... a foundation to provide education and jobs for needy people in Milwaukee and rural Wisconsin.

places to "invest" with your donations. I love my local New Haven area foundation.

sit back and take it all in.

Then take a quick vacation somewhere away from the US to get my head clear. And to get away from long lost friends and family members who suddenly decided to get back together.

Then the work starts-- make lists of where the money best goes. Many people with that kind of money set up foundations to invest it and do the 'good works" with the profits from investments. That's how the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations lasted so long. I would look into hooking up with one already well managed. Immediate check writing-- I have dozens of places, from PP and Doctors Without Borders to the local animal shelter and homeless programs to give to. The list never ends.

I figure I have 5-10 years left, so do a very quick study on just where I want to spend them. Maybe that's where I go on that vacation...

at the local and state level. So many people don't know that giving to the everyday needs of the charity are extremely important, the day to day work far from holiday giving and they need to pay staff to carry out their mission and keep the lights on. That's where ongoing, regular support mechanisms can be so helpful.

Glad you are supporting such great causes, all of which I would there right along with you...

don't want anyone to drop a huge wad of cash- makes hash out of budgeting and future fundraising. They'll take it "if they have to" but then what to do with it? They don't want to set up their own trust.

They much prefer a decent monthly payment, or a matching fund during a fundraiser. And that's easy to do.

Personally, I can live pretty well on 50 grand even here on pricey Long Island and a hundred grand would have me looking all over for things to do with it. So, the 250-300 million cash prize leaves a lot of room for giving.

Oh, and you're in Connecticut? I've already got a monthly payment going to WSHU, thanks to largely to Science Friday and Diane Rehm and drop a few bucks on Connecticut Public Radio from time to time.

there is great need for day to day expenses. That is why it is important before doing your giving you talk to the nonprofit you want to give to. Ask them and most will probably say "Annual Fund because it is there to support day to day operations."
Endowment Fund drives often deplete donations that could be going to the Annual Fund and if there is a choice between the two, the Annual must take priority...

I'll also be hiring:

1) Guru

2) Karate master/body guard

3) Chef

4) Drug dealer

5) Drug keeper-awayer

6) Miscellaneous hangers on.

I've seen families get into near physical fighting over bequests, and court cases and bitterness between siblings who were "counting on" the bequest from Dad for their kid's college education...you name it.

It's so ugly you wish you never got it in the first place. Just keep your mouth shut and don't give out big checks to family members...there will the fights and you can figure out what is gonna happen once you are gone...

I'd spread it around to help my family and friends. Give a lot of it to charities. Also, I'd buy a business where I used to work and let the employees benefit from the profits unlike the current owners.

Take care of my friends and family, even the family and some former friends I don't speak to because that's just how I roll.

Write some big checks to organizations I support. Give them a choice between money up front or a larger amount over time.

Write lots of $2700 checks to politicians I believe in.

Buy land and build a small sustainable community for older residents with green energy and an organic garden. Residents can buy in cooperatively or pay rent on a sliding scale based on their income. And of course, I would live there.

Start some kind of employee owned business. Probably something in green energy.

Do random acts of kindness. Lots of them!

Underwrite college educations for lots of kids. Some will be for them to study anything they want. Some will be earmarked for students who want to be teachers. I'll would set up a special scholarship fund for students at my former high school which has become one of the worst in Houston.

I don't need or want a big mansion. I want a warm, giving and progressive community around me.

Don't even know where to begin.

Communities

http://www.ic.org/directory/

... I don't want that kind of trouble.

Which is probably why I don't buy lottery tickets in the first place.

Even using the greatest discretion and judgment things could go very wrong.

and animal rescues. Donate generously to other charities for needy people. Get an unlisted phone number and leave town to avoid the scammers, the shady investment advisers, and all the long-lost "relatives" and "friends" whom I haven't seen for 30 years (or ever) but who for some strange reason suddenly want to get together to reminisce about the good ol' days.

I have two uncles (one blood, one marriage) and three aunts (two blood, one widowed).

As do all of their children (my cousins). I have four of them.

Their children (my second cousins) get college funds. I have, let me see, eight of those.

I have a good lineage of those immediate family members so there won't be any "surprises" by previously-unheard-of relatives.

