What would you do if you won the lottery?

Keep it a secret.

Keep a million for fun, everything else, buy a very conservative and diversified portfolio, borrow against it and purchase real estate worldwide in places with water access and least affected by climate change. With profits start funding antifa, anarcho-syndicalist, ecosocialist, and similar movements.

I would come back here and give 1 mil to everyone who upvote me and 2 mil for op

Keep playing to get more rich.

Most professional gamblers quit just before a big victory. I won't make that mistake.

I'll tell ya what I'd do, man. Two chicks at the same time, man.

Not tell anyone and just quietly retire. Spend as much time as possible with my kids as they grow.

Talk to a major law firm about accepting the prize as anonymously as possible. Take the lump sum -payment to the lawyer team and divide it into thirds. One third goes into a trust that I can direct friends and family to with instructions to offer assistance for major life events, weddings, funerals, education and the like. That way I never have to be the bad guy who says yeah, no.

The second third will get invested into low risk bonds so I have a stable income forever

The final third will become what people normally do with lottery winnings, new home, that kind of stuff

-slides loaded briefcase across table-

I would like one (1) healthcare, please.

Among other things, I’d keep going to work. I enjoy my job. What I’ll really enjoy is every time someone tries to pawn off something on me that’s not actually my job I’ll tell them, “not my job”

I would buy Reddit and convert it into a Lemmy instance.

Cut my hours back at work, maybe take a sabbatical spend much more time with my kids, and go to art school. I’m pretty good at it, but it wasn’t in the trailer park cards.

Well now that I have "fuck you" money there's a few things on my mind.

First, I'm going to eat at a lot of restaurants. I'm going to enjoy my meals too. Through the whole meal I'm going to be buying iced milks for another random patron. I'm going to make sure the waiter is aware that this good gesture needs to be anonymous and I will make sure that as long as the waiter keeps delivering the iced milks I will keep adding $1000 onto their tip. These iced milks will not stop coming until there is nowhere left for the patron to reasonably sit. This waiter will not have to work for a long time afterwards.

Second, I'm going to buy a shit ton of gold bricks. Like the big one's you envision are in Fort Knox, also known as "Good Delivery" bars. I'm also going to hire an elite team of private security forces whose sole job will be to transport that gold in plain sight everywhere that I happen to go. If by chance my gold is not allowed with me into an establishment, then I will just attempt to buy the place right there on the spot. If that doesn't work, then my team will take the gold and wait with it on public property.

Pretty sure that $1b is long gone by now, but finally I'm going to be throwing parades—a lot of parades. I will have permits for parades on the streets in front of the houses of all my enemies. These will take place at the most inconvenient possible times that my team of schedulers, planners, and event organizers will be able to find. I will have the dumbest fucking floats in these parades and the shittiest marching bands. I will not stop until I'm sufficient conviced I have broken the spirit of my enemies.

This is why they won't give me money.

I would honestly just disappear.

If I had enough money that I can just go "fuck you", that's what I'd do. I'd obviously help my family financially, but probably not as a lump sum except to help them buy property to make houses on. But beyond that, I would basically be away and uncontactable. No one would know where I am and what I'm up to except maybe a couple times a year.

The bigger question is actually what type of charity I'd end up doing. I have some distrust for charities, so I'd want to take a more direct approach, so in all likelihood, I'd be helping a number of small creators I believed in to see if they could get a chance at establishing themselves better.

I'd keep it a secret except from the closest people to me. I'd be incredibly boring about what I'd do with it.

First I would pay off my mortgage and invest a chunk in "safe" investments - so shares in utility companies, funeral business - boring reliable investments - and property and land, across borders. All to try and guarentee I would stay financially secure long term for the rest of my life, and weather financial storms.

I'd help my immediate family financially (siblings and parents, and closest friends) but would not go over board - I'd make their lives better but not ruin them, and would aim to keep most of the money ready to keep helping for years to come rather than splurge out. And I wouldn't tell them how much I had so as not to ruin relationships.

