If I won the lottery...

Part 1: What if?

If I woke up one morning and realized I won the lottery I'd probably immediately start freaking out; I've theorized about this happening but to have it actually be a reality? I'd be an excited mess.

What I've always said I'd do is put enough of the money away to retire: But it all depends on how much I won! My wife always says "spend it" and "you can't spend it when you're gone", so I think we're a good balance for each other.

I'd make sure to put a good chunk of it away, and have a good chunk we could spend "right now", to keep both me and my wife happy. For the chunk we want to spend, I'd lean into what my wife wants to do: trips & shopping.

As for me, I'd get a lot more invested in the stock market. I've recently started, but with winning the lottery it's a whole new game! $10m to invest? That's a whole lot of different stocks to diversify well.

But... I'm getting ahead of myself: I just woke up, found out I won the lottery, but I don't even have the money yet! Besides.. who do I tell? What's going to happen to my extended family? I've heard when you come into money people can start coming out of the woodworks...

I'd call my siblings & parents, and I'm sure my wife would call hers to tell them the news. Then we'd have to get started on the process to actually collect the money. My wife and I would also need to have a conversation about who we want to give any to (again, depending on how much we've won!) - We've had hypothetical scenarios, but again, the reality is so much different than a "what if"

Then, once we have the winnings, the biggest thing would be to not blow it.