My Journal #2

You've WON a Million Dollars

If you were given a million dollars, what is the first thing you would do?

This is an easy question. Most of us have thought about it at one time or another. Mostly around the time the lottery gets over 250 million dollars. 
My first check(s) would be tithe. 10%. I may not send it all to my headquarters church. I would probably send half there and then divide the other half to our branch churches for upkeep, outreach and to purchase a new church. There might be some to the missions also.
That's it. End of question. I didn't feel that was a very good prompt. I'd have asked "If you were given one million dollars how would spend/invest it?

One million dollars doesn't last long in this economy. By the time you've paid off your house, bills and car there goes about half or a little less of what you had. So for kicks and giggles lets say your bills, car(s), mortgage comes to about $300,000. Some will be more or less depending on their house and car, maybe their bills too. That leaves you with 700,000 to spend. Lets say taxes were already paid. If you want to upgrade your house and car lets say the difference in what you need to add to buy new, adds up to another 300,000. You know you're going to want the pool/hot tub with the new house, Harley Hog for you and the wife, an RV and some new clothes and household furniture.  Now you have $400,000 left.  We take 200,000 away since you gave your kids (4) of them $50,000. Each. They got mad and wrote you off for not giving them half of what you got.
You paid your grand kids college loans off (2) at $35,000.00 (They had grants for some of it.)
$165,000 is all you have left now. If you don't invest it somewhere or just put it away and I hope you didn't give up your day job, you'll have a nice retirement if you get a good interest on it.
As you can see, One Million Dollars in this day and age doesn't go very far.

If you are frugal it will be a lot more. If you are stingy it could be even more.  There is a presumption of the part of those who are around a "Winner" that for some reason if you didn't earn it you are obligated to share your winnings with everyone you know and it should be a sizable amount.
I've decided, if I should ever come into any sizable amount of money, I will tell those outside my family members that they will have to submit to my charitable foundation a request and write an essay why they should get it. I don't believe in handing out money to people to freeload. I'm not the government. I want responsibility. So If I had more than one million dollars (anything less and they'd have to just lump it. I'm not giving any of it to anyone outside my kids) I'd hire someone to control donations and divisions to people and charities, so I know who and why they are getting it.

I loved watching the millionaires go to different cities and find deserving people to give their money to. There are well meaning and deserving people they donated to. I loved seeing these people find out they were on the receiving end just for helping others. That's the way it should be.
If I had millions, the foundation would take all applicants and read their story, follow it up to qualify if its true and have people monitor that it was given to the hospital, college, or used for what it was intended. To GIVE money away without some kind of responsibility makes you just like our government and look where we are today.