One can only dream

[Boho-Soul]

I would expect most of you had future plans and dreams that dissolved when your spouse passed away. Mine did. Maybe you even had thoughts and dreams of what it would be like if you and your loved one were lucky enough to win the lottery. My Michael and I thought and dreamt about what we’d do if we won LottoMax (a lottery in my country).

Our plan was to build our LottoMax retirement home (a modest layout we initially designed), and homes for the kids on a large acreage. We’d also hire a cleaner, a chef to cook nutritious meals, and have a personal trainer/yoga instructor to keep us fit as we moved into retirement. Michael would quit work and dive more into his music, and I'd spend my time gardening and writing my novels. We also planned to donate funds to meaningful charities. If I won the lottery now I’d still do everything I mentioned.

Questions: What would you do if you won the lottery now? Would it involve dreams you shared with your loved one? Would you move? If so, where?

[nashreed]

Hmmm.... Interesting. Well, you can't win the Lotto if you don't play (and I spend all my free $ on CD's).... but if I won....

It would depend if my Mom was still here. I imagine I would buy a lot for her (she's always wanting something ), including a new house. I would imagine she would want to stay in the area. If she was gone, I might move to Georgia and be close to Annette's sister- the only person who remotely likes me and considers me family. My brother....ugh. I have to love him but he drives me absolutely insane. 

Needless to say I would buy a $50,000 stereo. 

[scba]

Letting aside buying a home (don't know where tbh)

and if there's enough money to stop working...

What I would do is to pay the tuition fee to study abroad. I would get degrees in all the fields I'm interested in.

[Boho-Soul]

2 hours ago, nashreed said:

Needless to say I would buy a $50,000 stereo. 

Wow, that's some stereo system James! It could make for some epic parties, even if was just for you. Rock on 🤘🏼

[Sad_Widower]

Nice thread. 

I used to be an avid angler (bass-fishing). Ever since I can remember. We live near several lakes, but I never had a boat. So about 15 years ago I bought a boat. I remember when I discussed buying it, my wife came to me later that night and said, "Honey, I think you should buy it. You work hard and I know its been your life-long dream to have a boat. You have talked about it since I first met you.." 

So I bought it, and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I went out literally every day (weekday evenings) and early on the weekends. 

One weekday, I had the day off, and of course was on the lake. I came across another gentleman who was on his boat, by himself. He was about 65-70's tears old. I'd seen him a few times but never spoke with him. This time, we pulled our boats next to each other and talked shop for about30 minutes.. He told me came out each morning. It was about noon, and he said, "Well...I need to get home or my wife will get mad I missed lunch she made for me"

As he boated off, I watched him and thought to myself...I want that to be ME in 25-30 years. I can't wait to retire, get up early, come out on the lake, fish for 5-6 hours, then go home and enjoy a nice lunch with my wife. Just thinking about it made me content. 

Ironically about 18 months later I noticed something. I was out on the boat too much. My wife was not outdoorsy, so she only went a few times. My son was young, he could only take it for a few hours...so 80% of the time it was just me. I thought to myself, "I'm enjoying this too much." So I sold it, with the intentions when the kids moved out I would buy another one. 

The thing is, just thinking about fishing now makes me cry. There is no way I will ever fish again. Simply because I will not enjoy it. It makes me realize one of the things I enjoyed most about fishing, was coming home to my beautiful family. I know that might nowt make sense, but it's how I feel.

Of course, my wife passed just days before we were to become empty-nesters. We had so many plans to travel and just enjoy each other. We were living in our dream home, and my wife was making plans to remodel the kids' rooms so that whenever one e of our parents widowed they could come live with us. 

Then it all stopped. Literally. Her clothes are still in the hamper. Her soaps, body washes and loofas are still in the shower. her nightstand has not been touched, etc. I was really hoping my family would come and take all of her stuff (as they did with each of my grandparents), but all they did for me is organize her funeral and hand me the bill. I didn't mind just thought it was tacky. I always thought assumed families pitched in and took care of funeral expenses for the spouse, especially when they are extremely wealthy like her parents. Now I know. 

[Boho-Soul]

That’s a heart-felt story about your boat. Your family’s reaction still astounds me 😳

Hey Sad, curious to know. What would you do if you won the lottery? 

[Sad_Widower]

3 hours ago, Boho-Soul said:

Hey Sad, curious to know. What would you do if you won the lottery? 

I completely forgot to mention the lottery aspect. 

First I don’t really play.  I’m not against it, but I remember a friend of mine once said “it’s just a tax for those who don’t know statistics”…so was always careful about spending much money on it.  However I would get them for the family as stocking stuffers and the such….just never played on a regular basis. 

To that end, my grandfather (whom I was closer to and loved more than ANY family member) used played it religiously. He had it all figured out what he would do had he won and I loved talking to him about it (he’d get so happy laying out his entire game plan)  ha ha  

When I was little, he’d give me a ticket and say “Go down to the store and see if it won anything…if so put the money in your pocket and don’t tell anyone.”

More often then not I would win $20 or so. It was weird. One day,
I overheard my grandmother telling my mom my grandfather always new the results from the morning paper, and would give me any winning ticket (acting like he didn’t know the results). He was a good man, I can tell you. [Sigh]

To that end, I promised God at an early age, should I ever be fortunate to win it, I would give 1/2 to charity.  So half of it would go a charity.  The rest? Well honestly I would keep it. You might wonder about my kids but a few things:
1. They are already set for life.  My parents won’t be leaving me anything (which is fine…I’m self-made anyway), so the kids will be getting their large house they own plus all their assets (which I imagine is quite a bit).  

2. Plus they currently have everything they need, but know I would give them the shirt off my back if they needed.  

So I would keep the second half and use it to live off when I move overseas. Anything left over they would get. 

Honestly, I am pretty low maintenance.  I mentioned that yes, I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have a lucrative career (was
simply in the right industry at the right time), but money means little to me now that I am alone.  I’m pretty much saving all of it for my move. 
My wife was the one who drove
me to success (she liked money—for sure) so anything I achieved I did for my family. I shutter to think what I would have ended up doing had I not had a family at an early age.