http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018827921Would you believe how many philanthropists there are at the DUmp?? I wonder why they aren't doing the same things they mention, only in smaller amounts, with their own money right now?
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 09:49 AM
Star Member CTyankee (47,709 posts)
OK, just for fun. You just won the $400 million jackpot. What do you do?
I don't mean celebrate or get a fabulous tax attorney. I am assuming you will do that anyway.
I mean what is the first thing you do. My list goes something like this
*gifts to help out family members in need and trust funds for grandkids but with stiff guidelines on disbursement of those funds
*same with friends who are in need both immediately and with longer term finances.
*immediate and substantial gifts to legitimate relief organizations where the need is greatest
*set up trust funds to distribute regular payments to other deserving organizations that need ongoing support just to keep up with the help they provide all year long (just keeping the door open and the lights on are so important but not "sexy" so donors don't always take care of such unglamorous but desperately needed support.)
*then your "wish list" of things for yourself -- like new house, new car(s), vacation homes, travel (those luxury cruises around the world don't sound too bad, altho I go budget now and do whatever I want to do such as visit fabulous art in museums and churches).
I would probably make gifts to smaller dedicated funds within my local area Foundation (such as their Women and Girls Fund and others) and then go through each category of causes I would love to support more substantially: funds for environmental causes (the list is long), disease related causes (also long), ending poverty and hunger, scholarships with many colleges and universities, to name a few. I would work with City Hall and with the Governor's office to see where my help can help them get their jobs done at the local and state level (altho my taxes alone will probably help them considerably!).
Among my most important causes will be Planned Parenthood's vital work and political work to support gun control where it is most needed.
What would you do?
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 10:08 AM
Star Member Scuba (50,254 posts)
1. Financial security for myself, my family and a few close friends. Then ...
... a foundation to provide education and jobs for needy people in Milwaukee and rural Wisconsin.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 11:00 AM
Star Member Tom_Foolery (4,392 posts)
7. Like most people here at DU...
I'd spread it around to help my family and friends. Give a lot of it to charities. Also, I'd buy a business where I used to work and let the employees benefit from the profits unlike the current owners.
Having a paycheck isn't enough of a benefit, apparently.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 11:31 AM
Star Member TexasBushwhacker (5,072 posts)
8. Okay, here's my list
Take care of my friends and family, even the family and some former friends I don't speak to because that's just how I roll.
Write some big checks to organizations I support. Give them a choice between money up front or a larger amount over time.
Write lots of $2700 checks to politicians I believe in.
Buy land and build a small sustainable community for older residents with green energy and an organic garden. Residents can buy in cooperatively or pay rent on a sliding scale based on their income. And of course, I would live there.
Start some kind of employee owned business. Probably something in green energy.
Do random acts of kindness. Lots of them!
Underwrite college educations for lots of kids. Some will be for them to study anything they want. Some will be earmarked for students who want to be teachers. I'll would set up a special scholarship fund for students at my former high school which has become one of the worst in Houston.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 02:35 PM
Star Member CTyankee (47,709 posts)
19. he small sustainable community is a wonderful idea. I'd like to live in one, too.
I don't need or want a big mansion. I want a warm, giving and progressive community around me.
Pick one or both of the first two, or the last one by itself. They don't mix.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 11:31 AM
Star Member hunter (23,406 posts)
9. Quietly give the ticket to someone else...
... I don't want that kind of trouble.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 02:36 PM
Star Member CTyankee (47,709 posts)
20. Oh, I don't either. Hubby used to but no more. Waste of money...
Lottery is a tax on people too stupid to do math. And you guys want to tell
us how to manage
our money?
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 12:17 PM
Star Member hobbit709 (37,873 posts)
12. Buy a pot farm.
^^An honest DUmmie. 99% of them would do exactly the same, blowing it all on nose powder and the like.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 12:53 PM
Bertha Venation (21,431 posts)
15. MOVE. MOVE. MOVE.
As quickly as possible, move home to Huntington Beach. Our move is in the works already, but I want to be there
NOW
Well, one wonders what is new in Big Bertha's world that she's so desperate to move so quickly??
