The husband and I don’t regularly play the lottery, but when the winnings reach into the hundreds of millions we sometimes go and invest in one ticket and begin dreaming. How would our lives change if we suddenly became millionaires?

First of all, we believe in giving to charity and do so consistently. Ten percent of our winnings would be divided among our favorite charities. Secondly, we’d put all those “to do” projects around the house on the fast track, and we’d probably resurrect those projects we’d like to do (a shop for the husband), but have been buried on the “not realistic in the foreseeable future” list.  Then we’d want to help our son and daughter-in-law rid themselves of college loans.

Okay, what’s next? It would probably be smart to set up some investments that would cover our living expenses for the next 40 years, (yes, I’m optimistic we’re both going to live a long life) and we’ve always wanted to set up a charity. Of course we’d want to be generous with family and take some trips, maybe upgrade to a newer MDX (mine is a 2007, but has low miles, so it’s not a priority). However, even after doing that, we could still have an enormous amount of money unallocated.

I don’t think we can even imagine how much a million dollars is, let alone hundreds of millions. How in the world do people who win big find themselves broke a few years later?

It’s highly doubtful we will ever have the personal opportunity to discover what it’s like to manage a large amount of winnings. However, we’d like to think that while our lives would change – that’s inevitable – fundamentally, we would not. Deep down we’re committed to enjoying the simple things in life that can’t be purchased, like the contentment of just spending time together. I’d say we’re already winners!