
Ask HN: What did you do when you suddenly got rich? - ThrowHitJackpot
My company just went through a transaction that increased my net worth by &gt;$5M.<p>When this happened to you - what did you do?  How did you handle it?  What did you buy and what kind of financial planning&#x2F;investments did you make?
======
jasonhong
\- Maxed out insurance (home, car)

\- Set aside a large amount for taxes, invested it in US Treasury Bond (get an
estimate of your taxes from an accountant)

\- Got an accountant

\- Read up on QSBS (this can save you a lot of money if you got stock when the
company was small enough)

\- Got a last will and testament drafted and signed. Also asked our probate
lawyer about stupid things people do with money, so as to avoid those
mistakes.

\- Got a financial planner. Also asked about stupid things people do. (At your
scale, probably ok to just do standard ETFs and bonds. Note that don't buy in
all at once, diversify not just the investments but also by time, so you're
not buying all into the stock market at once. This also gives you time to
think and reflect about how you want to use your money and what legacy you
want, while also getting some returns on investments)

\- Set up a donor advised fund (you can donate stock directly to one and get a
big tax break)

\- Made a donation and got something cool named after two of my long time
mentors

\- Read book Silver Spoon Kids on how to talk to one's children about money
(our financial advisor gave this to us)

\- Read a lot about wealth and power in the United States, in particular
sociologist and psychologist William Domhoff's "Who Rules America?"
[https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/wealth.html](https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/wealth.html)
(I stumbled on this by accident, but found it a fascinating read)

Time is on your side here, so don't rush into anything. I was really lucky to
have a brother who already had high net worth, so he was able to give a lot of
guidance and discussion of tradeoffs.

~~~
roenxi
> Maxed out insurance (home, car)

This isn't a problem I'm ever likely to deal with, but what was the thinking
behind this one? I'd have thought >$1 mil in net worth is the time to _cancel_
any insurance you have (maybe not health) on the basis that you can self
insure now.

~~~
meritt
It's absolutely not about the replacement cost of stuff. It's about protecting
your assets from lawsuits.

~~~
dennisgorelik
Insurance makes lawsuits against property it covers -- more likely, because
insurance increases chances of plaintiff to get paid.

------
mixmastamyk
Standard advice:

\- Set aside money to pay taxes FIRST.

\- Invest in mostly conservative instruments, as if you were a retiree.

\- Keep a small position in risky stuff to capture some growth and get it out
of your system.

\- Diversify

\- Keep quiet about it, don't get talked into crazy investment schemes. Think
"old money" rather than "new money."

\- Treat yourself a bit, recognize when you've hit "enough." i.e. more doesn't
bring happiness. The number is lower than most realize.

\- Remember mom, and others instrumental in your success. Everyone else can
apply to your scholarship foundation, haha.

If your expenses are "reasonable" you could live off interest/dividends for
the rest of your life. Donating time and charity to whatever causes you see
fit.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
Agree re: put money away for taxes - I've made the mistake of not doing that
in the past and it leads to more problems.

As for conservative - general plan is to put enough money into 3-fund
portfolio to be 'set for life' \- then be a bit more aggressive with the rest.
Agree with diversify. Keeping quiet is good - agree re: think like old money.

I do need to figure out how to treat a bit. Today we decided to splurge on
$120/visit weekly housekeeping - too extravagant?

I plan to work for the next 30 years because I like it. I'm around 40 - but
we'll see how it all goes.

~~~
mixmastamyk
> too extravagant?

Doesn't sound too bad if you've got millions. Those little things add up
though in the long term. Just ask MC Hammer. ;-)

------
Animats
Most people who get a lot of money all at once blow through it in 7 years.
There are many broke lottery winners and NFL players.

$5M is not rich today. $5m is a lifetime of moderate income if you're really
careful.

The classic advice was that you could spend 4% of your net worth per year.
Today, it's probably only 3%. Yields are lower.

You don't have to do anything immediately. You can park it in T-bills,
brokered CDs up to the FDIC limit, and big index funds.

Any investment where they call you is lousy. If it was any good, it wouldn't
have paid marketers.

Avoid financial advisers who want you to trade a lot. Trading for individual
investors is, overall, a lose.

Don't buy a restaurant.

~~~
rambojazz
> Don't buy a restaurant.

I'm curious about this. Could you please explain more?

~~~
muzani
I almost bought a restaurant. Even the good ones like McDonald's aren't great.
They're a lot of hard work to keep alive, very low profit margins, easily
influenced by little things like 6% tax.

It's the kind of thing you put half a million dollars into and earns about
$10k/month on average, loses $10k/month on a bad month, and teases you with
the possibility of making $100k/month on paper.

It also requires a lot of accounting and dealing with minimum wage workers who
have to be trained in basic etiquette, like not sleeping during rush hour and
not throwing drinks at rude customers. Which is not really the niche for many
of us.

~~~
jaclaz
I would respectfully disagree on the categorizing of McDonald's as
"restaurant" (let alone "good").

~~~
matt_s
I suspect muzani was referring to it as an investment vehicle, not a rating on
the food.

How often do you see a McDonalds closing for good?

~~~
jaclaz
>I suspect muzani was referring to it as an investment vehicle, not a rating
on the food.

>How often do you see a McDonalds closing for good?

Ow, come on, he posted:

>I almost bought a restaurant. Even the good ones like McDonald's aren't
great.

It can be read both ways, one of which sounds (to me at least) funny.

However if we are going to be picky, a McDonalds (or better a McDonalds you
can actually buy) is a franchise:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchising)

and whilst McDonalds (the parent company) isn't going to close for good, I
know people that managed to lose money attempting to run similar franchises.

In such a setup, all the technology, the supplies and the marketing (besides
quality standards and training of personnel) come from the franchisor, so the
"added value" by the franchisee is relatively low, and compensated
accordingly.

Some data (maybe accurate, maybe not):

[https://work.chron.com/average-income-fast-food-franchise-
ow...](https://work.chron.com/average-income-fast-food-franchise-
owners-24587.html)

~~~
muzani
I meant "restaurant" as a system that converts raw food into money.

McDonald's, franchise or not, counts. Though to my understanding, they're not
doing the franchise model as much anymore and are managing it themselves
instead.

The linked article supports my view and is actually a little more profitable
than expected. It quotes _20%_ net profit, which is amazing when most of the
restaurants I see make close to 0% net profit.

