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Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

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Re: Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

#12

I guess it depends on if this counts as computers (technically it does IMO!), but with a million bucks to start a business I would get like an excavator and a dump truck and start a contracting company or something similar. Or a bucket truck and industrial wood-chipper and start a tree company. Something along those lines. There's tons of demand, a high barrier to entry, and it's all real-world usefulness. The big ro…

I have no affiliation with them, it's just something I want to do one day:

https://digthisvegas.com/

Re: Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

#13
post #6

Retire, duh.

With only a million dollars? At what age, in what country/state, and at what withdrawal rate?

"Experts" in the US often say about 20 years at a $40,000/yr withdrawal rate. Withdraw more, or enter a recession, or require more time, and a million dollars isn't enough.

Re: Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

#15
post #6

Retire, duh.

With only a million dollars? At what age, in what country/state, and at what withdrawal rate? "Experts" in the US often say about 20 years at a $40,000/yr withdrawal rate. Withdraw more, or enter a recession, or require more time, and a million dollars isn't enough.

$1,000 / 20 = $50

Re: Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

#16
If the goal is generally to invest, then be boring. Split it among several ETF's.

If the goal is to support a project which will improve the world, I'd support existing projects to either make clean water more accessible or help the world's poorest people become more self-sufficient (eg, Heifer International).

Re: Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

#17
post #6

Retire, duh.

With only a million dollars? At what age, in what country/state, and at what withdrawal rate? "Experts" in the US often say about 20 years at a $40,000/yr withdrawal rate. Withdraw more, or enter a recession, or require more time, and a million dollars isn't enough.

Portugal. 4% SWR (tolerating dips to 3.5% occasionally). Once you're old enough to collect Social Security (if US centric), you can tolerate a bit more drawdown or market vol (or lower your annual WR) with the additional monthly benefit. D7 visa requires only ~9k EUR/year in passive income for the lead applicant, a bit more for each additional adult or child on the application. Universal healthcare system buffers you against medical tail risk wiping out your assets. Non Habitual Resident tax status is favorable to this level of wealth.

(not investing advice, see https://www.reddit.com/r/ExpatFIRE/ for more info or other leanFIRE locations)

Re: Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

#18
Unify mobile and desktop. Mobile hardware can run loads that required actual desktops 5-10 years in the past. For everyday use, especially office and productivity work, mobile hardware goes beyond capable.

But it's limited by the handicapped mobile platforms, who are nothing more than ad clients.

All it takes is to create an open (as in user has full access, no limits), responsive platform and current status quo will disappear overnight, nobody will look back. Same code running on your high-powered desktop and you "phone" or tablet, making no distinction between them other than to adapt to screen size. What programs you use on either device will solely depend on the actual program's resource requirements, nothing else.

Your AAA game will make no sense to be run on your phone (which can be attached to a screen), unless the game is engineered to scale to such low extremes. Your code editor, on the other hand, can be run wherever.

Re: Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?

#19

If the goal is generally to invest, then be boring. Split it among several ETF's. If the goal is to support a project which will improve the world, I'd support existing projects to either make clean water more accessible or help the world's poorest people become more self-sufficient (eg, Heifer International).

Since this is anonymous ... you know what, I have a million dollars. I'm going to keep some invested for the future, but it's far past time to give more of it away. I'm going to follow my own advice.

Thank you for the hypothetical question. It reminds me that hoarding money isn't an end goal, but a means that enables other goals.

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