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 02:29 PM
Star Member dixiegrrrrl (43,907 posts)
18. So, how much of that does Uncle Sam get?
1. Pay off current mortgage...Love our house and where it is.
2. Buy a reliable car for me and one for Mr. Dixie...our cars are over 20 years old.
3. Fix a few things inside the house that need work, probably will cost less than 50 K.
4. Donate 10 grand to the local animal Shelter cause it needs repairs
5. Same to community library..it is losing funding source.
6. same to DU.
7. Give both adult sons a million, and watch carefully how they spend it. If they do ok, will give them more.
8. Give a chunk to Bernie.
9. Set up Scholarships at our local Community college....I have a great debt of gratitude to the CC system from years ago that changed my life and I owe a karma payment.
10 Give chunks to causes like Occupy's Debt relief programs.
11. Donate to the nearest Golden Retriever Rescue group, cause I do not have time/room to take in all their dogs tho I wish I could.
12. find a country with a sound economy, like Finland, and use their banks to save a big pile of what is left, for future needs and decisions.
Under no circumstances would I stash a huge amount in any US bank.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 02:56 PM
DFW (20,202 posts)
23. Pay the taxes, take care of my wife, daughters and siblings in a big way, and then:
Give the rest to Planned Parenthood and Doctors Without Borders.
Taxes would take 50% if I take a lump sum, so I'd have maybe $150 million to toss around. I don't need more than I have now, so I'd be rid of it in short order.
The benevolent Marc steps in to share his opinion, and begins a conversation with the OP about how neither of them really "need" money:
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 03:05 PM
Star Member CTyankee (47,709 posts)
25. You know, I don't either. I used to dream about having lots of money but no more.
I have so many great things in my life with family and home and have other things, such as health problems, that take up my time and concern, it's just no longer a "thing" in my life. I was just wondering what other folks here were thinking, too...
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 03:55 PM
DFW (20,202 posts)
26. It's a perspective not too many have on DU.
There are a lot of people who post here who are having a tough time of it, and we probably come across as members of some kind of privileged elite, whereas the lack of need for a personal helicopter doesn't mean you are a member of the billionaires' club. Like you said, it's just not a "thing" in our lives. For that matter, I pity any soul if all they are obsessed with is having enough money to maintain a personal helicopter unless they live in some inaccessible part of the Alaskan wilderness.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 04:01 PM
Star Member CTyankee (47,709 posts)
27. I had to cut back this xmas because I am needing more household help as my health issues
keep me in some level of pain. I am now in my 8th week of shingles pain and hoping the 3 month prediction my neurologist tells me is a possibility I am hopeful. But I could develop a postherpetic neuralgia and if so, I'm sunk. Thank god for DU. I've gotten good advice from similar sufferers so I know I'm not alone.
I'll be thankful if someday I wake up out of pain...
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 10:59 PM
DFW (20,202 posts)
32. Chronic pain is an unbelievable curse
Every version I have had of it has been curable--so far anyway. If my knee operation in 9 days goes well, I'll have dodged the bullet again. For now, anyway. This will be the longest consecutive time I have actually spent in Dallas since my last knee operation, and that was in 1999!
Fat Marc must have blown out a knee. It's a pity they didn't take Bob's leg up past his knee. He could sell it to Marc and make a bundle.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 05:49 PM
Star Member BlueJazz (24,895 posts)
29. Give 350 million dollars to the person who drew the numbers.
I'd give PP 20 million just to piss off the republicans.
Killing babies is fun!
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 06:33 PM
Star Member a la izquierda (9,311 posts)
31. Trust funds for the nieces and nephews, pay off my student loans...
get rid of my stuff in the US, and then disappear to Latin America, so I can stretch my dollar further in order to donate to the charities that I like (Farm Sanctuary, PAQG, Proactiva Open Arms, etc).
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 11:54 PM
Star Member petronius (24,959 posts)
34. I do like your list: stability for the extended family, and support for local charities
My focuses would be our local food bank, AIDS support network, animal shelter. At the broader scale: Planned Parenthood, environmental causes (e.g. Surfrider, Sierra Club), scholarships, for examples.
On a personal level, I'd be looking for a house or condo in an eastern city (Boston, probably) plus a lot of travel. At least one trip in first class on Emirates with our own private cabin of course! And, I'd start tripping like crazy...
FIFY