Franchises add quite a lot of value. The hardest things in running a
restaurant are marketing, product development & training, and supply chain.
They supply all of these. If you want 'passive' income, franchises are the the
closest thing to it.

~~~
jaclaz
>Franchises add quite a lot of value. The hardest things in running a
restaurant are marketing, product development & training, and supply chain.
They supply all of these. If you want 'passive' income, franchises are the the
closest thing to it.

Yep, the whole point is that "they" decide (and can calculate at the third
decimal point, remember it is "their" business and "they" have decades of
experience in it) how much is what you bring home.

A "franchise" is also the closest thing to being between a rock and a hard
place, you have more or less fixed prices (sale prices) and fixed (by them)
costs, the only variables you can somehow manage is volume of sales (and it
depends mostly or more than anything else on location) and personnel costs
(which is anyway in most countries regulated by Law).

------
northwest65
\- Paid off the mortgage \- Bought another section, built an ideal house on
that over a couple of years \- Went to Disney World, took the nieces and
nephews to Disneyland (yeah, I'm still cheap) \- Sent mum to the UK for a
holiday

10/10 would slave away at a startup again (actually that's a lie, once was
enough). We didn't owe any money other than the original mortgage, so there
wasn't really anything else pressing to spend it on. Already owned a number of
guns, motorcycles, and a basic sports car. No real plans to spend the rest,
it's in the bank/bonds.

Basically I'm still living the life I always have, I just have a giant
workshop now in which to play with my toys and pursue my hobbies. I think if
this had happened 15 to 20 years earlier in my life, I'd be looking at things
differently, but at this point I just plan to retire a bit earlier than I
would have and not change much else. My father was also very savvy
financially, I suspect he would have some pertinent ideas.

I now work for a small company as an integral cog in a relatively low pressure
environment. I get to build things every day, come and go as I please, and my
contributions are respected and valued. It's lovely :-)

~~~
simonebrunozzi
Paying the mortgage is usually a bad idea. Assuming we are taking about the
US, mortgage interests are tax deductible up to 750k (there are also
deductions in most other countries), you already paid the mortgage origination
fee, and usually you pay an interest rate that is not too high (if it is, you
should consider renegotiating your mortgage, rather than paying it off).

~~~
kmano8
From a pure math perspective, sure. But clearing the mental weight of a
mortgage off your list of liabilities has value in itself to a lot of people.

------
ninefigs
A couple years ago I came into about $200M (seriously), and let slip more than
I should.

Really it just turns every conversation into a roundabout request for money.
People are definitely nice to you and ask you onto all kinds of boards, funds,
etc.. but it’s a hassle. You start to worry a little bit at least about
personal security, especially if you have kids. You also worry about ruining
them forever. (Also, watch out for temptation that could ruin your happy
family life... suddenly you’re extra “attractive” it seems.)

On the bright side, you can try and get really big projects done, Elon musk-
style. Just knowing you have the money helps a lot in getting meetings,
raising more money, etc.

I’d just put it all in an s+p 500 index fund. Though of course I haven’t
followed my own advice. I wouldn’t worry too much about dripping it in either,
maybe put half in over a month and the rest over six months. Long term you’re
pretty likely to wish you’d invested sooner rather than later.

Set up some estate planning stuff and buy a model 3!

~~~
Johnny555
_I’d just put it all in an s+p 500 index fund_

That's a lot of money to invest in the health of one country's stock market --
a successful terrorist attack (think a dirty bomb in NYC or even multiple
cities) could wipe out a significant portion of that overnight - it will
likely recover eventually (as it did after 9/11), but that's a time when
you'll want access to your money

I'd diversify across countries, and maybe precious metals.

~~~
refurb
Many of the companies on the S&P500 are global businesses whose value is based
only partially on the US market.

Also, if something big happens in the US (9/11), stock markets tend to take a
hit globally.

That said, I’d still diversify into a few international indexes.

------
throwaway848311
Congrats! I'm in similar situation couple of years ahead of you. There are
good recommendations about the practical side of things in this thread. I like
the bogleheads approach of simple index investing.

The actual transition was thrilling for me especially because I never
anticipated that my life would still change once more at this age. The joke is
of course as I had heard before, but never truly believed, that actually
nothing changes. I wish the possibility of finding out that money really does
not make you happy to as many people as possible.

I refrained from doing anything for almost two years. First big thing I did
after that was to stop paying rent and got a decent apartment. Most sensible
things to do with money are incredibly boring. And the fun things lose some of
their charm if they become really affordable and common. The whole thing
hinges on desire to have something you can't reach.

So the choices are to either up your game or decide that maybe this is enough.
For me the jump was so big that my hedonic treadmill maybe got damaged.

I never was so materialistic, but I used to maybe value experiences and dream
about ability to set my own schedules. Now I'm afraid that those as well are a
mirage. Just a trendy pastime for people like me who have had always quite
easy life.

I think the less known secret about money is that nothing needs to be done
about it.

Sorry to everyone reading who are in a tough spot. I am aware that this is
super tonedeaf.

~~~
somberi
Quoting Dalai Lama's reply to a question by a journalist about if Dalai Lama
would counsel a rich or a poor person - "Rich person, of course. They know
wealth does not change anything."

Warren Buffett Quote: “Money is not everything. Make sure you earn a lot
before speaking such nonsense.”

------
whitepoplar
1)
[https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Managing_a_windfall](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Managing_a_windfall)
(the Bogleheads community is _great_ )

2) Read this book: [https://www.amazon.com/Investors-Manifesto-Prosperity-
Armage...](https://www.amazon.com/Investors-Manifesto-Prosperity-Armageddon-
Everything-ebook/dp/B002U3CBY8) (or anything else by Bernstein, for that
matter)

3) Try to steer clear of people/firms who want to manage your money for a
hefty percentage fee. They're one step above crooks, sometimes not even. In
the wise words of John Bogle, "you get what you don't pay for."

Good luck, and congratulations!

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
Very familiar w/ Bogleheads and agree that it's a great resource. Will check
out the book.

