I'd do what I am planning to do now. I'd be able to afford to help my family more, but I would never quit a job I love just because I no longer technically needed the money.

Wise words there Friend. In my case I'd help out family and friends as well, but I'd like to try to use some of the money to help me create a "Job" and make more money.

Thanks. *nods* Have you heard of universal basic income?

I'd probably do the same and make sure most of it goes towards bettering ourselves and society. I'd also leave some of it for a few things, like paying the bills, buying a few nice so and so on. Nothing more.

No. I had never heard of the "Universal Income" Concept. I get the impression that it's kind of like the Credit System in Star Trek where everyone is allotted a certain amount of wealth irregardless of their performance or status. A notable concept, regarding the facts if things like Free Energy, Disease and controlled populations can be agreed on.

Right. One of the first things I'd do is hire a Lawyer, and Financial advisor. Hopefully get someone to work with me to make certain I get the best for my money, and make sure I don't do something silly like buy a Battleship.

Standard-issue advice in these circumstances, hiring the lawyer and financial advisor. Accountant would be a wise choice, as well. Worthy of note: hire these, and get their advice, BEFORE you turn in the ticket. In the meantime, sign the ticket on the back and have it lodged with the lawyer.

By the way, I don't think the USS New Jersey is for sale. That thing wouldn't be street-legal, anyway, and just you try using it for a fishing trip. (I think some folks have figured out ways to make certain light tanks street-legal.)

Oooh! One fellow I knew of in Glendora had an Amphibious Jeep and a "Ferret" Scout car street legal. They were registered as "Historic Vehicles."

Mostly pay off my student loans so i wouldn't have to pay nearly 700$/m on them and my other debts ... probably put most of it in savings and live off the interest and spend the time trying to beat my steam library while i try to find Mr. Right.

That's a good, sound plan. A "Steam" Library you say? As in Actual Steam engines and Machinery?

No, have you not heard of Steam? Its a platform for a centralized storage and purchasing of game (So you don't have to have a physical copy). Its ran by the company Valve.
http://store.steampowered.com/

Ah. I'm kind of disappointed.

Hehe, a guess a graymuzzle doesn't play games?

Nooooo... I'd rather work on my art. Now if there was a game where I could build steam powered machines and keep them running, that'd be a game I'd be interested in.

You might be interested in some of the train simulators on Steam. They have steam engines
http://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/ Train Simulator
http://store.steampowered.com/app/2....._7_7_151_150_2 Union Pacific 844 FEF-3 addon for Train Simulator. The real thing came through my town back in 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52tJOZVti3Q
Some other content for Train Simulator: http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/24010/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/304730/ Train Fever

You may be interested in these as well
http://store.steampowered.com/app/287980/ Mini Metro
http://store.steampowered.com/app/320300/ Car Mechanic Simulator 2015
http://store.steampowered.com/app/355330/ Construction Simulator 2016

Oh my gosh Oh my gosh! I thought the UP 884 was still under restoration. You're lucky to have seen such a magnificent machine in action.

I really can't describe the reaction I had to looking at the clips featuring the locomotive ans train simulators. If anything, after seeing the mechanic, Metro, and construction simulators, I wanted to go out and get a Job just to support the system to get those programs.

The UP044 Simmer was just about as close to the real thing without the "Fun" of burns off the backhead and cinders in one's eyes.

Thanks.

Yeah, I believe 2012 was UP844's grand tour after Union Pacific finished its restoration using its sister engine.

Pay off my bills and go looking for a place to buy well off the beaten path... The place would need to have the room to put in an 1000 foot airstrip and a couple of hangers.

I'll have to check my tickets next week...

Hey... I just had an idea. Buy an old Air Museum. That way the others using the facilities could PAY you. Looking at the Abandoned Air Station at Alameda, the place is pretty well fenced off, and the buildings can offer a lot of privacy and security... That is unless the next generation of "Mythbusters" needs to use the abandoned runways for another project.

That idea had crossed my mind... I think I would look for someplace other than Calf. the way your governor is going all that will be left is fruits nuts and flakes... and it really with be the granola state or country.

I agree with you there. I was considering a little Air and History Museum in Oklahoma, Actually.

Ahh okay

...But that's what's GOOD about Cali...!

If you say so... Oh look it's snowing outside.

Continue as I have been. Except I'd buy a lathe/mill. *nods*
Maybe pay off a friend's mortgage so he can afford a workshop.

I can relate to that! I'll have to tell you one day about how my friend Jim and I moved a Ten Foot Cincinnati lathe from a garage and moved it to his garage in Hesperia.

And Ah yes. I'd really like to build myself a "Hobby Room" in this old house too... After I fix things up of course.

I'd have a list of things I'd do with the money, most of which computer and art related, but high on my list is "don't become a dick".

Wise words. The best thing to do is surround yourself with people you can trust, and NEVER tell them how much you really have.

And of course keep on drawing. One's income should never dictate one's talent.

