" play that I'm hoping will blossom. Supposedly "blockchain" is the next big thing after Artificial Intelligence. Just hope I'm on the right trains. Of course the bulk of my investments are in safer vehicles.
But back to my hypothetical question. I would probably keep the same house and if I hadn't already definitely pay off the mortgage. That's a big thing with me and I am blessed that our mortgage is very cheap compared to the average mortgage which according to Trading Economics website is around $407,000 (as of Jan 5th). In 2022 the Average Monthly Mortgage payment was $2,317. Ours is definitely below average for both. Dom had hinted that he'd love to move to London though realistically I don't know if that would be possible unless we won the lottery. Plus that dream would have to be funded by me...*LOL*. But if we could swing it, it actually would give us access to visit other European countries more easily.
If I won the lottery I would look into anonymously giving money to my family and include myself so suspicion would be taken off me. I'd do the same with my current Church and of course Dom's family. Once I quit my job I'd love to do more volunteering and again anonymous donations to different charities. Again I do not want them knowing it came from me. I'd like to be one of those people that when I finally leave this Earth, people would be shocked to find out I was a multi-millionaire. Basically being "The Millionaire Next Door" blending in with the rest of the neighborhood and not standing out in any way.
Dom and I would definitely go on more trips. We've both been blessed to have traveled to many places (together and separate) but there's so many places I have not been too that I would love to see. There's Germany, Italy, France (which is a shame since our family has French ties), Australia, South Africa, just to name a few. I'll admit I would worry a little bit about the house being gone but I would definitely have more cameras installed throughout to keep watch on things.
I would probably get some newer clothes and gadgets. Eat out more and if the servers are particularly good, leaving $100 or $200 tips. Of course I would pay off all Dom's debts as well. Basically it would be nice to enjoy life more instead of always stressing about money. I will say that I'm not stressing about it as much as I used to but I know that we're all just one disaster away from losing everything and having to struggle.
Basically I'd do almost everything the caller in the video I shared has done. Some almost think the caller was a plant and he very well could be but it was so cool how they seemed to have everything planned. He and his wife didn't even tell their two teenage kids (don't have that problem) which I definitely think is wise since they're not old enough to realize the ramifications plus as he said cleverly -- he doesn't want them to become "waiters", waiting for them to die...*LOL*. He wants the kids to figure out what they want to do in life and work to achieve those goals. Then once they have their jobs and lives started, sharing the news with them. It just makes so much sense. Now he did tell one sibling which I'm not sure I would've done. But otherwise he seemed to do everything right. Maybe he was a plant for the show...LOL.
But anyway it's nice to dream a little dream sometimes. Who knows, maybe it'll come true? Will I share it on the blog? You'll have to wait and see. LOL.
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