I thought about winning 10 million the other day and how I might keep myself from spending it all at once. Namely, what kind of account would throw off enough interest that I could live on the interest (or payments) for the rest of my life. An annuity account, I mean.
I had an annuity account once, for $100,000. That account disbursed $2,000 a year, for tax purposes. By that accounting, if I put 3 million into such an account, it would generate $60,000 a year (10% or so of which I suppose I'd have to pay in tax), which would be more than enough for me to live on. Then I could put the other 7 million into a retirement account to sit and grow even larger for a later time.
Of course, upon reflection it seems silly to divide the money like that; what am I going to do then that I wouldn't be better off doing now? (I'm thinking travel and physically demanding things like hikes and biking and jumping off of cliffs into water.) So maybe I should reverse the two and take 7 million now and put 3 million away, where it'll grow into another 7 million (provided I don't touch it for another 20 years).
But like I say, I'd probably be better off doing the 3/7 split with the majority going into lockdown; I'd probably be too tempted to blow all the money on things that I wouldn't be happy with afterwards. Maybe split it five and five and do the annuity thing with the option to pull larger amounts out at any time.
The question is how long can I live on 3 or 5 million? How long will it last if I'm just given free reign? When I have money, I tend to spend it; that's how I am. So maybe it's better having less (but more than I'm used to) so that I feel rich but don't go crazy with the spending. I don't need a new car or anything (although I could afford a monthly payment with $3,000 a month), so I'd be just fine with a small amount each year and the problem to work out what to do with myself (rather than rot on the couch in front of the television).
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Perspective
Fourteen million. It's funny how small it seems.
I know; that's funny, right? But when you think about fourteen million dollars in the context of today's multi-millionaires and billionaires (who are always in the news in this election cycle), it seems like a paltry amount. How can I really achieve anything with just ("just") fourteen million dollars?
I, of course, always talk about personal luxury items and giving money away to family and friends. For instance, I always want to help out my brother's family by buying them a truck or a family car of some sort. I think I'd pay for repairs to their house, so it wouldn't flood as much during heavy rains. I'd pay for "experience" type things for their kids - athletics clubs, skiing, school trips, instruments.
But what about everyone else? What about achieving real change in people's lives, in society?
Well, one thing I've always dreamed of doing would be going around my neighborhood and asking people if they wanted to fix up their houses and offering to pay for it. A lot my neighbors are working class (although it's slowly being gentrified) and have probably lived in their houses for ten plus years.
Eh, that one's kind of tricky. Here's another one:
Computer training (and skills training) for all the kids and young adults in the neighborhood. Give them all the opportunity to compete against anyone else for those jobs out there. I could stand to learn Microsoft Access; let's teach all the kids that and make them database experts; seems like everyone's using a database these days. (That reminds me of a housemate I used to have who was 21 and a friend of his had moved to Hawaii and was making 80 grand or so a year doing database work for a company there - with no college degree.)
I'd like to offer people the opportunity of travel: pay for all the kids in the neighborhood to go to the Grand Canyon; send them all to the Great Lakes or the Grand Tetons. Have them experience something that is so different from their day-to-day surroundings that it opens up their eyes to the possibilities they have. (That might even be a great thing for the adults as well.)
Or maybe I could do smaller things: low-cost business loans to start-ups in the area. Artistic grants to city-based artists. (Buying public space to display their art.)(In fact, that would be a cool idea: calling for submissions for art to be displayed on billboards and then buying ten billboards around the city and just having photographs or paintings displayed on them in huge size. That would be cool.)
Buying empty lots in the city to have them converted to public gardens. Paying people to plant and maintain them. Hiring someone to create sports teams at public housing complexes and organize sporting events to boost morale and create structure. Hiring someone to teach cooking classes in public housing complexes - or just to cook healthy meals to let people see that "healthy" can equal "tasty" and "yummy." Paying for kids from public housing to go to special camps that fit their abilities or talents - maybe even out of state, overnight camps, camps like I went to as a kid. Creating a ski club/team for lower-income kids; taking them to mountains and teaching them how to ski and letting them try themselves out in a different environment. Taking kids water-skiing and giving them scuba classes, letting them learn things they might never have experienced otherwise. Giving them entre into another world and letting them see they can be a part of it.