The advisor I'm looking at is 0.35%-0.7% depending on lots of things. Is that
'hefty?' The Bogleheads mentality is certainly that one can do it themselves.
I'd like to believe that this particular RIA is plugged in to certain
investment opportunities, but not sure it's worth the risk. If I did do that,
I might allocate 10% of post-tax money to speculative things like private
investments etc.

~~~
elamje
From what I understand, private funds, especially hedge funds traditionally
charge 2% of assets under management and 20% of profit.

As far as financial advisors go, that doesn’t sound insane, but remember if
the advisor is investing your money into mutual funds, etfs, private equity,
or hedge funds, those will each charge a nice fee on top of that seemingly
small .35%.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
Good point. However, as I understand it Vanguard's funds have < 0.2%
management fee, so hopefully smaller than .35, e.g.
[https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/fees](https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/fees)

But you're right. If manager charges 0.5% and fund charges 0.2% I'm still
losing 0.5% of principal and 0.2% of my gains per year.

I don't see a reason for hedge funds. In my mind those are folks who have a
proprietary edge on the market due to location, information, or experience.

To me, private equity ("PE") are folks who know how to reshape companies.

I spent a fair bit of time working w/ and for and sort of as a VC - that is a
fun lifestyle but their risk adjusted and fee adjusted return is not
impressive:

[http://www.industryventures.com/2017/02/07/the-venture-
capit...](http://www.industryventures.com/2017/02/07/the-venture-capital-risk-
and-return-matrix/)

The weighted average of table "Early Stage Venture Returns" shows about 2.5X
on money with an assumed period of 10 years.

That's about 10%. When I invested $400k in venture capital in 2000 [timing...]
it was worth $250k total return by 2018 - so not as great.

~~~
elamje
This is true about vanguard fees being low. Ideally your advisor would only
use Vanguard, but if they try to get you diversified into more exotic etfs or
mutual funds, expect to pay a fee closer to 1% to be invested in that fund.

> But you're right. If manager charges 0.5% and fund charges 0.2% I'm still
> losing 0.5% of principal and 0.2% of my gains per year.

Be careful with your math here. It sounds to me like you think .2% fee is only
on gains, however it also it on your principal.

Here is a concrete example.

You hire an advisor at .35% per year. In one scenario, they invest you in
Vanguard S&P 500 for .04% a year. You will pay .39% a year of your principal
in fees. In another scenario they invest you in a hedge fund fully, where the
hedge fund charges 2% on principal and 20% on gains.

Here you will end up paying 2.35% per year, EVEN if you are losing money. And
if you gain money. The hedge fund will take 20% from that. So best case you
are paying 2.35% in principal fees, and pocketing 80% of the profit. Worst
case, you pay 2.35% to lose money.

Two extremes of the fee spectrum, so likely you will end up somewhere between
the two.

Be wary if you advisor tries to push you away from Vanguard and into a
different brand (they can have incentives that don’t perfectly align with
you). For instance A Charles Schwab advisor might push you to use a Charles
Schwab branded s and p Mutual fund with .25% fee on top of his .35% fee. When
the actual fund is exactly the same as the Vanguard one that is only .04% fee.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
You raise a good point, I am wrong you are right. Of course the costs are on
the entire principal, thank you for correcting me.

Investing in PE/Hedge/VC again is not likely for me. So I agree, with an
advisor at .35% and vanguard at 0.04% - it's .39% per year. With 10M invested
in VSTAX under these numbers, maybe it gains 4% but i pay out .39 or almost
10% of the gains. Far better than the 2% - but we are on the same page.

Agree that the advisors can have misaligned incentives - I trust the two I'm
working with though based on relationships who trust them, so I'm fairly
certain they are altruistic, a bit.

By the way, really good podcast on Hidden Forces with Ben Hunt for Demetri
Kofinas about the "awesome renumeration" for money advisors, as long as you're
right :)

------
chx
Much financial good advice here. Let me give you some life advice.

Cut the sugar. I presume you are American and your entire culture pretty much
made you a sugar addict so this will be hard but do it. Your health depends on
it. Yes, all diet advice is suspect but this is not: stop eating anything with
refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup in it. With much less money than
that you can already afford to hire a chef if you don't like cooking/baking.

Slow down. Destress. Learn to enjoy for real a fresh, local strawberry. Enjoy
every bite. Grab a book, read on the beach at sunset. These things won't take
a lot of time but now you can afford that little time and you don't need to
stress on your next mortage payment, job etc so you can really enjoy these
moments.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
agree. now that the pressure isn't there to get cash/retirement taken care of,
it is a great idea to invest more time and energy into diet, exercise and
health!

------
kalasoo
I got some hot cash several years ago unintentionally. After that, I set up 3
goals:

1\. Maintain high quality life

2\. Improve skills for my career

3\. Meet more interesting friends

With these three goals, I did these:

1\. Maintain high quality life

    
    
      1.1. I bought myself a lot of insurance, both financial and life
      1.2. One nice apartment
      1.3. Put about 20% to some low risk fund
    

2\. Improve skills for my career

    
    
      2.1. Best keyboard, chairs and ... as a developer
      2.2. Books
      2.3. Donate some open source projects and make friends with contributors
    

3\. Meet more interesting friends

    
    
      3.1. Host regular meetups of great developers in China
      3.2. Go to a nice gym as I find people who work out hard and keep self-discipline are normally class-a players
      3.3. Get much more opportunities when focusing on what's next than what you're paid

~~~
closeparen
These are all things you can (and should) do on a regular software engineer's
salary, don't need to wait for a $5m windfall.

~~~
muzani
Depends on what regular software engineers in that area make. I had to
basically sell a startup to afford a nice computer desk and chair, lol.

------
thijsvandien
I'll just leave this here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_won_a_656_million_dollar_lottery_what_do/chba5nw/).

~~~
croo
The parent did not market this link enough but OP please read it! Especially
if you are not already on your path to financial independence or not really
bothered with investments.

This is a writing about people suddenly got money and how they got destroyed
by it and how can you avoid it. What can happen in your family because of it.
How and why to be quiet about your wealth.

Entertaining and great read and always the first thing I remember when
somebody wishes for a jackpot.

~~~
thijsvandien
You're right, I could have done a better job explaining what this is about.
Thanks for doing that part for me!

------
anonu
It depends on your goals and lifestyle.

$5mm+ is tremendous. Could last you a lifetime. You could try an annuity. Pop
this formula into Excel or Google Sheets: =pmt(3%/12,50*12,5000000). A very
conservative 3% annual growth rate can afford you $16k in monthly withdrawals
for 50 years. The downside is, of course, you'll be drawing down on your
wealth til zero.

Purchasing real estate for the rental income can yield more attractive
returns. First off, you can leverage yourself up. Then cash-on-cash returns -
in well selected locations - could be in excess of 10% (easily). Your
principle in real estate is afforded some level of protection and may even
grow as the economy and country grows ..standard investing caveats apply.

