Hey, financially responsible readers. The Powerball lottery jackpot is $430 $510 million this week. Did you get a ticket yet? I used to pick up a Powerball ticket whenever the jackpot is huge, but I haven’t purchased one since they doubled the price to $2 five years ago. If the jackpot reaches a billion dollars, maybe I’d add $2 to the pot. The odds of winning is extremely low and the only reason I’d get it is so I could dream for a few days. Anyway, let’s have a little fun today. Complete this sentence – if money was no object, I would…
I’ll go first.
1. Buy a bigger home
We love our 2 bedroom condo, but it’s getting a bit small for 4 people. My mom stays with us 6 months out of the year and it’s tight when she’s here. It’s tolerable currently because our kid is only 6 years old and they are sharing one bedroom. The same room also doubles as my office. This is actually great for now because Junior likes having me nearby when he falls asleep. Once he’s a bit older, we’ll need to move for sure.
If money was no object, I’d buy another one bedroom on the same floor for my mom to live in. Or maybe a bigger 3 bedroom unit. Either way would work. We enjoy living downtown and don’t really want to move. The HOA is expensive, though. Our finances are in good shape, but it won’t work with 2 sets of HOA, property tax, insurance, and utilities.
2. Hire helpers
I enjoy DIY, but I think it’s mostly because DIY saves money. If money was no object, then I’d hire out almost everything. Here are some of the tasks I’ve done in the past few weeks that would be on my hire out list.
- Fix sidewalk at the rental
- Climb on the roof to clean out the debris from the skylights and gutters
- Fix sticky faucet in our kitchen
- Figure out how to replace the rusted out chimney flashing
- Drive RB40Jr to dentist, ENT appointment, soccer, Wushu, and summer camp
- Cook, clean, grocery shopping, vacuum, laundry, and other household chores
- Go to dentist with my mom to translate and figure out a treatment plan
- Plan our trip to Hawaii and Mexico
- Prepare for our camping trip this weekend! 🙂
- Social media for Retire by 40 and other backend stuff
- Etc, etc, etc
Ahh… This is why rich people have a personal assistant, VA, handyman, maid, and a driver. I don’t mind doing these things, but it would be nice to have more time to do fun stuff, too.
3. Donate more
I’m terrible with charitable donations. I just feel that we’re not in the position to donate much right now. We’re completely focused on our goal of having Mrs. RB40 retire by 2020. All our money is going into investments right now. That’s probably a poor excuse because many families in less financially secure positions give back more than we do. If money was no object, I’d donate more to the food bank, NPR, and organizations that help seniors.
On the other hand, Mrs. RB40’s dad is donating enough to cover all of us. His social security benefit goes straight to various nonprofit organizations every month. He doesn’t need it because he has a good pension and savings. If things go well, we’ll be in that position someday, too.
What would you do if money was no object?
That’s my top 3. Sure, I’d like to buy some new stuff like a nice mattress, a convertible, a kayak, and some other nice things. However, those things will come eventually. I can wait until the time is right for the finer things in life. Our life is already pretty darn good so money wouldn’t change it drastically. I wouldn’t tell anyone if I won the lotto, though. 🙂
Lastly, lots of people quit their job after they win the lottery. I’m not going to do that because I love being a SAHD/blogger. Not working at all isn’t attractive to me at this time.
What about you? What are some of the things you’d do if money was no object? Good luck with the lotto!
Mrs. RB40’s answer
If money was no object…
– A 3-bedroom penthouse in downtown
– Clothes that I like (this is the only “thing” that I’d want, besides the right house)
– I won’t worry so much about traveling and finding places to stay that are affordable, I might even enjoy the process of travel planning
– Eating out. I won’t feel so guilty thinking, I could/should learn to make this meal or cook like this. I paid $xx for this?!
Image credit: Pictures of Money
Passive income is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. They have many projects across the USA so check them out!
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With more money I could build my dream tiny house!
Definitely a trip back to Hawaii with my family.
Give some to my friends
If I ever won a ridiculous lottery, definitely money set aside for my friends’ kids college if they choose to go.
Set up,but let someone else run an animal rescue farm, like Jon Stewart.
Really with 500 Million, I could set up a compound of tiny houses for my friends and I & have them on pay roll so they end up with good 401ks, medical, dental. I’d have on site bar tenders and people who make really good food, personal trainers, skilled hiking guides, etc.
