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What would you do with...ONE BILLION DOLLARS?

Goose!Goose! That's me, honeyShow me the way home, honeyRegistered User regular
edited January 2016 in Social Entropy++


The United States Powerball lottery jackpot was once again not won yesterday. The current jackpot now stands at $1.3 Billion dollars. However, if you take a lump sum of cash, you will only receive a paltry $806,000,000.

So, even though the odds are astronomical....

What would you do if you had (almost) a billion dollars?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4L3ls_6UYg

Goose! on
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Posts

  • SLyMSLyM Registered User regular
    Hire an accountant

    My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
  • miscellaneousinsanitymiscellaneousinsanity grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and brother, i hurt peopleRegistered User regular
  • OrthancOrthanc Death Lite, Only 1 Calorie Off the end of the internet, just turn left.Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Four words

    Scrooge McDuck Swimming Pool.

    Seriously though, that is an inconceivable amount of money. Just put it in a low interest savings account and you could live like a king on the interest alone.

    orthanc
  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    Plan to change the world. Realise it is actually an insignificant amount to do any long term good with. Sink into existential despair. Lock myself in a room and take ketamine until I die.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Plan to change the world. Realise it is actually an insignificant amount to do any long term good with. Sink into existential despair. Lock myself in a room and take ketamine until I die.

    Nah that's bollocks. You can't change the world for everybody, but you absolutely make a HUGE difference to individual lives. With that kind of money I'd have to think about how to best spend it all, but I'd definitely set up some sort of relief centre for homeless QUILTBAG youth. Somewhere for them to live and socialise and get an education and to recieve any medical care they might need. Give them a big headstart on achieving their goals in life. That'd likely cost 10-15 million to set up and a couple of million per year to keep running, so maybe a whole bunch of them, all over the world?

    Then perhaps you could buy up huge swathes of at-risk lands and rehabilitate them to provide safe biomes for endangered species.

    Then there's private investment in social and medical research and engineering, I'm sure there's got to be some diseases out there we could develop cures for.

    Plus with a few million dollars I could buy a yacht and have Wolf of Wall Street parties (drugs, models, general debauchery)...

  • GvzbgulGvzbgul Registered User regular
    Lobby to ban/end the lottery.

  • PinfeldorfPinfeldorf Yeah ZestRegistered User regular
    Gvzbgul wrote: »
    Lobby to ban/end the lottery.

    State lottery accounts for like 1/3 of the average state's school funding, for states that have it. Well, when last I checked, anyway.

    If I won a billion dollars, I'd probably quit my job, buy a modest house, put most of it into really safe CDs or IRAs with which to live off the interest, and donate a pretty large sum to the SPCA.

  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    After I did all the smart stuff in regards to trusts, charity, and stocks/funds?

    Hire the Mythbusters to re-enact the Hindenburg.

    sig.gif
  • PinfeldorfPinfeldorf Yeah ZestRegistered User regular
    Sorce wrote: »
    After I did all the smart stuff in regards to trusts, charity, and stocks/funds?

    Hire the Mythbusters to re-enact the Hindenburg.

    Oh hell yeah, in that vein, I'd hire some Hollywood-level prop and costume dudes to make me some sick ass cosplays for cons. I'd probably just be Garrus at all of them, though, because he's the coolest.

  • BillyIdleBillyIdle What does "katana" mean? It means "Japanese sword."Registered User regular
    Buy a huge plot of land, make an epic Miami Vice style mansion, have a curvy race track on my land, buy every Japanese drift car imaginable, and like 4 DeLoreans (no BTTF conversion), own one of the three gold-plated DeLoreans, have a huge garage for all the cars, buy lots of games, own some apartments around the world, give some money to family and close friends, help friends create their own businesses if they want, maybe own a Ferrari Testarossa.

    That's all I can think of off the top of my head, and I'll definitely donate a bunch too so that I don't look like a complete greedboy. Definitely donating to tons of local animal shelters if they can change to "no kill" shelters with my help.

    Oh and probably buy that Japanese mech that you can drive around for kicks.

    PSN: BillyIdle_
  • CoinageCoinage Heaviside LayerRegistered User regular
    Revive Firefly, but then never release it.

  • ChicoBlueChicoBlue Registered User regular
    ALL THE BUTTS I CAN EAT

  • Void SlayerVoid Slayer Very Suspicious Registered User regular
    AI+Robots

    For charity of course.

    He's a shy overambitious dog-catcher on the wrong side of the law. She's an orphaned psychic mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!
  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    Buy some electric boots and a mohair suit.

  • WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    buy a controlling stake in turing pharmaceuticals and unveil a new, ultra-affordable "shkreli sucks" pricing tier for the cancer drug

  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    Oh shit! I technically won the Powerball last night!

    $4!

  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    Oh shit! I technically won the Powerball last night!

    $4!

    With your newfound riches, buy me a Snickers.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    "Don't let the haircut fool you, I'm exceedingly wealthy."

  • MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    Get a lawyer. Set up a trust, at least temporarily, to protect myself from when every shithead I've ever known in my life (including quite a few in my family) teleports to the door holding out their hands, expecting a cut.

    Once the danger has mostly passed and investments are making money, set up a nice big fortified Planned Parenthood in my hometown, the greatest FU I could ever give them.

  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    I'd go into politics independently, trump style, only I'd actually try and present reasonable, well thought out arguments and progressive opinions

    wY6K6Jb.gif
  • JarsJars Registered User regular
    edited January 2016
    you mean besides two girls at the same time?

    how much do private islands go these days? preferably one that won't sink beneath the ocean

    Jars on
  • BrainleechBrainleech 機知に富んだコメントはここにあります Registered User regular
    I really have no idea as that is a horrifying amount of money for the average person

  • BrainleechBrainleech 機知に富んだコメントはここにあります Registered User regular
    Pinfeldorf wrote: »
    Gvzbgul wrote: »
    Lobby to ban/end the lottery.

