How in the name of Monty Brewster can you spend $25,000 a day?
That’s the question facing the unknown winner of that record Mega Millions jackpot. (Whoever holds the winning ticket lives somewhere in South Carolina, but that’s all we know so far.)
If they take the lump sum option of $900 million, even after paying taxes they’ll be left with somewhere around $500 million in cash, say estimates.
Just dumping all that money in no-risk 10-year Treasuries will generate a guaranteed income of $15.5 million a year — which works out to around $25,500 a day, every day, after income tax.
No, it’s not quite the same as the challenge facing “Monty” Brewster, hero of the novel and multiple “Brewster’s Millions” movies. In the last version, starring the late Richard Pryor, the hero had to spend $30 million in a month, or $1 million a day.
But that was only for a month. The Mega Millions winner will be spending $25,500 a day every day forever, just on the interest.
So what do you buy when you get that kind of money — assuming you want to spend it?
Let us count the ways.
Personal luxuries won’t even make a bite. You can get this gold-plated iPhone XS Max for $4,000 . Bespoke suits from Savile Row in London will cost you about $5,000. The world’s greatest watchmaker is supposedly Roger Smith on the Isle of Man, between England and Ireland, who spends six months making each watch. They sell for about $130,000. A pair of bespoke crocodile shoes from Bontoni, handmade in an Italian village, will cost you $17,000. If fine wine is your thing, six bottles of Petrus 1945 are up for sale through Christie’s in Geneva, Switzerland for $42,000, or $7,000 a bottle. To put that in context, it’s more than $1,000 per glass.
Season tickets for the Boston Red Sox can cost you about $12,000 apiece. Ditto the New York Knicks, though with basketball we have never come up with a satisfactory response to the layperson’s question, “Why don’t they just start with 80 points each and play the last ten minutes?”
See also: In the NFL, this team offers the best return on investment (sorry, Chicago Bears fans)
If you like tennis, $13,000 a year will get you two seats for Wimbledon.
But this is bupkis. You’ll never even spend your interest.
You’ll get a little further if you start buying luxury use assets. Things like private jets and yachts are infamous money pits. A Gulfstream G500 will cost you $44 million even before you taxi down the runway. You could blow $200 million on a yacht if you really wanted to lose your money quickly.
Talk to most veteran rich people and they’ll tell you the two happiest days in their life were the day they bought their yacht and the day they sold it.
At least with other major assets you’re buying something that doesn’t depreciate, and probably will become even more valuable over time. These are investments that also give you pleasure.
You could spend $59 million on this spectacular estate in Long Island’s Hamptons, summer playground of the super rich. The property taxes alone will run to about $100,000 a month, or four days’ after-tax income.
Over in California there’s a home in Bel-Air on the market for a jaw-dropping $188 million. That would be more than a third of your stack, and the property taxes would run you to nearly $200,000 every month.
If you’re going to go crazy for real estate, you may be better off buying this $75 million palace on Lake Tahoe, where you’ll be free from the three disasters — the madding crowds, state taxes, and the dangers of global warming. Nevada, where this home is located, has no state income tax. And Tahoe should keep you well above rising sea levels, with plenty of access to fresh water right on your doorstep. (Except when it gets ruined during droughts.)
If you get bored with the view out your window, and you want something beautiful to hang on the wall, one of Monet’s Water Lilies paintings is up for sale shortly in New York. Cost: Somewhere up to $50 million.
Meanwhile, don’t neglect that new fashionable billionaire’s accessory: A $6.5 million “immigrant visa” and escape plan to New Zealand for the day when the SHTF here in the U.S.
It’s so trendy even tech billionaire Peter Thiel bought one.
But if the Mega Millions winner is so dedicated to their home state of South Carolina that they can’t bear to leave, their dollars will go a long way in the local real-estate market. According to Realtor.com (a Dow Jones company), the winner could buy all 10 of the most expensive properties in the state if they really wanted. That includes this $20 million, nine-bedroom home on Kiawah Island, the priciest property in the state currently on the market. The total bill would only be around $100 million.
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