What Would You Do with a Million Dollars?

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
You know how 95% of the wealth is in 5% of people's hands... what if the wealth was a bit redistributed? Take either Buffet or Gates, who are worth around 50 Billion (on paper)... take the population of the US, which is what, about 750 million? If one of them gave each person over 18 a million dollars, that's still just a drop in the bucket to them... a bit over 1% of their wealth.

If you expand that to the world at what, 7 billion? That's just a bit over 10% of their wealth.

Amazing, isn't it? The mind boggles...

So what would YOU do with a million dollars? :)
 
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rokapoke

Guest
Spiderman said:
You know how 95% of the wealth is in 5% of people's hands... what if the wealth was a bit redistributed? Take either Buffet or Gates, who are worth around 50 Billion (on paper)... take the population of the US, which is what, about 750 million? If one of them gave each person over 18 a million dollars, that's still just a drop in the bucket to them... a bit over 1% of their wealth.
I think your math is a bit screwy... giving 1 million people $1 million each is equal to $1 trillion dollars. A bit beyond their fortunes, I daresay.

That said, if I had a million dollars, I'd buy a nice (but reasonably sized) house -- not some crappy McMansion. And I'd buy the Porsche I've been dreaming about since I was like 6.
 
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Modus Pwnens

Guest
one million dollar would equal.. about 12 euros right? I suppose I'd get a cup of coffee and maybe a cookie :D
 
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BigBlue

Guest
Isn't there a song about this... :)

Anyways... To answer your question - and not as you posed it... If everyone had a Million Dollars, what would the value of it be? Costs would be equally re-distributed and it's a very socialist system...

Anywho...

If I had a Million Dollars...

I would buy a modest home (250,000), put away 300,000 in a college fund for my children... Give each of my parents 100,000 so they could live comfortably and perhaps fund a retirement (both live below my income level currently).

That doesn't leave much left over... I'd give 200,000 to educational charities, and put the last 50,000 away to use for a bi-annual cruise with my wife until it ran out.

My wife could quit her job, and we could think about having a fourth child.

That's assuming it was tax-free...
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, tax-free...

I don't think costs would get redistributed - you're gonna have people who save it and people who blow it and people in between.
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
BB: are you a commie? Socialist system, Costs would be equally re-distributed? :D (just kidding)

With 1 million, I would buy a home ($175,000 - 3 bed, 2 bath w/garage and acreage).

Put away 300,000 for retirement, into what? Not sure, but buying up under-priced real estate may be an option, or gold/silver, or foreign bonds....

kids get 100,000 a piece, and our families gets to split 200,000.

Then 100,000 goes toward starting a used-book store/game store.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Well, I wouldn't know for sure until I actually had the money. If anyone wants to try this experiment, let me know...
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
You don't know what you'd do with a million dollars right now?

Mooseman: Are prices that cheap in Pittsburg? Wow... something like that would cost $200,000 - $225,000 just in York, PA, which is right over the MD line here... more like $300,000 when you get into Maryland.
 
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rokapoke

Guest
Spiderman said:
Mooseman: Are prices that cheap in Pittsburg? Wow... something like that would cost $200,000 - $225,000 just in York, PA, which is right over the MD line here... more like $300,000 when you get into Maryland.
Mooseman lives near Pittsburgh, with an "h". Pittsburg, if I'm not mistaken, is either in Kansas or California. Or both, maybe.
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Spiderman said:
Mooseman: Are prices that cheap in Pittsburg? Wow... something like that would cost $200,000 - $225,000 just in York, PA, which is right over the MD line here... more like $300,000 when you get into Maryland.
Never been to Pittsburg, but here in the Pittsburgh area, you can find good houses outside the city. That isn't a mansion and will be built before 1970, but still a good deal.
I'd even look into putting in a geothermal heating and cooling system and maybe an Urban Windmill or someway to produce renewable energy... doesn't have to be a lot, but every little bit helps.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Spiderman said:
You don't know what you'd do with a million dollars right now?
It's a lot of money. I'm used to trying to save as much of my money as possible. Having so much more just all of the sudden would be a pretty huge change. I know I'd go back to school. Beyond that, I'm not sure.
 
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BigBlue

Guest
mm - I'm just saying, if everyone suddenly had $1M all at the same time... the economy would very rapidly change... very quickly... And my guess is it wouldn't go far.

They say that if they redistributed all the wealth of the US equally, it wouldn't take very long for it to go back to the 95-5 ratio... I have a feeling they are right in that...
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
It's a good price for that size of a house.

BB: I don't think it'll change all that much. Like I said, people are going to save it or blow it, but I agree that most of it's gonna end up in the 5% again.

People are curious creatures :)
 

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
What I would do with a million dollars:

Pay the taxes on the million: ~200-300+k

Pay off student loans: ~40k

Purchase a small house in Jersey within close driving distance from a train station (so I can travel to auditions in New York): ~150-250K

Pay for travel/audition expenses: varies.

Live comfortably, but not excessively, while I establish myself in the performing world: the rest.


Ransac, cpa trash man
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
It's tax-free, so you have that extra money to play around with :)

Mooseman: Wow, the taxes are kinda high though. Don't like the front of the building either; too "blocky" :) But good price.
 
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