Pretend you won the Lottery/Powerball...

Okay, looking for a semi-serious take on this.

Pretend you won the Lottery/Powerball/whatever. Award was relatively small for that sort of thing, say 1.2 million before taxes.

What car or cars would you actually buy?

I'm figuring that between state and federal taxes, if you didn't tax shelter any of the money you'd be looking at maybe $500k in your pocket all said and done.

So, would you go out and buy that multi-hundred-thousand-dollar supercar, knowing you'd never have another chance to do so? Would you really pick up 100 Miatas (if so, where are you parking them)?

And yes, this really is the type of thing I think about, hahaha.

Lotus Seven. Either a vintage Lotus or a brand new Caterham, maybe both.

Then an awesome garage and a pool for my back yard.

I'd buy a 993 Turbo.

Then a tiny house with a huge garage.

RS200, Ford GT... all done. Yes, that is all.

All used...let someone else take the initial depreciation hit.

Lotus Elise S/C

C6 Corvette

NC Miata

Big dually truck of some kind

CTS-V Wagon

Keep the rest of the cash.

Powerball is a heck of a lot more than 1MM. But if you're talking a $500K windfall, those of us with families aren't going to be spending most of it on cars... not if the wife has anything to say about it, anyway.

Personally, I'd be thinking of either something modern and awesome and otherwise unobtainable, or something vintage and likely to appreciate. For example, a used Ferrari 360 would cost less than $70K, leaving ample budget for insurance and maintenance without eating the rest of the winnings. On the other hand, an early 911 Turbo or RS would make a great weekend driver, but also be profitable to pass on if someday I needed the cash.

My buddies Porsche Race car

Wife a new SUV (probably a BMW or Merc Diesel)

Isuzu NPR (tow vehicle/race shop on wheels)

Spec something another (probably focus and do double duty with rally)

All used, total around 100K

I'd buy a lift.

In reply to nderwater: You're right... if I got $500k, I'd pay off my student loans and credit cards ($200k), put $200k away for the kids' education, buy a good sub-$30k daily driver, take the missus on a proper vacation ($10k), and maybe build up the cars I have a little ($20k), and put the remaining $40k away for a rainy day.

Aston Martin DBS

The nicest 1999-2000 Miata I could find
A used WRX to run back roads in the snow, at speed !
...and a really nice garage.
Invest the rest to make retirement a little less worrisome and a little more fun !

I'd be dumping money into my existing cars, probably buy an FR-S or BRZ if they 3/4s hold up to the hype, and maybe pick up something to turn into a long-distance driver (Cobra or a Bimmer of some sort).

I was thinking Factory Fives as well. With an infusion of cash like that, dropping $20k for the kit plus picking up the other parts required would be much more doable.

Buy a Morgan Aero 8. Finish the Spitfire. Save the rest for a house, retirement and an awesome honeymoon.

darkbuddha wrote: In reply to nderwater: You're right... if I got $500k, I'd pay off my student loans and credit cards ($200k), put $200k away for the kids' education, buy a good sub-$30k daily driver, take the missus on a proper vacation ($10k), and maybe build up the cars I have a little ($20k), and put the remaining $40k away for a rainy day.

Yeah, this is right along with what I was thinking, except my student loans/credit cards aren't that high so I'd be using that money to buy (or at least put a huge down payment on) a house.

If I won a multi-million Lottery, I would buy all my friends a luxury sedan of some sort, then we would all have a demolition derby in a large field. My luxury vehicle of choice would be a Bentley Arnage, because I LOATHE them! How bad I would love to crunch one up!!!

ReverendDexter, I'm going to probably tell you something you don't want to hear, but trust me, I'm speaking from experience...