For what I do for me I would think very hard. I'd probably not quit work immediately and I'd try not to ruin my life.

I'd probably look to travel but in bursts - either nice holidays and keep working (I like my job) or quit work and live 3 months at a time in places I've always wanted to be for a bit before settling down again.

Anything I do or buy I would do as someone "middle class". So I'd travel economy plus, I'd stay in decent hotal but not the most flashy, I'd buy a decent home but not a mansion (I don't need a 10 bed home, I'd just get a nicer version of what I have now - 3 beds but maybe detached and in a nicer area).

Basically I'd upgrade my life a little but I wouldn't go wild. I don't see the value in the conspicuously wealthy lifestyle - I'd see money as buying freedom but I wouldn't want to be wasteful, and I wouldn't want to be a target for criminals or leeches.

And the rest i'd start puting to good causes. That would probably be conservation charities, green charities, social projects I believe in. Id want to use it to create some kind of legacy even if anonymous - for me that would be something that meaningfully improved the world in some small but realistic way.

Basically I'd be very boring, stay anonymous and try and make relatively small but meaningful changes to my life and those I love.

Hire a fiduciary consultant/accountant to ensure the money is invested into accounts where I can live off the interest more than comfortably.
Travel to all the places my wife and I want to go.
Buy citizenship (via investor visa) in the best developed country that fits our lifestyle and life priorities.
Buy a nice but not extravagant house.
Buy all the non-essential stuff I've always wanted to buy.
Hire a personal chef who will cook healthy AND delicious meals for us everyday, so I only need to cook when I actually want to.
Give a lump sum to each of my immediate family members and my wife's mom and brother. We trust them enough to not abuse the privilege of having a billionaire family member.

Train a private army to invade Russia.

If I won the lottery, I would start by ending the homeless problem in my state. All it would take would be one stroke of the pen and many people's lives would be improved.

I'd keep it a secret as much as possible especially in the beginning. Hire a financial advisor to invest part of it. Use some for risky high yield investments and some other for easy low yield. Some would stay in bank, some will be to open a business. Some fund for kids. Some for charity. Rest is for fun

Honestly, nothing in my life would change. I would still go to my 9-5 job, then gym, then food, then sleep. But knowing I have a billion dollars in my bank account.

Pay off my mortgage, invest it and live off the interest, and spend the rest of my life traveling with my wife

I mean, I have won the lottery, multiple times...

But if I won the Powerball Jackpot? Honestly, I probably would hire a financial planner but not change my day-to-day. I like my life and already have plenty of money.

Obviously I'd have to tuck a bunch into my kids' 529s because they would now be completely ineligible for financial aid.

As one stand up comedian once said: the biggest issue is not what to do with the money, but how to keep it secret from the people around you

Disappear and never be heard from again.

I'd ditch it for a million dollars

But really, that'd easily put me in the top 0.1% of my country. I'd probably never manage to spend it all. I'd definitely set aside some millions for ReactOS and other open source projects that I like.

I would spent a lot on lobbyists to promote tax on rich people. Then, pay lobbyists to promote taxes on financial transactions. Once it is done, gov will have enough money to provide social security, house for homeless, gods education, heath system,… Better that charity, a social state.

First start the process of getting a new wheelchair, my current one is 13 years old and leaves a trail of nuts and bolts.

I mean, with luck like that, I'd buy a lotto ticket

Fuck off

I'd buy as many billboards as possible and use them to troll whomever I feel like.

One thing I would do is keep working. Not because I love the job. I'd want to stay and keep working until someone pissed me off. Then, I'd rage quit!

I've always wanted to rage quit a job, but I've got too many responsibilities. It would be nice to be able to tell my boss to piss off.

There is a comment on "that other site" that goes in detail about what to do. It starts with "You're fucked" and shows that you really have to be careful who to trust and what to do to not be bankrupt in a few years. I'm on mobile and short on time, but it's worth reposting here.