I'd help my great-aunt with medical care for her husband (parkinson's), and make sure her two sons don't have any mortgages either. They don't have any kids.

I'd get my brother's mortgage paid off as well as setting up college funds for their kids (one's here, one's due in May)

I'd buy a house. Finally. I'd probably get a vacation cabin up in Vermont or Minnesota, too. Someplace quiet and rural.

I'd buy my brother and his wife new cars for their birthdays (they're one year and one day apart).

I'd buy my recently-divorced-from-an-abusive-husband cousin a house as well. I'd be sorely tempted to hire somebody to beat the shit out of her ex-husband as well but I figure there are enough lawyers in Chicago for me to ruin his life legally.

I'd give everybody at my place of employment ten grand a year for as long as I was getting the payments. Basically, if you were on the company payroll when I won, you'd get an annuity regardless of your employment status.

I'd donate heavily to worthy causes such as Planned Parenthood and the ASPCA (those damn commercials...) and I'd make a big block payment to Best of the Left Podcast and the Majority Report with Sam Seder podcast.

I'd become a permanent college student, taking a course a semester of things that just interest me.

I'd get a pilot's license and own a couple of planes. I'd love to get an old World War Two bomber (maybe a B-25) and tour airshows with my son, during the summer, doing the Warbird stuff. I LOVE those Wasp radial engines...

I imagine I'd do other stuff as well. Probably buy a small sailboat.

As quickly as possible, move home to Huntington Beach. Our move is in the works already, but I want to be there

NOW

#1 Get my wife the best cancer care on the planet.
#2 Stop worrying about the other stupid things in life and guarantee about $10,000/month income for my family.
#3 I'd like to still work and keep busy.
#4 Probably spend a day out of every month giving the rest away.

Do some minor good works with the interest. Hold out a couple mil to permit financial security for a few in my immediate circle of acquaintance.

-- Mal

1. Pay off current mortgage...Love our house and where it is.

2. Buy a reliable car for me and one for Mr. Dixie...our cars are over 20 years old.

3. Fix a few things inside the house that need work, probably will cost less than 50 K.

4. Donate 10 grand to the local animal Shelter cause it needs repairs

5. Same to community library..it is losing funding source.

6. same to DU.

7. Give both adult sons a million, and watch carefully how they spend it. If they do ok, will give them more.

8. Give a chunk to Bernie.

9. Set up Scholarships at our local Community college....I have a great debt of gratitude to the CC system from years ago that changed my life and I owe a karma payment.

10 Give chunks to causes like Occupy's Debt relief programs.

11. Donate to the nearest Golden Retriever Rescue group, cause I do not have time/room to take in all their dogs tho I wish I could.

12. find a country with a sound economy, like Finland, and use their banks to save a big pile of what is left, for future needs and decisions.
Under no circumstances would I stash a huge amount in any US bank.

them what they most need now (besides operating cash). I know they will have a dream project that they would love to get funding for, but have to scrounge for current budget priorities and put their dreams on a back shelf. I'd like them to be able to get that dream off the back shelf and in the planning stage immediately. Wouldn't that be a great project to work on?

Will bear it in mind when I win the lottery.

sigh...I guess buying a ticket is the first step, eh?

Give the rest to Planned Parenthood and Doctors Without Borders.

Taxes would take 50% if I take a lump sum, so I'd have maybe $150 million to toss around. I don't need more than I have now, so I'd be rid of it in short order.

I have so many great things in my life with family and home and have other things, such as health problems, that take up my time and concern, it's just no longer a "thing" in my life. I was just wondering what other folks here were thinking, too...

There are a lot of people who post here who are having a tough time of it, and we probably come across as members of some kind of privileged elite, whereas the lack of need for a personal helicopter doesn't mean you are a member of the billionaires' club. Like you said, it's just not a "thing" in our lives. For that matter, I pity any soul if all they are obsessed with is having enough money to maintain a personal helicopter unless they live in some inaccessible part of the Alaskan wilderness.

keep me in some level of pain. I am now in my 8th week of shingles pain and hoping the 3 month prediction my neurologist tells me is a possibility I am hopeful. But I could develop a postherpetic neuralgia and if so, I'm sunk. Thank god for DU. I've gotten good advice from similar sufferers so I know I'm not alone.