I play the “What would I do with that much money” game on long drives when I see the signs. I entered a thing for a 10k prize, and figured minus taxes, how I’d dole out the funds to friends etc. Now to win large sums of money and not let it go to my head… 🙂
Great question for us to all think about. Yes, we need money to survive but many things some mention here do not require winning the lottery. Travel for example does not require lottery winnings. Flying fist class maybe.
In addition if the 1 st thing you would do is quit work, maybe time to evaluate your work.
What would I do? Besides donating most of it, I think I great luxury to have would be a house in a fantastic city with great food, music, and museums as well as a country estate to get away from noise pollution. Probably Madrid or a París for the city life and somewhere in Provence France or Montepulciano for Italy. And yes, great wine would be part of it.
Great hypothetical question and definitely makes you think about what would make things better in our lives. I think if money were no object and I didn’t worry about being frugal, I would definitely hire someone to clean up around the home and also hire someone to cook. I enjoy cooking but when you’re time crunched it can get a bit difficult to manage. I would also travel extensively, like go to Antartica (similar to Working Optional’s comment), visit Provence’s lavender fields and Santorini in Greece.
I’ve thought about it before, and I actually wouldn’t change very much in my life. I would pay off the mortgage, and invest the rest so that the money will be ‘giving’ forever. I’d travel more often but not quit my job. And when the time is right, I will buy my piece of land in the country and retire to my hobby farm.
Hey Joe, any interest in cleaning my yard? Just general raking and weeding, you know.
Oooh, good question. If money were no object, I’d get a nicer house (not bigger, just nicer), travel more and a big YES to the helpers such as yard work and housekeeping. And send my son to a private school with better resources that the public system offers.
I’ll probably move into a house instead of an apartment and attempt to create a solar farm or a similar project where I can provide something good for the community and also making a steady profit.
Traveling would be #1. Would love to spend a few months a year on the road or ocean. After that probably buy a house on the ocean, quit my job and spend my days hanging out with the kid, hiking, running and working in my shop since I could afford all the latest and greatest woodworking tools.
Always nice to dream.
My dad always dreams of winning the lottery and in his dream tells his family to fly immediately to come and see him without giving the reason. Those that show up get a million or so dollars. Those that don’t – nothing!!
I think I would like to give money to family and friends, and then charity.
Funny how so many people say fly first class. Goes to show how awful it is to fly scum class.
Very cool idea. He should try it out and see who shows up.
He can tell them, it’s a test run. 🙂
I would start an NGO to help people in need and use that as the next phase of working life.
The only thing that really evades me right now is a home designed for entertaining. Our current home is practical and serves us well but it’s not designed with a lot of open space that can accommodate a lot of people.
Into the $10M+ range, I’ve always thought about giving away a third to a half of it to family and friends. Let’s say I won $500M net and I want to give away $150M of it to close family and friends. I could obviously give $1M to 150 people but I’m not even sure if we have 150 family and friends that I would consider close enough to give such a lump sum. I don’t want to get too half empty but I’m also assuming there’d be issues around giving away big sums of money. Anyway, I’ll deal with it when I’m in that situation. 🙂
Sadly, beginning Oct 28, Mega Millions is also adopting the $2 per ticket like Powerball and with even worse odds! Powerball is currently 1:292M, Mega is going from 1:258M to 1:302M, can you believe it!? So double the cost to play and worse odds, boo!
Nooooo!!! I guess I’m dropping Mega Millions too. Oh well, the odds are ridiculous anyway.
Great thought experiment, Joe. Here are my top three.
1. Take the family every year to an expensive resort for a week. The first resort on the list is Ted Turner’s ranch in New Mexico.
2. Book a hotel suite whenever Mrs Groovy and I travel. I snore like a drunk Bigfoot, and the typical hotel room of two queen beds is hard on Mrs Groovy.
3. Bribe enough senators and representatives to get my Junior IRA passed.
I would propose to a Kardashian lady and then watch my life and reputation get destroyed…
Joe,
Great topic. It doesn’t hurt to daydream. If I won the lottery, I would:
– Stay in the same house, and get some repairs done.
– Drive the same car, but won’t worry about the car maintenance anymore, just go to the dealer for any repairs.
– Travel more comfortably, and eat out more.
– Donate to the local music station, library, and some colleges.
– Sleep even better.
If I won the lottery, then I could invest it and retire! Freedom, finally! There’s not much I want, but paying off my parents house + inflating their retirement would be nice as well as a house with no compromises (exact location, style, renovation level, etc). My dreams are so simple 😛
Maybe a bit too simple. You’re too logical. 🙂
I’d take a trip to space.
