Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

Most of those $million winners become depressed and are miserable. Enjoy your hoopties and be happy :

ab348

driver100 said:

Most of those $million winners become depressed and are miserable. Enjoy your hoopties and be happy :

I'd be willing to make the sacrifice in order to be a science project on that theory.

Michaell

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, I didn't win the $750 million Powerball the other night so my plan to buy each of you a car of your choice has been ruined. It's not fair that I don't get to be filthy rich and share it with my friends.

Would I have had the option of taking the cash equivalent?

Not that it matters now, I'm just askin

imidazol97

driver100 said:

Most of those $million winners become depressed and are miserable. Enjoy your hoopties and be happy :

Well that sure makes me feel better about not winning! LOL

imidazol97

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, I didn't win the $750 million Powerball the other night so my plan to buy each of you a car of your choice has been ruined. It's not fair that I don't get to be filthy rich and share it with my friends.

The instant you won you would have had too many friends. Many you never knew you had before.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, I didn't win the $750 million Powerball the other night so my plan to buy each of you a car of your choice has been ruined. It's not fair that I don't get to be filthy rich and share it with my friends.

Would I have had the option of taking the cash equivalent?

Not that it matters now, I'm just askin

What! are you some kind of communist?

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, I didn't win the $750 million Powerball the other night so my plan to buy each of you a car of your choice has been ruined. It's not fair that I don't get to be filthy rich and share it with my friends.

The instant you won you would have had too many friends. Many you never knew you had before.

Here's a question. I heard that the PB winner had the option of remaining anonymous but chose to come forward. Me, I'd hide somewhere until I had a team of lawyers and financial advisors on board and would do everything I could to shield my identity just for the reason you mentioned.

Would you go public?

I'd love to have the ability to help friends, family and worthy causes but I wouldn't want to make a big show of it.

graphicguy

qbrozen said:

ab348 said:

I don't understand that. It's like if you wrote off your GT in a wreck and your insurance company is buying you a new replacement. You walk into the Ford dealer and ask "What's the price of that Mustang GT over there?"

"$125,000" the salesman says.

"My insurance company won't go for that!" you exclaim.

"Oh, you're getting it through insurance? Then it's $35,000".

I seriously doubt the hospital was losing money on your $168 anaesthesia.

As others like @dino001 have so well detailed, the system is broken, if not outright corrupt.

Oh, its awful. AND, if you don't have insurance at all, the rate is much lower. It is a crazy scam. It is kind of like marking up your prices 1000% and then having an "800% off" sale. My chiro was not shy about this. If I went through insurance, he'd charge them $80 per visit and they'd pay him $40. If I paid out of my pocket, I paid $40.

I don't like getting political. But, if our White House and Congress would go after the insurance companies, medical supply companies and healtcare providers to clean up their act, instead of trying to penalize "Harry and Jane public" the debate over universal healthcare would become much less contentious.

Just this morning there was a local story about a lady who went to the emergency room of her local hospital with stomach pains. After sitting in the waiting room for 45 minutes with no end in sight to her wait, she left. Hospital charged her $1,000 for sitting in their waiting room. She was never treated.

This isn't an exception as much as people think. This sort of craziness is becoming the rule. The whole thing is a scam.

fintail

I think the lump sum was over 400MM. Even after a ~35% tax, I bet that could take care of any depression or misery I may experience. What's the old line, those who say money doesn't buy happiness have never had money?

I'd be anonymous too, all of the long lost friends and relatives might get tiresome, not to mention less scrupulous issues. At least the winner wasn't a 90 year old billionaire with a foot in the grave.

fintail

You get the justice you pay for, especially in a burgeoning oligocracy ruled by the lobbyist.

Every time you see the word "universal", the reply will be "socialism", "death panels", "fake news" (life expectancy stats must lie) etc etc etc. Here's an idea, make our beloved politicos live on the healthcare system they want to implement, and not their gilded elite system. Also make tax returns and financial disclosures mandatory for all of them.

graphicguy said:

This isn't an exception as much as people think. This sort of craziness is becoming the rule. The whole thing is a scam.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

Here's a question. I heard that the PB winner had the option of remaining anonymous but chose to come forward. Me, I'd hide somewhere until I had a team of lawyers and financial advisors on board and would do everything I could to shield my identity just for the reason you mentioned.

Would you go public?

I'd love to have the ability to help friends, family and worthy causes but I wouldn't want to make a big show of it.

No way would I go public.

bwia

2018 E Class autonomous valet parking. Nice, but overkill me thinks. I remember Volvo once promoted the technology but I'm not sure if they were able to execute. Watch short video and comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Y1ChYabWw

fintail

Lawyers will have a field day. My main concern is that it will go really slow in parking garages, causing bottlenecks and rage.

