What I Would Do With One Million Dollars (in L.A.):

To follow up on the recent lottery furor. There have been a lot of conversations that start, "What will you do if you win $_____?

I used to say I would invest it and live off the interest. Now, I'm pretty sure I would spend it all immediately.

1) Pay off our student loans.

2) Pay down my in-laws house so they wouldn't have to go back to Thailand when my father-in-law retires.

3) Buy/rent my mom a small apartment in Los Angeles so she could visit more often.

That's it. It's gone. You might notice that I only pay down my in-laws house, and don't pay it off, and I leave open renting vs. buying for my mom. That's because one million dollars, after taxes wouldn't cover all three things.

However, back at square one, I would use my newly freed up income from other sources to make contributions to:

Wikipedia--I love Wikipedia

Public Radio--I so love public radio

That doctor I read about who travels around operating on the women with fistulas who get banished from their villages.

Some organization like Smile Train (the topic of a previous blog post), but maybe not specifically them, as I have been reading that their money hasn't been going exactly where they imply it is.

What would you do with a million dollars?