------
SenHeng
Some good tips about managing a windfall from the Bogleheads froum.

[https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Managing_a_windfall](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Managing_a_windfall)

With that amount of money, you're set for fatFIRE as well.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/)

~~~
dennisgorelik
> [https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/)

Thanks - fatFIRE is a great reading recommendation. FatFIRE stories are
insightful and help to re-evaluate my goals.

------
outside1234
First off, unless you were really early, you are going to need about 1.5-2M of
that for taxes, so plan for that.

That said, I put the remainder of a similar outcome in 60% stocks (VTI 75% +
VEA 25%) and 40% short term bonds (VCSH). The stocks give you growth and the
bonds give you stability. Rebalance this once a year and you are done. You are
financial secure. Don’t get sucked into crazy complicated schemes - simpler
and more diverse is better

------
muzani
* bought an Alienware, work chair, and 4K monitor (for work purposes I swear)

* spent about 20k renovating a home office

* subscribed to Joox/Spotify and purchased all the games I once pirated

* donated 10% to charity

* gave a fat envelope full of cash to my wife (she was so shocked that she suspected me of having an affair)

* gave money to my mom

* bought bitcoin and other crypto

* got a will done because bitcoin isn't covered by inheritance laws (also for religious reasons)

* considered investing into a restaurant, but it was too much work

* invested most of the rest into startups which all failed

* paid for funeral fees for dead companies when partners passed the ball

* looked for a job after burning through it all

~~~
dirktheman
Would you do it this way again?

~~~
muzani
Background story: did a startup as a CEO+CTO. 100 hours a week, mostly because
I had to play two roles. It seemed easier to find a CEO than CTO.

So we were burnt out. Sold the startup. Made 750% ROI in a year, which is a
good investment. Planned to reinvest that money into startups for maybe even a
300% ROI.

The plan was to go CTO route and rely on someone else to play CEO.

It didn't work out - most people were decent at business skills, but terrible
with product. Some could build a million dollar traditional business, but
couldn't make it in the startup space - they were too cautious, too scared of
committing, or wanted passive income. There people with sales experience, who
are great at forming strategic partnerships with big corporations, but don't
dare talk to the customer.

So that was a mess. I regret expecting others to do well when given the trust
and opportunity, even if they had done well in the past. I regret following
logic over instinct, and following people who were not "animals" like Paul
Graham suggested.

I'm working on a startup now, but it's the unsexy idea I had 3 years ago. At
least I get full control over product and customer development.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
Betting on the come with all the winnings is dangerous. Sorry you lost things.
Good to put some away for sure.

Glad you are working on something you enjoy and have the level of control
you're looking for!

------
enraged_camel
The standard advice that is recommended for windfall recipients is to stash it
in a savings account and sit on it for 3 months. The goal is to avoid making
any rash decisions based on euphoria.

You can use that time to read some books on wealth management. Two classics
are The Four Pillars of Investing and The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing:

[https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-
Portf...](https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-Portfolio-
ebook/dp/B0041842TW)

[https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-
Lar...](https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore-
ebook/dp/B00JUV01RW)

It is also a good idea to not tell anyone, unless you want to be bombarded by
requests from family and friends for loans, invitations to invest in weird
ideas/schemes, and so forth.

------
dev_dull
First of all congratulations. The great thing about being rich is that you
only need to get rich once, then you need to preserve it.

I’ll focus my comment about things often overlooked:

Insurance. Medical, home, car, and umbrella insurance. KEEP GOOD MEDICAL
INSURANCE.

Work hard on your privacy. People with deep pockets are juicy targets for
lawsuits. Start an LLC (with a name not associated with you) and transfer
things like real estate to it.

Investments: there are tax-free investments such as muni bonds. Invest in
rental properties (under your llc). There’s no shame in sticking a bunch of
money into an S&P 500 index fund. Capital gains are wonderful.

When you speak with an accountant, tell them specifically you’re interested in
tax deferment and protection strategies.

For your children’s education: look into front-loading their 529 plans.

If your accountant doesn’t mention this type of stuff then find another.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
agreed re keeping it is harder than making it. Made a fair bit in the past and
didn't keep it.

Agree re: insurance - raised umbrella to +$3M and car to $1M. Perhaps raise
home though umbrella helps that?

Agree re: tax optimizing.

For 529 front loading, there's apparently a way to do a 5 year- averaging that
allows you to put 6 year's worth of 529 in. In my state a certain amount is
tax deductible, so I'll factor this in.

Accountants seem good at calculating - not so good at ideas. I'm expecting my
RIA/Advisor will help here, but I'm on a track consistent with what you've
said - thanks!

------
dawhizkid
I have not gotten quite that lucky, but still lucky to catch a unicorn early
enough to have gotten to ~1m at a youngish age.

Have you actually liquidated the funds? Or is that the value of your stock? I
think a more interesting question for this audience is what to do when you
have pre-IPO "unicorn" shares. On one hand, if you wait til IPO there may be a
big "pop". OTOH, it could drop below what it's trading at in private markets.
I think about diversification a lot too.

I haven't felt the need to hire a professional at this point, just put most of
my liquid NW into a robo advisor (I use the Schwab one) and forget about it.

------
farazbabar
I went through it all in less than 2 years and ended up hoarding the things I
enjoy very much to this date. I have no regrets (never), coming into millions
in thirties is an incredible life experience and the vacations, scotches,
watches, cars, homes and other toys are all things I have enjoyed very very
much. I also learned to buy forever things which has changed how I see
consumption completely. It also led to some amazing opportunities to meet very
interesting people in strange places. Overall, I cannot emphasize how much fun
it is to spend a few million dollars in 12-18 months without being fixated
with savings.

~~~
rofo1
> Overall, I cannot emphasize how much fun it is to spend a few million
> dollars in 12-18 months without being fixated with savings.

Not sure if I understand you right, so I'll just ask.

Did you just spend your millions? And you still presumably have to work?

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
I'm not the poster, but in my case, I don't plan to spend the Millions, I
absolutely plan to work. You might have some folks working you worth >$20M if
you work in Silicon Valley.

------
Spellman
Not exactly the same, but here's the advice for if you win the lottery:
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2012/02/11/10-th...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2012/02/11/10-things-
to-do-when-you-win-the-powerball/#106f4e037755)

Much of it involves don't make big lifestyle changes, invest smartly, get
lawyers/financial planners together to protect yourself, and pay off any debt
you have.