If I had one of these, it would pull in striking a Bentley on one side, a Rolls-Royce on the other, then automatically drive off. My current car, like many out there now, has mostly automated parallel parking. I have never used it.

I like how they included an old C123 that cuts in front of the self-parking car.

bwia said:

2018 E Class autonomous valet parking. Nice, but overkill me thinks. I remember Volvo once promoted the technology but I'm not sure if they were to execute. Watch short video and comment.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, I didn't win the $750 million Powerball the other night so my plan to buy each of you a car of your choice has been ruined. It's not fair that I don't get to be filthy rich and share it with my friends.

If I won I would have done the same. It would have been the best way to finally get you out of a hooptie. Maybe next time.

jmonroe

stickguy

Anonymous all the way.

graphicguy

oldfarmer50 said:

imidazol97 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, I didn't win the $750 million Powerball the other night so my plan to buy each of you a car of your choice has been ruined. It's not fair that I don't get to be filthy rich and share it with my friends.

The instant you won you would have had too many friends. Many you never knew you had before.

Here's a question. I heard that the PB winner had the option of remaining anonymous but chose to come forward. Me, I'd hide somewhere until I had a team of lawyers and financial advisors on board and would do everything I could to shield my identity just for the reason you mentioned.

Would you go public?

I'd love to have the ability to help friends, family and worthy causes but I wouldn't want to make a big show of it.

No way. Matter of fact, I'd probably go in disguise to the lottery office to claim the money. Then, I'd find a way to sneak out the back door once I picked up the check.

I WOULD still post here. And, I would keep my current car, just to be safe from being found out.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 said:

imidazol97 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Well, I didn't win the $750 million Powerball the other night so my plan to buy each of you a car of your choice has been ruined. It's not fair that I don't get to be filthy rich and share it with my friends.

The instant you won you would have had too many friends. Many you never knew you had before.

Here's a question. I heard that the PB winner had the option of remaining anonymous but chose to come forward. Me, I'd hide somewhere until I had a team of lawyers and financial advisors on board and would do everything I could to shield my identity just for the reason you mentioned.

Would you go public?

I'd love to have the ability to help friends, family and worthy causes but I wouldn't want to make a big show of it.

If I had the choice I'd be quite about it.

I have to laugh about going with one of the financial advisors that will be calling that women. The last thing I would need is financial advice. I'd just look at it for a few months, do some research, then decide what to do with it. Like finding someone who is better at cheating on my 1040 than me.

What's the hurry?

jmonroe

28firefighter

Some states require that you reveal your identity as part of accepting the winnings. I actually think Ohio is one of the few that allows winners to remain anonymous.

Of course, even in other states there are things you can do to make it harder to figure out who you are - setting up trusts/foundations/LLCs to take the winnings. Like @oldfarmer50 I wouldn't set foot near the lottery office until I had a plan of action for protecting myself, my family, and the money.

Not that any of this matters anyway...

bwia

Although Massachusetts law requires lottery winners to be made public, some recipients in the past have created a trust and had a trustee accept the winnings to protect their anonymity.

There also are a few other things she needs to do. For one, because she chose the $480.5 million lump sum instead of 30 payments over 29 years, she should alert her financial institution that it's about to get a deposit of hundreds of millions of dollars.

An estimated $120.1 million will go to Uncle Sam and $24 million to Massachusetts state coffers, leaving Wanczyk with a measly $336 million before the vultures (lawyers, accountants, financial planners) set in.

Source: MSN Money

thebean

Anonymous all the way

abacomike

In regards to the PB as to what I would do, i would take the one sum payout after taxes an I would try my best to maintain anonymity by setting up a living trust or similar vehicle.

But more importantly, where do you put $370+ million dollars?  What do you do with it while developing a plan for investing and planning?  Do you place it in one bank?  2-banks?  50-banks?

I have given a lot of thought to the above dilemma. I most probably would open a slew of Money Market accounts at scores of banks to protect as much of the money as I could under the auspices of the FDIC (insured up to $750,000 per account with 2 or more trustees named - like "Abaco Mike" in trust for "Abaco Mike Jr." and "Abaco Mike II", etc.  That way the money remains available for withdrawal and insured up to "X Dollars" per account.

Any other ideas on how to keep the money safe and available?

Michaell

abacomike said:

In regards to the PB as to what I would do, i would take the one sum payout after taxes an I would try my best to maintain anonymity by setting up a living trust or similar vehicle.

But more importantly, where do you put $370+ million dollars?  What do you do with it while developing a plan for investing and planning?  Do you place it in one bank?  2-banks?  50-banks?

