What Would You Do

maab_connor

pay off my debts

this.

and then a cruise.

and then BANK IT b/c i'm only 30 and i can work, but the residuals would mean that i would be able to retire some day.

BerkeleyMama

Pay off the house, buy a new car, pay for private school from middle-high school (my kid's too freakin' smart, it just ain't fair). Put away college money in a money market for him. Whatever is left.....travel.

Lizmhoughton

I would buy my mom a new house. She has lived in a fixer upper for the last 16 years but as a single parent never had the $ to fix it up. Instead, she struggles to keep up with all of the things that go wrong with it. She gets the $ to fix one thing and then 2 things break. Right now her roof is bad and the plumbing in that house has always been terrible.

So yeah, I would get my mom a new house and get her out of the money pit she lives in now.

After that, get myself a new car to replace my 13 year old gas guzzling truck.

Lizmhoughton

I would buy my mom a new house. She has lived in a fixer upper for the last 16 years but as a single parent never had the $ to fix it up. Instead, she struggles to keep up with all of the things that go wrong with it. She gets the $ to fix one thing and then 2 things break. Right now her roof is bad and the plumbing in that house has always been terrible.

So yeah, I would get my mom a new house and get her out of the money pit she lives in now.

After that, get myself a new car to replace my 13 year old gas guzzling truck.

Oh yeah, and of course I would love to pay off my 30k student loan debt!

MinnieInMaine

I'd call Mom's financial advisor first and find out what the smartest/safest investment possibility would be right now and then put about half the winnings there. Then I'd pay off the mortgage and our cars since those are the biggest expenses right now and maybe a couple other small debts. With that chunk out of the budget, we could either sell our house and find a bigger chunk of land to live on or look into getting land for a camp.

I definitely wouldn't quit my job but I would look into taking some unpaid time off if there was enough money. It'd be nice if hubby and I could take a long road trip together!

Molly_Louise

What is the first thing I'd do?

Get it converted into British Pounds

h3h8m3

It wouldn't really change my life too much... not in the short term at least. It would go a long way toward making me comfortable that I could retire at a reasonable age, and that my kids will have a safety net for their own lives. We'd probably allow us to splurge a bit... 10-20k on stuff like clothes (both my wife and i have lost a lot of weight). 50k or so maybe to house upgrades (new AC, improve all the insulation in the place, renovate a couple bathrooms, etc). But the rest would go into long-term investments.

I would not pay off the house, as I don't want to commit a significant portion of the money to earning only 4%. I sure hope that the stock market will outperform that. Though I would definitely be tempted to pay off the mortgage. Stock market scares me. My entire professional earning life it's been crap.

I sure wouldn't quit my job.

And honestly, I might not even tell anyone that we won.

meggers123

move to Nepal and teach kids there for free. You could definitely live your life out on a million there!

I have no debt, except college loans, but I guess I'd pay that off before I left. lol.

dgirllamius

I'd do the usual thing...pay off debts, buy a nice house. I wouldn't buy a new car because I love mine too much, but I'd have it done up etc.

I'd give my mum some of it so she can finish renovating her house, and then I'd give her enough so she can quit all of her jobs and not have to worry about anything else for the rest of her life. Along side that, I'd buy out my dads half of the house so he has no hold over it anymore.

I'd buy a nice big house here in Germany and in the UK so I got somewhere to go to when I go home. Preferibly somewhere close to my home.

I'd buy all the things I've ever wanted but never been able to afford...new clothes etc.

Then I'd bank the rest of it and live off the interest.

TheRoadDog

Probably wouldn't change my life too much. It'd take at least 10 million before I my attitude started to change.

Mommawarrior

I would pay off our credit card and my little car, pay off anything my family owes on anything, then save the rest to buy a home when my husband retires from the army. I would continue to volunteer full time on the farm that I am at now and do nothing different cause my life couldn't be any better than it is now.

mamashatzie

Invest half, right off the bat.

