I have no debt, no wife, no kids and very little extended family. I have to take care of myself, my mom and my brother. This should be easy.
$1 Million for Stuff
— House for myself. Bungalow in a neighborhood like Albany Park or Old Irving Park. Spend around $250-300K on the house and $100-150k on the renovation. I've always wanted to restore a place, and this gives me something to do with all of my newfound free time. (Total=$400K)
— Houses for my mom and brother. I'd buy land in my mom's home town, so she would be close to her family. I'd build two modest houses (1200-1400 square feet). Land and labor are incredibly cheap where I'm from. The total here seems really low, but trust me, it's not. (Total=$400K)
— Cars. I need three cars for myself, my mom and my brother. I'd buy used. (Total=$125K).
— Clothes, furniture, housewares, etc. Nothing crazy in terms of clothes. I don't need bespoke. Brooks Brothers is about as expensive as I'm going. And I'm living in a turn-of-the-century bungalow, so I don't have a lot of room for furniture. In both case, I'd spend more on quality than quantity. (Total=$75K)
$2 Million for Charity
— Establish a non-profit. I don't want to just hand the money over to a charity. I'm a control freak, so I need to know where the money's going. I'd probably do something with food or education. Something that combined the two would be perfect. Maybe, we get local, fresh food into public schools while also setting up nutrition education programs (field trips, classroom visits from farmers, setting up school gardens). We could start in a couple of schools and then expand it.
— The $2M is just start up costs. My "job" would be to run the foundation and raise money for it, and I'm not taking a salary.
— I'm not paying taxes on the $10M. Giving back 20% seems low, but it's a start.
$7 Million for Investment
— I'd probably need to get in touch with HHM (or whatever he's called these days), but I would invest the remaining money in a way that I would never have to touch the principal. I would have no debt, so I would just need money for things like property taxes, maintenance, insurance and living expenses. Even a modest return would give me $350K a year. Any money that was left over at the end of the year would get reinvested.
I don't like having a lot of things. I put more value on experience and security, so this would work for me. I could eat well, drink well and take a couple of long vacations a year, and I'd be doing work that I felt good about. I'd also have enough money to set up a trust and education fund for my kid(s) if that ever happens.
