We don't have a lottery here, it has come up in the last 3, maybe 4 legislatures but, the Casinos ALWAYS manage to get it kicked out. This year it was proposed by the Superintendent of Schools strictly to be used as funds for the schools which desperately need more money and it STILL got kicked out!

Hmmmm, how to spend it... that's a whole other story! *grin*

It is what it is...

DH and I always used to play "The Lottery Game" on long car trips. We would fantasize about what we'd buy first, who we'd give money to, who we would definitely NEVER give a CENT to, what we'd do for our kids, etc. Then things got bad and I'd envision being able to leave, buy my own house, never have to deal with my DH again. LOL But now things are better, much better, and I'm back to thinking about the good stuff.

I know the first thing we would do is make sure it's in MY NAME ONLY so that BM can't get any of it. Then we'll send a nice big check to the Division of Child Support Enforcement so that we don't ever have to worry about paying the CS again. Then we'd buy a new permanent residence, maybe a beach house, take our whole family on a long vacation... the list goes on and on.

But the big thing we would do is invest in the small town in WV where we both grew up. That town is dying because industry is leaving and, frankly, unionism has pretty much destroyed the Ohio River Valley. I think we'd invest somehow so that we could bring back jobs and prosperity to our old hometown. My parents teach in Virginia and, let me tell you, the lottery has really pumped a lot of money into the education system there.

~ Anne ~

"Love, having no geography, knows no boundaries."
(Truman Capote)

We have talked this one to death, We would get his gma a sexy houseboy to help around there get a playmate to help my father, get the entire college educations paid for all 3 of ours have BB institutionalized for as long as it takes to fix all those loose screws, take this entire group th disneyworld for a week, (first two days w/o spouses or kids), Buy a nice farmette and each of the kids a house for after their done with school, set up DHs business the exact way he wants it and then do my own- invest the rest-if there is any.

OK....first and foremost?

1. Pay off "D"H's house. He has supported me through my writing until I get published so that's the least I can do.
2. Buy my mom a house and a car and support her forever.
3. Put away 40 mil. for my kids in a few accounts.
4. Give my closest family members 6 figures each as a gift.
5. Donate several million to: Cancer research, paralysis research, St. Jude's children's hospital, and some other stuff, too.
6. Have a contest in my city....people write in their stories, I pick the 10 best, and fund them to start their small businesses. Too fun!
7. Buy myself a house and a car.
8. Invite some of my peeps from this forum to Austin for shopping and a nice lunch!!!! Y'all need a damn good day with what y'all go through.
9. Start several college scholarships for poor, non-athletic, VERY SMART kids. Lots of money-poor bookworms want to go to college, but they don't play sports...so that doesn't help them get in anywhere. Like my oldest! heh.

I think about it all the time. Pre-belly, we had a plan:
1. Pay off the house
2. Pay off the cars
3. Buy two motorcycles and one winnebago
4. Buy matching polyester leisure suits with white shoes and white belts
5. RETIRE and go see the country.
6. Put money away for SD (now aka the belly) to use for college (and college only!).
7. Set up college fund for each next generation kid in our families
8. Set up a retirement fund so we only needed to work if we wanted to

Now - I don't know. I am feeling cynical and jaded. But I like the Winnebago, motorcycles and white belts (you know - pulling your pants halfway up your chest?). Aahhh - those were our retirement discussions. It seemed like such a fun thing to contemplate...