Personal Crap

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Meaford, ON, Canada
A big lover of all types of media, from Movies to Video Games, Books to Music, Television to Stage.

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Okay, here's the deal: Blogger has been having problems with their counters as of late, specifically with those blogs marked as having adult content. Now, this particular blog was marked as adult content since it is written as a train of thought, including all the rotten language that flows through my head constantly :) As a result, I marked it adult for that, not for having pornographic photos all over the place. So, simply put, be aware that there is language on this blogsite, and if you are offended don't bother complaining because I wrote this so that you'd know it before reading, and it is your fault if you don't believe me and decide to possibly get offended anyway. If language of a vulgar nature might make you upset, go read something by Disney.

1/4/11

What I'd Do With A Lottery Win

As those of you in Canada may be aware, very recently there was a $50 million jackpot in the Lotto Max lottery.  Anyone who buys a ticket for these things can't help but imagine what they would do with the winnings, should the 1:14 million shot pay off in their favour, and so have I done many times over.  What I'd like to do now, on this snowy Tuesday, is do what most people never do and commit my plans to this blog so that, if the bell ever goes off for me and mine, my plan will be here for all to see and I can prove I'm a person of my word.

Or, it can be a good laugh when I blow it all on Tootsie Roll Pops.

Now, there are three scenarios I'm going to cover here.  First, when the Lotto Max gets to the $50 million mark, they spin off additional prizes of $1 million each, so scenario #1 is a $1 million win.  Now that the big payout has been won, the next draw is for a still considerable $23 Million, and that will be scenario #2.  And, of course, #3 would be if we had won the whole damn thing.  Now, a lot of people might not think that what you do with the money would change very much depending on the amount, but as you'll see I feel it will, and I really have given it a LOT of thought.  You have to cling to something when you are in my position.

So, first up, a $1 million win.  First things first, we pay off the mortgage on the house, get all three of us clear of all debts, and catch up on our monthly bills.  After that is done, we are still sitting on about $700,000.  From there, we take a trip to Calgary and pay off Lillian's mortgage.  Don't know if I've mentioned Lillian yet, but she is one of my dearest friends, and the only person I've known in my life to care enough about me to continue a long-distance friendship.  Many say they will, only one ever has.  For that, she gets her mortgage taken care of.  Since I don't know the value of her house, but do know the type of person she is, I put that cost at around the $200,000 mark, leaving us with half the winnings at this point, $500,000.  This is when we start planning for the Dominican move.  This scenario includes selling off the now mortgage-free house in Ajax, without bothering to really fix the place up, since it will all be money in the hand.  Since we're not positive how much the sale would give us, we'll just add $300,000 (the current low-end for this area) to the pot.

We've already been looking for places down there, in preparation for talking to realtors when we are getting ready to actually make the move, so that we know way in advance what we can expect for the amount we are willing to spend.  Without the lottery, we've been figuring on getting a place around the $100,000 mark, which if you can believe it will get us a place larger than this with an in-ground pool and more land (our house was $260,000 when we bought it).  With $800,000 in tow, we'd probably only aim for something in the $200,000 range, but then we would alter it with another $100,000 by getting geothermal cooling installed, multiple solar panels to take us off their semi-reliable power grid, and ensuring the fastest internet, most reliable cable, and strongest windows and roof we could buy down there, so that if the island does get hit by a hurricane (no direct hit for decades now) we'll be as safe as can be.  We would also be ensuring that we have enough room for at least one other couple/friend/family could live with us as per space requirements, ensuring that Andi's father could move down with us if he wanted, and this would be in addition to space already planned for visiting vacationers, such as Lil and Tim.

