If I Had a Million Dollars...

A friend of mine posed an interesting question of Facebook the other day:

What would you do if you had $1,000,000 but could not spend it on yourself, your family, or your friends?

"One MILLLLLLLLION DOL-LARS!" Whenever I hear that amount I think of Mike Myer's character Dr. Evil from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. His character gets frozen in the 1960s and unfrozen in 1997. He demands a ransom of one million dollars...only to be informed that one million dollars doesn't go as fas as it use to. And it really doesnt, does it? I mean, when I think of winning a million dollars, my eyes bug out. That's a lot of money I think! But when you hear of a national defeciet in the Trillions of dollars, infastructure that costs Billions of dollars...you realize that a measly million just isn't all that much. Now I don't want to get into the current economic crisis, or any sort of political debate. But think about it, when did you realize a million dollars wasn't the stuff of dreams? That maybe a million dollars was more like $100,000. A lot, but not the stuff of fantasy.

I started to break it down. Once I paid off my house, students loans, credit cards, set up a college fund for LN, took a trip (or three!), bought a new car, put some away for retirement...there really wasn't much left. When I was little I thought that if I had a million dollars, I would never have to work again. In fact, I would have so much money that NOBODY I knew would have to work again! But that's not how it works, is it? Even with perfect money management, you'd still have to work. And probably for a long time.

Now, back to the question at hand. How would you spend that one million dollars? As for me, well, I thought about building a school. But then I realized that schools these days? They cost a whole heck more than one million dollars. Gosh, the technology that you would need alone would cost that much! So I had to think, and then think some more. Spending a 'small' amount like one million wasn't as easy as I thought! Finally I decided that I would set up a program that would bring kids out to the country and teach them where food comes from. Back to your roots, working the soil, picking a tomato and eating it kind of program. I would need the money to set up the farm, build some dorms and staff it to make sure that food was actually grown. Maybe the farm could have a small CSA and the proceeds would go right back into the farm. You know, to keep it wholesome.

What would you do if you had $1,000,000,
but could not spend it on yourself, your family or your friends?