5 Ways to Spend a Billion Dollars

[BScott]

A former colleague of mine is an editor at NerdWallet and he wrote a really fun article about what to do if you were to win the Mega Millions jackpot tonight. It's a fun read. We mentioned this on The IT Hour today, so I thought I'd share.

NerdWallet: Mega Millions: 5 Ways to Spend a Billion Dollars
TL;DR: Don’t do any of these things, at least not without first having a heart-to-heart with a financial advisor.

Of course, they're NerdWallet, so they advise you that you won't actually get a cool billion if you win. And yes, you'll have to pay taxes. Oh, by the way, you should most definitely talk to a smart financial person and invest. Boats, planes, houses for your friends and family (I'm your friend, right?!), islands, movies...before you buy anything you should read up on lottery winner horror stories, Rick advises.

What would you spend on, if you want to take a few minutes to let your brain wander?

[JC-ChrisTate]

Some great tips there. The good news for me is that in the UK our lottery winnings are tax free.

The not-so good news is our lottery amounts never get close to that amount and the downright bad news is - I never win.

Well, one can dream.

[BScott]

@JC-ChrisTate there's a saying that you can't win if you don't play. Well, I'm in that category.

[rlyons]

Feh. Spend it? Naw. I'd hide that and NO one would know about it. Get a lawyer to "claim" the prize so the lottery can't publicize me or my name, then quietly pay off my car and invest. Keep enough around so I can work only part time or something.

[BScott]

Right?! I'd want to be an anonymous winner as well. Then people can't come around asking / begging for money or trying to scam. Because they do.