Okay, I’m adding this one to my list. Awesome.
Hi Joe,
What a fun post! If money was no object, I would:
-give much more to charities
-payoff all my niece/nephews mortgages
-buy a longarm quilting machine and take lessons to use it!
-travel to each continent – have hit all but Antartica and that’s too expensive for me to think about now.
Thanks Joe – I enjoy your blog. ~smile~ Roseanne
Lol, these kind of posts are fun Joe =) If money was no object I’d do so many things I don’t know where to even begin. But before I do anything, I’d first lay out an iron-clad plan to ENSURE that money would be no object forevermore. I know I’m taking this a bit too literally, but it’s seriously what I’d do. For example one can argue that for anyone with 1 billion $$, money truly is no object. But I don’t see it that way. It’s still finite and can be lost. The same would be true if I had $1 trillion. Because I’m sure most would agree, then you’d surely be in a place where money is no object. Anyways, once I’m fairly comfortable and feel secure, I want to be the biggest employer in the world and really try to think about how I can bring value to people all over the world. I know that sounds a bit woohoo, but after a certain point of money, every additional dollars has so little utility that I firmly believe one will feel a lot better by giving back. And feel a lot of satisfaction from contributing to society and leaving a legacy. Does this mean I won’t use anything for myself and living like Warren Buffet does? Absolutely not. I’d be lying if if I didn’t admit that I’d get a lot more creature comforts than Buffet. This means lots of real estate, a jet, and anything else that money can buy in terms of comfort. Because comfort feels good =) And like you, I’d employ a ton of helpers and outsource anything I’m not good at or would not like to spend time on. I’d also like everything automated at my home and always want the latest and greatest in AI and home automation. Like a Jarvis, like Zuckerberg =)
What would I do if money was no object?
-Pay off the remaining balance on my student loans.
-Quit my job.
-Buy that patch of land I’ve been scoping out for years near the shoreline of Lake Michigan and build a eco-friendly cottage with lots of windows and a wrap around porch.
-Buy any and every book I want without thinking “You should place it on hold at the library and wait for it to become available.” And spend my days and nights reading them all.
-Go out to eat without guilt (like Mrs. RB40).
-Travel. Everywhere. And not worry about the price of a room, food, admissions, and flights.
-Start a blog and write posts on a three posts per week schedule.
Good luck with that patch of land. 🙂
I love the library, but it would be great to have my own too.
I would probably move to Hawaii for the warmer climate. That would be the biggest change.
Like you Joe, I would also probably hire more things out. If there were good restaurants where I lived we would probably eat out more too.
That’s about it. Being FI, I already have the majority of what I want in life and do most of the stuff I want to do as well!
Nice one. Hawaii is pretty nice. I like it too, but I’d keep a place in Portland for the awesome summer. Can’t beat it.
If money was no object I would make a few changes as follows:
– with more money I could buy more Bitcoins.
– I could help more people with my Seniorpreneur Project spreading the message to more Seniors 50+ and then basically work for FREE.
-I would set up a Foundation to help more 50+ entrepreneurs in Edmonton with ‘business support’ services where none presently exist.
-I would make Edmonton, Alberta Canada the first major City in Canada to have a large facility where BOTH older & younger entrepreneurs could gather and help each other out with their own entrepreneurial projects.
– Instead of pocket change I would give Edmonton buskers $20 bills or more.
-I would donate hundreds of dollars to the Edmonton Food Bank.
-I would replace my Walmart watch with a Rolex watch.
– Buy homes in several states (Montana, Utah and CA for sure) with full-time caretakers, maintained cars, and chauffeurs at the ready.
– Get a pimped out RV (for when we don’t want a chauffeur)
– Charter private planes to our various homes and vacation destinations
– Give away some nice chunks of change to family members
– Donate a bundle to grass roots animal rescue agencies
– Buy one frivolous thing just to see how it feels, like a $5,000 pair of boots for me and a classic car for Mr. G
Wow, you have big dreams. Great! 🙂
A vacation property somewhere exotic like hawaii though probably moderate size and a mid 80s Ferrari. After that initial approximate 400k expenditure we’d probably just invest the rest. Live off the interest. Boring I know but I don’t value spending more, so I wouldn’t spend it. Donations are a separate factor and a given.
Woohoo!!
– Buy a 3BR condo in NYC with a nice skyline water view.
