Powerball: What would you do with $1.5 Billion

[Gator Hazard]

4 hours ago, iacas said:

I'd live off the interest. I'd live well, off the interest.

That is definitely the end game, no doubt about that.  But, if you follow your financial advisor (and seriously this is advice that they actually give winners of big amounts.  It is to help them understand the value of their money as well as to get the stupid stuff and impulse decisions out of their system) like you would follow a golf instructor lets say, and you are to spend $35 million on whatever and whenever what would you do?

So far I like some of the ideas about golf courses, could always go Caddyshack II style (horrible movie btw).

[mvmac]

I'd start a golf company, hire PING engineers and sign a bunch of tour pros  JK

My wife and I were talking about this the other day. Here's what I would really do with the money. I'll start with my wife's top requests.

• Only fly private.
• Spend a month every year in Hawaii.
• Set of trusts for my family and close friends. Make sure everyone is taken care of.
• Buy or build two nice houses. One in La Quinta or Scottsdale and the other on the East coast, probably in Pinehurst. Along with those houses I'd get memberships at The Madison Club or Whisper Rock and CCNC in Pinehurst.
• National memberships at two other clubs, for sure one at the California Golf Club in San Francisco.
• Start a venture capital/angel investing company. I'd certainly buy a lot of investment properties and water rights. I'd want to do something positive with the money as well as grow it and leave something substantial to future McLoughlins. Similar to the Getty model. 
• Donate several million to charities (directly and through investing) and to my alma mater University of San Francisco.

[GolfLug]

I already eat the largest sandwich I can eat, but the freedom (especially from 8-5) it would bring would be priceless.

My biggest worry would be how it would change (more like disrupt) my kids' life. That alone would keep me from making any significant waves. Crazy would realistically be me quitting my job and starting a manufacturing unit, heck if my company owner would bite and if the crazy spend ceiling is doubled, I would buy the company unit I work for. As much as I hate my day to day, I would be lost if completely without it. I love cutting, forging and bending metal. In my field $35 MM ain't much.

Of course the private travels, course memberships, etc., and all the other un-original splurges would get plenty of business.     

[Gator Hazard]

9 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

I already eat the largest sandwich I can eat, but the freedom (especially from 8-5) it would bring would be priceless.

My biggest worry would be how it would change (more like disrupt) my kids' life. That alone would keep me from making any significant waves. Crazy would realistically be me quitting my job and starting a manufacturing unit, heck if my company owner would bite and if the crazy spend ceiling is doubled, I would buy the company unit I work for. As much as I hate my day to day, I would be lost if completely without it. I love cutting, forging and bending metal. In my field $35 MM ain't much.

Of course the private travels, course memberships, etc., and all the other un-original splurges would get plenty of business.     

I often wondered that as well, what impact it has on my children.  I would think after I have blown through my get it out of my system money (and believe me, I think I could do it and have a blast, would take a while but I would have some fun and so would others with me) and settle down into the long haul it would come down to this:  At that point you have to manage your managers.  You have to manage whomever is managing your wealth and interests, whether they be financial, charitable, and or even related to how you are living.  You can't just blindly trust that even wealth management companies and advisors have your best interest (they work for companies who make profits, profits via commission checks, etc.) and will need to be checking in to see how things are progressing with your investments.  You will need to review a proper accounting of expenses, etc.  If you win, you will still have a job to do, it will be to make sure that the money is being utilized properly.  

I will gladly accept those responsibilities if I win.  :D

 

[Golfingdad]

14 hours ago, mvmac said:

I'd start a golf company, hire PING engineers and sign a bunch of tour pros  JK

My wife and I were talking about this the other day. Here's what I would really do with the money. I'll start with my wife's top requests.

• Only fly private.
• Spend a month every year in Hawaii.
• Set of trusts for my family and close friends. Make sure everyone is taken care of.
• Buy or build two nice houses. One in La Quinta or Scottsdale and the other on the East coast, probably in Pinehurst. Along with those houses I'd get memberships at The Madison Club or Whisper Rock and CCNC in Pinehurst.
• National memberships at two other clubs, for sure one at the California Golf Club in San Francisco. I am not familiar with "National memberships.
• Start a venture capital/angel investing company. I'd certainly buy a lot of investment properties and water rights. I'd want to do something positive with the money as well as grow it and leave something substantial to future McLoughlins. Similar to the Getty model.  Know nothing about investing and water rights and the "Getty model."
• Donate several million to charities (directly and through investing) and to my alma mater University of San Francisco.

Our list is similar to Mikes.  (Changes in red)  We'd upgrade our current living situation to something a little nicer here in or near the OC, and add an apartment in NYC.

The one thing that I think can't be overstated is flying private.  I've never done it, and almost certainly will never do it, but I believe that of all things on this list or any of the others, this is the one that is truly life-altering.  Just thinking about how easy travel would be, and how much ridiculously FASTER it would be. Out most common flight right now is LAX-NYC, which goes something like:

1. Drive to aiport (60 minutes)
2. Shuttle to terminal (20 minutes)
3. Check in, get through security, wait to board (90 minutes)
4. Board and wait to take off (30 minutes)
5. Flight itself (5 hours)
6. Deplane and gather luggage, meet car (40 minutes)
7. Drive to hotel (60 minutes)

With private, we don't have to deal with LAX so #1 becomes 15 minutes.  Numbers 2 and 3 are eliminated altogether (and #4 shrinks as well) because we can just drive to and walk right onto our plane.  Same thing is true about #6 at the end.  So a flight that, all told, took about 10 hours is now taking less than 7.  And that is just the time saved - not even factoring in the amount of travel related stress you are relieving yourself of.