------
holdenc
Welcome to the world of high consequence tax filing! As you may already know,
penalty severity for tax mistakes are pegged to the dollar amount. This
includes very large fines and possible prison time for "willfully" incorrect
taxes, or not disclosing a foreign bank account, for example. I read the tax
code, and do my own taxes first. Then send them to an accountant for
verification and filing.

------
_bxg1
I like this finance website. Some of the advice surrounds improving your
financial standing, but much of it is just about how to live well, and how
money does and doesn't play into that.

[https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/](https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/)

------
5mthrowaway
Almost a decade ago I made a similar amount in an IPO event being an early
employee.

Company of said IPO dropped fairly hard in less than a year (you may be able
to guess which one). I'm still not poor by any means but seeing $5~6M turn
into $1~1.5M doesn't feel great. Especially since, $5M is retirement money,
and $1M is not, so I was literally looking at myself going from being able to
retire to not being able to retire.

My advice would be that if this asset of yours could be volatile at all by any
means (e.g. is a stock of your employer or even your own company), liquidate
and diversify as much as possible as soon as possible.

Then do everything else that everyone else on this thread said about
investing, insurance, etc.

(using throwaway because my main account is somewhat recognizable)

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
I agree with you. I'm trying to decide how quickly to diversify, and also if I
want to buy stock for LTCG (conclusion, I don't).

Agree - 'life' money change to 'car' money is disheartening.

Good perspective, thanks!

------
egypturnash
It was an order of magnitude or two less but: Stopped chasing external jobs.
Started working on aggressively non-commercial personal projects while living
simply. My main splurging has been that my laptop upgrade cycle got faster
than every five years for a little while.

Also a couple of cross country moves, once to Seattle because I missed the
west coast and it was a compromise my SOs would make, then back home to New
Orleans because Seattle’s cost of living was skyrocketing and I missed the sun
and wanted to live somewhere I could pay the rent with what I make off those
personal projects.

------
ajcodez
I have a friend who received a similar windfall at a young age. He bought
multiple super cars for himself, paid off his parents mortgage, bought his
sister and girlfriend a high end SUV, bought a house, spent a lot partying for
two years, then invested most of it in a new business that is struggling. He’s
renting out his supercars now. He told me that it’s not as much as you think
and it’s not easy to reproduce that kind of result.

------
Arcuru
I don't have personal experience with a windfall of that size, but I've found
that Bogleheads usually has decent advice:
[https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Managing_a_windfall](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Managing_a_windfall)

------
gwillen
There is some really good basic guidance on dealing with windfalls, available
on Reddit's personalfinance board:
[https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/windfall](https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/windfall)

I recommend you read it all and take some time to digest it.

Don't do anything rash -- in fact, don't rush to do anything right away unless
it's necessary. Necessary things include:

* Figuring out what your tax obligations are.

\- You should get someone to recommend you a competent CPA who has dealt with
this situation before. You want someone who will proactively help you sort out
your tax situation starting NOW, not wait until tax time. But I would _not_
suggest a "wealth manager", or even a "financial advisor" at least to start
with -- find someone who will just help you with the immediate tax
consequences, and who will deal with you on a flat-fee basis with price given
up front. A competent CPA should probably be able to handle this on a bare-
bones basis for less than $1000, but _if_ you can get someone who comes
highly-recommended and has significant experience with the specific issues
you're facing, and can help you navigate the situation, paying a small
multiple of that for more good advice won't kill you.

\- Note that you are going to owe estimated taxes, which need to be paid
quarter-by-quarter, not at tax time. At the federal level, you will not be
subject to penalties, regardless of your income this year, as long as you
prepay (in payroll withholding plus estimated tax payments) 110% of _last
year's_ tax obligation. However, if you are in the state of California there
is no such safe harbor for _state_ taxes if your income exceeds $1 million in
a given year (which it will). (See
[https://www.bdcocpa.com/resources/articles/43](https://www.bdcocpa.com/resources/articles/43)
.) So make sure you pay California estimated taxes as promptly as you can
manage. (But also, don't panic if you end up being charged penalties. For
stuff like this (i.e. not fraud) they are generally quite small relative to
the amount of taxes owed, especially if you aren't that late.)

* Figuring out your liquidity situation:

\- Are you getting the money in cash, or liquid securities (i.e. that you will
be able to sell easily), or illiquid securities (i.e. that you cannot reliably
sell?) If your employer has been thoughtful towards you, you won't be in the
third situation, which can be very messy come tax time. (If you are in that
situation, there are people who can help advise you, but you'll want to start
thinking _now_ about how you'll pay the taxes.)

\- If you're getting securities (i.e. stock shares) that come to you in some
sort of brokerage account, it's fine to _leave them there_ while you decide
your next steps. Make sure you're able to sell enough to cover your tax bill,
but you don't need to actually sell anything until you discuss it with your
tax advisor.

\- If you're getting cash, you will probably want to open a brokerage account
to put it in (don't stick it in your checking account.) Charles Schwab and
Fidelity are fine general-purpose brokers. Vanguard is good if your plan is to
invest the money in low-fee index funds and then not touch it, which is
generally a wise idea.

~~~
gwillen
Oh, and don't post all over the internet about it. ;-) But I see you're using
a throwaway, which is a smart move. As the reddit PF link will also tell you,
don't go around telling everybody about it. In fact, for now don't tell
anybody but your spouse (if applicable) and your tax advisor. You can always
tell people later, but you can never un-tell someone. You'd be surprised (or
not) at how people can get when huge sums of money are at stake. Even if
people know you are getting an IPO windfall (or what have you), be vague and
downplay the amount. Don't promise anybody anything. This goes 10x if they are
asking you to.

~~~
Scoundreller
> for now don't tell anybody but your spouse

Depends. One could not mention it at all, and spend their 9-5 at a some-what
serious fictitious company where you work on your dreams, but 50% of the time
just hang out with your best friends.

