12/02/2008

What If...


Do you ever play the what if game? Sometimes there will be an event that triggers those what if thoughts for me. Last week my mom told me that a guy from the small town I grew up in won $250k from a lotto ticket. Right away I had thoughts of what he would do with it. Things that would waste the money and be bad for one's health. All things that made me cringe.

So then I thought what would I do if it was me. Of course I don't play the lotto or gamble in any form so I would never actually have that kind of a windfall. But it is fun to pretend!


$100k to taxes (this is just a rough guess as to what the taxes would actually be)
$25k tithe (10% off the top for our tithe, God ALWAYS comes first)
$20k metal roof (our roof is 30+ years old and is starting to leak)
$5k house repairs (our old house has lots of little repairs that are needed)
$95k pay off house (nothing like the security of a paid off house in a bad economy)
$5k car fund (both are vehicles have over 83k miles and we need to start saving for new ones)

WOW!!!! That money went fast. I can see why so many people who win large sums of lotto money file bankruptcy. When you hear quarter million dollars it sounds like a lot. But as you see, it really doesn't go that far once you take out for taxes. In fact, after taxes and tithing half the money was gone. You actually only have $125k to spend. The one nice thing would be the paid off house which would add an additional $875 a month to our budget.

Do you want to play along? Tell us what you would do with the money!


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a gambler either, but I'll play you're game.
Note:Being Canadian, the same amout of money would give me a lot more to play with because lottery winnings are tax-free.

35k Pay off student loans
125k House (Yes, that can get us quite a nice house in our parts.)

25k Charity (I don't tithe, though I would definitely increase my weekly offeratory. For a lump sum I'd rather contribute to a cause)

30k New car

20k Help parents with their debt

8k Trip to Europe

2k Clothes and shoes

5k Treating friends and family

You're right that it goes faster than you'd thing, but realistically I can't imagine what I would need for any more than that.

Ms. May said...

I've been observing a friend enjoy the fruits of a very decent insurance settlement... a bit too much, perhaps. She very aggressively invested about $100,000, much of which I assume was lost in recent market events. I believe another $100,000 went to pay medical and student loans. I'd estimate she's already blown through about 50% of the portion she allowed for discretionary spending. That leaves her with a fraction of the original $300,000 award, which is being quickly hemorrhaged via Italian leather boots and down-stuffed sofas. It's an enlightening process to witness.

sara l said...

Taxes and the remainder of our mortgage would probably eat it all up. That makes me sad...

Anonymous said...

Ok, so we are talking $150,000 to spend. Not to much to think about there.

$140,000 to pay off the house.
$10,000 to car debt.

Done and done. That was fast.

Anonymous said...

Now this is where the Mrs and I would but heads. I would insist on slipping $1k in there for some sort of F-U-N. Vacation, shopping trip, something.

Can you tell which of is the spender and which is the saver?

Mrs. (not) the Jet Set said...

What? Saving for a new car doesn't sound like fun? LOL. Actually, I'm impressed that you would only ask for $1k towards something fun. Not to many years ago you would be wanting it to be more like $10k for fun. I guess I'm rubbing off on you... :)

Anonymous said...

Hmm...what would I do with $150k?

$100k- down payment on a house (can't buy anything under $180k in these parts)
$35k- pay off student loan
$5k- church and charity
$5k- savings
$3k- vacation
$2k- put aside for preschool

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