Lifestyle, Money, People, Self

If I Won the Lotto

lots-of-money

How much money is enough to be filthy rich? A million? Pfft, pocket change these days!  $20 million? $50 million? Anything over about $3-4 million, I would say, equates to being rich. Anything over $10 million would be filthy rich, I think. Of course, everyone’s take on what is “rich” and what is “filthy rich”are different. But, let’s play a game. Let’s imagine that the lotto was $50 million and YOU WON THE ENTIRE LOT. What would you do? What WOULDN’T you do?

Here is my list of 5 things I WOULDN’T do:

  1. Tell anyone, except Mr W and our immediate family. I think people’s attitudes towards you change when you have lots of money.
  2.  Quit my job.  I like my job and I like working. I would want a sense of normalcy so I wouldn’t quit work.
  3.  Buy a ridiculously expensive car. I think they are a total waste of money and make you look like a wanker with a capital W.
  4. Give any cash to family members or at least any significant cash. I would buy assets for them, rather than giving them any cash.
  5. Stop being a cheapskate (sorry).


The best part of course, is coming up with the list of things I WOULD do if I won $50 million.

  1. See an expensive allergy doctor about getting rid of Mr W’s cat allergies so I could have a short haired exotic persian cat. If Mr W failed to consent, I would just pay the doctor lots of money to give me the cure and give it to Mr W while he was sleeping!
  2. Start buying Viva paper towels instead of the shitty home brand one I insist on buying now because it is cheaper. Hey, big spender.
  3.  Throw out all of Mr W’s “around the house shirts” he has had since he was 16 and pretend the bank man took them when he came to give me advice about money. Scrap that, all of his clothes that are 5 sizes too big, have holes and have no elastic left in them.
  4. Pay someone to wear all my new shoes in for me so I don’t get blisters (with socks on of course, otherwise, ew).
  5. Buy an entire street in Ashgrove (my beloved favourite Brisbane suburb) and build myself an estate, renaming it ‘”Whippersnapper Estate” so that I don’t have to have any neighbours, because I hate people. With a gate, a big gate, so no-one comes to my house unless invited. Also with a huge shed so that Mr W can go in there and build shit and leave me alone to read magazines (see next item of purchase).
  6. Get a subscription to basically every magazine in the world (except, maybe, Horse Monthly).
  7. Buy Finish Quantum dishwasher tablets at full price and not just when they’re on sale. Daring!
  8. Use the bloody airconditioner in summer whenever I feel like it and not wait until it is uncomfortably hot. Likewise the heater in winter.
  9. Buy chocolate by the crate.
  10. Give a very large percentage to curing cancer, solving third world poverty and eradicating disease.

Oh and, as an afterthought – I would be investing the lot of it and (other than Whippersnapper Estate) continuing to live a relatively modest lifestyle. Except for those Viva paper towels and Finish Quantum tablets, the only proof that I’m rich as!

So, what would you do if you won $50 million? What would you do? What wouldn’t you do? Would you spend it or save it?

Featured Image Inset

    Latest Posts By Whippersnapper
    • Hate Reading: Do You Do It?
    • Describing Yourself in 5 Words
    • You’re Super Busy? I’m Just a Little Bit Lazy

    You may also like

    Pieces Of Me

    Friends: Pieces Of Me

    should-have-been-a-boy

    I Should Have Been A Boy (a post for International Women’s Day)

    youre pregnant

    How To Tell Your Infertile Friend You’re Pregnant

    react-to-feel

    You Don’t Have To React To Everything You Feel

    power-of-asking 2

    How To Unlock The Power of Asking

    still-no-baby

    Another Year, Another Christmas, Still No Baby

    • Mandi Aylmore

      Hmmmmmmmm

      What I wouldn’t do:

      – Tell anyone. I would suddenly find myself with lots and lots of “friends” and family who say that all of a sudden I’m their favourite niece/cousin.
      – Buy and expensive car. I agree, it’s a little toolish. I would buy a new car though, just not a Maserati or anything.
      – Buy a bigger house. I love my townhouse more than anything!

      What I would do:
      – Set my mum and brother up so they no longer have to worry about anything
      – Quit my job and voluteer at places like Cat Protection Society or RSPCA
      – Buy a bigger computer. Cause I’m a nerd
      – Do up my townhouse. New floors, central heating, maybe new kitchen. Have the outside area landscaped.
      – Be a foster parent for animals. Maybe do work for WIRES.
      – Travel, maybe have a yearly holiday where I hire out a massive property in Hawaii and all my friends can come visit, my shout.
      – Take craft classes, singing lessons, language courses
      – Sleep lots
      – Buy Louis Vuitton luggage. I know, I know, but it’s my one designer weakness!