But if your story leaked, it probably wouldn't go over as well if your spouse
was going to a difficult job every day.

~~~
OkGoDoIt
I’m going to assume you’re not married. That’s a horrible idea.

------
lukaszkups
Nothing spectacular: Pay off flat mortgage & rent it off, build a house in the
neighborhood (parcel prices gone crazy here now), buy a new second car
(nothing fancy, like some Renault or other) and keep living as nothing
happened (work, but less stressful etc.) Maybe I would also buy 1 or 2 small
flats to rent near the university at nearest city etc.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
How has the real estate investment turned out?

------
simonebrunozzi
I am moderately successful, and thankfully I have accumulated some wealth over
the years, as opposed to a single big hit like in your case. Despite I can't
claim to be rich, I have been fascinated by understanding how to manage my
money better, and hopefully I can offer some advice here.

In random order:

1) Take it slowly. You don't need to rush into investing, buying stuff,
getting a new house, etc, all in two weeks. Slow, thoughtful decisions will
usually be better than rushed ones.

2) If you are not financially literate, try reading some good books on the
subject, and IMHO, not necessarily the most popular ones. Picking the right
ones is NOT easy. There are several lists of "best financial books" or "best
personal finance books", and reality is that you should read 15-20, and stick
to the 2-3 that you really liked.

Financial literacy will allow you to take much more informed decisions about
everything.

3) Depending on your age, where you live, and if you have kids or not, you
might want to consider "estate planning", a broad category that includes,
among other things, establishing "trusts" (legal entities) or similar and
granting some amount of money to the trust, in order to get some tax
advantage, and clarify what's going to happen to that money when you will
eventually die of very very old age.

4) If you know a few friends who are also rich, talk to them and ask them to
share their experience with you.

5) Don't tell others about your wealth, or don't be too specific about how
much you have. A >$5M wealth creates issues, and provides strong incentives
for people to try to manipulate you.

6) If you are married, share this burden with your spouse - I think it's a
good idea to keep her posted, to tell him/her NOT to share too many details
with friends and family, and possibly to get both of you financially literate.

7) There's a lot of BS around. Be very wary of any advice, including mine.
(especially mine!) Be really, really skeptical about any claim by anybody.
Remember there's no free lunch out there.

If you are considering investing in a 12% guaranteed annual return, well, let
me tell you, it doesn't exist on Earth (both guaranteed and 12% together).

As a rule of thumb, take inflation + GDP * (1 - long term capital gain
taxation) as the threshold beyond which you should start to be wary of any
claim.

For US, currently: 1.6% inflation + 3.10% GDP[0] * ~0.75 = 3.92%, which means:
any investment that is both guaranteed and above a 4% annual return, you
should start being skeptical.

8) Try to invest in things that you understand well, or otherwise try to
invest in things that are tax-optimized and dumb-proof (e.g. investing in an
index is relatively simple to understand, can be done in a tax-smart way).

9) understand diversification. Key to this is that diversification should
apply to your goal in life, and your risk-aversion. E.g. if you're 25, you
might want to take a bit more risk, as riskier bets tend to pay slightly
better over the long run, if you can take several of them (because
comparatively less people are willing to play in risky territory). If you are
55, you might want to settle with a more conservative approach. Etc.

10) Big mistakes are usually made when investing in real estate. Try to
separate the "emotional", irrational purchase of your main home, with the
"investment" part. I wrote about the "rent vs buy" dilemma last year, it might
be a useful read to get started. [1].

Finally, if you want this money to make you happier, the thing is, it probably
won't, unless you're really really disciplined about it. Mae West used to say
"Money isn't everything, if you have it". Once your basic needs are met, it's
very hard to use money properly to be happier over a long period of time.

I personally try not to obsess too much about money, I try to use it to buy me
"time" more than anything else, and I also try to use it to relieve me from
issues that would make me anxious. I also try to remember that I won't bring
any money with me in my grave. I am not great at doing all of this, but I keep
trying.

Hope this helped.

[0]: [https://tradingeconomics.com/united-
states/gdp](https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp)

[1]: [https://medium.com/fabrica/the-rent-versus-buy-
dilemma-12-im...](https://medium.com/fabrica/the-rent-versus-buy-
dilemma-12-important-questions-5f5a7d1815f)

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
1) Slowly makes sense but I need to diversify - which I probably will do more
quickly than slowly.

2) I'm fairly literate financially but need more depth and breadth.

3) Revocable trust and wills are in the works.

4) Asked friends for recommendations, agreed!

5) Agree. I've told one person (outside of work folks who are in the same
situation) and that was a mistake.

6) Spouse is fully informed and has delegated all decisions to me. Oooof.

7) Good advice re: expected safe return!

8) Agree investing in simple things. Investing in America or the World with a
diversified portfolio makes sense.

9) agree with diversification and risk tolerance as a function of dynamic
market.

10) Real estate seems fun but not really - too many societal changes and
troublesome renters.

Good point that you 'can't take it it with you' \- interesting to see that as
an actual issue to deal with.

Great input - thanks!

~~~
simonebrunozzi
Happy to have helped. Good luck. :)

------
davidjnelson
When did you join the company? What percentage did you own? That’s a nice
payday, congrats.

------
anaisbetts
Keep in mind that you almost certainly now need to pay taxes 4x/year because
your taxable income just jumped by a significant amount this year. Get an
accountant to make sure to avoid paying $1000s in IRS penalties for
underpayment