I'll be thankful if someday I wake up out of pain...

Every version I have had of it has been curable--so far anyway. If my knee operation in 9 days goes well, I'll have dodged the bullet again. For now, anyway. This will be the longest consecutive time I have actually spent in Dallas since my last knee operation, and that was in 1999!

I spent the last four decades making sure I don't have a family to take care of. I'm not gonna spend what's left of my life taking care of three families when I don't even know how to take care of one.

After that and for the rest of my days: Eat good food, listen to good music, play loud guitars, dance, laugh, sing, and screw anything that moves.

I'd give PP 20 million just to piss off the republicans.

One, to take care of me and my husband for the rest of our lives and to designate where that money goes when we're both gone.

The second, to take care of family and friends (mostly friends) - but I would put a professional trust company in charge so I don't have to deal with the pleas for help. For instance, we have some friends who can no longer drive and even if they could they can no longer afford a car. I would want to make sure they have access to a taxi or car service without worrying about paying for it. Currently my husband drives them around but I would like to travel more so there would be no transportation for them in that case.

My family members really don't need that much - but some of my husband's family could use some help.

The third, to establish regular long term donations to non-profit organizations that my husband and I would select.

Then my husband and I could travel without worrying about day to day things. We have a relatively new house and I don't really want a vacation house since I'd rather go to different places each trip. We could use a newer car - our 2006 Prius is still gong great but it would be nice to have a Prius V for the extra space on driving trips. The 1999 Suburban could use some cosmetic refurbishing but we hate to pay for the gas guzzler on trips even if it has all the space we need for hauling stuff.

Oh, and I'd explore how to leave my farm to an organization that would preserve the land. Although it's only 60 acres it is a nice cross section of habitat and would make a nice park. In this area most of the land is now either in 3 to 10 acres ranchettes or in hunting plantations that cover thousands of acres. So our little farm with it's 200 ft above sea level ridge dropping 50 feet to a swamp and stream is unique.

get rid of my stuff in the US, and then disappear to Latin America, so I can stretch my dollar further in order to donate to the charities that I like (Farm Sanctuary, PAQG, Proactiva Open Arms, etc).

with a whole new attitude.

My focuses would be our local food bank, AIDS support network, animal shelter. At the broader scale: Planned Parenthood, environmental causes (e.g. Surfrider, Sierra Club), scholarships, for examples.

On a personal level, I'd be looking for a house or condo in an eastern city (Boston, probably) plus a lot of travel. At least one trip in first class on Emirates with our own private cabin of course! And, I'd start tipping like crazy...

than I. Nor can he give the Louvre money and take it off the wall and bring it home. On a limited budget I have gone to Europe's finest museums and most beautiful churches to see the greatest art in the entire world. A little minibus takes me to JFK and I get on an evening flight, have a glass of wine, go to sleep and wake up in Paris, or Rome, or Madrid...and I go and go (with a list) once I get to my hotel room and stash my bag.

I am revisiting the island of Sicily next April (on a very tight budget!). Gotta get back to this
http://www.taormina.it/wp-content/themes/duotive-two/includes/timthumb.php?src=&h=380&w=960&zc=1&q=100

And if Donald comes to visit here, he'll see the same thing...

Then I'd pay off my student loans, buy a house and new car. I'd pay off my parents' mortgage and see what help my brother could use. I would set up some travel as there are many places I'd love to be able to see. Outside of that I don't really have that many personal obligations/wants. The house needs to be big enough to have a room for my books, a room for home training and a room with a hot tub.

After that, I have a few causes I'd find a way to support, homeless shelters, animal rescues and probably Special Olympics. I'd look into fully funding the S.O. program at the gymnastics gym I train at.

Outside of that, I would take some time to figure out how to best spend it. There are many potential causes or investments and that is some serious money, but it's not unlimited.

I'd pay off my mortgage and my student loans. I'd buy a house in Portland for my brother to live in and that was also big enough that we could stay there when we come to visit. Next I'd buy another house here in Korea, one that is a little bit bigger than the one we own now and rent this one out. I'd buy myself a nice car and give my old one to my wife. My mom pretty much has everything she needs, but she did just buy a new car recently so I'd pay that off for her to help her keep her bills down and give her a bit of extra breathing room. I'd buy a first class ticket (one on Singapore with the beds) for her to Korea and tell her after 10 years there are no more excuses not to visit. All that would probably come to about $2-3 million.

