Realistically, and assuming I claimed it and handled the financial and legal aspects of having that much money, I’d do this;
Pay off my debts, as well as those of my parents and sister, then help friends pay off everything. Then buy a nice house and nice stuff, leave my job, then travel.
Then I’d see what sorts of things I can use my money to improve, or who I can help.
While money is nice for security, I don’t need or want anywhere remotely close to 1$billion at one time. That amount of money is dangerous.
A billion is dangerous, but even smaller amounts like paying off other people’s houses could be dangerous for them too. It’s a huge change.
I know a guy who inherited a house. He was basically able to live rent free for the rest of his life if he had been smart about it. However he has some issues and those were only magnified by his lack of obligations. He’s now out of a job, unemployable due to lack of education and experience and might now be forced to sell the house, because creditors and taxes are coming for everything he owns. The house is also worthless by now, because he hasn’t managed the upkeep.
Eventually, when he sells the house at whatever it’s worth and whether he does it voluntary or not, he’ll burn through that money too. He’s not eligible for social security as he owns too much. If it had not been for the house, he could have been helped by either by the health care system to get sorted out and get a job or by getting an early sickness retirement scheme if he was diagnosed as such. As of now, he can only wait until he’s poor enough again.
Anyway, I’d probably give my family and friends monthly instalments instead of removing their obligations with a lump sum, and also on the clear condition that I can choose to stop it at any time.
I honestly don’t have a ton of friends, and those I do have im very close with, so I know I’d feel confident paying off some of their debts. I’m aware that money can ruin things very quickly.
I don’t want to give money, but just help out. I’m really not a materialistic person.
Go find that old post from AskReddit and follow it to a tee.
Outside of that, I’d probably buy a house closer to downtown, buy a new truck, and start to figure out how I can increase the quality of education in rural South Carolina.
Pay off all debts and mortgages for myself and my immediate family, then put away whatever’s away into separate HYSAs for a few months to let the initial rush go away.
Give my uncles, aunts and cousins a cool mil each, give my mom and my sister 10 mil each, buy some real estate on the coasts, and most likely fund some Democrats in Florida and Texas, do some traveling
I already live where I want to live. I would probably buy up all the open land in my county. Get my friends to move out and live on one of my properties. Fix up this 120 year old farm house. Install a pond and more water features to hold onto rain water. Probably run some electric fencing get solar power go off grid. Pretend to be a cattle rancher. Try to turn this homestead into my very own paradise. But i’ll probably employ a-lot of people create some jobs do more charity work.
I would use the entire $1 billion to buy company stocks and use them to try stop their bad behaviors/investments, like stopping Big Petrol from polluting more, Google from spying on their users, etc.
I’d buy an electric car, a 40 watt laser engraver, I’d build a workshop in my side yard, install a vented hood, get some new larger 3d printers, a paint airbrush system, set up a bicycle repair area, and set up a computer workshop in there. And never leave my workshop.
Not tell anyone and invest in better security for my finances (bank, accountants, etc…). Once thats settled pay for my parents bills until they die and invest to keep my finances up until i die.
I'd keep it a secret except from the closest people to me. I'd be incredibly boring about what I'd do with it.
First I would pay off my mortgage and invest a chunk in "safe" investments - so shares in utility companies, funeral business - boring reliable investments - and property and land, across borders. All to try and guarentee I would stay financially secure long term for the rest of my life, and weather financial storms.
I'd help my immediate family financially (siblings and parents, and closest friends) but would not go over board - I'd make their lives better but not ruin them, and would aim to keep most of the money ready to keep helping for years to come rather than splurge out. And I wouldn't tell them how much I had so as not to ruin relationships.
For what I do for me I would think very hard. I'd probably not quit work immediately and I'd try not to ruin my life.
I'd probably look to travel but in bursts - either nice holidays and keep working (I like my job) or quit work and live 3 months at a time in places I've always wanted to be for a bit before settling down again.
Anything I do or buy I would do as someone "middle class". So I'd travel economy plus, I'd stay in decent hotal but not the most flashy, I'd buy a decent home but not a mansion (I don't need a 10 bed home, I'd just get a nicer version of what I have now - 3 beds but maybe detached and in a nicer area).
Basically I'd upgrade my life a little but I wouldn't go wild. I don't see the value in the conspicuously wealthy lifestyle - I'd see money as buying freedom but I wouldn't want to be wasteful, and I wouldn't want to be a target for criminals or leeches.
And the rest i'd start puting to good causes. That would probably be conservation charities, green charities, social projects I believe in. Id want to use it to create some kind of legacy even if anonymous - for me that would be something that meaningfully improved the world in some small but realistic way.
Basically I'd be very boring, stay anonymous and try and make relatively small but meaningful changes to my life and those I love.
You think you would get to live in the same place with no one knowing you won the $1B lottery? Interesting.
Me, I would go to a top law firm and see a senior partner about getting out of being publicized. Have them set up sale of property and disconnect my phone lines and internet accounts after creating new unknown ones. I would have the lawyers present the ticket for me through various layers of holding companies and trusts, but I would be a ghost for awhile. The legal team would make sure all family members got some money with a nice non disclosure agreement. Immediate family would have my contact information with a request to never disclose. All money Would be dispersed between several low fee brokerages where I would invest in a combination of treasury backed securities, short term CDs, total stock market ETFs, and cash would be dispersed between several high interest savings accounts. I would be unreachable for 6 months while News died down.
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