------
mhkool
Move to Ireland for 2 years to become a resident, there you only pay 10% tax
over the capital gain if you meet the "entrepeneur relief" criteria. Not sure
if this works as a US citizen, but works for many.

~~~
ASalazarMX
I'm upset by this. Why is it paying taxes so repelling after you acquire
wealth?

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
3 Reasons:

1\. The taxes wealthy people pay is both higher in amount and higher in
percentage that non-wealthy folks.

2\. The way the tax money is spent is inefficient

3\. Because it is legal to minimize taxes, and to waste money is bad.

Lots of wealthy people are charitable. It's preferred to spend money through
charity versus give it to the government to spend in their preferred way,
which can often include buying votes.

------
taway_hjpot_too
Couple of years ago, Big payout:

\- Paid / Allocated money for all taxes

\- Legal tax evasion planning for future, a lot planning prior to transaction,
I don't want to give $1-10M in tax. I would rather move to a country that I
can avoid tax completely or lower it significantly. There is no country in the
world that's worth paying $5M extra to just to live IMHO.

\- Separated wealth into multiple banks and 2 countries (reduce risk of
investment)

\- Went to an expensive holiday and flew first class for the first time :)

\- Bought a lot hardware, treat myself with simple things. Like hobby
hardware, cutting edge hardware. I realized buying an expensive car cost $300K
buying hundreds of hobby stuff doesn't even cost $50K and brings me more joy.
I was a nerd I guess now I'm just a rich nerd.

\- Helped relatives a lot, just gave plenty of money

\- A lot of Sadakah (charity) & Zakah (mandatory in Islam, 2.5% of _wealth_
goes to poor every year)

\- Invested a lot in real estate, all in cash. Safe long term investments (if
you know what you are doing, I have family who does this)

\- Invested in 4 companies. 2 early stage tech companies and 1 brick and
mortar old school business. 2 are very risky and expected to give a return in
5-10 years, if any. Many countries

\- I'm going to give a very unpopular advice, spend your money. I mean really
spend it. I'm not saying burn it (i.e. parties, private jet and yacht) but
spend it on stuff that makes your daily life better with the right economical
balance. For example fly in first class but don't get a private jet.

\- Put something like $2M cash aside, for whatever the future brings

Most satisfying thing I've done was to help less fortunate. To me $0.5M is
couple of percentages in a rich person's increasing wealth but splitting that
money to tons of people in 3rd world countries means hundreds of people's live
will be so much better. If I were to spend it for myself my life quality might
have gotten better by 2% but spending that for other people means hundreds (or
even thousands) of people's lives will be 20-100% or infinitely better.
(What's the % of life quality improvement when you can start drinking healthy
water? or afford food?). Did you know $30 can make someone see again through
cataract surgery? [0] When I learned it kind of shocked me and made me
question my life and where I spend my money.

AMA about charity :) And if you hit jackpot please go and help someone
unfortunate, I don't mean someone who cannot afford a new iPad for uni, I mean
someone who cannot afford food, clean water, or life changing operation. Think
about numbers and efficiency before doing charity and deciding where that
money goes.

P.S. I'm a Muslim therefore I don't use interest. Which means majority of the
traditional investment models don't work for me. That's why I invest a lot in
real estate and businesses (who doesn't use interest) rather than stock
market, funds, bonds etc.

[0] [https://www.cbmuk.org.uk/get-
involved/donate/](https://www.cbmuk.org.uk/get-involved/donate/)

~~~
muzani
Muslim here. Interesting to hear. I had to avoid a lot of investments, because
they weren't so clean. Forex felt like gambling, and many options felt like
riba/usury.

Real estate seemed a bit off. Lots of friends would take huge loans and rent
it out for a little more than what they were paying in bank loans; also felt
like usury. But it should be fine if you've paid it all in cash.

Probably the big thing I regretted was spending about a year and a lot of cash
on a startup which partly donated to temples. Made me realize that wealth
really comes from Allah.

~~~
murm
> Probably the big thing I regretted was spending about a year and a lot of
> cash on a startup which partly donated to temples. Made me realize that
> wealth really comes from Allah.

Could you elaborate what your regret was in this case? I'm confused and don't
quite understand what you mean by this.

~~~
muzani
There's a long story behind this.

One of the fundamentals of Islam is to worship Allah alone, and only ask help
from Allah alone. The second part is extremely difficult - it's easy to just
assume that wealth comes from clever financial planning, hard work, or that
knowledge comes from a mentor. But this is egoistic. Especially when you've
gone moderately rich off a crazy gamble, you're more likely to dismiss God's
role in answering prayers.

The story was that someone proposed a startup with some sinful attributes.
Think of it as sort of like working for Playboy - you can justify to yourself
that you're just taking a supporting role, more interested in the tech, the
culture, the articles, could do some good with the money, etc, etc. But the
core purpose is still sinful.

The plan seemed foolproof. There were contingencies. If the plan failed, I'd
still make $X. If it failed really hard, I could bring the code I wrote back
to another startup I was a director of.

But everything went wrong. The team was horribly incompetent, and couldn't
dedicate any time. My backup plans fell apart. People who I trusted backed
out. The whole thing was depressing, and I found it hard to get any work done,
despite my best efforts and ability.

I went in thinking that I had the resources and experience to no longer need
to rely on God (or luck), and was proven wrong.

------
dhruvkar
I'm not in this position, I've thought a fair bit about it since it's in the
realm of possibility. This is what I'd like to believe I would do:

Buy 30yr Treasury Bonds with enough of the cash to generate ~$200K/year
passively for the next 30 years.

Then proceed to continue my normal life. I'd treat the extra income from the
bonds like a raise, invest it smartly, buy things as I would normally. Except
now I have an immense buffer to stop current work and/or the freedom to pursue
other interests.

