Teary and surrounded by family, she appears on the evening news. Reporters ask her what she’s going to do with the winnings. She’s won over a billion dollars.
She’s going to pay off all her debts, she says. With a mortgage of $74,000, credit cards of $3,2076 and student loans of $12,000, she will be able to write one check and be done with them all.
And still have a billion dollars left over.
Most of us can’t even imagine what a billion dollars is, much less how we will spend it. The question isn’t meant to find out how she will spend it, but who she is.
She steps up to the mic and we listen for our own dreams: a trip around the world? A house for all her kids and all her grandkids? Neither she nor anyone she loves will have to work again if they don’t want to. Is there a charity that needs the money or a foundation she wants to start? Will she save the bees? Will she go international?
I would do all the same things: pay off my house, let my son go to any college he can get into, even if it’s in Canada. I would buy a car that is maybe a little less reliable than my Honda but more Eco-friendly. I would donate to the Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, start a fund in my son’s name. We’d pick a date and the whole family--the Texans and the Michiganders--would take a cruise together, maybe rent the whole ship. Maybe buy it.
And still have millions left over.
But life isn’t short. If we’re lucky. And this has to last. Statistics stay many winners are broke within 5 years. They have given or spent or loaned their money away. The truth is they can’t say no and suddenly, there is so much to say yes to. They had no idea.
The cameras everywhere are clicking around her. She stands at the mic, her husband behind her. Will you quit your job? Will you move?
Reveal yourself
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