What would you do if you won $150,000 in a lottery?

[Regular_John]

Yup, mortgage. 5-10k on a vacation with the wife.

[Johnny199r]

Put every single cent on the mortgage. I couldn't stand the thought of paying interest for anything.

[Pizza]

Originally Posted by Rerun

hmmm... $40 per flat x 4000 active members = $160,000


Nope... couldn't do it. 250 members wouldn't get any beer.

surely you've kept a mental note of all your CP enemies. There has to be at least 250 CP d-bags you'd rather not give the beer to

[Tiger]

hopefully be smart enough to put a fair chunk of it on the mortgage. Maximize any old RRSP space to get tax money back if possible. top up TFSA. But I would definitely try to do one trip out of it at least.

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by Rerun

Lets say you are married and have a family income of $125,000 before taxes, per year.
You have no debts other than a $300,000 mortgage at say 3% interest.
No dependants.
Wife won't let you spend the money on hookers and blow.

What would you do with the money?

Pay down your mortgage?
Invest the money in secure investments? (what type? ie. stocks, mutual funds, bonds?)
Buy some rental properties?
Something else?

Assuming there is contribution room available I'd put the money in an RRSP, then max out both TFSAs, then pay down the mortgage. Then in the spring I'd use the tax refund from the RRSP contributions to put towards the mortgage. At 3% you can make more money investing wisely within an RRSP/TFSA which is why a mortgage pay down would be choice #3

[edslunch]

When we have found money we usually do 1/3 retirement, 1/3 debt, 1/3 spend on vacation or whatever. The larger the amount the lower the spending percentage is though

[craigwd]

Donate a bunch of it to a cause I support.

[ranchlandsselling]

5k vacation, put the rest in the market via wife tfsa and other accounts. At sub 3% no point paying off mortgage just yet.

[Shaggin Wagon]

If the mortgage is the only debt, I am not too sure what I'd do. Maybe 50% on housing debt. Most mortgages have clauses to stop massive one time payments. Maybe make the max one time payment without penalty, then double the mortgage payment for a year or two. Depends on your fine print.

For those with Student loan and CC debt. see what has the highest rate and pay that off up to 80-90% of winnings. You got to spend a bit on yourself.

[Oil Stain]

If I had 20-25+ years left to work I would go for a rental property. They really aren't much work and the payoff is nice down the road.

Sock the rest in a mix of market, mortgage, and maybe $10-20 to play with.

[Buff]

Family vacation to Disneyland or world. Another quick getaway to Vegas with the wife. Upgrade my wife's vehicle to something newer. The rest on mortgage.

[Arya Stark]

To the people saying mortgage, why? Aren't there better ways to invest that money?

Personally, I'd put it in a high interest account overseas and let it sit or invest in starting a new business.

[#-3]

Well my current situation is not vary different from what you described,

Personally I will pay down a few minor debts, a car loan, some small remainders on student loans.....

I might raise my month payment on Mortgage to reduce the term, but I wouldn't make a huge lump sum payment, Interest rates are too go right now, dumping other debts would leave space in the budget to pay the mortgage down a little faster.

I would probably take a family vacation that is a little too expensive.

I think I would probably blow $40k on a boat, because I grew up spending allot of time on the water and love it.

The I would invest the rest in something that pays good dividends, you'd hope with a 90K investment you could earn a few thousands / year in dividends. I don't know what typical dividends are, but I think my company is usually around 1% of the value of shares annually. effectively a small raise on my annual salary & a nest egg for when the kids grow up and I'm free'd up to travel allot more.

I guy can dream.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Arya Stark

To the people saying mortgage, why? Aren't there better ways to invest that money?

Personally, I'd put it in a high interest account overseas and let it sit or invest in starting a new business.

My thoughts too.
If my mortgage rate is 3%, I could make that money return me much better elsewhere.
I'd buy another property or invest into my business.

[waner]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

If I had 20-25+ years left to work I would go for a rental property. They really aren't much work and the payoff is nice down the road.

They aren't?

I have never owned one before but from knowing people who have they are the greatest things since sliced bread and a license to print money when they first start but it seems over time they do nothing but bitch about what a pain and money pit they are.

Obviously different situations would have different results but for myself they always seem to be way more of a pain in the ass then they are worth.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

If I had 20-25+ years left to work I would go for a rental property.They really aren't much work andthe payoff is nice down the road.

Hahahahahahaha

[Rathji]

I would, take a small chunk out, like $20k for a small vacation and to upgrade my current vehicle, then pay off my student loans and put the rest on my mortgage.

Not having to pay student loans and reducing mortgage payments would free up a good amount of cash every month to allow me to do other things like increasing the amount I am putting away for kids education or my retirement.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by Arya Stark

To the people saying mortgage, why? Aren't there better ways to invest that money?

Personally, I'd put it in a high interest account overseas and let it sit or invest in starting a new business.

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

My thoughts too.
If my mortgage rate is 3%, I could make that money return me much better elsewhere.
I'd buy another property or invest into my business.

Not sure where you can beat 3% return, risk-free.

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Not sure where you can beat 3% return, risk-free.

Who said anything about risk free?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Not sure where you can beat 3% return, risk-free.

Not to mention that you'd get taxed on that investment, so you'd need to make better than just 3% to make it worthwhile.