I want people to be different than I am; hopeful instead of pessimistic, reaching instead of shrinking. I want them to do all the things I didn't do because I was afraid and maybe I'll be able to feed off of their courage and energy and do something great myself.
I know; that's funny, right? But when you think about fourteen million dollars in the context of today's multi-millionaires and billionaires (who are always in the news in this election cycle), it seems like a paltry amount. How can I really achieve anything with just ("just") fourteen million dollars?
I, of course, always talk about personal luxury items and giving money away to family and friends. For instance, I always want to help out my brother's family by buying them a truck or a family car of some sort. I think I'd pay for repairs to their house, so it wouldn't flood as much during heavy rains. I'd pay for "experience" type things for their kids - athletics clubs, skiing, school trips, instruments.
But what about everyone else? What about achieving real change in people's lives, in society?
Well, one thing I've always dreamed of doing would be going around my neighborhood and asking people if they wanted to fix up their houses and offering to pay for it. A lot my neighbors are working class (although it's slowly being gentrified) and have probably lived in their houses for ten plus years.
Eh, that one's kind of tricky. Here's another one:
Computer training (and skills training) for all the kids and young adults in the neighborhood. Give them all the opportunity to compete against anyone else for those jobs out there. I could stand to learn Microsoft Access; let's teach all the kids that and make them database experts; seems like everyone's using a database these days. (That reminds me of a housemate I used to have who was 21 and a friend of his had moved to Hawaii and was making 80 grand or so a year doing database work for a company there - with no college degree.)
I'd like to offer people the opportunity of travel: pay for all the kids in the neighborhood to go to the Grand Canyon; send them all to the Great Lakes or the Grand Tetons. Have them experience something that is so different from their day-to-day surroundings that it opens up their eyes to the possibilities they have. (That might even be a great thing for the adults as well.)
Or maybe I could do smaller things: low-cost business loans to start-ups in the area. Artistic grants to city-based artists. (Buying public space to display their art.)(In fact, that would be a cool idea: calling for submissions for art to be displayed on billboards and then buying ten billboards around the city and just having photographs or paintings displayed on them in huge size. That would be cool.)
Buying empty lots in the city to have them converted to public gardens. Paying people to plant and maintain them. Hiring someone to create sports teams at public housing complexes and organize sporting events to boost morale and create structure. Hiring someone to teach cooking classes in public housing complexes - or just to cook healthy meals to let people see that "healthy" can equal "tasty" and "yummy." Paying for kids from public housing to go to special camps that fit their abilities or talents - maybe even out of state, overnight camps, camps like I went to as a kid. Creating a ski club/team for lower-income kids; taking them to mountains and teaching them how to ski and letting them try themselves out in a different environment. Taking kids water-skiing and giving them scuba classes, letting them learn things they might never have experienced otherwise. Giving them entre into another world and letting them see they can be a part of it.
I want people to be different than I am; hopeful instead of pessimistic, reaching instead of shrinking. I want them to do all the things I didn't do because I was afraid and maybe I'll be able to feed off of their courage and energy and do something great myself.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Get Away
Money can make you lonely.
That's the flip side of wanting to have it insulate you and let you get away. It gives you an excuse never to go outside again: you can have food delivered.
I'm not thinking that maturely about money these days. I started this entry planning to write about how I would use millions to leave everyone behind - jet off to the West Coast or somewhere overseas. I could invite my artist friend or another guy I know who lived on the West Coast to show me around. I could pay for his ticket and he could be my guide to a good time.
