Okay, you really didn’t win anything (but have no fear, you are indeed a winner!). Instead, I wanted to play a little game of what if.

Imagine if you will, that you just won a lottery of sorts and you walk away with $10,000 free and clear. Or if you’re not comfortable with the money for nothing sort of thing, then let’s say it’s work bonus after taxes.

So my question is, what do you do with your winnings?

Do you invest?
Pay off bills?
Go shopping?
How about going on a fantastic vacation?
Pay down your student loans?
Enjoy a little spa time?
Buy a car? A boat?
Put it towards your kids’ college fund?
A new surround sound system?

What do you do with your prize money?

What if it was $100,000 free and clear?  Would it make a difference? Would you use it towards your down payment on a house? Buy something nice for your parents? Donate to charity?

Now let’s say that you’ve won $500,000 or a million free and clear.  Do you do the same thing?  Maybe buy or start a business? Or do you have a little more fun with it since there’s more?

When do you decide to share a little of your new found wealth?

I don’t really have a point with any of this.  I just noticed today that when I entered an online giveaway they asked a similar question.  In their case, they only gave 4 options and then an other. So it got me thinking…

While I’d love a super fantastic vacation or a new car, I also can’t seem to look beyond the fact that I have some massive student loan debt and we’d love to get into a house of our own.  In which case, I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t be spending it on something frivolous like a vacation, spa time, electronic toys or a new car.  As much as it might pain me to do so, I think I’d have to save it or apply it towards my student loan debt or to our house savings.

And well, while that seems like quite the responsible thing to do, it also seems a little sad.  I mean what’s the use of winning a big’ol lump sum of cash if you don’t have a little fun with it, right?

So I guess if there is a point to this post (outside of being curious about how others might handle the situation), I think it could very well be that it’s made me realize I might have a couple issues yet to deal with around money.

Guess I know what sort of work is on my plate to deal with before the end of the year…