The 6/49 is worth 49Million, yup that is right $49MILLION! This Saturday, this is the second highest jackpot ever. I personally am not a big fan of lottery games, the only time I purchase a ticket is times like these and even than only $4.

So I thought we play a fun game today it’s called “what would you do if you won the lottery?”(I am sure you have heard of it) at some point everyone has had that discussion with a friend of relative.

Before I get into what I would do, here is a quick statistic about the chances of winning lottery According to U of T professor Jeffrey Rosenthal:

1 in 14million to get 6 right.
Over 1000 times more likely to die, “Indeed, if you bought one ticket a week, on average you would win the jackpot less than once every 250,000 years.”

More detailed look at 1st, 2nd etc. prize probabilities here.
Well let’s get back to dream land. Here is what I would do, no NOT retire. I am not even 30 yet what would I do sitting home all day long. But at that point I’d be working because I WANT to not because I HAVE to, big difference.

Anyways here is my list, let’s say I am lucky but not lucky enough to win 49million, but only win about $1.5Million (lottery winnings are tax free in Canada):
1. Payoff ALL debt; for myself, my fiancé our immediate family
2. Purchase a house
3. Buy several investment properties (not fully paid off about 50% paid off) and rent it out for income
4. Buy a cottage
5. Buy a car (not luxury car)
6. Buy a boat
7. Have a somewhat bigger wedding
8. Go on a Euro tour
9. Donate to charity
10. Invest the rest and generate income

You can probably tell that I would not throw the money away at many luxury things, I would try to use it in a way to increase my wealth over the long term and generate income.

Ontario Gaming League does regular survey’s and asks lucky winners (over $1million winners) what they did with the money, I will reveal some of those results in another post. [Results here]

Free Money Finance What Would You Do with Sudden Wealth?

Let’s see how you would compare to other Canadians, what would you do if you won the lottery? Spend it and enjoy life or Spread it out and grow your wealth?

Ray

Ray

Ray is an ex-financial adviser and the founder of Financial Highway. Currently working in the financial industry and working towards completing his Chartered Financial Analyst, CFA, designation.