Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

What would I do with a million dollars, asks Danielle of Pink Internet Marketing?

I’m going to assume that the million bucks arrived all at once, and is tax free. I’m also going to answer this in an egocentric fashion—that is to say, what I would do if it were all up to me, which in the real world it isn’t, which in the real world is perfectly fine, fair and normal. :)

You know, I’d quite like to be a millionaire, but not a multi-millionaire. I can’t imagine much more than a million dollars: even that amount seems unfathomable while also somehow strangely within reach. I’m not a get-rich-quick kind of person and yet there’s part of me that craves that kind of financial security, too.

So let’s say it happens. The knock comes on the door, and Brad the Alien presents me with a gigantic check to spend. What would I do?

Well, I would get online and print A Certain List. Then I would rush down to the nearest games store and buy every possible product for Dungeons and Dragons, crossing things off that list. Then I would go to Borders and B&N and buy what was missing, and finally would mop up the rest at Amazon–probably used. That would get the frivolity out of the way and give me the one day of my life which I spent shopping entirely for books.

What can I say? I haven’t rpg’ed for years and years–but I love the artwork, the source material, and think the game is awesome.

Then my pragmatic circuitry would kick in. There would be a couple of IOUs to take care of. I would find an insurance agent who could set us up with health insurance without having to do cartwheels and deal with idiots. After that, it would be our turn.

Invested carefully, this money would be enough to live off for the rest of our years. But it must be invested. If I live, say, another 50 years, that would mean I could only spend $20,000 a year from my nest egg. (I calculated this on the whole million–this is fantasy land, after all.) We can do better than that. The FDIC insures an account up to $100,000, so I would therefore set up ten certificates of deposit for $100,000 each. The period would depend on what interest rate they gave. I would be looking for a minimum of a 5% return before tax. I might toss some into a money market account, too, or invest a tenth in stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Capital gains tax is a bit nicer than alternative minimum, which you can be sure I would be paying if all my income came from interest.

Quite frankly, I don’t need much: I’m much more into experiences than stuff. This would give us an income of some $60,000 a year. 28% would be eaten by the AMT, but still leaves $43k–that’s still a lot of money for not doing much of anything.

Our main large purchase would be a nice (used) toy hauler RV, the biggest and “cleanest” one for the best money. Nevermore would we need to tow, unless we decided to take our minivan along. Our housing needs would be taken care of forever.

Whatever was left over could be used in pleasing ways. Much of it would be reinvested. I have always wanted to sponsor twelve children, not just four. I could visit the UK more often–attend birthdays, for example, just go for a week. I could splurge a little and get the seats with extra legroom. Or I would use airmiles for upgrades instead of actual flights. I could attend Book Crossing conventions in London and New Zealand.

There would be travel. Lots and lots of travel. I would motorcycle in Slovenia and I would find every state-owned heritage place in all of the British Isles. I would ride the TT route. There would be lots of landmark-hunting. I would make a career from travel, writing and landmark-hunting. I could publish all the books I wanted whether I broke even or not.

There would be better laptops. I would never, ever have to work on my own bike again. I have absolutely no intention of ever stopping writing, so I would continue. With the extra income, I could help people in my family, be able to afford to send packages over there, and I could be a small-time benefactor, volunteer, advocate for the environment. I might be able to hire someone to help with admin and if I were living in an actual house I might hire a house cleaner. (I balk at hiring an RV cleaner.)

I believe that life is to be lived. I do that anyway. With a million bucks, I would probably do it even more. I hesitate to say “on a grander scale” because I don’t mean that: the idea of a $120/plate charity dinner still strikes me as overly showy and extravagent (there are better ways to donate one’s money and time). I just mean I would do more of the same stuff I have always done. A lot more. And I would feel, every day of my life, very lucky indeed.

Mind you, I do anyway.

I don’t know whom to tag for this. So I’ll do this, instead. If you think it’s interesting–tag, you’re it. Let me know and I’ll take a look.

Just a few random posts

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• Are you a blogging biker? (10)
• 29 October 2003 (0)
• Fly! Be free! (0)
• Photo of the Week: Strange (0)

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