After a long debate with myself I know what I would do if I won the BIG prize on the lottery.

1.Buy a big house and have one of the rooms designated "The Pen Room"
2.Bring a proffesional carpenter to custom build pen cabinets and display cases with glass and light
3.Buy all my dream pens ,a very very very long list (did I mention its a LONG list )
4.I'd go and pay one of the Pen Techs to teach me how to fix pens.
5.After I would feel comfortable enough I would buy used pens,fix them for myself.The ones I already have or dont want I would either give to my friends or sell.

Ahh what a sweet dream

What about you ? (try to make it pen related if you can plz)

I don't mean to sound like I'm holier-than-thou but there's really not much I want. I'd probably get a binder nib for my VP and that's all I can think of.

If I won the lottery i wold:

1) Buy a modest sized house in a beautiful and calm area

2) Invest half to ensure that me and my decendants will be financially secure no matter what

3) Give one quarter of the money to my favorite charity, the March of Dimes . Please donate to charity, don't be greedy. March of Dimes is a wonderful charity, helped fund the discovery of the Polio vaccine and now does research to prevent premature births.

4) Buy all the Pelikan vintage and modern pens in my "To buy List"

5) Take a trip around the world.

Thats all!!!

Umm... Guy... could you use a nice gardener?

WOW...all great ideas Goodguy! I hope it actually happens to you!

I know exactly what I would do if I won the lottery - open up my own unique pen, gifts and novelties store here in Vegas, which I'm in the process of getting the seeds of my ideas planted here soon.

If I win the lottery I will...pay a psychologist/life coach/economist to teach me why playing the lottery is not a good use of one's money and that, although lucky this time, could lead to my wasting my new found riches.

If you buy all your most desired objects, what do you dream for?

If I won the lottery I would donate a considerable sum to a non-rofit organisation I know of that does humanitarian work across the world and funds people/planet friendly technology development.

I would buy a house big enough for my frequent visitors (instead of kicking my son out of his room) and with a really BiG room so we can all get together (sort of a home church thing going on)... with land for veggies and chickens and that was completely sustainable (yes even reed bed composting toilets)..

I would buy gold and silver coin to store in a secret location (money and investments will soon be nomore)

and of course would ensure all friends and family had a hand in the pot (even the ones that dont speak to me anymore)

and lastly........of course and without question, buy one or two of those ludicrously expensive wish list pens

actually I would do that first so that i could use them o sign all the contracts required for the list above

Tushey,good point.
I dream of learning how to fix pens then buy used ones and have a large pen collection.
Of course you ask why not take a used pen and teach yourself or buy a book that teaches you how to fix pens.
Sadly that doesnt work with me I need somebody to babysit me till I feel comfortable enough to fix pens by myself.

Ahem...shouldn't this be in Chatter?

Well I was kind of hopping this will be a pen dream thing but it is going the wrong way so you got a point there.

Come on guys you got millions dont you have pen dreams or pen related dreams you wanna fullfill ?

NEVER WIN.

Don't enter = can't win.

I use the money I would have spent on pens instead - much better chance of actually being able to get any pens. The expected average return is 54% of the stake - not odds I care for. I prefer 104% of the stake every year, thanks.

Regards

Richard.

Two of the things I think I would do at the moment are buying pens (a pink gold Carène and one or two Pelikans) and donating a quite large part of the money to the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service DGzRS.

Regards
Hans-Peter

I think there is a topic like this somehwere...

You all think so small. I'd buy Richard Binder.

Probably

Ahhh now you're talking.

buy that Mandarin Yellow VP that's for sale in the marketplace.

Get a Lamy Safari with the "Lamy" name on the bbl inverted so that it's not upside down when I write.

If I were to win the lottery, I'd:

1. Buy a Mont Blanc Oscar Wilde FP.

2. Emigrate to a little village in central Wales and take all my FPs with me.

3. Do a lot of research at the British Library's Reading Room.

4. Live.

Hire a good immigration lawyer to help some people who really need to get out of places faster than is happening.
Pay for full time student status for someone I know who really deserves to get at least one degree, but is doing the real life survival thing.
Slide some nice gifts to friends on disability so their pension status didn't get disturbed.
Put new siding on my house and renovate the master bath - put down new flooring.
If there's any left over - buy nice pens.