– Buy a 3BR condo in Honolulu with a kick butt ocean view.
– Buy a warehouse and start my 60’s muscle car collection.
I would build a world’s biggest gym!!!
We’d move out West to a nice place near mountains, into a similar or smaller (but well-built) house in a nice community with good school options. By necessity this would mean quitting our jobs. And I’d stop tracking expenses although I doubt we’d ever spend more than 1.5x what we spend now ! The rest I would simply invest. There isn’t a big gap between what we have and what we want (happily).
I’d donate more. That’s the number 1 thing I’d do. I donate a lot already just because it feels good. And I never thought it would feel good; rather I thought quite the opposite. If you don’t think you’re in a position to donate, trust me you are. You can donate $1, $5, $15, $20, whatever you want. Just find a cause you believe in. Any amount helps the organization achieve its goals. If you establish the habit, it will become easier to let go of your money when you are in a position to do more than you can today. 🙂
We donate some, but not enough. I’m sure we’ll donate more when we’re older. Now, we’re just too focused on getting Mrs. RB40 out.
“Buy a bigger house” seems to be a pretty popular response.
No wonder McMansions are so prevalent in the US.
Yeah, everyone wants just a bit more space.
If money was no object, I’d (in no specific order):
1. Travel extensively, without fretting over costs. Especially to tough-to-get locations like Antarctica, Everest Base Camp etc
2. Buy my mom a bigger, more comfortable place. Maybe even throw in a few more next door for my siblings.
3. Be more philanthropic – both with my time and with my money
4. Enhance the (teeny) backyard a little so we can entertain better.
5. Stop worrying about kids’ college expenses or healthcare in retirement
I would do the following:
-buy a bigger house
– more rental property
– buy a nice camper van to roam thru Europe
– pay for all debt to my closest family
– give a lot to charity
– quite my job to focus on health and learning
I would definitely contribute to social causes that I believe in. If one is lucky enough to win a large prize like that, helping others / causes would be a lot of fun.
On another note, given your positive financial profile, I am a bit surprised that DIY projects are not contracted out now. I am a landlord and 95% of the maintenance work is hired out. I like being a landlord very much but do not want to take on maintenance work to save money. We all only have so much time to work with and would rather focus on areas that I am good at and provide more value.
The real problem is that I can’t find a good handyman. There is a huge building boom here and contractors are all booked out. Nobody would even give me an estimate on our sidewalk. Pretty crazy.
I totally get that. Finding a good handyman / contractors just about anywhere is difficult. Compound that with the booming marketplace that you live in and it is even tougher. Thankfully right now I have people in place to take care of most maintenance items. It has not always been that way though. I think that it is cool that you are not afraid to take on projects yourself if needed. With youtube and a little research, most of the maintenance items are not rocket science. Just need to look into it.
Great way to start a discussion!
I would do the following:
1. Continue to blog
2. Hybrid-home school my kids. We have a school here called Olympia Regional Learning Academy that allows homeschooled kids to take other “challenging” classes like STEM with other students. This would be the best of both worlds.
3. Take more vacations (once a quarter) with my family to explore and learn about people, places, history, and food.
4. Buy a house on the lake north of Seattle.
I would continue to blog too, but I’d hire more people to help with stuff I don’t like.
Hmmm….
– I would pay off my school loans.- $170k
– I still would downsize my home….though my wife may argue staying put. The HOA is driving me nuts.
– I would work less and visit my family in Nashville more.
Oh wow, that’s a lot of student loans. Keep at it.
With a new baby, I’ve gotta say, more room in the house would be nice! A big living room for all the jumper seats, toys, and eventual tricycle and stuff.
Definitely would hire a live in helper in a different wing of the house to cook and clean as well so we can focus more time on the baby.
I’d give away a lot of the money too.
The toys really take over the house. They have taken over more than half our condo already. It’s the same with all the parents I know. Oh well..
As others have mentioned we would like to buy our own house instead of renting. We would also be able to quit our jobs and travel more. I don’t think we would be very interested in too many more material possessions. It would also be nice to give more to charitable causes.
If money were no object…
I wouldn’t change a damn thing..
The things that bring me joy like family, friends, learning, working at my skills are not bought with money.
DGI
Nice! You’re in a good place in life.
For Example: Even if I had $1 bilion, I would still read Joe Udo’s blog on a daily basis…
If money was no object, I’d hire someone to come and clean the house once a week (or more..we have 4 animals and lots of pet hair.)
I’d also go out to eat any time I wanted.