The rest I'd invest in something safe like mutual bonds where I could live on $100,000 a year for the rest of my life.

I know that I won't win but here is what I would do if I did win. First, I would probably faint then celebrate.

Give my boss two weeks notice. ( I would want to finish my projects at work before I left)
Completely pay off my debt
Move to a much better apartment. Later on I would buy a house but I would want time to find the right place for me.
Pay off my parent's and sibling's mortgages.
Get a masters degree then a doctorate degree.
Get a membership to every museum that I want in the city.
Get a helicopter pilots license.
Get a complete beauty makeover at the salon. A fancy gym membership and a personal trainer. Also healthy cooking classes.
Brush off my bucket list and do everything on it. It is a long list but everything is doable even without millions of dollars.
Pick a cause that I believe in and work for it.

I really wouldn't need a lot of money so most of the money would go to charity.

Develop a really cool forever home community for unadoptable critters and hire a staff to care for them.

If I get bored, I can volunteer my time, but life is much too short to spend it working when I don't need to and honestly, with that kind of money, I think I can make it last until I am dead.

But I would donate some to favorite charities and help out family and friends who really need a hand.

I bought a ticket because, why not? The folks at the convenience store said it had been crazy all day. But somebody is bound to win eventually, so why not me?

But instead of fighting crime, I'll fight joblessness.

to live off the grid.

they don't spend too much. it costs too much to live normal lives.

It runs well, but it sure could use new paint.

...because if they pulled my numbers that would be an obvious immediate necessity.

After that, many of the things already listed.

So we can finally be together.

1. Pay off every debt I have.

2. Buy a house.

3. But my dream car.

4. Buy a yacht.

5. Head for Bora Bora, sip a mai tai in one of those huts that sits on crystal blue water.

1. Debt free
2. Take care of kids, grandkids, some relatives,
3. Gifts to some friends
4. Start a foundation to fund PLanned Parenthood, etc.
- Southern Poverty Law Center
- No Kill Shelters in my state and especially where we were adopted by our little terrierist
- Political Donations


... a bunch of other stuff I can't think of



... oh, and DU

Then I would setup trust to establish financial security for my family and self.
Give large amounts to friends. Then donate willy nilly to charities I like.

a well developed business plan which would start a bunch of socialism-like programs to help reduce poverty, create jobs w/housing and feed people in a sustainable manner using renewable energy production and recycling and other programs. And buy myself a modest home.

jackpot can do! Hopefully, you have a few legislators and your governor as your friends who will be a dedicated as you are to doing good instead of well in their jobs as servants of the people.

I live in a strange place being a left-leaning individual, red state but w/Democratic Gov and blood red legislature. The one Congressperson we have is of a tehadist mentality as are half the judiciary entities in our locale. There are some progressive movements here surrounded by a wide variety of rural types. My ventures would eventually go international as I intend to make everything go to most needed places in and outside the US. But I would start here and let things expand as they become desired.

I would like to operate in a nonprofit model but the difference would be that I would want the financial aspects of the "operations" end up in the hands of those who work the "operations" in a profit-sharing program that eventually turns ownership of individual location operations over to the workers, as one venture. Although, if I could initiate the whole "thing" I would hope that it could be a major push toward encouraging/inspiring large numbers of people to adapt their intentions and behaviors to the natural disaster that is upon us while helping end some of our worst traits as a species.

I would certainly donate to many other causes.

I would end up using and donating the vast majority of it for charity and development of sustainable living programs, I don't need much.

I research art at my library and online. I sure don't need many clothes, being retired.

The only thing I worry about is how much help I will need going forward. I pay household workers a lot because I know how hard they work for me, lugging laundry up and down, schlepping a very heavy vacuum cleaner, scrubbing floors and bathrooms. My house isn't large but housework is always needed. My neighbor grocery shops twice a week and I give him a list when I am especially in pain and can't move about too much. He is the nicest person...just a hero to me...these are all things of value in my life, I can tell you!