In the bathroom the other night, I figured out what 7 million (14m after 50% taxes) would be over 50 years. One hundred and forty thousand dollars a year. Which is 7,700 dollars a month. Who couldn't live on that? How amazing would that be?
I was thinking that I would create a bell curve of donations, so that I would give away five thousand, then four thousand, then three thousand, then two thousand and then maybe climb back up to five thousand over the twelve months of the year. (Maybe that would be more of a sine wave.)
When I think about money like that, I think about giving it away: to my brother to buy new vehicles or to fix his house; to my other brother to pay off his house; to my other brother to buy a fancy car, if he wants. I dream about taking a paper bag filled with $100k in hundred dollar bills to my brother's house and just handing it over - or better yet, leaving it when he's not there and sending him an email later.
But maybe I should think more about opportunity costs: what could I do to give people a leg up - a trip abroad or across the country; a first house; an education; a car loan or a car? Could I give people transportation to work or school, access to a computer, advisors for their financial needs? Job training? What could I create with the money?
Still: seven thousand, seven hundred dollars a month. I could give 4/5s away and still be happy.