But I wouldn't change anything in the first year of such a cash influx.

~~~
mobilefriendly
Wait. You'll need closer to $8 million invested at 2.57% (30 yr current yield)
to earn $200,000 a year. And consuming that every year means you'll destroy
much of the real value of your hoard over 30 years (you're not reinvesting
something to cover inflation). Further putting it all into Treasuries is
actually riskier than diversifying across multiple assets - foreign stocks,
real estate, etc. If we go into an inflationary period and you're locked into
a 30 year at 2.6%, you'll watch your fortune collapse and your stipend's
buying power crumble.

------
sudden_wealth
I was in a somewhat similar circumstance via a very large inheritance. I'll
start from the emotional side of things before moving into the financial side.

Emotionally, I was very shocked as I did not see this situation coming. Like
you, I was also scared about making stupid choices. You probably had some idea
that your shares had upside potential, but the money I received dropped into
my lap with no warning and was approximately the same amount as what you
received. My immediate advice is...do nothing. Wait for the shock to wear off
and for you to acclimate to the situation. Don't tell anyone, don't run out
and buy things, don't move assets; just keep on with your day to day life
until you are ready to proceed.

Based on the fact that you are here asking these questions at all, my
assumption is that the money likely will not change you much as a person. I
still have the same friends and relationships that I had before I received my
funds; my values are still the same; I'm still the same person. Most people
who interact with me have no idea that I am as wealthy as I am. Who you were
before you receive your money will largely be who you are now that you have
received your money.

Economically, my general spending patterns have remained largely the same. The
main thing I've found is that money is less about buying stuff (which I think
is how most people without money view money) and more about buying time,
cutting through bullshit, buying access, and creating opportunity. I feel much
more free to spend money on education, conferences, vacations with my loved
ones and friends, once in a lifetime opportunities etc. I'd encourage you to
think about your funds this way too depending on your circumstances as I think
it brings a lot more happiness than buying tons of shit you don't really need,
a big house, cars etc. I'm not saying you need to live a frugal life, but I
think excessive consumption gets boring quickly. You have "fuck you" money
which gives you enormous power over how you craft your career and your life.
Think hard about what you want to do. I still work but I've had the
flexibility to explore career arcs that I would not have otherwise been able
to with almost no risk.

I would be very careful about telling other people about your situation
because it might alter your relationships. I think it's fine to say you are
doing well at work, but definitely do not tell people you have 5 million
dollars. You don't want people feeling jealous, resentful, etc. It can be
helpful to have other wealthy people to talk to about issues and feelings. If
other people you trust have money, feel free to talk to them. Alternatively,
there are certain places that generally cater to the wealthy (eg social or
country clubs, business associations, etc) where you can meet some people who
will be in similar circumstances and will be happy to talk.

Moving on to what to do. I don't know how old you are or what your future
earning potential is (meaning is there another chance for a payout this size),
but in general what you do with five million dollars will not be dramatically
different than what you do with a few hundred thousand dollars. I would seek
out a wealth management group for a consultation. Make sure this entity is a
fiduciary and are legally obligated to act in your best interest.

If you don't think you have more big payouts coming your way, then your
strategy will likely focus on wealth preservation. If you think you can make
more money you can be more aggressive. Either way, you will probably construct
a well balanced portfolio of low cost index funds. Depending on your risk and
needs, you could devote a portion of your portfolio to more exotic things like
hedge funds or private equity or whatever. See what they say.

You have generational wealth, so if you have kids or are thinking about kids,
you need to focus on general tax minimization and avoiding inheritance taxes
(within the law of course). There are a variety of strategies that can be
employed here, and a good wealth management firm can help you with that. You
also need to think about how you will teach your kids about money given your
new situation so that they have the right values.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
That's very kind of you to suggest it won't change me. I hope you're right and
expect you are.

Totally love the idea about buying time. Not entirely clear about what to buy
access for, but I'll ponder that.

Agree re: confidentiality. Age is 40, and expect to work for another 5-20
years or more.

Working w/ an RIA so things should be good there, totally agree they must be
fiduciary.

Agree long term planning; not exactly sure that giving kids money is a great
idea. Perhaps some/all college and help w/ house down payment - but life is a
struggle (jihad - I'm not Muslim but that's the analogy I use). Agree learning
how to teach them is a good goal! The Silver Spoon book looks good for that!

------
purplezooey
I wake up

------
lubujackson
As everyone has said, the first thing to do is nothing. Well, that's not
exactly right. You may think "No sweat, I'm in no rush to spend it" but
recognize that most people that go broke... from bad investments. There's no
dumber way to lose your money than investing in some stock that sounds good or
becoming an angel investor or buying a bunch of rental properties or whatever
"safer than the bank" idea you have right away.

Ok, that's easy enough... but pretty quickly you will realize that money is
ALWAYS invested, whatever you do with it. Keep it in cash? Ok, you are
investing in the U.S. dollar. And where should you put your pile of cash? FDIC
only insures bank accounts up to $250k, so if someone grabs your login most of
your money is just gone.

So it needs to go somewhere - index funds, CDs, mutual funds, etc. There are a
lot of boring options with minimal differences and most financial advisers
will encourage you to diversify money all over the place. I know some
investment bankers and they say most of their high-end clients are more
focused on trying not to lose money than make it with investing, so there is a
very well-trod path to doing all this. Recognize that diversifying rarely
protects you much from a sudden market downturn (check out 2008) as the
economic engine is pretty well intertwined, so there is no need to go nuts
trying to spread money everywhere.

Another reason to keep your diversification simple: pay close attention to the
vig (the cut going to an adviser/investment vehicle). Not all index funds are
the same and certainly not all financial advisers all the same. Especially
when trying to be safe with money, too much can be scraped off by advisers.
Flat fees are best for what you want, or you can do some research and do it
yourself with some help from your bank. If you want to keep things basic for a
while without any fuss, talk to an investment bank (like Schwab) and ask them
to walk you through a simple distribution with cash equivalents and index
funds. You can always adjust things later but please don't let your cash just
sit in an under-insured deposit/savings account.

If you do feel the need to invest in stocks/business, read Warren Buffett's
advice and make slow moves - a good rule of thumb is if you invest in a thing,
make sure you would be comfortable if you couldn't touch it for 5 years.
Anything less is not an investment but a gamble.

In CA, I also recommend umbrella insurance, not sure how it works elsewhere.
The idea is if someone slips on your staircase and breaks their butt they
could theoretically sue you for all your money - umbrella insurance covers
your from that and most other things. Take small protective measures from
unlikely but cataclysmic losses.

Finally, what to actually spend money on? There is one thing I read that has
proven true at any price point: spend money on things that improve your
everyday life. That might be getting something pricey for what it is, like an
Ember mug that keeps your coffee warm, or something bigger like moving closer
to work so you have an easier commute and gain more free time.

~~~
ThrowHitJackpot
I love the Ember idea! Agree on the vig! If I'm making 5% and they get 2% well
that's just not fair!

Umbrella is looking good.

Great input, thanks!

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OneFamousGrouse
I woke up, and realized that I was actually still poor.

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wsaryoo
buy land get farming secure your food & home relax

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strikelaserclaw
Bought myself a yacht

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codeisawesome
Hey congrats man. Congrats.

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gingabriska
When this happened nothing changed, no Hollywood style lifestyle change
happened for me.

I was still the same person, I took the money and invested some in SP500 and
Tbills and bought a 20,000 sq ft land in India (my wife is from North India).

Started a business of branding and selling items in India (there is huge money
to be made on Amazon India, you can't even find 10% of the inventory that's
actually in the US)

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ThrowHitJackpot
Wow that sounds super smart! Good for you!

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mhh__
Woke up

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shifto
You guys wanne be my friend? I need rich friends...

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ThrowHitJackpot
At Buck's Restaurant in Woodside, CA there's a postcard on the wall (or there
used to be) from a lady somewhere "else" who said since everyone there is
wealthy - could they send her some money.

Let me ask you, shifto, if I can.. Why would you like to have, or as you say
'need' rich friends?

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shifto
It was a tongue in cheek remark. I'm pretty well off as I at least have decent
job in IT. I try and make life better for friends and family by spending my
money. I just wonder how it would be to be on the receiving end of it all.

Also, my very rich friend will bootstrap my company no strings attached.
He/she's the best! :)

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bobxyz
That's great, but when your great country brings the whole world to its knees,
when the financial system collapses, all you have left is your eyes to cry. In
the future, it will not be good to be too rich... Don't put your money in, buy
a pair of air max to run fast;)

