What would you do with $100 million?

[graveshot]

Hi, it's my first post here and I thought I'd use it to find out what others came up with when presented with the $100 million question. I've been having real trouble filling out my dreamline, trying to find something compelling to put on it. If I had the money all I can think about it seems is lazying about. Don't know why, maybe I'm too distressed :) To be honest I tried it once before, and it was by far the most depressing period of my life. Thus I've been racking my brains for dreams worth doing. I do have one dream about doing Martial Arts with some teachers I admire, but that really only makes 2 dreams, and Martial Arts only takes up about 3 hours each day at most before my body breaks.

Anyways, I don't want to make this thread about me. I'd just like to hear what were some of things that got other posters motivated on this forum.

[jkendrick]

The answer to this is the same answer as to why I am trying to live the so-called "nr" life. If I was given any amount of money -- say $1M and above -- I would make a low-risk investment and begin living off the interest. Even at 5% return, $1M would provide $50,000 annual income. With my free time, I would travel, volunteer more than I currently do and probably still look to launch new businesses as I have always been a serial entrepreneur. Now $50,000 is less than half the income I am used to living on (not to mention my fiancée's income), so I would need more than $1M to completely ignore any other income, but $100M should do it! Ha!

[froldt]

Did you fill out the 5 for each of the three categories, having, doing, being?

I am preparing to head to Ireland for a semester, so if I had $1 mil, I would buy a motorcycle, set aside enough for school, and invest the rest. Or, I would probably do like jkendrick said and just invest it all and buy the motorcycle and schooling with the interest (which is a significant increase in our income).

As for what I would do? I have a number of skills that I would like to learn: machining, jewelry making (at least lost-wax casting), photography, flying, and sailing. I would spend more time doing things that I already like doing but don't get to do often enough: painting, backing, camping, traveling. I would do things that sound interesting but haven't tried yet: hot air balloon ride, sky diving, BASE jumping, hang-gliding. As for stuff that I want: a motorcyle and an RV.

If I focused on one skill at a time, this seemingly short list would be more than enough to keep me busy for some time.
What are your current interests? When you walk by the magazine section of a store, what catches your eye? How would you like to be better/more knowledgable in that topic?

[Sven]

I think that if you were to make significant changes in what you do if you came in to a fortune, you are living the wrong life.

Live the life you want NOW. Do not wait for...whatever.

This may sound difficult, like I need to make money, have a family, bla, bla,
What matters most: Money or the stuff you do with that money.

Most things can be acchieved in a different way without money, as long as you can determin what it is that really matters to you.

[kamakiri]

One of my favorite quotes goes along the lines of the best thing about having a million dollars is not having it, it is the process you went through to get it. Many people also say that making that first million is the hardest, and that the jump from 1 mil to 10 mil pales in comparison.

Wishing for 100 mil is a dream of the poor. Just look at any lottery studies done, and you will see that an inordinate number of poor people play the lottery. Hoping for that easy payoff is much easier than making it happen. Like Sven said, it is all about making it happen and not about some imaginary sum of cash.

People who take the challenges of life and and move ahead through them are the ones who make it to the millionaire circle. They also tend to keep that money far more often than the lottery winners or the easy money people because they worked for it.

[padma]

Well I'd buy my dream house and all that other crap that I have on my list, but I'd start buying real estate and hire someone to manage it. I might fund a startup or something like that. With 100 million, you don't need to do much.

[froldt]

Reading through the replies, I don't think that some of the posters realize where the question comes from. This is a question that Tim asks in the book, where the dreamlines are being planned. Something along the lines of "If you are having a hard time coming up with ideas of what you want to do, imagine what you would do on a day-to-day basis if you had $100 million in the bank."

I don't think that graveshot is dreaming so much as dreamlining.

[graveshot]

Thanks Froldt for clearing that up for them. I certainly don't want to get into the mental masturbation that is usually associated with the $100 million question. Just trying to see if anyone had any things that I hadn't thought of for filling out my dreamline. Most people I ask that question find it very hard to get to what there life would be like from day to day, and when we do get down to it, it's often very plain and simple. In the doing category I've heard people just wanting to garden at their leisure, or spend time between the beach and the mountains, both things ridiculously easy to pull off.

I really like froldt's suggestion about magazines. I'm the type of guy who likes things to be a little more mental, aside from the Martial arts. I like reading science or robotics magazines (or Make) and wish I could be doing some of those cool experiments, but at my leisure, and not have it interfere with my Martial Arts training. I'm also interested in improving my social skills. So I guess after some thought, what I would do day to day with the money is:

train martial arts
do some science/engineering experiments
spend time trying to be social, maybe doing "The game" to learn attraction
cook
travel

The having category is hard because I ultimately have everything I've ever wanted (except maybe a faster metabolism :) Growing up poor made me appreciate what I have, and I earn enough money to buy what I want. I guess if anything I wish I could have world class coaching in the areas that I outlined in the doing category. I'll get back to everyone if they want to know what I finally put in my dreamline as well as my TMI.

Still, love to here what other people would DO day to day if money wasn't a worry. It might give me some ideas for other people I know :D

[ASCW]

I would rent a 4-5 bedroom house for 3-5 months. I would then invitemy friends/other good Magic the Gathering players in the Seattle area to come live there. I'd set up a lan and I would play Magic the Gathering all day, then I'd purchase plane/train tickets for all of us and we would go to various Pro Tour Qualifiers around the country.

Infact I did some math to realize how possible this is via my minimum wage pizza making job. If I worked like a slave for two months straight I could afford decent housing in more rural areas of WA. I'm wondering if the two straight months of slaving away is worth it, and if maybe I should spend that time working on a muse I've had in mind for a while (prior to reading the book). I figure if I just cut down on little daily costs I could essentially lessen the risk of starting my muse and make a possible worst case scenerio less scary and more manageable.