• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Powerball Perspective

Lutherf

Lutherf

DP Veteran
Joined
Sep 16, 2012
Messages
49,645
Reaction score
55,258
Location
Tucson, AZ
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Conservative
Since the current jackpot has reached $1.5 Billion I figured I'd give some perspective on exactly how much money we're talking about.

Let's say that you are a rather normal family of four living in Arizona, making $75k/yr (the wage income end up being pretty much immaterial but for the sake of discussion..) and you opt for the cash payout which is currently $930 Million.

You would pay combined state and federal taxes of more than $410 Million. That would leave you a net payout of $520 Million.

If you put an "obscene" amount away for retirement, say $20 million you would still have $500 million left and should be able to generate at least a million dollars a year in income. You would, of course, still have to pay taxes on that income so for walking around purposes that would amount to roughly half a million dollars a year or right around $10k/week to live on.

Perhaps you would want a nice vacation home on a Caribbean island. This modest 48,000sqft residence on Grand Cayman could be your for $35 Million - Castillo Caribe, S Sound Rd, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands South Sound, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands ? Luxury Home For Sale
Put another $20 million in a fund to finance the maintenance and upkeep of the place and you would still have $445 Million left AND you could list the place for rent while you weren't using it. A place like this would easily rent for a million dollars a week.

You can't vacation all the time so you would need a decent place in, say, Manhattan for when you want to get some business done.

This place is a rather diminutive 4,500 sqft but the view is what sells it. - 50 Central Park South Floor 33 New York, New York, United States ? Luxury Home For Sale
You should be able to get away with a $5 Million maintenance fund for this one so now you're down to $395 Million.

Now let's get crazy.

There is a 50 bedroom castle that comes complete with its own town near Florence, Italy that is available for 45 Million Euro which will work out to just under $46 Million - 50 bedroom castle for sale in Tuscany, Florence, Florence, Italy
Throw in another $20 Million maintenance fund and you're down to $329 Million.

OK, you've now got three ridiculously over the top properties in your real estate portfolio. You need to get from one to the other, right? Why not a Boeing Business Jet? Without going too crazy you can pick up a brand new BBJ (custom 737) for $65 Million - Boeing BBJ Price, Specs, Interiors, Pictures
I have no idea how much maintenance costs on a plane like that are but we'll throw another $20 Million at it for good measure and now you're down to a little over $240 million.

Now maybe you like fishing. You'll need a boat to get to the good fish so how about a yacht? You don't mind used so you can drop $35 Million on this baby - https://www.burgessyachts.com/en/sa...chts-for-sale/motor-yachts/swan-00000043.html
Factor in another $10 Million for maintenance and you've got $198 Million left.

So you've spent approximately a ****load of money at this point and you're thinking about actually enjoying your new acquisitions. If you put the remainder away at an average of just 6% earnings per year, paid taxes on the gain and spent the rest of the gain you would have over $7 Million a year in "play money" WITHOUT TOUCHING THE PRINCIPLE!!!

On top of that you would have $65 Million invested in "maintenance funds" which, if you didn't use all of the after tax gain, would still be generating money. You would have real estate assets of $136 Million which should be appreciating in value AND would generally be available to rent to high end clients who can afford to pay $1 Million a month for their use. The $100 million in the yacht and the plane are essentially "throw away" but are mighty nice perks while you've got them and finally, if everything goes to hell in a hand basket you still have that $20 Million retirement fund!
 
Lutherf said:
Since the current jackpot has reached $1.5 Billion I figured I'd give some perspective on exactly how much money we're talking about.

Let's say that you are a rather normal family of four living in Arizona, making $75k/yr (the wage income end up being pretty much immaterial but for the sake of discussion..) and you opt for the cash payout which is currently $930 Million.

You would pay combined state and federal taxes of more than $410 Million. That would leave you a net payout of $520 Million.

If you put an "obscene" amount away for retirement, say $20 million you would still have $500 million left and should be able to generate at least a million dollars a year in income. You would, of course, still have to pay taxes on that income so for walking around purposes that would amount to roughly half a million dollars a year or right around $10k/week to live on.

Perhaps you would want a nice vacation home on a Caribbean island. This modest 48,000sqft residence on Grand Cayman could be your for $35 Million - Castillo Caribe, S Sound Rd, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands South Sound, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands ? Luxury Home For Sale
Put another $20 million in a fund to finance the maintenance and upkeep of the place and you would still have $445 Million left AND you could list the place for rent while you weren't using it. A place like this would easily rent for a million dollars a week.

