Hypothetical--Receiving a windfall

[penn19]

Go to the casino because it's my lucky day....

 

[Wendy31]

Why would you pay off the current house before selling it?

Haha! I don't know! I guess that doesn't make much sense...

I guess my thinking was we'd pay off the house & live in it while our dream house was being built.

If they plan on staying healthy until they die, sure. Two million doesn't go as far as people seem to think it does.

I agree. I could easily spend 2 million pretty quickly.

 

[MomofKatie]

We would pay off all our debt (house, cars) and fully fund DD's college costs. We would also set up some for her to have when she turned 25- maybe $100k for a good down payment on a house. Most of the rest would go in our IRA, but we would splurge on a trip to Europe during soccer season so DH could see some of his favorite teams play.

 

[cvjw]

Ours is just sitting in the stock market. No fancy European vacations, just normal cars, just a normal house. DH is still working. We give a lot to charity. We do own DVC

 

[leebee]

I'd pay off the mortgage, pay off DD's school loans, pay off my car, and replace DH's and DD's old used cars. Probably pay off my MIL's mortgage and DD's SO's school loans, too. Do the house repairs. Maybe look for a condo timeshare or a snowbird condo in Florida. Travel to Europe with DH. Invest the rest.

 

[amberpi]

I agree. I could easily spend 2 million pretty quickly.

But if you just wanted to live off the interest, it'd be easy I honestly, live off about half of what I make, and who am I leaving it to? I might buy the convertible I can't justify now, then what? I also don't have children, so the equation is much easier.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'd pay off and fix up the house. New windows, new kitchen, new flooring. I'd give some to other family members and some to charity. I'd buy a new car too mine is 14 years old.

A month or so ago when the lottery was super high I bought a few tickets, and started playing What If. That is the list I came up with, along with buying an rv and doing a bit of traveling. I would have to take my dogs along, so a rv seems the way to go.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm just curious as to what different people would do if they received a windfall. In this case, I'm talking about ~$2 million or so--enough to be comfortable, but not enough for private jets and live-in servants. So, what would you do with the money? For starters, I would assume that everyone on this forum would pretty much either go to WDW more frequently and/or more lavishly, so I'm really looking for other thoughts than those. Not that there's anything wrong with either, just I assume it's a given.

So--fully fund college and retirement? Travel more? Upgrade your house? Buy a boat/RV/summer home? Become a beach bum?

I would start, but I honestly don't know what I'd do, once I was confident that retirement and my kids' college educations were assured. But, I'd love to hear what others would do!

Each kid gets $20,000. Pay off new truck and RV. Retire and travel.

Bank the rest.

 

[Bilberry]

I would likely invest the money, live off the income and share with family when needed. I don't have debts. I can't think of anything big that I desire to buy at the moment.

 

[disykat]

We're already debt free and starting to look towards retirement, but I'd love to do some work to update the house and also buy a new vehicle. I'm still driving the minivan because it runs well, but our youngest just got out of college so no more hauling people and stuff around. Everything would probably total less than 60K, and then we would look towards fast tracking DH's retirement when he meets the minimum age. Because of extended family members health, we don't plan on vacationing much in the next little while. However, that money would keep our retirement travel dreams alive!

 

[DisneylandDarling]

I've been really into historic houses lately. I would love to purchase a historic mansion in the midwest or south and fix it up.

 

[Tikitoi]

Pay off the mortgage and car, quit the current job, take an inexpensive vacay, save the rest and just calculate my next step...Finding a job in a field I enjoy...

 

[melanielll]

We are debt free, college for the kids is paid for, and retirement is funded. So....I would give a couple of hundred thousand to each of my kids, buy one or two stupid things and sit on the rest until we needed or wanted something.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I'd want to talk to a certified financial adviser for some advice, but mostly I'd want to tithe, pay off the mortgage, student loans, and car loan, buy a second car (we are a 1 car family), get some remodeling work done around the house and buy some new furniture, and invest whatever is left over.

Also, remember, a big chunk of that $2 mill will go to taxes.

 

[morgan98]

I'd want to talk to a certified financial adviser for some advice, but mostly I'd want to tithe, pay off the mortgage, student loans, and car loan, buy a second car (we are a 1 car family), get some remodeling work done around the house and buy some new furniture, and invest whatever is left over.

Also, remember, a big chunk of that $2 mill will go to taxes.

It depends on the source of the $2M as to how much, if any, would be subjected to tax.

 

[loves to dive]

Nothing different than I'm doing right now. All my debt is paid off and the only debt my honey has is the house, which is 3/4 paid off. Starting in Sept. I will be working from home doing about 1/4 the hours I'm doing right now. I have retirement and savings. I'd probably put some aside for my son, although he gets anything left from my retirement if I were to die and would pay off the house for honey. We might take a long dive trip to somewhere exotic but it wouldn't be longer than 2 weeks because he can't be away from the internet for longer, he is an IT consultant.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

1. My husband would quit his second job.
2. We'd pay off the student loans.
3. Pay off the mortgage
4. Pay off any other remaining bills
5. retirement savings
6. college fund savings
7. any home improvements we would have like to do.
8. maybe take a trip we would have like to do but didn't have the money to do
9. let the rest sit in an investment or savings account

 

[DVCMinnie2532]

What I'd do today in my 50s is different than what I might have done even 10 years ago.

I'd first pay off my mortgage. Then I'd dump quite a bit of it into some sort of retirement fund. Lastly, I would buy a house in a resort-ish area, but nothing expensive. Just a second home for vacation that I could ultimately retire to. It would probably be in Florida since much of those areas seem relatively affordable to me versus where I live now. Then I think the money would be spent!

Exactly the plan I would have lol

 

[AuntieMe3]

Put half in savings. Pay off our very low debt, payoff our house and do some small needed upgrades. Pay off our vehicles, buy my husband a truck. Put some in an account for our daughter to do with as she wishes (school or start a business she already had ideas on.) And that would still leave us with plenty to go on an amazing family vacation and fun money for a little while.

Edited to add.... my husband would still keep working, he loves his job and loves to work so this would just be an extra cushion for us. I would most definitely stop working.... My job is not necessary but I enjoy the extra money it provides me too much to quit now.

 

[QueenIsabella]

OP here. See, that was the thing that got me thinking about this. My thoughts in my 20's would be so different than now, when I'm in my 50's. And I deliberately said a "small" fortune, versus a large one, because I was curious about the choices that people would make--if you won $100M in the lottery, you wouldn't really have to choose between paying off your mortgage or saving for retirement. At $2M or so, you couldn't just go hog-wild. Or, you could...for about 6 months.

I think once we had retirement/college set, we would upgrade our vehicles, fix up the house, and maybe take a nice vacation or three. Beyond that, I don't think we'd substantially raise or standard of living--I'd still shop at Walmart and rent condos on most vacations. I think my main splurge would be to fly first-class on long flights. Maybe a house-cleaning service once a week or so.