If I were a billionaire…

The old question used to be. What would you do if you won 1 million dollars today? Of course, with inflation and time,  $1 million is not what it used to represent. For most of you, $1 million stacked away in your retirement portfolio will not end up being enough to generate enough passive income to keep on the same pace in your lifestyle. Think about it… at 5% of interest or dividend yield, a $1 million portfolio will generate $50,000 but that amount will become less and less in real dollars because of the inflation. So no, having $1 million will not be enough to save the world, quit working at 25 years old or buy a house and car for all of your family.

Ok maybe, I’m slightly exaggerating in the sense that you can still do a lot with $1 million and needless to say that $10 million would be enough for most of us to enjoy life. But just for the sake of it, I thought it would be interesting to think about what is it I would do if I had $1 billion deposited into my bank account by tomorrow morning. I would love to hear from you as well. And no, I’m not looking to hear about the every single item that you would buy rather the general principles that you would use in managing that money. What would be your big plans? Here are ten things that would be on my list:

-Charity Fund: I have discussed the giving pledge and have become more interested in the work of many of those who signed the pledge in recent months. I think it’s incredible how much of a difference these individuals are making and would certainly love having the opportunity to sign up to give most of my money over time to charity through different forms.

-Create my own VC fund: You all know it, I’m passionate about technology companies, Silicon Valley and I think there will be many more stories similar to Facebook. I would love to be involved in such companies and being an investor would be a great way to do so.

-Stack away 99% of the money initially: I think we all have our different ways of seeing this but becoming rich overnight can be dangerous and many former lottery winners could testify. I would personally store away 99% of the money (in this case leaving me with a more than respectable $10 million) for one year. That would give me an entire year to think about good ways to manage the funds without being wasteful.

-Make sure my inner circle can live a good life: My family and friends would obviously the first ones I would look out for. It’s surely a big challenge to not get into any fights when someone in the family has so much money (I wouldn’t know) but hopefully I could find some way to make it work.

-Have my own plane & pilot: Traveling is perhaps my favorite thing to do and being able to go away where and when I want would be a luxury unlike any other for me

-Hire a few people to take care of myself and family: Having a cook, a personal trainer and a few other people on staff would certainly be a great way to ensure being healthy.

I would say quite far, I’m still working on my first million, but the first one is the most difficult right?:)

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