I would visit family and friends more. I only get so much vacation time and Mr. BL and I have to compromise about who gets the “long” visit with their family each year. If money were no object, I’d only work a job that was flexible enough for us to be able to go out of town whenever we wanted.
Aaaand, of course I’d buy a beach house 🙂
Maube.beach house but for sure airplane, boat, and more travel….
What a great question. I do not think I would change anything. I like where I live and the cost of living is great. My HOA fee is only $99 per month and our mortgage is under $500. I would probably buy a car that did not have a lot of mileage. Every car I buy normally has 80,000+ mileage.
I think I am just so use to saving and not spending that it would be difficult to buy stuff. Do any of you have that problem? It just feels wrong spending money on things I can live without. Maybe I am just crazy. But good question Joe.
I’m like that too. I’m used to not spending and I don’t want to. Maybe someday I’ll be able to loosen up a bit. Should be easier when I’m older. Maybe 55 or so. 🙂
Ooooh, if money was no object, I would:
– Stay in our current house, but build the barn/truck workshop on our property
– Not work my day job, but become a coach for local middle/high school sport teams (cross country, skiing, track, maybe basketball)
– Wake up every morning to a walk, run or bike ride, then finish with going to a coffee shop to start my day!
– Volunteer with local community organizations
– Spend more time visiting with family in leisurely ways (not just around busy holidays)
– Explore cultivating part of our property (10 acres) into a garden or something productive
– Train for a Half Ironman
Ahhhh, I do love daydreaming. 🙂 If money were no object, I would probably spend my life traveling the globe. I’d take my sweet time and move around whenever it suited me. 🙂 But yeah, other than that, I probably wouldn’t make many changes to my current lifestyle.
Hmmm… we’re trying to set ourselves up so that we wouldn’t change much of anything. If I won the powerball, I’d skip the year or two of part-time work and wind my career down this fall, though. I know there would be other changes, but I’m not about to retire early with many remaining wants or needs that would require more money.
In your case, Joe, I would postulate that with a $2 Million + net worth and blog income that maybe supports your annual spending, you could do most of the things on your list right now. No lottery winnings required. If the fear of running out of money is holding you back from living a more ideal life, you may want to revisit the math.
Cheers!
-PoF
Yeah, I’m still very conservative. Buying a bigger condo in this market condition would drain a ton of our investment, though. I think it’s better to be conservative and wait a bit.
A new mattress sounds great-I’d do that.
I would probably get the heck out of where I am at right now.
When you have plenty of re$ource$ you can do and go as you please.
Not much into accumulating a lot of stuff. Better to get rid of it.
I would make up a list of fine places to visit and go!
I’d probably stay longer on the islands that I chose-ha,ha. : ))
Wow, that’s new. Get rid of stuff when you’re rich. Very different. 🙂
This was a fun thought experiment. I think, like you, I’d spend more money buying back my time by paying someone to do chores and help with the tedious admin in life. Thanks again for the excuse to day dream! 🙂
OMG this is such an interesting post. Let my imagination fly haha. These are the things I would do:
– Hire a master chef to cook delicious food for us every single day.
– But my parents a rental property or put the money in the bank for them to earn interest from.
– Take my whole family on a trip to Europe and the US.
– Buy a rental property.
– Invest the rest of the money
One day..
1. Drastically increase donations to causes and charities I believe in.
2. Start a SuperPAC to fund candidates I believe in and to get a more diverse Congress with a wider range of viewpoints.
3. Buy a house in my neighborhood and a house in the mountains.
That was a fun question! Thanks!
Wow, I like #2. That’s ambitious. It sounds like a money pit, though.
I think the first thing I’d do is give ourselves an extended break. A windfall like that is sure to change ones perspective. I’d take some of the money to fund a six month excursion and lock up the rest. Afterwards, I would likely,
– buy a waterfront property in a great location.
– travel a lot more, slowly. Talking about summers in Europe.
– help out family
– donate time/money to causes
– consider buying up businesses/real estate to leave a family legacy
This is a fun thought experiment!
1) I would live in a warmer climate during the winter.
2) I would travel more and always fly Business or First Class.
3) I would upgrade to a top floor apartment with a balcony or deck that had a great view of the downtown Philly.
4) I would donate more money than I do now to the library, HRC, Our Revolution, and Brand New Congress.
Great question! Like you, this is something I only think about on those rare occasions when I buy a Powerball or Mega Millions ticket.
