Ok…I’m sorry…yes I just had to make the post title the name of Barenaked Ladies song.
It’s in my head because we recently played that song in church as an opener. Wait that sounds weird…Barenaked Ladies in church? Let me explain…we run through different series on different topics and one was on money and…well…you get the picture. Catchy tune by the way. And yes I know it’s dirt old as my daughter would say.
So anyway, back to our topic. Dang that ADD.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably dreamt up a fictional scenario in your head of what you’d do if you won $1,000,000.
And you’ve probably done it a dozen (if not more) times. It never gets old though does it!? I don’t think so 
By the way, I’ve also earned $1M on paper at least a dozen times too but that’s a different story. Lol.
But I’d like to ask seriously, what would you do with a million dollars?
The reason I love the million-dollar question is because there are two important questions that are answered depending on your response.
- Whether you’ve written a vision for your life. If you would change everything about your life with $1M, the chances are high you haven’t crafted a vision yet. Although they don’t realize it, most people can live 95%+ of their “dream life” without $1M (or even a small fraction of that). If this is the case, I’d urge you to create that vision and get living now. Don’t use a lack of money as an excuse for not having an awesome life. Make an vision then start living it now!
- The state of your heart. Whether you spend that money on yourself or others tells something about your focus (self-centered vs. generous), but I’d make a big disclaimer here. It’s easy to give theoretically when you don’t really have it. Many of us say that we’d donate to charities left and right, but let me ask – how much do we do this now? It’s easy to say “when we make a lot of money” we’ll be generous, but generosity isn’t related to the amount of money you have –it’s related to the state of your heart. If this is you, I urge you – just start small with what you have. Heck donating $10 might be all you can afford – and that’s ok! You’re going to love the feeling you’ll get from giving and it will change your life.
BTW…what would I do with that $1M?
Simple…I’d lend it out to successful real estate investors at a low loan-to-value (LTV) with the very reasonable terms of maybe 3 points and 12% and make a nice $150,000 of annual interest.
Then I’d use THAT money to live, donate, buy mom the yellow Volkswagen bug she’s always wanted, and my get my dog Rusty a solid gold diamond encrusted collar that says “Big Dog” (joking!…sorry Rusty).
I’d love to hear your thoughts and what you’d do with $1M so please leave comments below.
Tags: beliefs about money / donating / Investing / tithing