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Something Light: If I had a million dollars
For some reason I have had the Barenaked Ladies song “If I had a $1000000″stuck in my head. Don’t ask why–I’m not really sure. Anyway, as the refrain has looped over and over in my head, I’ve been day-dreaming just a little–in a non-covetous way, of course–about what I could do with a million dollars. One fanciful idea: Replace our teeny, tiny pop-up camper with a spacious RV–investing the rest of the money to pay for the gas to fuel it, of course.
So, if you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Topic: Just for Fun, WorldMagBlog
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back to top43 Comments to “Something Light: If I had a million dollars”
Solve a lot of my problems.
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Retire.
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Pay all debts including mortgage.
Give a total of $250,000 to people close to me who deserve and need it.
Donate $100,000 to various charities and causes.
Invest the rest and plan to retire in 10 years instead of 20-25 (but not right away….that taakes some stage-setting.)
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Yeah, giving some of it away would be fun.
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There is an orphanage in Thailand run by a saint who buys kids out of human sex trafficing. She could use the money more than us.
I think if we kept/invested it we would be more preoccupied with money than we are now;)
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Tithe to a teeny church.
Set up a scholarship to commemorate my late father
Buy old used cars and give them to poor folks I know who lack one
Buy a fourplex or two for low income married soldiers to live in and lower the rent
Fund an obscure local candidacy
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Give ten percent to our church, designating some portion of it for a ministry the church supports in Liberia.
Pay off all debts including mortgage.
Invest half for retirement and helping our sons get started in adult life without debt.
Fix up problems with the house (leaky basement, walls of garage and bathroom need repair).
Go visit family.
I’m not sure how much that would leave. I’m sure there’s lot of stuff my husband would like to buy. And places I’d like to visit, especially national parks. I’d see if my son would like to get a good quality French horn if he plans to continue playing after high school. Some I’d insist on saving, not for investment per se but to buy things in the future, rather than use it all up right away.
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Oh, my. This immediately reminded me of a very funny sequence in the movie “Office Space,” some of which could not be repeated here, but was hilarious, none the less.
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But seriously, we’re not wealthy, but we want for nothing. Nor would I want to give or leave it to our children and deny them the experience of needing to trust the Lord for their “daily bread.” So, like most others here, I’d give it all away. It would be a great lot of fun deciding where to give it.
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I’d buy you a green dress. But not a real green dress–that’s cruel.
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So, if you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Good question. In reality, it would go quite quickly. The govt would take out a big chunk, then there’s a sizable portion going to the church. But things like that are too much of a given, so I’m going to alter the hypothetical situation for me–What would I do if I had a million dollars LEFTOVER after the government took all of theirs and I tithed a bunch to my church.
First thing I’d do is buy a new house. I’d get one that will meet our needs for the next 20-25 years while we raise our family. I’d then do renovations to make certain that my wife gets a jacuzzi tub, a walk-in shower, and a big kitchen for entertaining.
And maybe this is selfish (buy hey, we’re supposed to have fun here, right?) but I want a man room. Hard wood floors, leather furniture, large flat panel TV, billiard table, and a bar WITH beer taps.
OK, after all of that, I’d put the rest in mutual funds and let it sit.
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Mommy (#8),
The million dollar question make me think of the same thing.
…and by the way, no complaints from me if you had quoted the sequence
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1-
Go girl!
9-
don’t deny your children the right to suffer…maybe your milion was what the Lord was going to use to meet their needs…
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Reg–LOL
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Graceland, do you remember what Lawrence answered when Peter related the question to him? (that’s actually the first answer that popped into my mind when I read this and the answer that wouldn’t be WMB-worthy).
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Make plans to put down floors on the subflooring in this house, add a bathroom so we can have two, then adopt ten more kids. Instead, have a million of my closest friends have sudden needs for a dollar each so it all disappears. Adopt the ten more kids anyway but not worry about the flooring or the bathroom situation.
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As most here have said- Give a lot to the church and family/friends in need (in-laws are farmers, after all); buy a house in the country with enough acreage to have lots of space between me and the neighbors; buy that convertible I have always wanted (just about anything on the market); and perhaps put some away for my children to help them get started (but not live on- I agree w/mommy on children learning to trust the Lord for daily bread).
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Mommy (15),
Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I think everything that comes out of Lawrence’s mouth is solid gold
But you’re right. Not WMB-worthy. Largely because it wouldn’t seem right coming from “Mommy”.
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Make plans to put it all in the bank, keep my job, and live off the interest.
Get hard to live with at work, quit my job, spend all the money, get into worse debt than I was before I had the million dollars, and file for bankruptcy.
Sit around the house bemoaning my bad fortune.
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That’s why I don’t buy lottery tickets.
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Maybe it depends where you live, but I think many of you would run out of a million dollars pretty quickly . . .
Tithe $100K. Pay off the mortgage balance at church so we can redirect that money for a youth pastor: $250K.
Use the rest to pay off college loans for a bunch of young people I know who want to go into ministry but can’t just yet.
Note: Some people we know at our former church won the CT lottery and split the winnings with the church–the money was used to finish building the church debt free. I’ve never been able to decide what I think about that . . .
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Assuming that the $1,000,000 is what’s left after taxes…
Tithe to our local church and also give to the church’s building fund. Say $150,000.