You can't vacation all the time so you would need a decent place in, say, Manhattan for when you want to get some business done.

This place is a rather diminutive 4,500 sqft but the view is what sells it. - 50 Central Park South Floor 33 New York, New York, United States ? Luxury Home For Sale
You should be able to get away with a $5 Million maintenance fund for this one so now you're down to $395 Million.

Now let's get crazy.

There is a 50 bedroom castle that comes complete with its own town near Florence, Italy that is available for 45 Million Euro which will work out to just under $46 Million - 50 bedroom castle for sale in Tuscany, Florence, Florence, Italy
Throw in another $20 Million maintenance fund and you're down to $329 Million.

OK, you've now got three ridiculously over the top properties in your real estate portfolio. You need to get from one to the other, right? Why not a Boeing Business Jet? Without going too crazy you can pick up a brand new BBJ (custom 737) for $65 Million - Boeing BBJ Price, Specs, Interiors, Pictures
I have no idea how much maintenance costs on a plane like that are but we'll throw another $20 Million at it for good measure and now you're down to a little over $240 million.

Now maybe you like fishing. You'll need a boat to get to the good fish so how about a yacht? You don't mind used so you can drop $35 Million on this baby - https://www.burgessyachts.com/en/sa...chts-for-sale/motor-yachts/swan-00000043.html
Factor in another $10 Million for maintenance and you've got $198 Million left.

So you've spent approximately a ****load of money at this point and you're thinking about actually enjoying your new acquisitions. If you put the remainder away at an average of just 6% earnings per year, paid taxes on the gain and spent the rest of the gain you would have over $7 Million a year in "play money" WITHOUT TOUCHING THE PRINCIPLE!!!

On top of that you would have $65 Million invested in "maintenance funds" which, if you didn't use all of the after tax gain, would still be generating money. You would have real estate assets of $136 Million which should be appreciating in value AND would generally be available to rent to high end clients who can afford to pay $1 Million a month for their use. The $100 million in the yacht and the plane are essentially "throw away" but are mighty nice perks while you've got them and finally, if everything goes to hell in a hand basket you still have that $20 Million retirement fund!
Click to expand...

WHY YOU BIG MEANIE, YOU SHOULD GIVE ALL THAT MONEY TO CHARITY.:2razz:
 
ernst barkmann said:
WHY YOU BIG MEANIE, YOU SHOULD GIVE ALL THAT MONEY TO CHARITY.:2razz:
Click to expand...

That's true and in trying to keep things within character limits I didn't get too in depth but if you put just the "maintenance funds" in Charitable Remainder Trusts that would be pretty charitable.
 
I decided I didn't want to stand in line somewhere...
 
I've spent more on concert tee shirts :)
And now, years later, I have holey concert tee shirts...
 
We are pretty frugal people and neither of us like a lot of people or big cities.. I can't see us ever wanting anything other than a secluded, well secured compound where my whole family could live in peace.

A nice private jet or helicopter would be cool for travelling.
 
Last edited:
I'd take the annuity option and have the payments divided up by shares (family and friends). The lottery folks will divide up each payment and pay directly to the share holders. That way each is responsible for the taxes on their own share(s). From my share I'd donate roughly 10-20% annually to Doernbechers and St Judes. I'd take no loans on future distributions and my needs are simple. I doubt I will live to see the last distribution 30 years later.
 
I was thinking more like retiring a lot of family and a few friends then keeping about $25 million for myself and put $200 million into 30 year T-bonds at around 2.7% which would kick out about $5 1/2 million a year. Put the half million back into that fund to grow it while $5 million goes to whatever charity functions I wanted to venture in... like finding people on the financial edge and paying off their houses and debts... something like that.
 
poweRob said:
I was thinking more like retiring a lot of family and a few friends then keeping about $25 million for myself and put $200 million into 30 year T-bonds at around 2.7% which would kick out about $5 1/2 million a year. Put the half million back into that fund to grow it while $5 million goes to whatever charity functions I wanted to venture in... like finding people on the financial edge and paying off their houses and debts... something like that.
Click to expand...

From a tax standpoint you'd be doing better with municipal bonds instead of treasuries.

At 4% interest you'd be generating over $20 Million tax free. You'd be able to build needy families 138 $150k houses per year just on the interest income.
 
Your Star said:
Put 10 trillion dollars into that little tool, seeing how long it takes to win. :lol:
Click to expand...

I actually tried playing 292.2 million times (the number of available combinations) but it runs far too slowly, and it only runs if you're on that tab. I gave up after about a million tickets were played, but I did win a million dollars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom