So if you suddenly had half a Billion $
By
Aneko,
Posted on: 2012-03-29 16:38 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Well the cash option gives you the opportunity to invest the lump sum in a way that'll earn you better, permanent, long term interest. Sure you might start out with less total money than the annuity option might give you because of all the up-front taxes, but after 10 or 20 years it ought to be fairly easy to have surpassed that amount via good investing.|
Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
Annuity FTW! I always take annuity.
And everyone argues with me that I'm dumb and should take the cash option. |
I'd much rather have $200 million in the bank and living off the annual interest I could get from that -forever- than to be worrying about getting $20 million paychecks that stop coming after 25 some-odd years.
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I would have more Paragon Points than I could ever possibly spend.
And I'd be playing the game using a 84" flat screen TV as a monitor, with the most awesome computer ever assembled, expressly built to play CoH and nothing else.
And I'd do a lot of other stuff too, but you specifically asked about how my CoH experience would change.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
I'd be able to play more since work would become unnecessary.
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
The obvious stuff; house, debts, family security, then a sizeable donation to Autism Speaks...
...and one epic night...er, week at the Craps table in Monte Carlo.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot.
With that kind of money readily available, I would stand a decent chance of actually BECOMING a superhero. And I'm not talking the Phoenix Jones variety either, I'm talking serious technological advantages.
Would I actually spend the money like that? I don't know, but it would be cool until I got overconfident and got myself killed 
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
Two words: The world's largest and most diverse harem history has ever seen.
American Dawg, Starblaze, Neanderthal Joe, Shining Dawn, Tokamak Dragon, Stinger Incarnate, Burning Tyger, Dover Tornado, Big Roach, Dark Paladin, Archmage Wylde, Kings Row Hornet, Prancing Deer
Avogadro, Science Lord
Edgar Nightcraft, Doc Cicada, Chupa Macabre, Dr Forchtenstein, Blood Shrew
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Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
Annuity FTW! I always take annuity.
And everyone argues with me that I'm dumb and should take the cash option. |
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Originally Posted by Lothic
Well the cash option gives you the opportunity to invest the lump sum in a way that'll earn you better, permanent, long term interest. Sure you might start out with less total money than the annuity option might give you because of all the up-front taxes, but after 10 or 20 years it ought to be fairly easy to have surpassed that amount via good investing.
I'd much rather have $200 million in the bank and living off the annual interest I could get from that -forever- than to be worrying about getting $20 million paychecks that stop coming after 25 some-odd years. |
Now then...
1) Get the Lawyer/Money Planner/whatever other legal stuff
2) Pay off all the GF & mine outstanding debts
3) Get a decent place for the GF & I to live
4) Build Rigs that'll last for quite a while
5) Get businesses going that the GF & I want to do
6) Enjoy life
Thank you for the time...
@Travlr (Main) / @Tymers Realm (Test) 
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I think that's become a lost cause.
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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
And I'd do a lot of other stuff too, but you specifically asked about how my CoH experience would change.
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'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.'
'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.
'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke.
'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice.
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You could always just be a financial benefactor of someone like Phoenix Jones. You still get to change the world, you still get to be part of the action hero scene, you would avoid having to do the hard work yourself of getting into shape and training, and you largely forgo the possibility of getting killed on the prowl.
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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Oh yeah, I almost forgot.
With that kind of money readily available, I would stand a decent chance of actually BECOMING a superhero. And I'm not talking the Phoenix Jones variety either, I'm talking serious technological advantages. Would I actually spend the money like that? I don't know, but it would be cool until I got overconfident and got myself killed |
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)
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I'm sure there are pros and cons to both ways. Personally I wouldn't really want to trust that the Lottery agency wouldn't go insolvent after a few years and screw me out of my remaining winnings. It may sound a bit paranoid but frankly I'd trust myself more with my money than to have to worry about someone "promising" to pay me decades into the future. |
Originally Posted by Tymers_Realm
Personally, I'd go the Annuity option as well. Mainly because I think I can better invest the smaller amounts over time into enough of a nest egg/whatever.
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Not just to you Tony, but to all the others saying "I'd fund development of X", or "I'd buy Y".|
Originally Posted by TonyV
I'd move to California and convince Paragon Studios to form a partnership. Once we had a kick-a** site running--the kind I envision the Titan Network to eventually become if we had virtually unlimited resources--I would also form up a merchandising partnership.
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Forget about a partnership. With that kind of money at your disposal, you could buy Paragon Studios.
Ponder that for a moment.
I would donate enough money just so they could work on getting stretching powers in to the game.
That way I can get my one friend to shut up and play since he says he wont play until "you can stretch"
Freedom Server - Main = Lil Bug & way too many alts to list
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I'd like to think that my "benevolent dictatorship" over Paragon Studios would enrich the lives of everyone who'd enjoy playing -my- game. |
Originally Posted by Codewalker
Forget about a partnership. With that kind of money at your disposal, you could buy Paragon Studios.
Ponder that for a moment. |
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Originally Posted by Mr. DJ
family debts - gone
friend's debts - gone setting up friends for live - done setting up family and kids for life - done me disappearing - done  |
Those are my kind of priorities... although I doubt many of my friends would see a dime of it unless they were practically family anyway.
Buy Paragon Studios? Donate? Hardly. I have real people to take care of.
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Nonsense! It would only take a few million to cover that for most people. Buying PS wouldn't be for charity, it would be an investment. I expect returns!|
Originally Posted by Jalandir
Buy Paragon Studios? Donate? Hardly. I have real people to take care of.
