If I Had A Million Dollars

What would happen if tomorrow somebody gave you the gift of one million dollars?

Maybe it’s an inheritance, or the generosity of a rich relative. Maybe it comes from a close friend, or some random stranger. It doesn’t matter. Whoever it is hands you a million dollars, tells you it’s yours, and that they’ve made sure the taxes are taken care of.

A million dollars with no strings attached.

Think about it. Just imagine for a moment.

My wife and I discussed it, and here’s what we would do:

1. …give 10% to our church as an offering. ($100,000)
2. …pay off our mortgage and be finally, completely debt free. ($55,000)
3. …set an outrageous budget for an amazing vacation or two. ($50,000)
4. …set up a modest college fund for each of our three kids. ($100,000)
5. …invest the rest. ($695,000)

What would you do? What could you do with one million dollars?

It’s funny. A million sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t. A few more lines on that list above and the amount left to invest would be significantly reduced. But why not buy a bigger house, brand new cars, a new wardrobe, nicer furniture, a big TV, new computers, etc.? With a million dollars you could definitely afford it all, and you’d feel rich.

The problem is, you wouldn’t actually be rich. You would have stuff, but not wealth.

Fun fact: $40,000 is about ten grand less than the average median household income here in the U.S.. If you earned only that for 25 years, a total of a million dollars will have passed through your bank account. Which means just about every one of us will earn a million dollars or more in our working lifetime.

And just like the scenario above, each one of us needs to be asking ourselves what we’re going to do with it. We should be planning where it’s going to go and how we’ll make the most of it. Sadly, we don’t. Instead we borrow to get the bigger house, brand new cars, a big TV…been there, done that.

So, what are you going todo with your million dollars?

One more thought: While it would be awesome to get a million dollars as a gift, wouldn’t it be that much more so to be the person who was giving it away?

[image from publicdomainpictures.net]