What Would You Do With A MILLION Dollars?

I just thought about it when I remembered watching Beauty and the Geek (Season 1) last week. One of them ended up paying for his student loans, and the other half wanted to buy boots and (if I caught it right) a trip to somewhere with her boyfriend. Its not a one million dollar cash prize, but its still money that came to your doorstep conveniently at (almost) a flash.

I suppose each of us has our own way of using our money. In my book, there are three types of people that can be classified according to this:
1. The ultimate consumer who will spend their money to buy/payoff for consumer goods (houses, cars, clothes, travel)
2. Hoard it into your savings account.
3. The shrewed money making investor who will invest his money into money earning ventures like stocks, bonds, equities and investments

Given the chance, each and every one of us is a combination of these three, in varying degrees.

The easiest and most popular one is the first option. We've lived our lives as children to teenagers to young adults being exposed to spending money when it reaches our hands: A weekly allowance is handed to you, and you spend it on lunch money. Occasionally you'd spend it on candies or junk foods, or ongoing fads or hobbies like comics, card games, etc. At an earlier age, you don't think much about the future.. you first think about what you need, NOW. And so that trait gets stuck to our perception of what money is, and by the time you're older, the habit would've stuck. You would usually end up using the money to buy things you need, and more often than not, also buy the things that you WANT.

The second option is also pretty popular, although for someone who's likely to have received a million dollars, there would also likely have a high profile media campaign. I mean, if not, than at least news of that would be going around the extended family... How to say no to an uncle who's badly in debt and will be evicted with the rest of the family by the end of the week? But lets just say its an idea world, and you end up placing your earnings into you savings account. Keep it safe from harm - just like when you were small and placing change into that little piggy bank. Good enough...

The third option is one that we learn when we're older and more "mature". This doesn't come out naturally at first, because it doesn't address the concept of money exchange in the way that we understood it when we were just first grade schoolers. There's a bit more background to put up before completely understanding how it works. There's the concept of devaluation, economics, inflation, government policies and tax laws... you know. All those boring stuff you avoided when you were probably in highschool. I know I did. Take compounding. Although I knew it was a sweet concept to begin with, I hated the idea of memorizing the formula ... if I could get away with it, I would steer clear. I would even get to the point of answering all the math questions... except the ones I knew were related to compounding (yes, I know, I was quite stubborn) But the third option, if there was really no urgent need to use the money, would be the best option to put your money into good use. Because it will likely generate more money for you, than compared to having to spend it immediately and losing everything, or leaving it in a savings account where the interest is absurdly low (or none at all).

Now, the question is, if it was me, what would be my course of action upon receiving the money?

After reading the first part, you might say, "Its pretty obvious that the most logical one is to choose the third option". But its not as easy as that. Life always gets in the way. What of the uncle who desperately needs money to pay off medical bills to continue medication for his wife or children who's suffering from cancer and ongoing chemotherapy treatments? Would you refuse to give them the money? What if it meant having to be nice enough to give them the WHOLE one million dollars?

So now we have a fourth factor/option that we have to consider: Values.

This final one would make a mess in an otherwise perfectly logical choice. It makes things very, very troublesome and complicated. Would you rather sacrifice your integrity (assuming you are a good person) by not giving any money to your uncle, and hope that your investments will earn more money so that you can help him for the next coming years in case if still needed them? Or would you rather sacrifice your own hope for building a future for yourself by handing over the whole wad to your uncle? I suppose you'd be a hero... but really. Heroes also need some money to eat... for now, and in the future.

I thought about this question, and I actually had a bit of dilemma. My family is relatively ok.. there's no shortage of money, but it doesn't mean we're filthy rich either. So I don't have to worry about family. But I do get soft hearted when it comes to hunger, poverty and oppression around the world. I'm idealistic, so I hate hearing news about people dying off because of government negligence. So given the chance that I had a million dollars to begin with, do I start investing the money, and start earning so I can make more money to help people in the future, or do I just dump it to charitable causes? (If I don't, I'd feel guilty for indirectly not helping out when I could've..)

Don't get me wrong, I won't be suckered into giving money to just anyone. If I had my way, I'd go ahead to do something charitable, instead of just providing the financial backing. I like hands on experience. But what to do when faced with something like that? I have been thinking about it occasionally. I mean, the problem isn't really there, and I'm probably making problems for myself than anything, but it is an interesting thought to consider. Just in case.

*sigh* Money certainly puts a heavy weight on your shoulders.

So, how about you? How would you handle YOUR million dollars?