half a billion (Page 2)

I think the projection is about $250m if you take the lump sum and after taxes.  Not to shabby

Well, it's not quite a 1:1 opportunity to win $200M.  For example, before the last drawing, they sold more than $50M worth of tickets in California alone. So you figure over the whole of the country, 176 million people must have bought tickets. Which means the odds are you'd be splitting the jackpot with someone.

Which is why I am leaving my $176M in the bank for now.

I love my job and building a business, so I'd invest funds in my business. I'd create more recruiting disciplines/niches and hire people. I enjoy working and putting my talents to good use. I would be bored silly if I stopped working.

Upgrade my housing.

Create a charitable organization to fund and promote sports for local schools in low-income areas.

Travel more, but not so much that it adversely impacts my work.

If my job would let me work remotely, I'd keep it since I enjoy it.  But if not, then SEE YAAAAAA!!!!

We'd travel the world in multiple capacities, probably starting with "by yacht" first and in europe then asia and drag along a teacher for the kids.  Then I'd probably backpack the world.  I might be done about the time I die.

$359 million cash option after 25% federal withholding equals one massive check for $269 million.

Me?  After giving a bunch to friends and family, starting a charitable foundation for my wife, and blowing a bunch on a new house, Nautilus Air Nautique, and Aston Martin One-77, I'd initiate the following interesting waste of money:

Get half a dozen people that cover a range of aero positions, gather the top bikes on the market right now, and take them all to the Texas A&M wind tunnel for the ultimate shootout.  

I'd start with the manufacturer's best spec configuration: integrated bars and headsets where applicable, Draft Box on the Speed Concept, etc.  I'd do a small round of testing without riders to see if wheel choice had any impact on overall performance of a frame.

The next round would take each person's current position and test that exact position on each frame in its optimal configuration.  I'd have the riders go without helmets, since that introduces a variable that is separate from the frame and rider interaction.  That would tell us which frame is generally the fastest.  What's more interesting, it would tell us if some frames performed better with different rider types aboard.

If rider position impacts frame performance, then the goal would be to get the absolute best aero number for each person on each bike and see how things shake out.

A hugely extravagant waste of money, since it would probably take a week of tunnel time or more, but the results would be pretty cool to have.

Buy WTC.

There is a site that calculates your pay outs based by states. 

I always thought you only got half if you take the lump sum, and taxes were at the maximum rate.  Oh well I got egg on my face.

I'll buy tribikes for 100 random BTers.

I'll snatch up every ebay Kona spot and also dole them out on BT. (I keep one for 2015, it's on my son's birthday.)

I buy up a bunch of farmland in my area and hire people to run it completely sustainably.

But I'm still not buying an iPad.

Fortunately, since the lottery is a tax on people who can't do math, it'll never go broke :)

All seriousness, until the kids are out of the house, it's business as usual. Plus decent vacations. And I'd rehab my backyard. 

After that, I'm on a beach in a beautiful house and wake up every morning watching the ocean, feeling the breeze, having a swim, and eating fresh fish and fruit. Forever. No cell phone. No internet. Nothing other than fresh air, home, and a couple other things. I don't need anything more, nor do I want anything more. Except Kraft dinners.

What's leftover will be in either a trust for the kids or support the parents.  And most of it would be leftover. 

Well, one can dream....

After the obvious charities, family, etc.....

Season tickets to see the Red Sox play...

I'd put aside enough of it to guarantee my retirement as soon as I was out of the military (which would be in a couple of years since I would no longer need the pension).

Then get a nicer house (and by that I don't mean millions, just nicer) and actually pay people to do all the hard work I hate doing (painting, yard, decorating).  I'd probably pay off or sell my other houses since I'd no longer need the money.

Then I would get new bikes (of COURSE) and build my own 25m lap pool on my property that I could keep at whatever temperature I wanted (read: COLD).  And I'd buy a vacation home in Boulder so I could go train every summer.

Then once out of the military I'd travel all over the world.  Lots of time in Vegas.

Eventually when I was tired of traveling I'd go back to school so that I could get a job teaching at a University (what I'd LOVE to do).  And maybe back to school to learn enough about tris to coach too.

A lottery win of that size is truly enough to let you retire on the spot if you don't totally squander it.  I don't need to spend millions on useless stuff, I just want to quit my job and not need the pension.  Heck, even with today's crappy interest rates I am sure I could probably live off the interest even after I spend a bunch on immediate things.

Set up an annuity for the mission I support in Belize.  Retire and move to Belize to be full time at that mission.  I would do my swims every afternoon in the Belize river, totally amazing!

Global Outreach International Belize Vo-Tech

I like this except for the Red Sox part if you could replace that with Cardinals I'd be set. 

Vegas is a must have trip

Now THAT'S my kind of purchase.

Hubs and I have NEVER bought a lottery ticket before, but I'm going to pick up a couple today, more out of peer pressure than anything.  I live really close to the "Miracle Mile" so I'm going to buy mine at one of those places (unusual to get big winners from stores so close together in such a small area).  

If we won, I'd get to pay off all my law school debt, pay off both our cars, buy a home and build an AWESOME kitchen (my dream!), give about $10 million each to our close family members, then give another $10 million to charity of choice.  Then set up a REALLY good will to make sure nobody takes that money from me!  I'd love to have the chance to really just search for the job of my dreams instead of taking something just to pay the bills.  

I was bored one day at work and decided to figure out how much I'd need to win in the lottery to live off the interest and live comfortably, after setting up my kids and such. Turned out it was a lot less than you'd think, it was only $5 million.  With $200-whatever million, you wouldn't even need interest, obviously.