I have given a lot of thought to the above dilemma. I most probably would open a slew of Money Market accounts at scores of banks to protect as much of the money as I could under the auspices of the FDIC (insured up to $750,000 per account with 2 or more trustees named - like "Abaco Mike" in trust for "Abaco Mike Jr." and "Abaco Mike II", etc.  That way the money remains available for withdrawal and insured up to "X Dollars" per account.

Any other ideas on how to keep the money safe and available?

I've always thought I'd invest in T-bills. Not a lot of return, but can stagger them for continuous payments. Maybe some safe blue chip stocks that pay good dividends. 

Materially, a couple of homes (summer and winter) with a couple of nice cars at each. 

I'd then do some travel and play golf. 

dino001

abacomike said:

In regards to the PB as to what I would do, i would take the one sum payout after taxes an I would try my best to maintain anonymity by setting up a living trust or similar vehicle.

But more importantly, where do you put $370+ million dollars?  What do you do with it while developing a plan for investing and planning?  Do you place it in one bank?  2-banks?  50-banks?

I have given a lot of thought to the above dilemma. I most probably would open a slew of Money Market accounts at scores of banks to protect as much of the money as I could under the auspices of the FDIC (insured up to $750,000 per account with 2 or more trustees named - like "Abaco Mike" in trust for "Abaco Mike Jr." and "Abaco Mike II", etc.  That way the money remains available for withdrawal and insured up to "X Dollars" per account.

Any other ideas on how to keep the money safe and available?

I think you're thinking way too linear in "putting it into the bank". Short term, it doesn't matter if it is FDIC insured or not, banks don't go out of business overnight, so as long as you put it into one or two big ones, you're good. Then you start putting money into investments, according to your risk. You only need to get rich once, so probably most (80 percent) of money that you want to be outside of "current cash", you'd into the Treasury bonds, which are safe on the principal, just sensitive to inflation. The rest you can put into something riskier, like blue chip dividend-paying stocks. The coupons and dividends would more than cover your lifestyle, as long as you don't start buying yachts, helicopters, or women.

Mr_Shiftright

Definitely trying to solve a first world problem. Might not be a bad idea for longterm parking at airports, though.

suydam

Not gonna be my problem, I'm pretty sure about that!

driver100

Mr_Shiftright said:

Definitely trying to solve a first world problem. Might not be a bad idea for longterm parking at airports, though.

i like the way the car stops when the little girl runs out, and the car comes out in the parking lot. But, very limited use in the real world. I guess it needs something left in the space so it knows where to go. Hope no one else parks in my space when I am out!

I have self parallel parking and self perpendicular parking frontwards or backwards, but, I doubt I would ever use them....maybe if I am overtired or on some kind of medication.

driver100

Would you really buy more houses, and a yacht, and get a whole new set of friends and belong to a fancy golf club and change your whole lifestyle if you won the lottery?

I don't think I would change too much.....I am not greedy, another $10 million is all I would need.

stickguy

I would take the annuity. Invest that way. Plus avoids figuring how to invest so much, and enforces dollar cost averaging.

Might sound odd, but I would rather win a smaller jackpot. Those huge ones generate bigger hassles! 40mill, paid at 2/year for 20, something like that would cover me, and be easy to handle.

dino001

stickguy said:

I would take the annuity. Invest that way. Plus avoids figuring how to invest so much, and enforces dollar cost averaging.

Might sound odd, but I would rather win a smaller jackpot. Those huge ones generate bigger hassles! 40mill, paid at 2/year for 20, something like that would cover me, and be easy to handle.

I had similar thoughts. I'd take smaller amounts that are not life changing, like a million or two in one-time payment. Once the annuity goes over million bucks minus tax (jackpot of 20 mill) or so, it becomes less obvious. The biggest advantage of an annuity would be you can blow through the money for one year or two, but it still keeps coming next year and again, so there is time to adjust the lifestyle responsibly, even if you mess up ones or twice. I heard somebody saying take one time half and let time work for you, but I think one would now find investments that can beat that and provide income at the same time. The annuity takes that off and in case you still live within means (I always do), there is chance something will be left over and one can start investing those leftovers without fear of losing everything in the process. As long as you don't borrow against the future, you're fine in an annuity.