Drives to Fresno to visit family go from 5-6 hours to 2 hours, and thus could occur a lot more often, as could any other travel you could think of.  Things like NYC or Hawaii for just a weekend would be easily doable, DAY trips to Vegas or Arizona for golf or something would even be on the realm.

It's fun to dream. ;)

(I forgot to add that I would most definitely retire from my job and just golf all the time.  To pass the boring down time, I'd get some sort of job that I'd find interesting - perhaps working at a golf course in maintenance.  Or I'd volunteer my time for a lot of things - golf tournaments, charities ... heck, I'd volunteer for jury duty as well.)

[GolfLug]

26 minutes ago, Gator Hazard said:

I often wondered that as well, what impact it has on my children.  I would think after I have blown through my get it out of my system money (and believe me, I think I could do it and have a blast, would take a while but I would have some fun and so would others with me) and settle down into the long haul it would come down to this:  At that point you have to manage your managers.  You have to manage whomever is managing your wealth and interests, whether they be financial, charitable, and or even related to how you are living.  You can't just blindly trust that even wealth management companies and advisors have your best interest (they work for companies who make profits, profits via commission checks, etc.) and will need to be checking in to see how things are progressing with your investments.  You will need to review a proper accounting of expenses, etc.  If you win, you will still have a job to do, it will be to make sure that the money is being utilized properly.  

I will gladly accept those responsibilities if I win.  :D

 

Well, got the winning number right here!! I will fly you PRIVATE 6 times a year to come and help me out manage the finance managers + You can borrow my jet anytime you want (You will be given the title: Executive Manager of Managers, of course, if you will have me, that is).. LOL!. If you read a couple of posts above, flying private is all the rage these days.. (wink, wink @Golfingdad, @mvmac)..

Again, seriously, at what point (how much) the money becomes just a sack of potatoes that have to be lugged around and all you are doing is worrying about is not spilling them or who ain't stealing them even though they might be doing nothing else for you. Managing it would become a can't-sleep-through-the-night end game in itself. I am such a simpleton and starting to see why some of these winners go nut case.

 

[Gator Hazard]

9 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Well, got the winning number right here!! I will fly you PRIVATE 6 times a year to come and help me out manage the finance managers + You can borrow my jet anytime you want (You will be given the title: Executive Manager of Managers, of course, if you will have me, that is).. LOL!. If you read a couple of posts above, flying private is all the rage these days.. (wink, wink @Golfingdad, @mvmac)..

Again, seriously, at what point (how much) the money becomes just a sack of potatoes that have to be lugged around and all you are doing is worrying about is not spilling them or who ain't stealing them even though they might be doing nothing else for you. Managing it would become a can't-sleep-through-the-night end game in itself. I am such a simpleton and starting to see why some of these winners go nut case.

 

Sounds pretty awesome to me.  Lets talk salary and signing bonus, if you win I probably accept!   Is $1 Million signing bonus and $500K a year salary too much?  

[GolfLug]

2 minutes ago, Gator Hazard said:

Sounds pretty awesome to me.  Lets talk salary and signing bonus, if you win I probably accept!   Is $1 Million signing bonus and $500K a year salary too much?  

For lugging my sack-o-potatoes?.. Dang, that ain't none but peanuts... You're on!  

[Gator Hazard]

I forgot to mention that I would purchase the golf club that was running the false advertisements and fire the persons responsible for it.  I would also like to purchase the golf club that I live on right now and invest some money into it.  It is a beautiful course and to date my favorite that I have played on in the area. It could  benefit from some modifications, improved drainage, and especially to the clubhouse which really isn't much of a clubhouse.

[jgreen85]

I wouldn't buy my own course. I would focus on renting out golf courses for the days I play. I'd buy up the tee sheet at all of the nice public courses. Pace of play issues would be eliminated for me. Kind of like flying private. I'd also take helicopter where I could to avoid driving as much as possible. 

I'd also buy a stake in the San Antonio Spurs. Hopefully something like 10% which would cost $40-60m.

Edited January 13, 2016 by jgreen85

[mvmac]

1 hour ago, Golfingdad said:

The one thing that I think can't be overstated is flying private.  I've never done it, and almost certainly will never do it, but I believe that of all things on this list or any of the others, this is the one that is truly life-altering.

Yeah that would be huge. I don't see myself getting a bunch of expensive cars or jewelry so that would be something I'd be happy to splurge on. For a new car I'd most likely get a Tesla.

BTW the "Getty model" is just something I made up for my post, referring to the Getty family (Getty museum). Basically own a bunch of real estate, invest or own right to stuff that are essential to people's everyday life and do something good with the money (the tax write-deductions don't hurt either). I've played golf with Billy Getty when I lived in San Francisco and his job is mostly charity. 

37 minutes ago, jgreen85 said:

I'd buy up the tee sheet at all of the nice public courses. Pace of play issues would be eliminated for me.

You could also join a private club that doesn't have a lot of members (cap around 300) and no tee times.

[sirhacksalot]

The 35 million fun money

Get fit finally ha.

I would get the best instruction I could find.  Play the best courses I could fly to.  Buy up enough tee times that I wouldn't feel rushed or slowed at those courses. Play those courses with the instructors to have fun playing lessons.  

I don't really think that I know enough about golf course design to build my own course.  I would much rather just be able to play the really nice ones that already exist.  

Pamper my wife, spoil my kids (with educational experiences in amazing places, not just with crap) 

Repeat til spent.