    State lottery accounts for like 1/3 of the average state's school funding, for states that have it. Well, when last I checked, anyway.
    .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PK-netuhHA

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Invest in medical tech and bioengineering (smart crops and such) with the ultimate goal of having plenty of cheap or free health care and food for everyone on the planet

    Of course this would result in further population growth and overcrowding so I'd also have to chuck some towards space colonization efforts

    As god is my witness I will turn us into the healthy, well fed, long lived, spacefaring supermen we were always meant to be

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    At least one third of that post is genuine

  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    For real, I would set a bit aside to help my friends and family, then put the rest into some investments and put the residuals into attempting to counter various capitalist douchebaggery.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • JayKaosJayKaos Registered User regular
    I'd see how much money it takes to get someone to take me into space for a week or so. NASA, SpaceX, Russia, Virgin, whoever. Just... space. As an added bonus I can justify it by believing the money will help push space technology further which is always good.

    Then get a swanky condo in Manhattan and a big house in the suburbs, and live off the interest on whatever's left.

    Steam | SW-0844-0908-6004 and my Switch code
  • BrainleechBrainleech 機知に富んだコメントはここにあります Registered User regular
    For real, I would set a bit aside to help my friends and family, then put the rest into some investments and put the residuals into attempting to counter various capitalist douchebaggery.

    I might do that but since most of my family wants nothing to do with me at this moment or for most of my life I can laugh at them in harsh grating laughter.

    But like I said I have no idea what I would do other than moving as fast as I can from here
    I know I have a lot more than the last time I packed all my stuff up in 15 minutes so I know it's going to take me longer than that

  • JimothyJimothy Not in front of the fox he's with the owlRegistered User regular
    First I would put it all in a CD, so there would be a few months where it's growing and also I can't touch it

    Just continue about my life for a bit so that I hopefully don't go insane from the sudden idea of being that rich

    Then I'd hire a financial advisor to help me figure out how much to invest/what to invest in so that it grows even as I spend some of it, so I'm not squandering it and my descendants won't have to worry about money

    I'd definitely use some for myself-- new apartment, eating out at restaurants more often-- not necessarily expensive places, but there are a lot of places I haven't eaten at yet just because I can't afford to eat out often-- maybe some travel? Definitely visit my siblings more, maybe take a few trips with them (we've never been to California, I've never been to NYC, Disney World's always fun, etc.)

    I don't know if a few hundred million is enough to start a foundation, but I'd like to either support or found a charity for victims and prevention of verbal/emotional abuse. I'd like to set up an annual marathon or something to support it, me and my family could run it most years

    This one probably isn't possible: years ago I said that if I had the money, I'd bring back The Spectacular Spider-Man. That's my "cancelled far too soon" show. Hire back as much cast and crew as I could. Dunno how/if money could get Disney and Sony to cooperate on an animated series, but they are playing nice as far as movies (not sure that's relevant though)

    And like GG, I'd like to funnel some into bettering humanity, particularly space exploration, but other stuff too. Maybe search around on Kickstarter for ideas to support-- I remember some interesting ones, one about making bioluminescent trees to glow at night instead of streetlights, and one for solar-power-collecting roads that would power the country while also being able to heat up and melt snow and ice so that winter accidents are less of a thing

    Oh, and find some way to make driveless cars happen faster. I'm getting impatient

  • MarathonMarathon Registered User regular
    Join in an ownership group of a professional sports team and buy my own island.

    Plus give lots of money to St. Jude children's hospital.

  • The Otaku SuppositoryThe Otaku Suppository Bawstan New EnglandRegistered User regular
    Buy the next Wu Tang album

    Bang my daughter

  • MarathonMarathon Registered User regular
    Buy the next Wu Tang album

    Bang my daughter
    Ummm

  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    Buy the next Wu Tang album

    Bang my daughter

    What?

  • DaMoonRulzDaMoonRulz Mare ImbriumRegistered User regular

    3basnids3lf9.jpg




  • WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    It's a trump joke

  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    It's a poorly worded Trump joke.

  • Dex DynamoDex Dynamo Registered User regular
    hire an accountant, put the whole sum in a series of interest-earning savings accounts and quit my dayjob, living modestly off the interest

    clear out all outstanding debts and financial burdens, and all the debts of all my immediate family

    use a small percentage of the money (like 1-3%, which is still exorbitant) on purely selfish things--gaming consoles, an expansive library of tabletop rpgs, a top-of-the-line PC

    funnel another 5% into my creative projects, build a podcast network, book the highest-profile guests I can afford to pay, start a wrestling company founded on the ideal of not being carny as shit

    hold a kick-ass top-secret birthday party every year on like a boat or an island

    then hire other people, smarter people, to take a chunk of the money and use it wisely in terms of investments and charity projects

  • DaMoonRulzDaMoonRulz Mare ImbriumRegistered User regular
    It's a poorly worded Trump joke.

    Damnit! I was about to post 'Trump?!' But I had to put 801 gallons of jet fuel in a plane before I got the chance!

    3basnids3lf9.jpg




  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    DaMoonRulz wrote: »
    It's a poorly worded Trump joke.

    Damnit! I was about to post 'Trump?!' But I had to put 801 gallons of jet fuel in a plane before I got the chance!

    Was it Trump's plane

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