Of course, the rub with lottery tickets is that you can't win if you don't play, which lets me out of the running right at the start :P The odds of winning are just too far out there! Then again, somebody's got to win, and then there are those rare cases where the same person has won a big drawing twice! It's like geez, give someone else a chance, right?

Woaah! Yeah. I was sitting at a stoplight, grousing about missing out on a paying Lottery ticket by ONE number, (AGAIN.) and I came to the realization that the system MUST be rigged. I mean if it was "Honest" those multi million dollar jackpots would never build up as high as they do. There'd also be a LOT more "Multiple" Winners too.

(Grumble.) Crumbs. Saturday's Super Lotto cheated me again by one number for the Mega. I matched TWO, but that doesn't pay anything.

It cost less than Starbucks to buy a ticket.

Ah. I understand. Here in CA most the tickets start off at one dollar, but some of the games can cost like One Hundred dollars. Personally, I'd hate to pay that much money, just to lose.

if only

"There are more of you! THERE ARE MORE OF YOU!"

Yeaaaaahhhhh.... (Sigh.)

I'm thinking of the guy who, feeling lucky after surviving an accident, bought a lottery ticket, won 10,000 then in a recreation done for news cameras, won another 250,000

Geeze! Someone was surely watching out for him! But like sinking that full court shot, I'll bet he'd never be able to do that again.

Perhaps the next time I have a "Close Call," I'll try buying a Lottery Ticket.

Good luck to all of us.

A-Men Brother. We're gonna need it.

I would like to think I would be the sMe person. Mostly I would take an extra vacation every year, and maybe get a new car every single ther year..
Other than that I would do volunteer work, instead of having to work for a living.

Heh. One of my dreams is to win big, and put my old 1997 "Toy-Otter" in a restoration shop and have it built back to factory standards. (Hopefully it'll last me another 20 years.) The new cars today have to much electronic stuff in them to suit me.

I really like your idea of "Retiring" and doing volunteer work. I figure you'd be great working as a restorator in a History Museum, or perhaps teaching others the craft of building and painting miniatures.

I'd fix my family's safety so they don't have to worry about their retirement or being hungry. Then I'd convert the rest into gold and carefully invest into tech ventures and sustainability companies until I've saved about 200-500M. With that I'd invest into creating a mobile country where citizenship is a matter of having the right SIM card in your phone. An independent nation, a Humanity 2.0 free of territorial pissings and historical crutches, with nearly unlimited resources thanks to science untethered to big capital. It would be so disruptive to the world system, many would try to destroy us, but the human spirit will fight back.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Wonderful. Someone with a clear and unselfish plan. I had a friend in High School who was pondering on writing a science fiction story about every person in the US getting a Million dollars each, and watching the country's economy collapse.

Brave words that I recognize which are inscribes at the base of the Statue of Liberty. If only we would believe in them.

If we don't believe in something better, we go back to dog eat dog kind of world. We must be better than we were an hour ago at least.

Isaac Asimov once said in an interview: "Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human rights and dignity cannot survive overpopulation. As you put more and more people into the world, individual quality of life not only decreases, it disappears."

That's the only thing I'm afraid of. Not stupidity, but geometric growth on dwindling resources until a Malthusian catastrophe happens. A planetary famine. Leftism and liberalism in general cannot solve this at current tech level, so normally we'll see a rise of fascist and extreme right ideologies, worldwide.

If my math is correct, killing all the wealthy 1% and redistributing their capital equally to the 99% wouldn't solve anything. If a poor man had $100 of savings, after the culling he'd have maybe $200. If a family had $300k in savings, they'll have about $500k afterwards. That's not nearly enough to allow people to up their class. Maybe buy a new car, or a little bigger house, but then what?

Take China for example. They're trying to raise standard of a billion people from near poverty to lower middle class. They don't have the necessary tech level, so the industrial growth is literally choking them. Pollution is abominable and the natural resources will last them less than a century. It's even worse in India. Yes, everyone will have a car and a house and a college degree. But then what? Where will they grow food, on underground hydroponics? Will they have to wear gas-masks on surface?

Ah, sorry for the endless ramblings. :p
tl;dr: Most of the time you can't save the world, so it might be better to focus on yourself only.

No problem. You raise many interesting points.

most possibly paying off my bills, put somethign aside, and donate the rest to assorted charities. using the put-aside funds to look for a job I like enough to grow old upon finally.
and buy furry art here or there. :)

Hey now. If you have enough money, and knew the right people you could actually MAKE that "Dream Job" of yours work for you. (Like opening and running a Model Train and/or Hobby Shop.)

quite possible.

Yeah, same here.

....I'll add you to my list.

I'd love to hit a big one, lotsa folks I'd help.

CASH Value 154 154,000,000.00 USD
Taxes 38 58,520,000.00 USD
Net Proceeds 95,480,000.00 USD
Initial Spend @ % 7 6,683,600.00 USD
Investment Amount 88,796,400.00 USD
Yearly Return @ % Interest 6.9 6,126,951.60 USD

Right. That's why I only play when the jackpot gets over $20 Million. Still... I wouldn't mind another chance to use that $100,000 I once had the proper way.

