Friday, January 5, 2018

Millionaire Dreams

Stonehenge, England
Judith is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.

This month’s topic is one I’ve spent hours of my life day dreaming about. Of course it all depends on how many millions I have because I’ve an agreement with my circle sisters to share any lottery winnings. It’s a reciprocal agreement so they’d share any winnings with me.
We do have the waiver if it is a small amount ($5.00 for example), that money is put back into the purchase of tickets.
Funds would be divided by 5. There are four of us so that leaves 1/5 for our ‘communal pot’ we call “The Golden Cauldron”. Monies in this account would be spent on project and charities we all support. You can see some thought has been put into the idea of winning!
So in my own life, with my 20%, what would I do?
1.     Pay off my granddaughter’s car loans and pay forward one year of auto insurance.
2.     Pay all moving costs for my son and daughter-in-law to move into a more comfortable place.
3.     Pay someone to do the technical side of publishing.
4.     Set up and fund accounts for my great-grandchildren that equal or exceed what I spend on paying off car loans/insurance.
Favorite view along Oregon Coast
5.     Spend two weeks at the beach with a view of the ocean and rocks at a place that has room service or restaurant so I wouldn’t have to go anywhere unless I wanted to.
6.     Hire a personal shopper so I never had to go clothes shopping.
7.     Hire someone to fix at least one meal a day for me.
Depending on the amount as in how many times over I’m a millionaire, the list continues.
I’d gift the maximum amount which $12,000.00 to several friends as well as to my family members. That is the amount one can receive without paying taxes on it at the time I write this.
I’d raise the roof on my house and reconfigure everything so there would be three bedrooms, one or two bathrooms and a balcony off the back where I can sit and see Mt. Hood as the sun rises or sets or just whenever I want the inspiration.
Elizabeth is set inIreland
Travel? Yes! I’d love to go back to Ireland, England, Scotland, Slovenia and Croatia. While in the United Kingdom, I'd visit Wales as I missed it on my other trips. I'd spend a day in Gillingham, England where my maternal ancestors lived before they immigrated to the U.S. on the boat after the Mayflower. 
There is so much to see in Australia. I’d love to return and see more of that country as well.
I’ve a friend in Ohio I’d travel to spend time with or maybe fly her out here on a charter so she can spend a week at the beach. Or I could do both!
Bled, Slovenia
It goes without saying that someone would clean my house and keep my yard up.
I’d have the old carport taken down and a new structure put up and if possible reconfigure things so my car would be undercover. (Narrow driveway so not sure about that).
Leeds Castle, England
Unlimited millions?
I’d buy a place on the Oregon Coast.
I’d buy homes for my son and daughter-in-law; brother and sister-in-law should they want to be home owners. Same for my granddaughters. College funds for the great-grands. $12,000 gifts each year to family and friends.
Glastonbury Tor, England
I’ve charities that are near and dear to my heart.
I’d fund the Dream Scholarship for youth who’ve aged out of foster care and are going to college.
I’d fund Free Arts Northwest, a non-profit that brings the arts to low-income areas and sponsors the Spring Break Film Camp where at-risk youth learn to write scripts and everything else that goes into film making. They even do the filming and have a “premier”!
I’d fund Beading The Odds another non-profit that works with incarcerated youth and teaches them to bead. The jewelry that is made can be sold or given as gifts.
I’d fund the Northwest Region of The William Glasser Institute scholarship fund and make a large donation to The William Glasser Institute International and The William Glasser Institute U.S. scholarship funds.
Oh my, this has gone much longer than I’d thought it would. There is more I’d do but this gives you an idea of what I’d do.
Now to check those tickets I do have to see if I’ve won anything already! As well as purchase a lucky 2018 ticket!

What would be the first thing you’d do if you won the lottery?
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6 comments:

Maggie Lynch said...

I love all these dreams, Judith. The first thing I would do is purchase a home that fits us--all one floor, not too big or too small. Then depending on what's left I'd look at some of the same things you mentioned, helping family, contributing to charity, and funding my writing business at a higher rate than I can right now.

It's fun to dream, eh? I guess I'll have to breakdown and buy a ticket some day. :)

Sarah Raplee said...

I think the first thing I'd do is have an anxiety attack!

Love your plans!

Judith Ashley said...

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your Millionaire Dreams, Maggie. Because of today's topic, I actually went to the store and checked tickets I've purchased over the past six months or so. I had one winner - $12.00. The line at Customer Service was Long so I tucked the ticket away for another day. I don't buy them very often - just when the urge strikes.

Judith Ashley said...

Sarah, Call me! I'll talk you through your anxiety attack. Having financial abundance does not have to be anxiety producing. While I can certainly understand why it could be - I think, because I really have spent time thinking about it (and I know a couple of people who have won a Lottery Game from $5K to several millions) I just get excited imagining what good I can do for others with my winnings.

Barbara Rae Robinson said...

We have thought about this. My husband buys Megabucks and Powerball tickets every week, often twice a week. For years. He actually won $53 and $47 recently. Normally it's just money down the drain. But he insists he's going to win one of these days. The first thing we'd do is to give money to family members to make their lives easier. My husband's sister, for sure. She's living on just over $800 a month social security. College educations for our two great grandchildren. And help out our daughter, son, and granddaughter to make their lives easier.

My favorite charities are those that feed the people who need help and take care of the homeless. Also a shelter for domestic violence victims. I could do a lot more than I do now.

We could do a lot of work on our house to make it more comfortable. Maybe even add onto the back and enlarge our bedroom and half-bath to include a stall shower and a walk in closet.

Judith Ashley said...

Barb, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I recently helped a friend make charitable donations. For health reasons he isn't able to write out the checks so I did that and he signed them. Then I addressed envelopes, etc. It was so much fun to mail those checks off to where I knew they would do a lot of good.

I totally agree that charities that feed people and shelter homeless and domestic violence survivors would benefit from my support. I'd do local ones rather than a national program. A few thousand dollars for a program run mainly by volunteers makes a huge difference.

Love the idea of making your house more comfortable for you. Putting a bathroom in upstairs so I'm not doing the stairs in the middle of the night would be a luxury I could get used to. I'm sure the shower and walk-in closet would be welcomed.

Here's to winning numbers!!!