If I Had a Million Dollars....

BNL back in the day....

This was a fun assignment in the Planner.   Each person in the family has an opportunity to create a list of what they would do if they had a million dollars.  There’s obviously more to this assignment, but we’ll take it one piece at a time.  I created my list, and I asked Gavin and Elias to create lists as well.  Maddie is exempt…

My list:

• Buy us a new home, nothing too fancy.
• Buy a newer car.
• Pay off all of our debt.
• Help out family members and friends who need it.
• Donate to charities.
• Set up an investment plan, including 401k.
• Finish school and go for my Bachelors, and maybe a Masters.
• Take a nice long vacation, maybe do some travelling.

Gavin’s list:

• Pay off medical bills and all other debt we owe.
• Get Elias into the school that specializes in working with autistic children.  (This is a really good one and I wish I’d thought of it).
• Buy a home (about 300K).
• Place enough money in the bank for the kid’s college (about 60K).
• Send Amee back to school so she can get the degree she wants.
• Buy new vehicles outright.
• Place a good amount of money (about 300K) in the bank for our retirement.
• Donate to a charity like Child’s Play (or another children’s charity).
• Host a thank you party for family and friends to thank them for all the past help.
• Buy new PCs for the home.
• Invest the rest into accounts to protect it, while still having dividends to use as we may need them.

Something interesting I observed about both of our lists:  Neither of us said that we would stop working.  We would use the money as a buffer, but we still plan to earn our keep. 

Elias’s list:

• Buy a house that I don’t have to keep paying bills on.
• Buy myself some new clothes.
• Buy a car like the one we have now.
• Buy an indoor movie theater.
• Buy my own Xbox 360 with Halo and Fable.
• Buy a desktop PC.
• Buy a widescreen TV.
• Donate to the army.
• Donate to some hospitals.

Spoken like a true 11-year-old boy, I guess.  Looks like we’ll need to keep working on that whole “materialism” thing with him.  The last two came only after I prompted  him with “Is there anything else you would do with it that doesn’t involve buying things?”  I’m not entirely sure what he means by “donate to the army,” but I didn’t press for details. 

Coming up next – a discussion about values.

What would you do with a million dollars?