I love all the I'd give it to charity answers. Its easy to say that when its theoretical money, but when its sitting there. How many would do it? Not too many, I'd wager.
Yeah, win a lottery of $1m here in the good old US of A and you will pay taxes up front... In other words, win a million but only net about 600thou or so. The Iowa Dawg
That is propaganda perpetuated by our government and big corporations. Anyone with financial skills can retire on 1 million dollars. Its called being frugal and not buying every piece of crap that you are brainwashed to buy on tv. But you are right, a million bucks doesn't have the purchasing power it used to have because the dollar is weak due to inflation which is intentionally caused, by the way. I know someone who save 160 grand and moved to Montana, and will never have to work again. As far as what I would do with a million bucks, I would buy lots of silver and gold, and I would probably buy a bunch of websites and expand my business. And play a little bit too. I've never understood philanthropy. Why would you give away your hard earned money to anyone? I don't know about you, but I work hard for what I have, and no one gives me anything. Therefore, It will be a cold day in hell before I ever give any of my money to charity. My favorite charity is myself.
Sure, if you want to live in a (cheap) campground, in a decent tent, eating ramen and spam, driving an uninsured moped, with no wife, and no children. A zero degree sleeping bag will probably be the biggest expenditure. You might be able to get by for 50 years or so.