I would probably keep living in the same house I am now... maybe buy a summer home. I would definitely buy a BMW, and then a 1960's Ford Mustang.

As for pens... I would buy some first year "51"s to be my daily users... maybe a Red Giant. Some vintage Pelikans, maybe a vintage Montblanc 139.

Oh yes... and I forgot, I would buy a really big TV and one of those Blue-Ray players.

Get all those house projects done that we can't currently swing (new kitchen!) Pay off debt, save for baby's college. (Can you tell we're feeling the recession?)

(and buy about 30 bottles of Noodler's and a yellow Sailor ProGear with rhodium trim and a fine nib...)

I think the word is touché. A Tushey is what you sit on (and I don't mean a chair).

Thanks for the correction

1. Pay off all debts.
2. Help out mom and dad.
3. Help out some friends.
4. Taxes and finances all in shape.
5. Charity.
6. New car for me & hubby.
7. Pens.

People first, then money, then things.

Suze Orman grates on my nerves, but she's right about that.

Don't forget to pay Uncle Sam his share, if you don't Uncle Sam will send the IRS after you I hear they are not exactly people friendly if you forget to pay them

Better make sure thats taken care off before you buy every fountain pen ever made

1st get a lawyer well versed in tax law....get rid of debt....help family....plan and save for your brood....charity/church....then get that '63 Ferrari GTO

Here in Canada you dont pay taxes on gambling and lottory.
By the way here its not call IRS its called Revenue Canada.

I respect your priorities, Ghost Plane.

Buy a small house for the better half and me in the country, and live off the land a bit.

Buy a cottage at the ocean or a vacation spot for my parents and the rest of my family.

Invest a chunk my money and put it to work for me and my family.

Get a couple nice, old cars and fix them up.

Fix up my old bicycle collection.

Get together a more complete collection of old Sheaffers and Pelikans (especially Balances and Pelikan 100s and 140s).

Golf 5 days per week.

Get tickets to the World Series the next time the Yankees are in.

They aren't even friendly if you remember to pay them but they would like more from you...

I'd start another art center, but this time WITH A BUSINESS PLAN (palmslap to forehead). I'd model it on AS220 in Providence and expect it would take a few years to grow and become established.

I dunno. I hear Barbara is a wicked tough negotiator.

If I won the lottery. Hmm...

I'd do a few things.

1. Buy a modest sized cabin (note cabin, not house) with some rustic antique furniture throughout. Make sure it is in a secluded area with some lakefront property.

2. Buy a ton of ink, can never have enough color.

3. Obviously buy quite a number of pens.

4. Lastly, buy the FPN 2008-2009 pen for everyone on the board! WOHOOO!!

I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of right now.

-penguin

I'm pretty conservative financially. I'd invest the money so I could live off the principal. By "live" I mean pay the mortgage and related daily living expenses. We're not "things" or "stuff" people so we don't have a lot of material needs, just the occasional book here and there. Travel, backpack-style, to places we haven't been. That's about it, really.

If the principal allowed it, I'd buy a ten or twenty-acre plot of land and start an artist's colony. Most of my friends are frustrated artists and need a chance to get away from life to let their creativity flourish for a while. Heck, *I* need that chance. But this would give me a way to put my mad skillz in organization and management to work.

There's a friend of mine who is struggling to get financial aid for grad school. I'd help him out.

I might buy a Sailor Pro Gear, or a Namiki Falcon. A couple of inks, some decent paper. Maybe hand-bind my own notebooks.

After my wife and I die, the whole wad gets split between our local library and Save The Tigers.

They're small dreams, but they're *good* dreams.

I used to ponder what I'd do - and some of it is pen related ...

First I'd quit my current job - I would do something else for a career, I could not just sit around, but there is little reason to put up with what I do for a living if I didn't need the money. For the record, I'm a tax lawyer/consultant (exec comp and benefits), and it is intellectually challenging but a Big 4 accounting firm is not the least stressful place to work. I would ideally teach at the college or graduate level.

Pay off all debt - house, school loans, cars...

My extended family is generally pretty well off but I'd help my mother into a senior community with assisted and skilled beds available.

Invest wisely so I don't have to go back to work at a law firm or accounting firm.

Donate to some charities which are meaningful to me.