– I would keep working, but it would be on what I want and for myself, not someone else.
– I would buy a vacation home on the ocean.
– I would have several houses built in close proximity to one another so members of our family could live closer to one another.
– I would purchase a professional sports team (but even with a few hundred million dollars, that might end up being a minority interest at the prices some teams are selling for!).
– I would donate much more to causes our family cares about.
Mmmm… A beach house. That’s a nice idea. I’d love one of those too. Check out my RB40 Villa idea. 🙂
– Update our house to exactly what we want
– Buy a bunch of rentals and have a full time income from them
– Travel, alot. Probably buy a camper to do more of it without having to worry about hotels
Those are my top 3. This is really fun! We play this game all the time when we go on dates. Makes us dream big!
Owning a bunch of rentals sounds like a lot of work. 🙂
Buy a 3br house in a good school district in Northern California. After that I’d probably have to do something responsible with it with charitable giving or buying politicians.
Wooooo!
Hmm with all that money what should I do?
I would quit my job working the dreaded 9-5 and retire early.
Also, I would take a world trip with the Mrs to see China, France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, oh man I would be every where.
Not having to worry about money would be simply amazing.
I would do what i’m planning to do already when i hit my number. Quit my job, buy a van, travel. And sell the house to buy a place in the country with a bit of land.
Good luck! I was just looking at some Sprinter van conversion. Those class B RV are ridiculously expensive.
I love fantasizing about this notion of winning the big Jackpot, so here goes:
* I’m semi-retired so I wouldn’t change that but Mrs. Ronin would retire or semi-retire
* Hire professional help for investments
* We travel a decent amount but we’d do a bit more (limited by kids’ school and activity schedules)
* Take more spontaneous trips; every trip today is planned far in advance to use miles, points or otherwise save money
* Stay in more luxurious AirBnBs and the occasional high-end hotel (I have no problem staying on the low end most of the time since we are rarely in the room + the only time I’ve ever had a bed bug problem was at a high end hotel).
* Fly business or first
* Bring friends and family along on vacation
* Donate more than we do today
* Attend more live performances (e.g., concerts, comedy, theater, etc.)
* Figure out a way to house a car collection near my home or we’d move (don’t really want a bigger house)
* Build car collection (classics, exotics, daily drivers)
* Hire people to shuttle kids around
* Hire personal trainer (since I have no discipline in this area)
Then again, if I really won the Jackpot I would do my very best to keep it a secret (especially from my kids) so that would seriously put a damper on many things on this list. Money changes people (as evidenced by my list) or at least how one is perceived by other people, especially friends and family.
On second thought, never mind on that whole Jackpot thing…maybe just a small winning of a few million to help ease my daily life. I’m probably overly frugal with the money I earn, so I’m hoping I can learn to live a little if I were to experience an unexpected windfall (there I go letting money change me again).
Traveling is tough with school age kids. The summer travel season is so busy. Good idea with keeping it a secret. Nice list.
Love this question, as it forces me to think. One is obvious: we’d buy a house, rather than rent. And one that can accommodate working from home easily. Second, we would travel more. Third, my wife *might* quit her job to pursue various other work-related passions. Like you, I intend to continue working, whether it’s independently or for an organization – it’s too rewarding to do good work. We already have pretty good flexibility, but if we had more, we would take even more risks with what we do to earn money, and try some new ventures. One can dream!
I’d love to have an office that doesn’t have 2 beds in it. 🙂
As for me, if money was no object, I would:
* Buy a $3 million house or condo in Vancouver
* Buy a $1 million condo in Honolulu
* Give a small number of my best friends at least $100,000 each
* Increase my charitable donations from $5,000 a year to at least $100,000 a year
* Fly Business Class or First Class to places such as Istanbul, Barcelona, Prague, Buenos Aires, etc.
* Stay at 5-star hotels
* Attend at least 10 International Blues Festivals each year.
* Hire people to do such things as clean my home and polish my shoes
* Drink at least one bottle of 1982 Latour each year (cost is about $2,000 a bottle)
* Dine at some of the finest restaurants in the world (not necessarily the most expensive)
* Still own my 1995 Camry 2-dr. coupe so that I can still tell people that I drive a car that doubles in value every time I fill it up with gas
Your last bullet point made me laugh. Nothing wrong with driving an old car!
I think it’s better to keep it a secret from friends and family. If they’re doing well, then they don’t need it. It’ll just create problem. If they need help, then send it anonymously.
I like the rest of your list, though. 🙂