Skipping past the obvious of paying off debts and buying a decent house, I'd do this:

Found a company to sell tech products (Pinephone, but cooler). Only the best benefits, work environment, basically everything I hate about any job I've worked, fixed. I'd hire good people, and make damn sure they're treated well. After everything is going well and with some kind of charter so they can't decide to be evil, I'd turn the company over to my employees. I'd step down and become a janitor or something and work ~20 hours a week until I retire.

Whatever money's left over, if there is any, is given away.

I want to work. I like working. I just want to work somewhere good, ya know?

I'd just buy my employer but they made ~450m Euro after taxes so they might want more than a billion. Also fuck audits.

Give my uncles, aunts and cousins a cool mil each, give my mom and my sister 10 mil each, buy some real estate on the coasts, and most likely fund some Democrats in Florida and Texas, do some traveling

Run off and never be seen again. Maybe live in a bunker idk

Make a way bigger bucket list and actually start competing it.

Go find that old post from AskReddit and follow it to a tee.

Outside of that, I'd probably buy a house closer to downtown, buy a new truck, and start to figure out how I can increase the quality of education in rural South Carolina.

Pay off my house, pay off close friends and family houses, buy a bunch of land, buy cool cars, travel.

Not tell anyone if possible. Big winnings are the way to ruin in most cases.

Let's be a bit more realistic, I won 1 000 000 €. I would donate most of the stuff:

Transfer 500k € to the National Bank of Ukraine;
Transfer 70k € to nonprofits in my city;
30k € goes to spread the message of FOSS and Linux to Lithuania. That includes:
- Establishing and maintaining a nation-wide open-source social network, primarily targeted for IT
- Funding to FOSS projects in Lithuania (I don't know any ATM, though)
100k € goes to global IT non-profits, such as:
- Wikipedia;
- Lemmy and the Fediverse;
- The Linux Foundation;
- et cetera.

I am left with around 300k € that I'd use for myself.

Non-capital (leisure and hobby) (40k €):

I'd like to have some free time/make my close friends happy, so ~10k € for that.
Also, I'd like to travel to Japan, meet ZUN, have some alcohol-free beer with him. 10k € for that.
10k € for travelling (leisure) across Europe (incl. attending FOSDEM).
Knowing myself, I'd really have some mad and stupid ideas appearing in my head, 10k € for that.

Capital/investing (260k €):

I'd definitely have to buy an accomodation in Kaunas or Vilnius (I hope it's not Vilnius) if I'd like to continue my career in IT, so 100k € for that.
Education (in a period of 3 years) (10k €):
- LFCS/LFCE courses
- Advanced mathematics and algorithms courses
- Professional soft skills training
10k € is reserved for a black day, unused.
15k € of non-profit network infrastructure (hosting FOSS projects) (incl. maintenance for 4 years)
15k to have an individual for-profit business.
Distributed investing (90k €, incl. investor costs)
20k is another buffer money for household expenses.

I'd finally donate to Wikipedia. And NPR. So much so that both of them won't have to ever ask me for money ever again.

Make sure my mom's in home health care is paid for for the rest of her life, so that she can continue to live in her house as she wishes while she is still with us, retire from my paid career early, do volunteer work instead, and travel often.

I would be incredibly surprised, as I do not play the lottery. I'd probably start by getting a lawyer to handle it.

Piss off the mortgage first, then sit for a bit and think about the rest.

Quit my job. Buy a new mattress and sleep stress free. After I get some actual rest, go from there. All the while, keeping it a secret.

Buy a bottle of McCallans 12yr and a 8ball and see where I wake up next week.

Build a high-speed train from Columbia, SC to Charleston, SC. In the grand scheme of things, it might seem like a waste of money. But man, for the few dozen years I’ve got left on this earth, it would be awesome to see & experience.

Go to a casino and walk up to a roulette table and put it all on black.