Give a big chunk, $600,000 or so, to our Christian school, with some money designated for teacher salaries, some for the facilities fund, some for scholarships.
Pay off some debt, and then invest most of the rest for the future – college bills, retirement, travel, etc.
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Hmmm … go live in Europe. Or maybe buy a mini cooper.
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First, give some to the church and various church organizations. Next, give some to each of our children. Just enough so they can do something special. We have a mortgage that would get paid off. Then I would like to have a new bicycle. We could put a few more new windows in the house and redo the fireplace. The rest would go into mutual funds and we would continue to live on what we make in our current employment.
Would it change our lifestlye? No. We like what we are doing.
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Kimberly, try to get the mil in Euros, then;)
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I’d spend mine lobbying for new taxes on RV’s.
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I’d retire back to my father’s Bible camp in Virginia, where I’d build a comfortable house and put the rest in stocks (after I’d pay for about $300K in improvements to the camp).
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Pay for the gas to go in my Hummer….
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Okay, now you’ve got me going. I would build a tennis court right down there below the pine trees I planted a couple years ago. And put up a couple basketball hoops. And add one of those deployable roofs for the winter. Okay, all my million is gone, but it will be fun playing tennis without having to drive first!
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Adios, I’ll do my best to get Euros. A million Euros would be even nicer than a million dollars.
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When my mom died, I got a smallish inheritance, and it was fun to do a double tithe–my normal giving to my church and then a gift to Bible League in her name, Hausa Bibles for Nigeria where she met and married Dad. I think I’d be inclined to do something similar…only make the “double” part of the tithe be several large gifts of five or ten thousand (to people in need and to organizations I believe in).
I’d buy a three-bedroom house for cash so that I can have a library (that would be roughly $130-150,000 in this area), and buy a newer car, get some odds and ends (fruit trees and whatever the yard needed, library furniture, maybe another collie if the yard was big enough). But whatever was left after all of that and taxes would go into savings.
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Seriously?
I’d probably buy a couple of things like a larger lathe and accessories for the shop.
For the house, new floors, cabinets, counter tops, new paint, a new bedroom suite, and some decorating.
But first the plan would be (really) to put it all in the bank and try to live off the interest. I wouldn’t quit my job either, because you need something to do… and I really like my job.
I’d also like to visit my parents and siblings more than just once every 5-10 years….
I’d also up my giving to missionary friends and the church.
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College fund time five.
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I would tithe, buy a house or condo (I’m renting), take a vacation, and help my parents in some way. I would also do something just for fun. My church’s worship team is supposedly recording a CD, and if extra money would help them make it better, I’d like to help them too.
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I am going to build my own concrete countertops one of these days so will probably need the million to install new ones and repair the damage for my efforts. Then again the house only cost fifty thousand to begin with so probably won’t need it all…
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A friend of mine was asked what he would do if he won the lottery. He answered, “Probably get hit by a car.”
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Hmmm, what would a missionary do with a million dollars? Well, first I would buy a bag (or 2) of rice for every family in my village. Then, I’d make sure we had enough money to finish the Literacy Center office building that we’ve been raising funds for for 3 years or so. Fund other projects that have been pending. Buy a car for my furlough next year. Invest the rest so I can keep funding various projects. Would it change my lifestyle? I doubt it, but I probably wouldn’t really want a million dollars. It is too much fun to watch God supply needs in unexpected ways.
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oukast–what Bible camp in VA? (if you don’t mind me asking…)
pay off mortgage, give much to our school, give some to CBM, add a room to house so all boys don’t have to share one small room, add bathroom too (this sounds selfish, but sharing a bathroom with a husband, three boys and one little girl makes for one stinky room…)
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I would buy heating oil for next winter.
Get the transmission fixed in my car.
Send my daughter to college.
Give the rest to Open Doors.
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Nope, Momoffour, it doesn’t sound selfish at all! But then, I’m single and I opted for a two-bathroom house so as not to have to share with a roommate, so maybe I’m the selfish one. But I don’t think a two-bathroom house is a luxury for anyone, if nothing else to have a substitute one in case of plumbing problems!
In Chicago, with a one-bathroom apartment, there were simply too many times when I woke up in the morning really needing to go, and discovered a roommate had decided to get up early and take a long, leisurely shower. (Normally my roommates stayed in bed till after I left the house.) On more than one occasion, I had to “hold it” while I got ready for work, and even till I got to the office half an hour away. When I bought this house I decided I was too old to share a bathroom with an unrelated 25-year-old anymore, and also that I might be able to rent a bedroom quicker if the renter had her own bathroom. So, no, that doesn’t sound at all selfish (for Mumsee either).
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After putting some of it into a college fund for my kids, I would. . .
Give money to the school and the clinic in the remote village where I am working in another country. They always have more needs than resources to meet those needs.
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Cheryl D,
I just tell people our second bathroom is the great outdoors, guess that would not work so well in a city.
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Nope, Mumsee, it wouldn’t. I actually once spent the night locked out of a friend’s house (long story, but basically their boarder locked the door after they’d left it unlocked for me), and I needed to go really badly by morning. But I couldn’t figure out any spot in their yard that couldn’t potentially be seen by someone in their house or one of their neighbors.
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