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Unfortunately it looks like you'd need about 3 billion to gain a controlling interest of NCSoft proper. For the right price I bet you could convince them to sell a subsidiary though.
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rage quit
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Originally Posted by Commander
Donate? No no no.
I'd buy Paragon Studios. Then make all the changes that I've wanted. What's that? Changes you want? Not a chance. All changes will be for me only. Then all you suckers will have to  |
According to CNN it might swell up to $640 million tonight.
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That's cuz I am going to win it. |
Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
According to CNN it might swell up to $640 million tonight.
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total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
Official Dumps Costume Boosters. I'd cover the cost of a "costuming department," as well as retaining an animation adviser so that everyone got along with Paragon Studios.
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
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How exactly would it work? Do you mean like your arms and legs would become really long so that you could punch and kick targets at range? |
Originally Posted by monkey0707
I would donate enough money just so they could work on getting stretching powers in to the game.
That way I can get my one friend to shut up and play since he says he wont play until "you can stretch" |
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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I have. I don't really want to own a game studio, and I don't want to interfere with the development process or impose my will on what they do. To be honest, I think they do a great job just as it is, and though I'm not 100% happy with everything in the game, I'm happy enough that I don't want to mess with it. I'd be afraid of screwing it up myself. If I did pour money directly into the studio, it wouldn't be in the development effort. I probably wouldn't be talking much to Matt Miller, Melissa Bianco, or that crew. It would be specifically to boost their marketing and merchandising efforts, and I'd probably be talking mostly to Brian Clayton and Ross Borden.|
Originally Posted by Codewalker
Not just to you Tony, but to all the others saying "I'd fund development of X", or "I'd buy Y".
Forget about a partnership. With that kind of money at your disposal, you could buy Paragon Studios. Ponder that for a moment. |
If it ever got to the point where I felt that NCsoft is screwing up really badly to the point that the game were in jeopardy, or if they outright tried to kill it off, I might consider trying to acquire Paragon Studios and the IP from NCsoft. Hopefully we wouldn't be at that point for a long time to come.
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)
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Originally Posted by Lothic
Well the cash option gives you the opportunity to invest the lump sum in a way that'll earn you better, permanent, long term interest. Sure you might start out with less total money than the annuity option might give you because of all the up-front taxes, but after 10 or 20 years it ought to be fairly easy to have surpassed that amount via good investing.
I'd much rather have $200 million in the bank and living off the annual interest I could get from that -forever- than to be worrying about getting $20 million paychecks that stop coming after 25 some-odd years. |
Yes, but you're forgetting two of the things many lottery winners have in common.
1: Poor money management skills.
2: Poor impulse control.
That's why you have all these stories of people going broke after winning millions. But they've got 12 cars, leopard-print EVERYTHING, and they've snorted so much coke the look like Tony Montana.
They go out on a shopping spree and spend it all. Or they don't look at the hidden costs. Like buying a multi-million dollar house, and not leaving themselves enough to cover taxes on the property.
Heck, that much money can overwhelm even someone with excellent self control.
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Right there are plenty of stories of how people have gone totally crazy with it and had their lives completely ruined by it. And for all I know if someone actually threw $500 million at me I might go crazy with it too. |
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Yes, but you're forgetting two of the things many lottery winners have in common.
1: Poor money management skills. 2: Poor impulse control. That's why you have all these stories of people going broke after winning millions. But they've got 12 cars, leopard-print EVERYTHING, and they've snorted so much coke the look like Tony Montana. They go out on a shopping spree and spend it all. Or they don't look at the hidden costs. Like buying a multi-million dollar house, and not leaving themselves enough to cover taxes on the property. Heck, that much money can overwhelm even someone with excellent self control. |
But for what it's worth I have enough faith in myself to think that I would invest enough of it wisely so that I wouldn't become one of "those" people. Think about it this way: If EVERY lottery winner was totally destroyed by the experience then I think they probably would have outlawed all lotteries by now. For every story of winners going crazy I'm sure there are other stories of winners who managed it well enough not to be noticed.
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But a percentage lottery goes to benefit charity; so they'll never stop it. Even if other people nuke their lives with the winnings
1: Get an attorney.
2: Get a financial planner.
3: Set up a trust.
4: Claim the prize as a trust. This way it pays out to the trust. And even if I fall over dead from debauchery the next day, it still pays out.
5: Take the payout (roughly 12.5 mil after taxes) . Yes, I could probably make more investing, but I figure this will be a good check in case my common sense deserts me and I spend everything in sight like many lottery winners.
6: Pay off all my bills/debts/etc.
7: Make sure my brother's family pretty much never has to worry about money again. Designate his kids as the trust beneficiaries in case I die.
8: Build myself a geek chateau (fat internet connection, 10-gig E in every room, climate controlled, on-site data center).
9: Build the fastest, most powerful gaming ring I could while still staying conventional (no full-immersion cooling, etc).
10: Set up payment plans for any recurring bills (utilities, property taxes, etc)
11: Possibly solo-crowdsource funding for various CoH projects both in and out of game.
12: Take larger ownership stakes in a corporation I'm part of.
13: Try to live frugally on 1-2% of the annual payout (should be fairly easy since I've already allotted budget for bills and such elsewhere). There was some research a while back that suggested the median income for "financial stress-free" living was something in the neighborhood of $75,000 a year. I figure I'll head over the ED cap on that just to make sure I incur minimal stress.
14: In conjunction with #10, I figure I'll go the philanthropy route. As to which specific charities? Honestly, I'd probably spend some time doing a bit of research on that before opening up the checkbook.
15: ???
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