Your standard lottery winning scenario, with a twist!!

[MammothBlade]

You have outright won £3 million GBP or its equivalent ($4,800,000 USD) - completely tax-free. However, there are two absolute conditions:

1. You may not earn any money again. This whole amount + your existing assets are the final amount of money you have for your entire lifetime. No loans, no interest, no inheritance, no nothing. You can work, but it has to be for free[sup]1[/sup].
2. If you run out of money or intentionally try to deceive the lottery organisation, you will be terminated by elite assassins the next working day.

You can choose to accept the money and the conditions, or you can choose to decline with no negative effect.

If you accept: what will you do with the money?

If you decline: why?

(I'll reply later)

[sup]1: Conditions apply to spouse too[/sup]

 

[Marter]

I'd accept. That would be enough money to live comfortably enough, assuming you're not someone who needs tons of luxuries. Buy a moderately sized house/condo with no mortgage, use the rest for living expenses. If you end up marrying, presumably your spouse can earn some money, so use that as supplemental to what you already have in reserve.

Is the $4.8 million tax free, though? That might change the answer for some people.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I could easily live of three million quid for the rest of my life.

I don't care for a big home or flashy cars.

Also...

[HEADING=1]Buy all the games![/HEADING]

 

[Lionsfan]

I would decline. My existing assets right now is about 4800 bucks, andw while 4.8 million would be useful, I dunno if that could last me for the rest of my life (I'm 20 right now)

 

[Psykoma]

Suppose you have a spouse
Would they be allowed to keep earning money?

 

[WolfThomas]

Can I buy property and rent them out? Buy property renovate it and sell it later? If I could do either without being assassinated I would. If not probably pass.

 

[JoJo]

I'd accept the deal. Even if I live until I'm 100 (80 years from now) which is unlikely, then according to my laptop's calculator I'll have £37500 to live on a year, which is a lot for doing nothing.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Build a house in the country, zombie-proof it, build a greenhouse inside the zombie-proof walls, install lots of solar panels and make sure I live by a creek/forest as well. Get a nice survival kit/setup going, then buy a huge tv, better computers, and enjoy. You're prouce a lot of your own food/electricity/maybe even water if it's set up right, so costs would be pretty low.

Initial costs would probably be a couple million, but after that it wouldn't be much more than a few hundred bucks a month.

 

[hazabaza1]

Sounds good to me. Sign me up!

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Yeah, I'd do it. Besides a decent house and car, all I'd really buy with it are small things like music albums, books, video games, films, prostitutes etc. Should be more than enough to live pretty comfortably.

 

[Esotera]

Unless you're earning something in excess of £250,000 a year, then you'd be pretty stupid not to take it. Currently I survive on around £10k a year when everything is added up, so I'd spend maybe a million of it on a nice property in the countryside, and just live off the interest for the rest of my life. I might end up using it to fund some research if I got bored.

 

[Quinadin]

Alright Americans, That's $5,000 a month which is five time more than I make now working minimum wage 40 hours a week. I think I'll take the offer with gratitude.

(quick edit) By that I mean $5,000 a month for eighty years.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Yeah, I'm down with that. More than I'd likely be able to spend in that time, really.

 

[Heronblade]

I would decline. My existing assets right now is about 4800 bucks, andw while 4.8 million would be useful, I dunno if that could last me for the rest of my life (I'm 20 right now)

Let me put it this way, assuming that the lottery winnings in question are after taxes, if you had a job that paid $100,000 a year (the average in the US is closer to fifty), and lost 20% of that to income taxes (again fairly generous), you'd have to work for 60 years straight without wasting any of that amount to equal the above lump sum. You'd better hope it would last you the rest of your life, because depending on your career, you almost certainly will not make as much on your own.

OT: I'd accept. My chosen career might get me close to that kind of income, but even if everything goes perfectly and I work my arse off for it, its only a chance.

As for what I'd do, I'd likely finish my schooling and go freelance. Do work I enjoy on my own terms while ruling over a nonprofit company and spending my personal money responsibly.

 

[MammothBlade]

Is the $4.8 million tax free, though? That might change the answer for some people.

Yes. Free of all direct tax.

Suppose you have a spouse
Would they be allowed to keep earning money?

Oh, this was overlooked. Yes, your spouse has to abide by the contract too. Other family members, no.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I'd take it, but stay single. I figure with that amount of assets and free time, I could do something cool and productive that I like (or just fuck around for 60 years).

 

[DJ_DEnM]

I would, and I'd find how much I'd need to put aside to live comfortably for the rest of my life without it getting stolen. The rest of the money would go into personal expenses and shopping sprees.

 

[renegade7]

I'd accept. That would be enough money to live comfortably enough, assuming you're not someone who needs tons of luxuries. Buy a moderately sized house/condo with no mortgage, use the rest for living expenses. If you end up marrying, presumably your spouse can earn some money, so use that as supplemental to what you already have in reserve.

Is the $4.8 million tax free, though? That might change the answer for some people.

Realistically, it would be heavily taxed because it is in the highest income bracket. The income tax alone would hit you for around 50%.

 

[Calibanbutcher]

Nope, no deal.
Make that 30.000.000 and we have a deal though.