Although: do I know how to have a good time? This is where the "money can make you lonely" thing comes in. If you're not good at going out and joining things, money gives you the option of abstaining. I had a little money once; I laid on the couch for months at a time. I essentially drove my life into a ditch because I didn't want to do anything and I was ashamed of myself and afraid of people. Not having obligations or responsibilities let me hide out on the couch and watch re-runs of re-runs of re-runs like heroin running through my veins.
If I came into 15 million dollars, I would probably go back into hibernation mode. Buy myself a big TV and use my Netflix subscription to watch movies and TV shows all day.
Of course, I would get restless; it happened over the time I was idle before. Around 3 or 5 pm I'd start to want to go outside and do something. Unfortunately, I didn't have many friends and no one who was up for random events, so I couldn't just call someone up and do something.
Or join something, actually. I'm a follower more than a leader.
Still; to have the money...to be able to pay my bills easily and over and beyond that...
Not to say that problems wouldn't come with it. Being the one with the money is never fun; everyone thinks it's easy because they only see their own ask and not everyone else's ask. The good thing for me is that most of the people in my life don't need a huge influx of money and wouldn't ask me for it. The poorest people I know would probably be happy with $1,000 a month. They'd take it for granted soon after, I'm sure, but it would sate them for a good bit. I could even demand services for that payment.
Ah, lottery dreams. How many people lose hours of their lives thinking about the lottery? I read once that imagining winning the lottery releases a small amount of oxytocin in the brain, so it's a reward like a drug or chocolate. I think that's why I use it. I found in the past eight years or so that I would sometimes just say large dollar amounts out loud when I was stressed. Thinking about huge piles of money gave me some small measure of comfort. Of course, it would have been more useful to brush my teeth or exercise or think about some constructive action I could take in that moment but oh, well.
That's the flip side of wanting to have it insulate you and let you get away. It gives you an excuse never to go outside again: you can have food delivered.
I'm not thinking that maturely about money these days. I started this entry planning to write about how I would use millions to leave everyone behind - jet off to the West Coast or somewhere overseas. I could invite my artist friend or another guy I know who lived on the West Coast to show me around. I could pay for his ticket and he could be my guide to a good time.
Although: do I know how to have a good time? This is where the "money can make you lonely" thing comes in. If you're not good at going out and joining things, money gives you the option of abstaining. I had a little money once; I laid on the couch for months at a time. I essentially drove my life into a ditch because I didn't want to do anything and I was ashamed of myself and afraid of people. Not having obligations or responsibilities let me hide out on the couch and watch re-runs of re-runs of re-runs like heroin running through my veins.
If I came into 15 million dollars, I would probably go back into hibernation mode. Buy myself a big TV and use my Netflix subscription to watch movies and TV shows all day.
Of course, I would get restless; it happened over the time I was idle before. Around 3 or 5 pm I'd start to want to go outside and do something. Unfortunately, I didn't have many friends and no one who was up for random events, so I couldn't just call someone up and do something.
Or join something, actually. I'm a follower more than a leader.
Still; to have the money...to be able to pay my bills easily and over and beyond that...
Not to say that problems wouldn't come with it. Being the one with the money is never fun; everyone thinks it's easy because they only see their own ask and not everyone else's ask. The good thing for me is that most of the people in my life don't need a huge influx of money and wouldn't ask me for it. The poorest people I know would probably be happy with $1,000 a month. They'd take it for granted soon after, I'm sure, but it would sate them for a good bit. I could even demand services for that payment.
Ah, lottery dreams. How many people lose hours of their lives thinking about the lottery? I read once that imagining winning the lottery releases a small amount of oxytocin in the brain, so it's a reward like a drug or chocolate. I think that's why I use it. I found in the past eight years or so that I would sometimes just say large dollar amounts out loud when I was stressed. Thinking about huge piles of money gave me some small measure of comfort. Of course, it would have been more useful to brush my teeth or exercise or think about some constructive action I could take in that moment but oh, well.
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