I was in real estate a few years back and was brokering a $30M deal with a 10% commission to be split between my broker and I. That's $1.5M coming home to daddy. That seems like a boat load of cash, but it's really not. You've calculated the taxes. I was looking at getting around 40% taken out of my pocket right off the bat in federal tax. We don't have state tax here in Texas. Now, another thing is, you can't just take a $1.5M check to your bank and be like, "Hey, cash this E36 M3 yo!". You have to think it through. I am fortunate enough to have a great friend who is a Financial Advisor. She laid everything out for me and told me to make myself a company. Hamilton Investments was going to be it. Get the company set up and have the commission check made out to that company. From there you do everything concerning that money. It cuts your taxes almost in half if memory serves. You're looking at $500k, that's a lot of cash it seems, but it goes fast.

$250k house $100k car

Now you have $150k that you could invest, but the taxes on your property may put a dent in your regular income, plus bills and maintenance on the home and Ferrari gets up there.

The better option is to invest it in safe stable growth investments that will return you 5-10% and honestly just forget about the money for a while. Give it a few years and then you'll have enough cash to retire very comfortably.

I know it sounds boring and it sounds like I'm trying to preach to you, but honestly I was in the exact same boat a few years ago. Problem is, mine fell apart. The guy came down and wrote a contract for 3 ranches and a large condo on South Padre Island. Wrote me $6.5M worth of earnest money checks that bounced. He then said his wife had the accounts locked while they were going through their divorce. He drug this out for 2 months saying court was delaying everything days at a time. Meanwhile I'm telling other interested clients that I have the ranches on contract, but I'm accepting back-ups. No one wants to do that. Well we finally told this guy to pound sand and voided the contracts and by then the economy was in the toilet and no one was spending ANYTHING. I'd still love to find this guy and knee cap him.

I'm going to PM you ReverendDexter.

$500K isn't much in the scheme of things. I'd just put it towards retirement.

I'd buy property in a nice mountain town like Park City Utah, A nice little property and house in the Florida keys, and use the investments to pay for plane tickets and property taxes. Honestly, I'd probably drive the same car I have now, and spend most of time riding bicycle.

Both properties would have very small houses on them, with very simple and easy to maintain furnishings. I'd rent one or the other while I was away from them.

I'd buy land. Lots and lots of land.

if we're talking "only" 500k, i'd probably just pay off my mortgage (~100k) and buy a nice s2k, cayman, elise or the like for a nice day DD/weekend car and put the rest in some aggressive investments for retirement. of course, that's what i say i'd do, what i would do would probably be something different, like pay off mortgage and put a sizeable down payment on a place in a nicer part of town.

if we're talking big lottery money, like 4+ mil, then i'd probably buy something in the ferrari 430 or Ford GT range, house, maybe a boat, and then of course hookers and blow

Half a million... I would take one kickass, no compromise vacation and then stockpile the rest into a fund with a safe return and let it grow.

Nice Cb radio for my hunting truck , new shotgun and rifle ,Big freezer and big fridge , new mullet catching net , Nice big steel building 60 by 100 , Some kind brand new truck for wife , sit on the rest .

Yeah, for a half-mil windfall, anything I spent would go towards mostly cars I already have. I would spend about $20k restoring the old LeMans, about $5k refreshing the Miata, maybe $5k to trade daughter #1's Impreza wagon up to a WRX wagon, and another $10k to add a car for daughter #2, who is getting her license.

So out of $500k, less than $50k of that would go towards cars. Step 1 would pay off my mortgage balance; step 2 would set aside money for daughter #2's college education. All told that means step 3 would be to put the remaining $250k away for retirement.

My wife is a millionaire....... kinda.

I just sat with my finance guy and talked about retirement. He said if you had $1,000,000 and invested it the dividend would be about $50,000 a year.

If my wife retired today, she would get about $50,000 a year; so she's a millionaire kinda.

I would piss away $100,000 on toys and travel, then invest the rest.

Dan

Wow, you guys are getting deep. I feel so shallow in my thoughts.

If it ever really did happen to me, I'd probably spend almost all of it on mortgage, kids, other "responsible" things. But I prefer to dream where I'd have enough of a windfall for all that responsible stuff and at least 500k in toy money.