$10 Million

[Psycluded]

It seems that we have a lot of registered lurkers on this site, and very little activity during the day. How about some fun get-to-know-you stuff to liven things up and help promote community?

Here's a classical hypothetical conversation-starter...

If you have 10 million, tax-free, what would you do with it?

I'll post my answer in a few. Post away, and get creative!

Edit: Thought I'd posted this in General. Oops. Anyhoo, post away until the mods can move it for me.

[bennettoid]

This is the new biker's forum. I think that this should actually go in the soap box forum.

[cb360]

Buy a big piece of land in the US 1 mil

Buy a little piece of land on the beach in mexico 1 mil

Put 3 mil in index funds, treasury inflation protected securities, some tax free munis, etc.

That leaves me set up for life and making 150k/year tax free on land I own outright, a couple mil to share with my family and three million more to give to my favorite causes.


... well I guess I might keep a few extra bucks to buy that Vincent Black Shadow I was discussing in another thread. And maybe a sidecar rig for my dog.

[JustJames]

If i have 10 mils, I would be rich and would'nt be taking to you. LOL

[scan]

This is the new biker's forum. I think that this should actually go in the soap box forum.

I moved it here.

I've thought I wouldn't change my life much, just quit working. Maybe try a few business ventures. Maybe try my hand at running a bike dealership. I could live like I do now and afford to lose quite a lot of money. Keep my bikes fixed, my car, finish fixing my house, pay off my debt, and still have money to get fat (er). I could live life without relying on "the man". $10 million would make it possible to be a bum with a lot of money.

[Scott58]

Build a huge garage buy all the bikes i want and the 1966 Batmobile. I love that car.

[Psycluded]

First of all, the money would go into a swiss money market account, whose interest/dividend rates over the last 2 years have averaged over 20% annually. Basically, what happens is they take your money and play the foreign currency market game with it, hedging the dollar versus the euro and so-on. Generally the zurich national bank has done better than 20% annually, but that's the figure I'll use.

Once the money is secure, I'd set up an automated wire transfer monthly into a checking account (same bank) of the interest accrued. Since the money is still in a foreign bank, it is tax-exempt. I'd live off of the money in the checking account for a few years to see where I'd level off the spending and gauge exactly how much I am and am not using. The money that isn't used would get folded back into the 10 mil. I'd then lower the amount I'm pulling to the amount I need to keep up the spending habits I would -definitely- acquire and keep it there, growing a fortune in the bank. Keep in mind, at 20% annual interest on 10 million, I'm making 2 million a year. Just over $166 thousand a month. I -know- I can't spend that much consistently every month. So, some gets folded back into the account.

As the money grew, and should I have kids, I would set up trust funds, skimming the interest off the top of the account, again. 1 mil should be enough, and it would only take a couple of years to set it aside, if I were spending like a mad jackal. If their education costs more than 1 mil, they're perpetual students and need to be managing their money better anyways. The trust funds are for their personal investment when they reach adulthood, and for their education.

Lastly, as the fund grows, I would give to charities as I could while still managing to grow the account by at least 1 million every 3-4 years. Mostly health funds, March of Dimes, Cancer research groups, etc.

When I die, I'd leave the account to my wife, if she's still there, or to whichever son/daughter I trusted most with the management of the funds. It would always be for the security and betterment of the lives of our family, and nothing else. No aggressive investment, no overly frivolous purchases (3-story covered garage with every bike ever manufactured by Honda, Yamaha or Suzuki...)

[cb360]

Sounds like a great idea psycluded, but 20% interest doesn't sound all that right. There's a long line of very rich people who'd sign on the dotted line today if you could guarantee them 10% or even 8%. 'Guarantee' being the key word. And if there isn't a guarantee, there's risk, and where there's risk someone is losing money to pay the people who aren't. A lot of currency traders make millions... off the rest of the currency traders who have to go back to working in the real world. There's a lot more of the latter variety. Also, there's not a real simple answer here for a very complicated topic, but in general, the IRS is still going to want a cut of the interest and capital gains made by US Residents on foreign accounts. You'll still be filthy rich, but you'll have to scale back your spending just a bit.

[9000white]

i would give all the money to people that have less than I.and strive to achieve world peace.this is after i win the Miss America contest.

[QuietMonkey]

Well Psych,

Let's see. This is a tough one. 10-million is far too much for someone like me. I'm become too thrifty/frugal/efficient. So i guess over the next 10 ro 20 years i would donate 8 or 9-million of it to some worthwhile causes. that'd take some research.

i am sure i could live well enough off 1-million. i might even like to risk a 10% chunk of that on some investments to see how things. it would keep me amused. i am sure i could find some worthwhile causes to donate the 9-mil to over time.

i'd like to take my time and work with developing countries. travelling is likely where most of the money i'd keep would be spent. firstly we'd have to have someone handle that 8 or 9 million so that the government doesnt start taking chunks of it themselves probably need a decent accountant for that.

for the most part i'd keep doing the things i love. fix all the little broken things around here. but there is definitely one small problem. i'd like to find a good wife first so that we can do this together. everything is better when you do it with the right people, and most of what i'd like to do requires that ONE right person.

so then let's say we'd have $900,000 smackers and the rest properly taken care of until we figure out what to do. (the first 100,000 from the 1-mil is tucked away for investments to be done over 10+ years). maybe a small farm thing to start with as well, another 300,000 would get something worth working at maybe otherwise, correct my math a little. i'd rather work for it than just buy a perfect place). so we're down to 600,000. now just live frugally. appreciate what we have, and take things slowly in discovering where we really want to go with it.

so, we could begin to do away with all the daily stress, and afford to travel, camp, explore, meet new people and cultures, while working in most any capacity to cover the basics. i mentioned to my room-mate a few times that i'd really like to help out in other countries, "building homes in guatamala" or somesuch (you get the idea... i guess i'd have to spend time improving my awareness of the world). If i could find the right person to do some type of community cooperative things. i've seen them advertised for mexico and such. basically they cover living expenses and you just work. it's good to work with new groups of people with different ifestyles and perspectives, so even travelling to closer places and working in a coffee shop would be a good start, etc.. i can think of tons of fun jobs that help get things going.

it'd also be nice to buy a motocross bike again, to get the riding skills back on the upswing.

anyway. i guess this is just my thing. it'd be tough to find a wife to do these with so that's probably why i haven't already found the 10-million to make it happen ahhh wishful thinking. the cards are not in my favour on this one. but maybe one day. 10-million to 1 odds are a worthwhile gamble . so if i survive hearing "nope" another 9,999,999 times then i'll be really close to the one "yep" i'm looking for...

man, that was a great topic. thanks buddy. it gets me motivated to do stuff. get those far off dreams focused on a little better so that perhaps we can get a little closer to them sometime in our life! one step at a time until i meet the right girl who shares some of the same dreams. that'll make it all easier to move towards.

the big reminder for me is as always, that money is only a short-term thing, and not so important other than for survival, whereas finding the right person and people and vocation in life is most important. They keep one happy and working.

keep up the hope. never give up. that's all i got.

//monkey