What would you do with $1,000,000,000?

[Synobun]

Some excellent ideas here, and should I get this $1B then I'd be sure to pinch...errr, borrow....some of them!

Personally, other than the standard provide for family, buy fast cars, have lots of holidays, I'd like to:

a) build my own house...well not build it....design my own house so it had everything I want but to make it as energy-efficient as possible (wind turbines, recycling of water, solar panels, all that stuff), and
b) build a new school for my son....not his own school where he was the only pupil ....but sort of claim it to be for the community, but really it would be to ensure my son had the best chance of a good education. Again some policy, ensure it's energy neutral where possible and fill it full of mod cons...science labs, IT suites, etc, etc.

A is something I'd do as well. I have some ideas for a home that would be impossible or agitating to set up in a preexisting one. With unlimited money, it'd be easy peasy lemon squeezy to just get it built into the floor plan of a new place.

 

[AdamCrock]

I'd build an underground bunker/shelter/house of my dreams ! ^^ With completely independent power, air filtration, water purification systems and a laser turret Not to mention a retractable sat-com dish and some sort of farming/hydroponics integrated with biological waste disposal system

 

[Imaus]

A billion isn't enough by itself to change the world anymore...I'll probably make myself comfortable. Perfect hermitude.

Maybe buy a game studio or commission? some video games, IDK.

 

[Synobun]

A billion isn't enough by itself to change the world anymore...I'll probably make myself comfortable. Perfect hermitude.

How is it not? Tipping your server $1000 changes the world for one person. Surely you can think of something to do with a billion dollars that would make a lasting impact on a sizable population.

 

[Imaus]

How is it not? Tipping your server $1000 changes the world for one person. Surely you can think of something to do with a billion dollars that would make a lasting impact on a sizable population.

Aren't there tipping limits? At least with the phone services, it seems. No more than 500 percent?

But eh, I guess I'm unimaginative. Maybe if a billion landed my way I would get more creative but I've never had more than 50k at once....

 

[Morty]

Thinking further I'd also buy my home town's football club. I wouldn't throw millions at them (any team can win trophies given enough money and without the need to pay the money back) but they'd at least get enough so that they weren't worrying about the proverbial roof over their head, where next month's salaries were coming from etc.

NB: That's football....as in the use of feet....not American footballl....which rarely involves use of feet.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Pretty sure saying what I'd do with the money would violate forum rules

All I'm saying is that the Forbes most wealthy list would look very different. Who knows why!

 

[amadeus]

A billion isn't enough by itself to change the world anymore...

That's because I didn't want to see how people would change the world, I wanted to see what kinds of frivolities people would buy if they could without having to consider the cost too much. A million dollars would be a lot of money to most people, including myself, but I was more anxious (in a good way) to see the fantastic.

Some other miscellaneous items I would consider include but are not limited to the following:

The IBM Selectric typewriter. (Hear it here!)

If I want to write something, writing by hand can be grating and I might end up doodling or looking for something else to do. If I had a typewriter like this, with its sole function being text on a page, I'd find it a little easier to concentrate on the thing I'd sat down to do. I also like letters typed out, as opposed to written by hand or (worst) printed off from a computer printer. The handwritten letter is better than a printed piece of computer paper, but there is something I like about typewritten letters. Sending or receiving.

I see on eBay that some run in the few hundred dollar range, which is not within what I would reasonably spend on something like that for myself.

 

[Hygro]

Definitely set up the fiftychat compound.

 

[amadeus]

Not spend it on this.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Buy land deep in the country -- deep enough to not be able to hear traffic or people -- and build an off-grid cabin with a tornado shelter. I PROMISE not to send explosive mail, although I may or may not write a manifesto.

 

[Lexicus]

Definitely set up the fiftychat compound.

Me and you will spend the whole time fighting over the aux cable until @Synsensa tells us that everyone hates both of our music tastes anyway

 

[Hygro]

Me and you will spend the whole time fighting over the aux cable until @Synsensa tells us that everyone hates both of our music tastes anyway

Good thing it was my billion then

 

[Traitorfish]

I would build a mid-sized venue, capacity of maybe a couple of thousand or so, and put on music and wrestling shows. I would let them run at a loss, because money is obviously no issue, so that I could be sure I was doing it the right way. And, partly, to spite the existing operators of mid-sized venues, who are universally a bunch of leeches on the live entertainment industry.

None of this would even touch the sides of a billion dollars, and really does give away what a provincial yokel I am at heart.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Typical yacht, cars, palace. All seasoned with floozies.

 

[thetrooper]

Set up my daughter for life.

The remaining is superfluous to be honest. Would be nice however to buy a bigger house, a new car, some expensive bicycles and a cabin by the sea.

 

[Birdjaguar]

There is very little that a billion dollars is not enough to accomplish. Sure huge infrastructure, space or scientific projects might be difficult, but pretty much most things people want would be within reach. Mostly riskless $30 million in annual income would not be difficult. So, if you can live off of $30 million a year you don't have to touch your billion at all. If you need more than that, you could afford an investment advisor. You could make many multi-million dollar endowments to NGOs, charities, schools, etc. You could "adopt" a city and solve poverty and employment issues there. You could certainly fund specific research into areas you are interested in. You could fund Civ VII and make it better than Civ VI.

 

[Josu]

Never tell anybody who is not relative or close friend that I have such ammount of money
Pay the mortgage. Buy a summer residence.
Distribute it. No one of my brothers, sister, nephews, nieces, mother or parents in law will have to work again if they don't want to.
Pay taxes down to the last penny.

Take a time to decide whether I want to continue working or I want to study languages, humankid history or just want to spend rest of my life reading, hiking etc.7

Buy a dinosaur

 

[amadeus]

Buy a dinosaur

Sears has a $65m market cap, so what would you do with the rest of it?

 

[IglooDame]

There is very little that a billion dollars is not enough to accomplish. Sure huge infrastructure, space or scientific projects might be difficult, but pretty much most things people want would be within reach. Mostly riskless $30 million in annual income would not be difficult. So, if you can live off of $30 million a year you don't have to touch your billion at all. If you need more than that, you could afford an investment advisor. You could make many multi-million dollar endowments to NGOs, charities, schools, etc. You could "adopt" a city and solve poverty and employment issues there. You could certainly fund specific research into areas you are interested in. You could fund Civ VII and make it better than Civ VI.

Burying the lead there, aren't we?