Go to hubby's work and tell his boss that he can go f*** himself, and hubby can look for a new job from the comfort of home.

Speaking of which...buy a new house. Houses here are so cheap I could buy my dream house for $300k.

Buy Hubby his Nissan 350Z, buy me an SUV. Let hubby pick out new motorcycles for both of us, and get gear that actually matches.

Take a nice vacation together. Nothing over the top...just something quiet and private.

Cut back my hours at work so I can go back to school and get my master's degree in my true passion, history.

And then keep working so we can live very comfortably and put lots of money away for retirement/kid's college fund.

Cherilea

What is the first thing you would do if you suddenly became a million dollars richer? I'd call up my apartment manager and the president of the company and tell them to kiss my *kitten*, I am out. Screw a thirty day notice and I'm leaving all the furniture. :laugh:

I would pay everything off...no more debt! I would still stay in my house, add on to it. "Victorian-ize" it like we have always dreamed of doing. My husband would still keep his job (family business) and I would still keep mine (preschool teacher). I think my big splurge would be a new, or new to me, vehicle. I would donate some to the church and put money in an education fund for my boys. I would give some to family. I would prepare for retirement, and such, because who knows if anything will be available when it's time to collect our social security, or retirement, money.

boomboom011

pay uncle sam, put some away for my kids college, pay off any debt i have, and get up monday morning and go back to work but with maybe a slightly different attitude.

AngelsKisses75

I would pay off my debts, and start calling my loved ones to see what they needed. Maybe a nice little trip to visit people and places.

h3h8m3

I'd do the usual thing...pay off debts, buy a nice house. I wouldn't buy a new car because I love mine too much, but I'd have it done up etc.

I'd give my mum some of it so she can finish renovating her house, and then I'd give her enough so she can quit all of her jobs and not have to worry about anything else for the rest of her life. Along side that, I'd buy out my dads half of the house so he has no hold over it anymore.

I'd buy a nice big house here in Germany and in the UK so I got somewhere to go to when I go home. Preferibly somewhere close to my home.

I'd buy all the things I've ever wanted but never been able to afford...new clothes etc.

Then I'd bank the rest of it and live off the interest.

Good lord... is a million American dollars really enough to do all that where you live? If so, I need to move there!

skinnybearlyndsay

pay the taxes on it and spend the rest on lunch.

Hahaha...so true...

JEK717

I'd give it to my daddy so that he could stop working so much. So he could smile a little more everyday and relax more.

messyinthekitchen

FIRST. Scream at the top of my lungs lol. Then go on vacay. Come home pay my debts. Buy a home a new car. Put money aside for my sons university fund, then open up a business.

ai965

I would donate all of it to non-profits, including Planned Parenthood, the International Rescue Committee, UNICEF, Greenpeace, the Human Rights Campaign, ACLU, Oceana, Drug Policy Alliance, ONE campaign, and Amnesty International.

achampionsheart

tithe ten percent to my church, pay off my college loans, pay off my house, buy a new car, and maybe buy my husband a new vehicle hehe....then put the rest up

AngelikaLumiere

pay off my debts

this. a million dollars is not a lot of money any more.

No kidding.

$1,000,000
- Federal Tax
=720 000
- 90 000 State Tax
~630 000
- Mortgage
~350 000
- Equity Line of Credit/credit cards
~335 000
- Replacements for 2 15 year old cars
~275 000
- Student loans
~240 000
- Home maintenance/repairs on 40 yr old home
~200,000
- Savings for children's college (2 x 2 years each)
~120,000
-Savings for emergencies (3 days in hospital % not covered by insurance)
~105,000
I used low average for estimating costs. If you are paying a larger mortgage or want a bigger house, if you want flashy cars, if you want to send your kids to a four year ivy league college, well enjoy the gum you can afford with the change.

Phoenix1401

Pay off my debt and buy my 1500 dollar dream car and tell everybody to kiss my fat black *kitten*!