What Would You Do With $523 Million?

This is all for fun, because there is no way this kind of money is actually going to ever, in a million years, make its way into my wallet. But it could. And because the possibility is still there, I think it is a bit fun to think about what that possibility means.

In the United States we have two multi-state lotteries in play. The MegaMillions, and the Powerball. Someone just won the MegaMillions in New York, so we will set that one aside for a moment, even though it is still worth a cool $22 million as I write this.

But the Powerball? Tonight's drawing is worth $523 million.

When you win, I should point out that there are two options regarding how you receive your winnings. One is the annuity, paid out in a pari-mutual 3o annual installments. And the other is the lump sum cash option.

We are only going to focus on the cash option here.

Now, this is some very rough math here, because each state is different, and so is the way these jackpots are paid out. So, depending on where you live, taxes of course determine what you actually will receive.

First things first. The total prize amount is based on the value of the annuity. So, in this case the value of the annuity is $523 million. If you decide to take the lump sum prize, the value of the prize reduces by roughly 50%.

That means your $523 million jackpot is actually worth about $261.5 million if that is the route you choose.

But, you still have to pay taxes on that prize of course. Hey, the government wants its money. No new information there. So, this means that after taxes from both federal and state, you will get to keep about 60% of the total you receive.

Your $523 million jackpot is now worth about $156.9 million. Still a nice loot, and definitely some life changing money without any argument.

So, what would I do? Well, I would likely take about $10 million right off the top and just have a blast doing whatever the hell I wanted to. $10 million is a lot of money and I am sure I could make this go quite far.

This leaves me with $146.9 million. So, what do I do with that?

I take $5 million and set it aside equally between $2.5 million to read, and $2.5 million to noise. Ah, imagine the tips I could send with that kind of money. Hell, I could be the king of noise and read and even maybe make the real king of both, Marc DeMesel look like a small fish in a very big pond.

No disrespect or harm intended for our beloved Marc of course. But hey, I only paid $2 for the ticket, and if I have this kind of money, why not just share it? I still have $141.9 million left.

I am an investor in the stock market, and I do pretty well with that. If I take that $141.9 million and invest it there, I can assume an average return of about 6%. Now, that's a very conservative return. I tend to make more considering the various strategies in the stock market I use.

But let's assume it is only 6% I get.

My annual income from the remaining $141.9 million is a whopping $8.514 million per year.

Have I even spent the initial $10 million I took at the start? Who knows? That's a lot of freaking money all by itself. Could I live on the interest and dividends of $8.514 million a year? Oh yes, and how. That's massive.

So, what would I would do with that? That interest and dividend payment? I'd probably toss in another $1.5 million to read and another $1.5 million to noise. I am still up $5.514 million a year to do whatever I want with.

As much as I am a HODLer when it comes to my own money, I think it is a lot of fun to think about how many lives I could change with this kind of money, while at the same time still enjoying many riches for myself.

And without a doubt I would be committed to doing exactly that. Sharing it. Spreading it around. Changing lives. I think that would actually be a ton of fun.

If you found yourself suddenly with this kind of money, what would you do with it? Inquiring minds want to know.

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