One big advantage of large one-time payment is the pressure of thinking what if the system goes bust. But now you start having exactly the same thoughts with the money that's on the account. Either way, if somebody is a worrying type, they'll have nightmare scenarios playing for any situation.

nyccarguy

I used to want to win "the big jackpot," but now I just want to win enough to pay off my mortgage and put my kids through college.

explorerx4

Maybe that lady didn't want to wait, considering what happened to her ex husband last year.
He was waiting at a bus stop in the shelter, when a drunk driver crashed through it and killed him..

cdnpinhead

I find myself in a strange place, in that my 401(K) plus SS plus my old-fashioned defined benefit pension from my employer would (or will) provide me with more money than my wife and I need, by quite a margin. We did without quite a lot over the years, and here we are. It basically comes down to spending less than your make.

Go figure.

ab348

cdnpinhead said:

I find myself in a strange place, in that my 401(K) plus SS plus my old-fashioned defined benefit pension from my employer would (or will) provide me with more money than my wife and I need, by quite a margin. We did without quite a lot over the years, and here we are. It basically comes down to spending less than your make.

Go figure.

I'm pretty much the same way, though I'd go broke if I went and bought a million dollar McMansion or a fleet of Benzes. But right now things are good in the financial department thanks to living sensibly over the years.

Though today I splurged and bought a new toaster. Didn't need one, just wanted a new shiny one. What luxury. But I waited until it was on sale at Canadian Tire!

bwia

cdnpinhead said:

I find myself in a strange place, in that my 401(K) plus SS plus my old-fashioned defined benefit pension from my employer would (or will) provide me with more money than my wife and I need, by quite a margin. We did without quite a lot over the years, and here we are. It basically comes down to spending less than your make. Go figure.

Perhaps it's time to start thinking of setting up CdnPinhead Charitable or Education   Foundation.

qbrozen

i feel guilty reading about all you folks "living sensibly."

breld

That's okay - just think of me when you start feeling guilty. You'll perk right up.

cdnpinhead

ab348 said:

today I splurged and bought a new toaster. Didn't need one, just wanted a new shiny one. What luxury. But I waited until it was on sale at Canadian Tire!

Yes! Spending a bit more on a hotel or meal no longer makes me squirm the way it used to. OTOH, there's not a lot that I want at this point. My wife has a new car, my old one runs just fine and makes me smile, and life in general is fine. I think I earned this, but I'm sure there are people who feel otherwise.

explorerx4

Education can be just as big a snake pit as any of those other industries that have been complained about here.
My sister had her first PHD thesis and research appropriated by HER ADVISOR and published as their own.
Makes me a bit skeptical.

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RYAdxn43upQ

ab348

There is probably some moral gymnastics there that makes them rationalize that they approved the assignment and the research was done under their oversight so it is theirs to use.

roadburner

cdnpinhead said:

I find myself in a strange place, in that my 401(K) plus SS plus my old-fashioned defined benefit pension from my employer would (or will) provide me with more money than my wife and I need, by quite a margin. We did without quite a lot over the years, and here we are. It basically comes down to spending less than your make.

Go figure.

What a bizarre concept!

dino001

roadburner said:

cdnpinhead said:

I find myself in a strange place, in that my 401(K) plus SS plus my old-fashioned defined benefit pension from my employer would (or will) provide me with more money than my wife and I need, by quite a margin. We did without quite a lot over the years, and here we are. It basically comes down to spending less than your make.

Go figure.

What a bizarre concept!

Unamerican In support of the economy you're supposed to submit to bank's servitude. Anybody who doesn't do it, is an enemy of the people, responsible for our misery as much as Chinese, Bush, Obama, Mexicans, automation, and Goldman Sachs.

dino001

cdnpinhead said:

I find myself in a strange place, in that my 401(K) plus SS plus my old-fashioned defined benefit pension from my employer would (or will) provide me with more money than my wife and I need, by quite a margin. We did without quite a lot over the years, and here we are. It basically comes down to spending less than your make.

Go figure.

Live today like nobody else and you will live tomorrow like no one else!

fordfool

abacomike said:

Any other ideas on how to keep the money safe and available?

Treasury bills. The government backs up every penny.

stickguy

lend it to them to build the wall. can probably get a bonus return on that. And if they default, you will own a border!

fintail

Enjoy it, pensions are a fairytale from the past for most of the private sector now, and the private sector will probably end up taxed more to support generous public sector entitlements.

Spend less than you make, but be sure to stop and enjoy the fruits of your labor now and then. Live like nobody else, and remember that tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

qbrozen

breld said:

That's okay - just think of me when you start feeling guilty. You'll perk right up.

Oh, I definitely throw your reputation around anytime my wife expresses frustration. "My dear, you are lucky I'm not as bad as Breld!"

stickguy

my wife just shakes her head when I relay the latest Breld moves to her.

breld

You're welcome.

28firefighter

fintail said:

 Spend less than you make, but be sure to stop and enjoy the fruits of your labor now and then. Live like nobody else, and remember that tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

Amen.