If I had a million dollars…

Hin asked me if I was given $1,000,000, what I would do with it? Gee…I would be excited and scared, but here goes…

First, I would hire the best financial advisor I can find. So far, I have been doing well on my own — learning from the Web and books. But if a $1 million is thrown on my lab (ouch…I think a $1 million would be quite heavy), I want the best to help me protect that million. My first question to them would be what could I do to minimize taxes?

Second, I would settle my debts. I think being debt free is one of the best ways to build wealth. However, with my mortgage being the biggest debt I owe, I will have to work with my financial advisor to figure out which is better: pay off the mortgage or use the money for something else — i.e., invest.

Third, I would share my good fortune with my family and a few close friends that may need financial help. I know the proverb: “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime,” but if I can help them dig out of their financial hole, then I think it is worthwhile.

Lastly, whatever I have left I will invest that money so that I can see it grows. If I am lucky enough, I will have to revise my $1 million goal because I will be reaching it a few years sooner than expected.

I am not going to tag anyone (don’t want to impose), but if you would like to pick it up from here please feel free (and do link to me please)

Here are links to others who have been asked the same question, and what they do with their $1 million

  1. SYH will spend for Family
  2. Miche will give to the needy
  3. Montessorimum will keepsake
  4. Lovely Mummy will spend & save
  5. Babyfiona will buy house and open business
  6. MonkeyWong will go for a long vacation
  7. Emila Yusof will realise her dream
  8. Mariuca will open a Perfume Gallery
  9. Janice Ng will upgrade house and go for long vacation
  10. Hin will blog to donate for charity
  11. Bobo will invest in property and let her parents go on a holiday
  12. Chin Nee will spend on everything
  13. Laundryamah will spend a lot and not keep any!
  14. Mumsgather will secure her kids’ financial future
  15. Mott will buy the crappiest house
  16. wHOisBaBy will save it for future
  17. Suzette will buy a shoplot to collect rental
  18. Leah will purpose build a Montessori school
  19. Wuching will hire money counters!
  20. Angeleyes will migrate to Ozland, start an eatery business and invest the rest
  21. Min finds 1 million not sufficient! She wants more!!
  22. keeyit will go for investment
  23. Danielle will buy a cottage in the woods and never look back
  24. Norski will tithe to top off 10%
  25. AdSenseTracker will buy a good blog
  26. Pinyo will minimize taxes, pay off debts, help his friends, and invest
Pinyo
Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

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6 Comments

  1. gravatar
    Suzette
    August 13, 2007, 21:19

    Hi! Thanks for the link! :)
    Hope our dream comes true… where is my 1mil dollar…????

  2. gravatar
    Pinyo
    August 14, 2007, 4:12

    Suzette – welcome to Moolanomy. I updated the link to your post, not sure why it was wrong.

    Anyway, it is a nice dream.

  3. gravatar
    plonkee
    August 14, 2007, 13:40

    If I had a million dollars, I would convert it into the slightly more useful pound sterling, donate some to Oxfam, give some to family, plan a trip on the trans-Siberian express, invest in something really boring (like 50-50 bonds and stocks) to cover the mortgage and increase the fun part of my budget accordingly. Or drop to a 4 day week at work. And still invest in index funds and be sensible overall.

  4. gravatar
    Pinyo
    August 14, 2007, 13:51

    Plonkee – ha ha…I wouldn’t argue with you because US dollar is in the crapper right now, but don’t you think Euro is even more useful that pound sterling?

    Do you invest in US index funds or FTSE index fund?

  5. gravatar
    joe
    August 16, 2007, 14:07

    Hi Pinyo,

    Thanks for the link. I’ve included your name on my list too. :)

  6. gravatar
    Pinyo
    August 16, 2007, 20:28

    Joe – thanks for dropping by. Quite a site you have there.

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