Powerball

They say that's a good way to make a small fortune ... Start with a big fortune and get involved in something like that.

 

Dude, everyone's using MP3's now. Just update your iTunes play list, wouldn't cost you nearly that much.

 

It wouldn't be intended to be a money-making venture.

 

The rub is that, having gotten involved with that, your big fortune becomes a small fortune ...

 

I honestly am not sure what I would do. Probably some kind of journalistic do-gooder venture.

 

We went to Disney World for a week last year and it was a pretty expensive trip (we stayed on property in a nice room, ate pretty well, kids were indulged, etc) and I told my kids that it was a trip that wasn't going to repeated. This morning, my 7 year old asked if we could go back if we won Powerball. I said we could leave on Sunday morning if we won.

I'd quit and travel. I'd probably buy places in Napa and the South of France. Miami too. I'd eat and drink beyond well and maybe buy a restaurant or even a winery.

 

Travel

Buy a fractional share of a netjets plane so I wouldn't have to fly commercial.

Buy a couple of horses for myself and sponsor at least one of my favorite riders.

Corner the national hay market.

 

The dream of buying my way into the presidential race as a whack-a-doodle candidate everyone has to take seriously has been co-opted by Trump, so I think I'd buy every Pog in existence and turn it into a form of currency on my own private island.

 

Form an LLC or foundation. Let the lawyer for that cash in the ticket so I can stay anonymous. Hire a three man team to manage the money, none of whom know each other, and periodically have an outside auditor look over their shoulders just to be sure the numbers still add up. Move to Texas or another no state income tax state for 90 days before cashing it in to establish residency. Once I got the money (lump sum), I would split it 50-50 with my wife. That way however much she chooses to give to family, church, charity or whoever is up to her. Same for me - if I buy something stupid expensive, it's not coming out of her pocket. Should reduce money friction within the family considerably.

Pay off everything. Buy a couple of daily driver but nice cars. Buy one or two more toy cars. Build a home to my specs, probably using the Taliesyn architects who do things Frank Lloyd Wright style. Get a nice loft to live in while that's going on. Travel. Eat well. Use a personal trainer to get and stay fit after eating well, lol..

I'm not sure where I'd wind up living. I'd probably stay based in Birmingham, but travel with an eye toward finding another place. I've always said that if I ever hit the lottery I'd get a place overlooking Lake Austin, but that's negotiable. Perhaps live six months in two different places, rotating to comfortable climates. In the meantime live a life that pleases me. Play angel for selected charities, see shows and concerts, be good to my friends and family.

Oh, and fuck continuing to work. I have a few co-workers I'd drop some money on, but I'm old enough that it would be immediate retirement and disappear.

 

One lottery-winning fantasy I've long had is for my wife and me to simply get up in the morning, get dressed and take a taxi up to the airport. She and I look at the departure board, decide where we want to go, then simply walk up to the counter and buy two first-class tickets on the spot.

 

I think every state with a lottery has a statute imposing its personal income tax on the winnings from in-state purchases even if the ticket is purchased by a nonresident. You need to purchase your ticket in a non-income tax state.

 

Then Georgia would get my share. Screw Alabama, they refuse to have a lottery so they aren't getting taxes off of my good fortune. Friggin' Bible Belt hypocrites. More money bet on football here than anywhere other than Vegas, legislators taking money from the Mississippi casinos to vote against gambling in Alabama. The Poarch Creek indians in state paying the lege to protect their monopoly.

47 states with a lottery, and Alabama refuses because it has bad effects on families of chronic gamblers, as if they can't find a bookie. That means that thousands of people will drive to Ga., Tenn., and Fla. and help fund the schools *there* instead of here. The biggest selling lottery stations in those states are all right at the state line. It's a bigger, better version of "County Line Liquor Store" beside a dry county.