Tuesday, January 12, 2016

$1.4 Billion and Counting. What Would You Do with All That Cash?

Powerball fever has hit the nation.  The jackpot is over a billion dollars.

After taxes however, that would drop to a mere $500 million.

What would you do with that much if you won?

What would I do?

I asked a clerk at a convenience store what he would buy if he won.

"A monkey," he said.  "A monkey?"  I queried.  "Not two monkey's?"

"No," he said, "I just want one.  A Lemur.  What would you get?"

I thought a moment, looking down, and saw my icky worn out shoes, that I've worn for three years or is it four now.  "New shoes," I said.

New shoes.  Yes, I would buy new shoes first thing.
(my shoe issue is due to my oddly sized feet)

Maybe I'd panic and call Bill Gates up and plead "Help.  I just won the Powerball and I don't know what to do.!"

I'd fix everything wrong with my car, too, maybe a new engine.  Oh heck, I'd get a new car and retire my workhorse to a nice pasture life of kicking back in a driveway.  Would seem wrong to junk it.

I'd put millions into a trust with the Happy Cat Club, to develop an aggressive statewide spay neuter program, one that would out live me and then I could rest easy to think of that.  The rest I'd split with my brothers, then get a place somewhere out, somewhere I want to live not somewhere I have to live because I have no choice because I got no money.  It would be small with a bit of land.  Somewhere I had friends, say goodbye to this lonely life here.

I'd travel somewhere warm for a bit.  Then I'd come back, to wherever I decided to live, and work like hell on fixing cats because I could do that then, with nothing to stop me, because the money would be there.  I'd also help out the hard working small rescues and spay neuter groups.

In reality, I can't comprehend that kind of money.  I still think rich people are mythological.  Everyone I know struggles every day.  Sure, I see allegedly rich people on TV all the time, primping and gossiping and posing, but I can't make the jump in my brain that some people have millions of dollars and can do anything they want.

I don't watch sports but I know the professional players get millions.  They are entertainers and the entertainment professions tend to well pay each other.   I don't find pro basketball entertaining partly because those guys are all close to 7 feet tall.  The basket is almost eye level.  Now if the max height allowed was say 5'5", then they'd have to be really good and that might be something I'd watch.  Probably not. Off subject I ramble....

Well the odds are not in any one person's favor.  But you never know.....I have a ticket, one ticket, but maybe it'll be my lucky day tomorrow, when the numbers are drawn.  Or maybe it will be your lucky day.

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:46 AM

    If we don't hear from you for a while, we will guess why. I agree about the basketball thing. Some are able to just put the ball through the ring. I would rather see a short person have to jump and score.

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    1. Yes, now that would take skill, the shorter the person is. I hope you don't hear from me after tomorrow night, for a time. Now wouldn't that be something!

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  2. That sort of money is incomprehensible to me. And there have been studies done which show that many of the 'big' winners are in pretty much the same position they always were very quickly.

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    1. I don't think anybody at least around here can possibly comprehend that amount of money. Lottery winners often lead short sad lives. Unless they create a plan before they even collect I suppose.

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  3. I don't expect to win, but it's kind of fun to play the what if game about the lottery. I like your ramble about basketball players--a fun idea, I think, to limit the height.

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    1. It is fun to dream, and play "what if".

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  4. I'd probably buy 1 ticket if I could... but I have no idea what I'd do if I really did win big.... probably give it to the kids and then places/people I wish had more... It might be fun to see what I would actually do, huh?

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    1. Yes, it is fun to think about it.

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  5. One can't help thinking about winning this. I imagine myself setting up a trust for local shelters and maybe even opening some place of my own, though I'd need lots of help to run a no-kill shelter, for sure. So maybe I'd start just by adopting more needy animals. :) I hope you can get new shoes this year!

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    1. Wouldn't that be something, to win? Adopting some, that would be wonderful. Or even getting some fixed that would otherwise continue to reproduce and create more in need of homes. I've begun the shoe search. The problem is my ultra long narrow feet and stores do not routinely carry my size but I can't buy men's, to get the length, because they are far too wide. So whenever I'm in any store now, I look to see if they have my size. It's rare to find my size in a store.

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    2. I have a friend who calls her shoes "canoes" because her feet are so long and narrow. We haven't talked about the issue in ages, but perhaps you could find shoes online? It's not an easy answer either, of course, because it's best to try shoes on before buying and returning purchases can be a pain. Best wishes, though! You're in my thoughts and prayers.

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    3. I got one pair of zappos. Returns with them are easy but the shoes are expensive and it is a lengthy process to find a pair that fits after returning many. I have the same trouble, long very narrow feet with high arches. Sizes are not consistent anymore either, no more foot measuring as used to be done. Add on one foot is at least half size shorter than the other.....

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