    • Monique Fischle

      I wouldn’t:
      – Tell anyone outside immediate family.
      – Buy an expensive car, I would buy a better car but not something outrageous.
      – Quit work, I may cut back but not quit

      What I would do:
      – Buy myself, my Dad and my sister the houses we would like. Nothing super mansion-like, but what we want. I would also buy a holiday house or two and rent them out when I’m not there to make some more money (greedy, I know).
      – Buy my Dad a first-class plane ticket to Europe on his airline of choice, it’s something he’s always wanted to do.
      – Invest money into an independent publishing house that I would head up called “Everlong Publishing”.
      – Give a huge chunk to cancer research, specifically to blood cancers (leukaemia, hodgkins and non hodgkins lymphoma’s).
      – Give money to charities helping out in third world countries
      – Buy a Burberry trench coat (it’s something I’ve always wanted)
      – Travel more
      – Buy even more books and DVDs

    • carohutchison

      $50mill is a lot isn’t it?

      I’d like:
      A nice house, not enormous, but enough for everyone to have their own room and space. With a pool and gym.
      A housekeeper.
      A personal trainer.
      A new car, timely as I just wrote mine off :(
      Regular facials. ( I think I may in fact turn into a pampered princess, mmm that would not be good)
      To take the kids on some overseas trips when they’re old enough to appreciate how good they’ve got it.

      I’d give some to:
      My sister and her husband.
      My kids and her kids in a trust, but not one that will make them turn out spoilt.
      My old school.
      The kids kinder.
      AMBA
      The Smith Family for education
      The Christchurch earthquake appeal

      It’s funny, we’re about to settle on a place we sold and we made more than we hoped on it so I’ve got a bit of a shopping trip planned with my sister, but there’s nothing I really want. I’m imagining we’ll spend a hour or two walking around the shops and come home either empty handed, or with stuff for the kids.

    • http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse

      I already buy Viva paper towels and Finish Quantum Dishwasher Tablets. Living the dream!

      I like to think I would be wise, and invest it in something and/or put it in savings and live off the interest. I like to think I would stay in my fairly modest house and continue working at my job. But if I’m honest I’d probably buy a stack of expensive clothes, a Mercedes, a big house and hire a maid.

      And I’d run out of money in 6 months 😛

      • Whippersnapper

        LOL, I only buy Finish when it is on special, like it was last night at Woolies! $8 off!! I was estatic. Felt rich but also, felt like I got a bargain hahaha.

    • Mazi Gray

      Mostly the same, but with a lot of travel ( especially to Micronations and micro-states) and most of all enjoying not having to care how any incompetent higher ups aact at work since I can just walk out anytime I want. 😛

    • Jess Profiterole

      Oh, one million would do me!
      I would have pretty simple plans for it..
      – I’d buy a small house/flat. Where my bf could live with me if he wanted, or I’d live alone. Bliss!
      – I would quit my job, and go to uni without having to work part-time to support myself.
      – Set my parents up so money wouldn’t be a concern any more, and give some to my brother as well.
      – Give some to a few charities.. probably one like world vision, the RSPCA, and a few dedicated to medical research.
      And if there was any left I’d explore the world with it!

      • Whippersnapper

        You know, it sounds silly, but if I won the Lotto, I think it would be MUCH easier to win about 1-5 million than anything more.

        Anything more than that I think would be completely overwhelming and you’d need really good financial advice on how to manage it and minimise tax, ect. At least with $1-5 mil (especially as someone in their 20s), you’d know unless you make SUPER SMART and profitable investments, it might not last you until you’re in your 80s if you don’t work, so you don’t lose sight of things like work, paying bills, etc.

        • Jess Profiterole

          Yeah, that’s what I think too.
          I’d much prefer to win just enough that I could make a few investments, have a bit of fun then be pretty much back where I started (albeit a bit more set up, but nothing ridiculous), so life would still be an adventure.
          I wouldn’t want to have the burden of managing a huge amount of money which I’d feel guilty about having in the first place. Aside from the fact that it would be totally demotivating to have so much money.

    • http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

      One Million would do us…

      We wouldn’t tell anyone…

      We would move out of our little flat into a little house…

      I would stop working…

      I would take up writing full-time…

      Apart from that, my life wouldn’t change that much…

      • Whippersnapper

        One million wouldn’t get you much in Sydney though, would it? Apparently, $1 million isn’t worth that much these days. Not that I’d turn it down!!

        • http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

          Yes, but we own our place and are debt free… :)

    • Pingback: What Does Work Mean to You? | KiKi & Tea()