As for toys - I don't want for much really, but there are a few things I'd sure like to have that aren't completely irresponsible but something I'd never do for myself. I would probably buy a few pens that I have lusted for but never could afford - a nice Sheaffer PFM IV, Pelikan Madrid and Stockholm, Conway Stewart Churchill, etc... I'd buy a Honda S2000 - I've always wanted a ragtop and I love the design and feel of that car, but it is still relatively affordable and very reliable. I'd get a Prius or Civic hybrid for my daily commute to campus.

I'd likely stay in my current house but perhaps remodel the master bath or do a few other projects, bigger deck and screened porch, perhaps reclad with hardy plank, consider a small expansion to have a home office. I would enjoy a small place in the mountains for a getaway.

Lobby for Cruel and Unusual punishment for those found guilty of animal abuse. Donate to charities for animals, and OK maybe some people charities. Travel the world and learn a few more languages. Buy Montana. Make an offer to HRH for the acquisition of the Kew Gardens.

I'm not ambitious and have few wants; all the pens I wanted are within my means, so there.

I havent read the whole thread yet. I couldn't wait. I know exactly what I would do.

If I hit the motherload after the house car family gifts and the like. I would travel to each major manufacturer and have them create a 1 off pen just for me. For those manufacturers who wouldnt do it I would find a nos model I enjoy and have Paul Rossi work his magic on them. Sheaffer, Waterman, Namiki, Pelikan, CS, Parker, David Broadwell, Brad torelli, Chris thompson all of them!!

Woooo. I think I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it.

POE

Well, if the winnings were substantial enough:

1) Hire a fee-based financial lawyer/advisor (hourly fee, no percentages or control).

2) After taxes (lump sum here all the way), put half the remaining amount into an annuity to cover me for the remainder of my life.

3) Make a new will.

4) Take care of my immediate family's debts/needs, add some insurance for catastrophic-type health events.

5) Provide small, one-time-only, share-the-wealth "donations" to the family I didn't know I had.

6) Select up to 10 very close friends and pay off their non-mortgage debt (actual number of true, close friends is probably closer to 5).

7) MOVE! I don't like where I'm at or what I'm in. I want a decent home, in a new state, with a library, media room, and computer room (not combined together), and one guest room.

8) Modestly furnish said new abode.

9) Make sure I have economical and working transportation. At the rate things are going, it will probably be the actual horse and not mechanical horse power.

10) Hire a landscape crew for the spring/summer/fall, and a snow removal crew in the winter.

11-ish) Somewhere in here, I've retired.

12) Now I can concentrate on living, to include aiding charities, volunteering time, taking some much needed long and leisurely walks, and working on my "classic" novel - writing with fountain pens, of course.

Pen acquisitions would include Nakaya and/or Danitrio maki-e special custom orders. They'd slip in there sometime when I hit the "concentrate on living" aspect of the list.



(edited to prove I really can count)

If you win come to me,I'll teach you Hebrew (I'll give you a good deal )

If you win then I think we are related

I'll put you on the list to receive the $2.36 obligatory "donation" (adjusted due to inflation, of course) just as soon as I win.

Oh great,now I can get a token to take me home on the Subway

Your offer is accepted. Hebrew is a difficult language to learn tho; I was thinking of something easier like ---> Texan

Fly to Japan and order a Hakase from the store.

Take very long cruises until the pen is built.

Fly to Japan and take possession after a long afternoon of nib adjustment.

I just want you to know that if you open up even a half-way decent pen shop (I'm sure it will be much better than that) here in Las Vegas, I will bow to your feet and plunk my wallet down on the counter - all my money is yours! We are seriously deprived here... I mean, who needs three Louis Vuitton stores when we only have one measly Paradise Pen (that sells at MSRP!)? So saddening....


Back to the topic at hand...

Agree completely. A lottery is a self-administered tax on morons.
Anyone that thinks they have a better chance of winning than of being run over by a truck on the way to work (an eventuality I doubt even they would place bets on) is degrading the gene pool.

But if you are asking what one would do if a windfall were to come their way, the answer would be to do pretty much the same thing as I do now, except that my quotidien work would be performed at home in garage and garden, instead of at the office. No moving, no new houses or cars, maybe more travel. I probably wouldn't buy many more pens.

Acrtually it isn't. It is now the CRA - the Canada Revenue Agency.

Thanks for the correction.