What Would You Do If You Won 87 Million?

Posted on March 3, 2007 by Nate Whitehill

What Would You Do If You Won 87 Million?

Brad Duke

Everyday there are new lottery winners. And everyday, there are lottery winners who file for bankruptcy. How can people be so financially careless, especially after they win so much money? Is it that initial exhilaration that leads them to believe they are invincible? What if you won the lottery, let’s say $87 million. What would you do?

Winning such a large sum of money should not be be viewed as a free pass for life. It is a huge responsbility and one that needs to be taken very seriously. Financial intelligence is a subject I wish they taught in grade school as it is one thing that usually provides for more pain and frustration then most people ever anticipate.

This is the story of one man who made a committment to not be like all of the other lottery winners who go bankrupt after a few years. This is one of the most interesting stories I have read all year and a must-read for anyone who hopes to make it big someday.

A brief excerpt:

One man, by the name of Brad Duke, a manager for five Gold’s Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005. He spent the first month of his new life assembling a team of financial advisors. His goal: to use his winnings to become a billionaire. Here’s what Duke has done with his money so far.

After you finish reading this article, tell me how you would spend $87 million if you were to win it in one lump sum. Kind of makes you think twice about splurging it all on useless toys…

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http://www.MadWhips.com AnthonyC

Id buy up about 20 more student houses where I already rent in my University town of Guelph and turn this into a full time business. I would also buy a couple large commercial buildings to lease out. Id buy a couple shitty hotels in Toronto and convert them to luxury boutique hotels. I would low ball and acquire some expensive million dollar homes for sale and try to flip them for a profit because the market wont stay cheap and undervalued like this for ever. I would buy some land between Milton and Guelph, because that is the next Mississauga. I would buy stocks from solid large cap company’s that yield a sick dividend. I would speculate on some up and coming companies as 5-10 year long shot gambles to invest early on in. I would become an Angel investor. I would buy a couple villas across the world and rent them out when I was not planning on being there. The rest would go into some sort of account where I could live comfortably off the interest and focus on traveling and creating internet companies to sell for fun. Lastly I would probably be inclined to buy a couple toys….. Murcielago, Enzo, CGT, 911T etc..

http://natewhitehill.com Nate Whitehill

Sounds like you have your game plan all worked out! I like the wide variety of different investments you would be making. Diversification is key! I would also buy some of the cars you mentioned including: Enzo, Murci, CGT, Zonda F, and Caparo T1. Wow… I feel broke now.
ibz

dream on…u have a one in a 87 million chance of winning that lottery

http://www.oubipaws.org Nick

More than likely I would end up buying a simple house, using some funds for a startup company, buy something to drive (who says I can’t buy a Aston Martin DB9 with 87 million?), and put the rest into stocks/mutual funds…watch it grow and save for as I get older and continue to work like a normal day to day kind of guy.

http://natewhitehill.com Nate Whitehill

Good call, Nick. I would do the same, probably buy 5-6 supercars, one house, and put the rest into stocks and mutual funds. Also, I would fully fund all of my businesses right now and get them up and running with employees and try to make another $100 million through personal enterprise.

http://www.ryanjparker.net Ryan

Good read, and I’m glad he’s good with his money, but like most people he’s got a poor grasp on the concept of probability.

It’s people like this guy that win and say they’ve got some sort of “system” that foolishly makes everyone else believe they can beat the odds.

Nate, if I won that kind of money, I would buy you something nice.

http://natewhitehill.com Nate Whitehill

Haha thanks Ryan! How about a Lamborghini Gallardo? I saw a yellow one today and it just reminded me how much I love that car!

http://www.zoomstart.com Shane

I like what this guy did. The part about giving away his ’05 Jetta and buying a 2002 because he could get the color he wanted is classic.

There was a couple I read about a few years ago who won the lottery. They waited a couple months before they told anyone or cashed in the ticket. During that time they researched, talked with each other, and put a whole plan together on what to do.

http://natewhitehill.com Nate Whitehill

I agree, the first thing I would do is plan, plan, plan. There is so much responsibility involved when given that much money.

http://shawn-knight.net Shawn Knight

Yeah, I would have a hard time not wanting to buy a few expensive toys… and since I know little to nothing about investing and such, I would need to hire some help to plan that out as well… But, I would certainly have a really nice car, not a used Jetta

http://natewhitehill.com Nate Whitehill

Hey Shawn, thank for the comment. I would have the same problem – it would be hard for me not to immediately walk down to a Ferrari dealership with a wad of cash and drive away in something red.

http://oscarsito.com oscarsito

I’d do as he did, get some financial advisors and set up a plan to increase the funds. Of course a lot of trips with friends would be included :]
http://cfpsych.com Mark

AOL just picked up this story, Nate; you’re ahead of your time!
John

I’d do nothing.

You’d be making over 2 million a year on interest at a standard banks 3% interest rate.

That is plenty to live off of. Doing anything else exposes your cash to risk.
http://www.innovapixel.com Jorge Diaz

i would, invest in domain names.

I would buy some high traffic comercial domain names, and earn either by developing the site or by parking the domain.

Once i have like 200 or more, high traffic domain names, i could get them parked or ressel them in auctions later in time.

These high traffic domain names should do pretty well earning me a lot of money (parking or resseling).

Its the new real estate.
http://bitbol.blogspot.com mike

The most logical idea to me would be:
-Pay off any debts
-Splurge on all the things you’ve always dreamt of
-Invest/save the rest and live off the interest from it

Most people I think just get caught up in the ability to buy almost anything, and forget that they do have a limit.
http://wealthbuildinglessons.com Wealth Building Lessons

i’d buy an island off the coast in Thailand.

No one would ever hear from me again
http://www.watchthisvid.com Funny Video Clips

The trick with this amount of money is to build in transparency. If you have a team of advisers that all are accountable to each other then the money doesn’t go astray. You have to put in checks and balances to make sure that nothing is spent or invested without some chain of accountability being used. That much money is a huge corrupter to one person who can sign checks.
Jane

I wouldn’t tell anyone, not even my family. From experience, I know that gambling wins have the tendency to bring out the worst in the majority of people. I’d buy a small house, with new furniture and appliances. That would cost about $350,000 total. With the rest, I would start my own bank, with its own maze that leads down to the vaults! The bank would also contain a small pool filled with cash, which I would swim in on a daily basis

http://www.innovapixel.com Jorge Diaz

Jane but you need to swim naked in that pool of cash!

http://www.simsnotes.com/ Simon

There is so much that I would want to do which means that I would spend at least a week planning it all out. I’d probably start out kind of like Brad, it would be great to be able to afford a team of financial advisers. I would have to keep some in reserve in a very low risk investment, probably 10,000,000 in a money market account or a bond. I’d definitely invest a good portion of the money (maybe 20 million) in medium to high risk paper investment. I don’t think I’d buy houses but I would definitely go into development, I’d buy a plot of land and build a complex on it to rent out, I’d do this till I’ve invested 45,000,000, and if I like my current situation I might take out a huge loan do to more development elsewhere. I’d use 10,000,000 to start my own computer game company, and the last 2,000,000 would be on my ongoing education so I can stay on top of my game.

Simon
http://www.undergroundattraction.com ScottUA

In the words of “Office Space”…I would do nothing. I would sit on my ass and just enjoy life. Then after about a week of doing this, I would figure out what the hell to do with the rest of my life.
http://www.PunchoStewart.com Edgar Stewart

I would pay off my house and rent it out. I would buy a bigger house and pay that off too. The rest I would invest it in low risk municipal bonds.