Basically follow what these guys say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTurSi0LhJs

Keep it a secret until my kids finished school and became adults. Then travel for endless summer, or maybe autumn. have some investments as backup in case things go balls up

no importa lo que hagas ni pienses, vas a morir igualmente

no matter what you do or think, you will die anyway

Start my own research company.

I'd immediately try to give away most of it to a good cause I carefully researched or pull up my own organization that tries to tackle problems that could be improved with that kind of money.
You can't be a billionaire and a good person as you decide to not share an outrageous amount of wealth you couldn't spend in multiple lifetimes without diving into more and more absurd forms of consumerism.

I already live where I want to live. I would probably buy up all the open land in my county. Get my friends to move out and live on one of my properties. Fix up this 120 year old farm house. Install a pond and more water features to hold onto rain water. Probably run some electric fencing get solar power go off grid. Pretend to be a cattle rancher. Try to turn this homestead into my very own paradise. But i’ll probably employ a-lot of people create some jobs do more charity work.

Sleep

Safe investments to make sure it lasts and then I want to start a charity to help people get access to mental health care, help feed the homeless, and do other stuff for my community.

Also pay off debt and finish college

Pay off all my and my immediate family's debt. Renovate my parents home or get them a new one, give my sister a nice home wherever she wants, buy myself a new, basic vehicle for my commute, and get a nice place for myself close to my work. I'd also start my own creative studio to work on the game I've been making. And, also try to put my excess money to good use by trying to help out people with housing issues and health problems. All while keeping the fortune a secret.

I don't wanna remain a millionaire.

Hide it.

Pay off mine friends and my student loans, pay for moving costs to a European country for me and my friends, pay for US citizenship denouncing for me and my friends, set aside an amount of money for myself and my friends for savings to live comfortably, pay for first month's rent for me and my friends, pay for food for a month for me and my friends, and then if there happens to be anything left, donate it to charities.

Pay debts and medical treatment for self/family/friends, pursue hobbies, volunteer, donate, travel... Find a place to live and settle down.

I've got a couple of people in my life I would set up, take care of my family's long term debts, set aside enough to retire tomorrow, and find a charity I really liked to donate the rest... the fuck I need that much money for?

I'd get a house for me and my family. Make sure my parents have a house that meets their needs as well. I'd hire a personal trainer to get in shape and take a few months off work while I figure out what to do next.

Pay off the mortgage and quietly live out the rest of my life, probably on the interest alone.

Permanently Deleted

Find a reputable institutional advisor who specializes in this sort of thing. Pay off debts. Quit my job. Eventually begin planning some charitable gifts, perhaps even a foundation or something. Make life meaningful that way.

Hire and accountant. Taxes are too complex and most lottery winners are bankrupt in 10-20 years as they fail to budget correctly.

I'd probably pay off my house, upgrade the furnace to a heat pump (something i'm doing with the next bonus anyway) turn the rest over to charities. Though with that much money finding charities that can even accept that much money is hard.

Whatever the hell I wanted to do. Rich people don't go to jail.

First, I would purchase my favorite charity from the lovely lady (a friend of mine) who runs it for 10 million. Then I would expand its reach a lot.

Put it in a bank earning 4% interests and live off of it for the rest of my life. Yeah I'm a simple man.

first thing I'd do is buy my mom a house and py off all our debt. It'd be nice to have some time alone as an adult without having to leave her homeless or whatever. Next I'd find a restoration shop for my truck, buy the shop and make them fix my truck. Why buy the shop? Why not I've always wanted to be an automotive restorer and now I've got whatever is left after taxes and fees. Then I'd probably have my own house built the way I want it. After that idk. I'd have more money then I'd ever know what to do with, have my own shop with the latest and greatest gear and the best mechanics around. I'd hav le my own house and my mom would be taken care of. I'd probably buy my best friend and her parents a house, afaik she still lives at home and her parents rent.so that'd be doing them a big favor.

