If you won the $1 Billion Lottery--

[Brian Deakin]

I would set up before and after school clubs The purpose of these clubs would be to provide meals for children of parents who have financial difficulties
The clubs would provide additional support to children falling behind in thier education to equip them for life There would also be a large element of fun in the form of sports, hobbies and other forms of activities chosen by the children
Further the wider community would be encouraged to volunteer to provide practical support to enable the scheme to become imbedded in society

[Jim Becker]

One Beeeleeon Dollars...

That's enough that you can spend $100,000 per day every day for 25 years before burning thru it.

Given having the available principle earning money through investment, I'll suggest that it would last a lot longer!

[Prashun Patel]

This is a great idea, John.

[Frederick Skelly]

Invest half of it to found the Skelly Dynasty. Use the other half to help inner city kids in some meaningful way. Maybe scholarships like Mr. Goodin suggested.

[Mike Henderson]

I'm sure I'd spend some on toys. But the vast majority would go towards helping kids from disadvantaged backgrounds get a college education, especially in fields where they can earn a good living - think accounting, finance, engineering, medicine, etc.

Not things like art history.

Having a college education, especially for someone from a disadvantaged background, will allow them to live a different life.

Mike

[Ole Anderson]

It would be a huge responsibility. Earning 5% on the 500 million cash (after taxes) payout means $25 million yearly income without touching the principal. Who needs that much? You would need to become a philanthropist even if you needed $20 mill to live on. While it would be great to be able to give away large amounts, who do you give it to? So many worthwhile causes and a lot of ones just wanting to suck you dry. People would be knocking down your doors. Hire someone to manage it? Set up a foundation? Probably. Just thinking about it though is entertaining. But every time I buy $10 worth of tickets, I am lucky to get three numbers out of all 5 tickets. None of them on the same ticket.

[Jim Matthews]

I would start a website devoted to the care and feeding of Woodworking spouses, a long suffering class.

Them, form a movie studio that films scripts that didn't come from Comic books.

Maybe a lap pool filled with Voltaren?

[Aaron Rosenthal]

In Canada, we don't pay tax on windfall earnings like lotteries. HA!
Divide some money to immediate needs for my kids; pay off their mortgages/buy them houses.
Set up an educational trust for the grandkids.
Start some kind of funding program, money matching to improve life situations for "dead end" kids on Native reserves (I have a beloved Native foster son).
Set up a foundation for general charity donations.
Rebuild my house and garage - love the location, but it needs work.
Let ICON motors have a go at my 2004 Mazda B3000.

[Doug Garson]

Lot's of good charitable ideas but has anyone thought what would happen if a purely evil person won it? I don't buy lottery tickets, gambling just not my thing.

[Larry Edgerton]

First thing I am going to do after the ticket I buy tomorrow comes in is come and find Andrew and buy him a cup of coffee. Sitting on a brand new Martin whatever!

I always thought if I had Bill Gates money I would wander around in an old motor home and take care of people that really deserve and need help right here at home. There are lots of people that need help and donating to most charities is just adding a pool to the CEO's vacation house on the lake. Read the local papers and just take care of people anonymously would be a fine way to live out my life. And maybe a Martin or two for myself...............

Maybe build that town I always wanted to build. An old town, like towns used to be before all the characterless crap we have now. Had the property twice, but got divorces instead. Andrew, You in?

[Clifford McGuire]

I don't play the lottery. I always thought it was a tax on people who slept through math class.

You hear stories about lottery winners that have a miserable life. People coming out of the woodwork looking for a handout. I might figure out how much I need to live a comfortable (but not extravagant) and give the rest away.

[Keith Outten]

I only play if the jackpot is 100M or more. For this go-around, I bought twice from the Kroger (Novi, MI) that sold the winning ticket (but not for Friday's drawing.)

That Kroger is across the street from a major medical campus. I hope the winner was someone who really needed it.

If I ever win the big one, it will get shared with friends and family + a few charities.

Oh, and Keith could afford to pay someone to develop that mobile app for the Creek

Bob T.

Thanks Bob, if I won even a small lottery SawMill Creek would be the Disneyland of woodworking Forums with plenty of major FreeStuff Drawings every week.
I would also make substantial donations to children's hospitals.

For me a one hundred acre farm.

[Andrew Joiner]

First thing I am going to do after the ticket I buy tomorrow comes in is come and find Andrew and buy him a cup of coffee. Sitting on a brand new Martin whatever!

I always thought if I had Bill Gates money I would wander around in an old motor home and take care of people that really deserve and need help right here at home. There are lots of people that need help and donating to most charities is just adding a pool to the CEO's vacation house on the lake. Read the local papers and just take care of people anonymously would be a fine way to live out my life. And maybe a Martin or two for myself...............

Maybe build that town I always wanted to build. An old town, like towns used to be before all the characterless crap we have now. Had the property twice, but got divorces instead. Andrew, You in?

Thanks Larry sounds like fun.

So cool to see most creekers are into giving and helping. I guess most of us are older and mature enough to know the thrill of buying luxury items for ourselves fades fast.
I've been lucky and blessed to have a healthy family and a home overlooking the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Having a sudden win of a ton of money wouldn't make me any happier.

Here's what I'd do.

I'd bail out businesses that got hit by the pandemic. We would give more bailout cash to those who give or attend brainstorm events on thriving in a safe way with this virus. Real active stimulus money.

There's a story https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/22/healt...ion/index.html saying if everyone wore N95's indoors for 4 weeks we could end the pandemic faster than vaccines! I'd give away fit tested N95 respirators to everyone along with Ted talk like demonstrations of how aerosols move thru the air.
I'd start a factory to make N95s in my town.

[Frederick Skelly]

I always thought if I had Bill Gates money I would wander around in an old motor home and take care of people that really deserve and need help right here at home. There are lots of people that need help and donating to most charities is just adding a pool to the CEO's vacation house on the lake. Read the local papers and just take care of people anonymously would be a fine way to live out my life.

Brilliant! What a great idea!

[roger wiegand]

Over the years I've worked with a vey small charitable organization that was founded to build and support a village school in Tanzania. The "bang for the buck" return on investment has been astonishing. We, as individuals have, over the last two decades been able to have a striking impact on the village and the kids there. Early on none of the kids could attend secondary school because they didn't have microscopes to allow them to complete required science course work. I hunted around here, found a number of old but serviceable scopes with mirrors so they didn't rely on electricity (touch and go at best in this village) that people were willing to donate, paid a couple hundred bucks to ship them, and now kids are able to complete their requirements and go on to secondary school with a couple contemplating college.

Given a ton of money I'd be looking to replicate that model across the continent, providing education and support to help people build their own school buildings, seeding those schools with locally trained teachers (it often costs only $1-2K to send someone to be trained as a teacher, an insurmountable barrier to them, easy for us), and providing books and other teaching material to jumpstart the system. I'd target areas in extreme poverty (annual income less than $1/day).

I'd plan to give it all away over a decade, no long term foundation or endowments. A billion won't solve the problems, but it will make a difference. Our family (indeed, most of the developed world) pretty much has what it needs already; I'd focus on folks where a very small increment in education and resources has the possibility of transforming their lives.