What bank pays that much interest these days? At best, its around 1, maybe 2%

No, you wouldn't store it in a bank or even several banks. You spread it around in investments where you are 'Distanced' (Not isolated) from market turmoil, still have some liquidity and let someone else do the hard part of selling and buying stocks to gain value.

This 6.9% is based upon the PRR for my personal 401K last year. I've seen a few clean bonds reach 4.5% at my office with is highly risk aversive.

But here...

12%
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutua.....ld-bd-fd/fihbx

21%
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutua.....rforming-funds


And I know of furs that invest well and well set for their retirement, much more than I will ever be.

This is, of course if the current administration doesn't blow it by re-allowing wide world of creative finance that lead us to ruin in 2007-2008

And when I die, it will all go to a Rabbit Rescue Org.

Well, that's your 401k. Even a CD today barely pays 3%. And what would be best is to distribute that balance to $250,000 per account so that its ALL covered in case of a bank collapse. Until the Federal Reserve starts increasing rates beyond 1%, banks will start paying more in interest. When I opened my first savings account in 1995, banks were paying 5% in interest. I believe the Fed's market rate had to have been around 7-8% at the time.

I wish it really happened to you Roy. Mr. Foxy looks so happy.

Well... I try to push the Universe I know in that direction every day. Sooner or later, something is going to catch. If anything, I figure if my characters are happy, then their world is spinning in well greased grooves.

I'd pay off my college loans and move!

My friend Paul paid his College Loans clean until he was in his 40s. Of course once the PC revolution hit and he helped develop some rendering programs for Commodore, he earned enough to pay off that debt.

Keep working on that dream. I feel once you get that out of the way, nothing is going to stop you.

Oh yeah, I'm almost done with my biggest loan, only a few more months.
I went to a community college so I didn't have to, to much. Which worked out as I don't think I want to do what I had wanted to do back then.

Thanks for the kind words!

I feel ya bro, we all wish to be rich.

Yeah. I really don't want to be Rich, but I would like to earn enough to get out of the poverty cycle I'm currently in. A hundred thousand would be enough for me to retire on, Fifty thousand would get me out of trouble with my debtors, and I could live well on $500 a month. Right now I'd even settle for a second chance on another ticket.

Probably throw some of it at a number of webcomics I'd always meant to, and waste the rest on investments and bank accounts.

Hmmm... I kind of like that idea. There's a few of my artist friends who could use a little help getting their comics published. I was even pondering investing on top of the line 3-D printers and scanners. Yeah. It would b smart to sock a little away in case the business doesn't work out.

We have a nickel deposit on soda pop cans here. Whenever I cash in my soda cans, I use the money to buy lottery tickets.

I do pretty much the same thing here, but I save my plastic two liter bottles for that porpoise. I know there's more money in Aluminum Cans, but it's difficult to find cast off cans here in the Pasadena CA area.

everyone i've ever wished i could help out.
there's a lot i'd like to do for myself too.
just some place out in the woods where i could have a garden
and some way to get to the store too.
i'd really like to build in real life some of the things i can imagine in my head.
of course i'd commission everyone and kick in on their patrions and kickstarters.
i don't think i've ever bought anything just to impress anyone and i wouldn't start doing so then either,
but there's a lot of artists on here i'd like to be able to do something for,
maybe even commission a fursuit or two.

Believe it or not, it's all out there waiting for you. All you need to do is try to influence the Universe to move in your favor. I have a similar problem myself in believing that lots of money would be the "Grease" that will make my life run much smoother, and thus I find myself frustrated when the promise of "Quick Money" does not come through.

I really like your idea of growing a garden though, as it might be the easiest way for you to find a bit of happiness. All you need is a clear patch of earth, some seeds, or cuttings, water and time. Those things are pretty easy to get.

Oh, the lottery stories I could tell you are incredible. I never won big for myself, but I recall the time I'd bought $6.00 worth of NY Lottery tickets as a birthday present for my (then) brother-in-law... and one ticket matched 5 out of 6 numbers, earning him $500.00!

I am living proof of "Murphy's Law": A person buying lottery tickets for himself doesn't win as much money as the tickets he buys for others (or words to that effect)!

In a way, it worked out doing what you wanted of it, right? I mean in a round-about way giving your former brother in law a gift of $500.00 is a NICE gift, right? (Unless he kept it all for himself and made a "L" sign with his fingers over his forehead and did a little dance which mocked your misfortune.)

But I understand what you're referring to in losing the Lottery again and again, and someone you give a ticket to wins right off the bat. Fate and Fortune are funny that way.

I really don't know of any "Sure" way to win the Lottery, but if I did, I know I wouldn't be here, Just keep thinking positive, and play like a dollar at a time. I'm not sure how they do it over there in FL, but I've had the better luck playing the "Quick Pick" which draws the numbers for you, but I know of others who play the same numbers again and again. I've had better luck with the scratchers, especially in the days after a new game comes out. I mostly win "Small change" or another ticket, but it's better than nothing.

Who wouldn't want to win big in the state lottery?