All the above posts are nice, really really nice. Kudos

But really, that’s what I’d do – quit my job & start looking for something I can do while the kiddo’s in school, when he starts school in 2 years. I could *definitely* live off $1 million for a few years, no problem.

I live pretty frugally, so reading about people wanting a $250K house makes me laugh. If I had a house that expensive the property taxes would be like $6000 a year where I live. That is almost as much as I pay for my current mortgage for a whole year.

I would definitely pay off all my debt, buy my mom a house with cash, and then invest the rest to grow for me…if the market ever comes back that is.

Hopefully I would have enough after the IRS took their share!

I think giving to charity will offset your tax burden, so maybe everyone who says that is not being JUST altruistic? I assume you could also max out any retirement accounts I am eligible for.

Here is my answer to the question:
I would research tax law enough to know the best way to hold on to as much of it as I can. I would pay off mine and my husbands student loans, vehicles and other consumer debts. Lastly I would purchase land/home and plan/execute a modern and energy efficient home (solar panels, geothermal heat and windmills) and outlying buildings and probably an expensive but very eco friendly vehicle. I would also plan/take the european vacation I have always dreamed of.

I can’t guarantee I will give large monetary gifts to my family, charities, or that I would quit my job (if I have one). Those decisions can’t really be made in advance, it will have to depend on my situation. Bonus, if I don’t give my immediate family money it will be really easy to say no to other “family” that comes out of the woodwork.

Glad to see links to places like wisebread, frugal living freedom, and others.

We have no debt otherwise, so rest will prob go into an index fund.

I’ve always been a “saver”, but knowing we’ll have a house paid outright will be great piece of mind. I hate paying interest… paying 14% of income for debt service is insane.

Everything will stay same but with much less stress about economy/outsourcing, etc. I feel very fortunate.

- Be sure the taxes on the money were paid (No taxes on life insurance proceeds)
- Pay off outstanding debts to become debt free
- Invest the money prudently, hoping to further grow the money for the future
- Finally, perhaps splurge on some small things

Here is more:
What Would You Do if You Suddenly Got a Financial Windfall? http://divorceddadfrugaldad.co.....dfall.aspx

There was a conversation about this same topic on Wise Bread recently. Check out the comments for ideas (like we need more ideas…) on how to spend all that money.

http://www.wisebread.com/if-yo.....-you-would

Clair

Unfortunately, with today’s inflation issues, a million bucks doesn’t go very far; but if there’s a will, there’s a way.

I would set aside 250,000.00 dollars to build a new home on an acre or two of land (that would easily be possible where I live). We already have one rental, and i would start renting out our current home out as soon as our new one was finished. I don’t think I would pay off the rentals though. They both are locked in at sub 5% rates as it is – I would just let them sit and have the tenants pay them off via rent payments. Some of the money would be gifted to our parents and siblings. The rest would be invested / saved. With a paid off mortgage, I would probably say adios to my life as programmer and go back to college to become a pharmacist. Of course my wife would have to remain at her current job until I was finished.

Since that is a part of our normal budget (and I assume a good majority of people’s budgets include this), I would say that “living off the interest” implies that some of your monthly interest would go towards charity.

Our big treat would be to fix up our house/yard to make it as we want it (not the fixer upper it currently is). I would also include in my yearly budget plenty of time and money for vacations.

I did have a mini-windfall recently, we divvied it up approx. 23% to savings, 46% to debt repayment, and 31% to a fun purchase. (a swingset for our kids).

I think we would tithe 10%, pay those student loans off (50k), pay 5k to fix up our 23-yr-old car, then if it were up to me we’d put the rest in savings and pay ourselves a modest salary (approx 30k a year + tuition) for the next 5 years while my husband gets a masters and doctorate and can then begin teaching, which is his dream career. Once he has his degrees and a teaching job, we would buy a reasonable house, and I would desperately want to take a nice vacation. I’m pessimistic enough to think that after taxes, we would have pretty much used up the money by this point. (What is the tax rate on a windfall? 50%?) But then again, no debt and a paid-for house and a job? What more could we need?

Knowing my husband, we’d also be treating ourselves to a few things along the way like a new computer and a new TV, and we’d be arguing about how much we can go out to eat and whether we should buy a brand new car.