Buy a private island, get drunk and give a large portion away to random people

Hire an accountant.

My usual luck would appear and I would die in my sleep before I can cash out.

I would use the entire $1 billion to buy company stocks and use them to try stop their bad behaviors/investments, like stopping Big Petrol from polluting more, Google from spying on their users, etc.

I’d buy an electric car, a 40 watt laser engraver, I’d build a workshop in my side yard, install a vented hood, get some new larger 3d printers, a paint airbrush system, set up a bicycle repair area, and set up a computer workshop in there. And never leave my workshop.

With a billion I could probably buy a huge island just for myself but in all honesty I just need a million so I can retire. It's more than enough.

I hope I could have it pay out maybe $1 million a year for 1000 years. If not…

I would find a financial advisor how to save and invest properly so my money could make money. I would give a bunch to my parents and sibling so they don’t have to worry. I’d give a bunch to my extended family. I would give a bunch to my friends. I would restart a nonprofit I was a part of. I would build housing and a support system for unhoused people. I’d buy some medical debt on the market to forgive it. I would lobby a few politicians to do some good things. I would travel some.

Pay off all debts and mortgages for myself and my immediate family, then put away whatever’s away into separate HYSAs for a few months to let the initial rush go away.

Have you ever seen office space? Peter's answer or his neighbor's answer. Probably both.

Pay off my house, do all the little projects in the house we couldn't afford, save enough for the kids college fund, and buy a few shiny toys. Then go back to work like normal...I'd go insane with nothing to do all day. On the plus side, my family will have the most amazing vacations.

Realistically, and assuming I claimed it and handled the financial and legal aspects of having that much money, I’d do this;

Pay off my debts, as well as those of my parents and sister, then help friends pay off everything. Then buy a nice house and nice stuff, leave my job, then travel.

Then I’d see what sorts of things I can use my money to improve, or who I can help.

While money is nice for security, I don’t need or want anywhere remotely close to 1$billion at one time. That amount of money is dangerous.

Keep my job, but not stress about being laid off ever again. I like my job right now. Pay off my house. And go on a couple really nice vacations a year.

Pay off some bills, and try to win another one so I can pay off the rest.

Start handing out money left and right to those in need, anonymously, of course. Humanitarian organizations, environmental organizations, you name it.

I would need to do anything to stop getting it to my head, give all or at least 90% of it to my mom, and lead a stable life. It sound idealistic even for me, yeah, but I would want to be like that

First thing I would definitely wanna do is buy a nice house under my name (since I am still young) and move my parents and my older brother in with us so that we never have to worry about renting a home or apartment again. Obviously I'd have to do a shit ton of research into whether or not it's an HOA controlled area, because if it is, I ain't living there period.

Then I'd have to make sure we have it set up the way we want (without spending too much on furniture, decor, etcetera) so we could live comfortably enough.

After all that is done, I'd probably pay my way through college while also, knowing me, buying things I actually don't need (like art commissions and a fursuit for my fursona).

Although, I'd probably give a good chunk of the money to my parents so they can get rid of any debt they have (and some to my brother for the same reason).

Also, back on the house buying thing, there is a good chance I might just look for one directly next to an HOA operated area that they don't have any jurisdiction or control over in any way whatsoever just so that my house could be breaking all of their rules with nothing the shitty HOA could do without going to court and losing since they don't have rights over the house or land.

Tear the ticket up and throw it away.

My life is bad enough, without the lottery ruining it further with constant harassment, death threats, attempted muggings, entitled family demanding handouts, new "relatives" magically materializing from the ether, etc etc.

If I want to fuck my life up that badly, I'll start doing heroine and meth. I'd probably have better 10 year survival prospects, as well.

Set up a philanthropic trust, invest it in a relatively safe mix of stocks and bonds, and set up distributions as a % of growth to a bunch of institutions I think are super important.

After buying a nicer house and paying off family debts and stuff of course.