We still have to furnish the place, so we'll take another $100,000 to move us and do that right, leaving us $400,000 to go into the bank down there, gaining 28% per annum, and allowing us to live comfortably off of it probably for the rest of our lives.  We would also be giving about $50,000 to a charity, the one that was recently featured on CTV News, because they actually traced where the money donated went and it really was used to provide the means to live a life to a family without.  Since most charities can't prove what your donation actually does (some have more than a third of donations go into advertising, and at least one cancer-based charity is using more than a third of all donations to sue other charities for stealing their slogan, I shit you not), we refuse to donate to ANY charity other than this one.  If you are interested in which it is, e-mail me or comment below and I'll fill you in.  We can live quite wonderfully off of the interest from $350,000 CDN in a Dominican bank, and life is good.

So, that's the $1 million scenario.  If we were to win a $23 million lottery, things change a bit.  First off, the charity gets a cool million, no question.  See, it isn't as if we don't care about others, buy we've been without for quite a while too, so with a lower amount we have to look to ourselves more first.  Then, we pay off all our debts up here including the mortgage, Lillian's mortgage, etc..  The first big difference between the $1 million scenario and the $23 million scenario is that in this one we don't sell the Ajax house towards moving to the Dominican; instead, we sell the Ajax house and buy a Viceroy-constructed home to the northwest of the city.  It will be here for visiting my cousin's family, any of Andi's relatives, and I will use it to enjoy the hell out of winter because I plan to place it right in the snow-belt.  I've always loved winter as a season, and this will ensure I get the best out of it when I choose to:  A nice big plow for the driveway, a truck with the best winter tires on it, a huge fireplace and lots of windows, what could be better?

Of course, with such a much larger payout, our plans for the Dominican change as well, mainly in the size of our home, and the space for our guests.  I think we'd ensure an actual guest house for people visiting, complete with full kitchen, so that we can all have exactly whatever together time we want.  For example, if people come to visit and Andi and I have a child throwing a tantrum, off they can go and relax somewhere where there isn't food being hurled at a wall.  And for rainy days, a connecting tunnel can be there to get from building to building with no trouble.  I'd also heavily invest in a domed room, accessed from the main house but not located too near it, complete with provisions for a long stay.  For what purpose?  To watch those tropical storms from, of course!  Safe, secure, fully stocked, and with nature's big show roaring around me, that would be spectacular.

Once all is said and done, we'd probably still be sitting on $15 million or so, so now the travelling begins.  I personally have countries I'd like to see before I die, and Andi does as well, so we'd be doing a fair bit of getting around whilst our homes, both Canadian and Dominican, were being built.  Given the cash, we'd bring the kitties along with us on private flights, and have a grand time.  We'd visit the following locations, in no particular order:  Venice, Rome, Paris, London, parts of Poland, parts of Germany, parts of Austria, Cairo and the Giza area, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, parts of New Zealand, Las Vegas, Calgary, Vancouver, Newfoundland, Tokyo and Bangkok.  Not all at once, mind you, but without missing a one and spending as much or as little time as we want at each.  Some of them are obvious as to why we'd go, but some are more unusual, but that would be the itinerary.  Oh, and we'd visit lots of lighthouses, for my Andi!

When all is said and done, that would still leave us at least $10 million for banking purposes, giving us zero worries for the rest of our lives, and that ultimately is what we'd want from our jackpot.  As for the third scenario, it would just be the same as the second one, except with maybe a more extravagant lifestyle at home.  After all, when it comes right down to it, there is really only o much money anyone can really spend.  I mean, without being a complete asshole, and getting stupid shit just to say you are rich.  No, I'd be happy with putting huge amounts in the bank to ensure that the family I have is well taken care of for generations after I'm gone.  Oh, and with $50 million I'd be certain to give more than just $1 million to charity.  $5 million sounds right.

Now, all we need is to buy the winning ticket, and all this can happen.  If we don't, at least some of the things we've planned will still go our way.  We will still be moving to the Dominican, after fixing up and selling this place.  We'll still try to ensure a guest bedroom for family and friends to visit.  And I'll still dream of what could be with luck, timing, and a bit of good fortune.  Everyone needs a dream, right?