Jack Tame: What would you do if you won Lotto?

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

How much wealth is just the right amount of wealth?

How rich is too rich?

I had a successful businessman friend tell me once the Goldilocks zone is a mortgage-free home and five-to-ten million dollars in the bank. No more. Any more than that, and you can’t trust people.

But I dunno. Maybe this is just exposing me as a grubby money lover, but I reckon I could do fifty million.

The first step in winning Powerball would be the hardest but arguably the most important: you’d have to decide who to tell. I think it’s inconceivable that you could win that much money without telling anyone. But tell too many people and you’ll ruin your life.

So, who? Mum and Dad. The parents in-law. Siblings, as well. I trust them, of course, but already that pool of people is getting kind of wide. Maybe the rule should be you only tell people with whom you are willing to share some of your winnings. And maybe the rule with family is you pay off everyone’s mortgage and then, that’s that.

I’m not a big splurger, but yeah, I might be tempted to buy a couple of bits and pieces. As much as I love the Corolla, I’d probably shell out for a new car. Nothing crazy and ostentatious —I couldn’t ever show my face in public behind the wheel of a Ferrari— but maybe something a bit newer with a few more airbags and cruise control.

I’d pay off my mortgage. I’d probably splurge on central air, but for now at least I’d keep our family home. At least until the trees grow back. But as well as our home, I’ve always dreamed of a retreat somewhere. A house or a bach —again, nothing ostentatious— buried in native bush on a pristine beach. Ideally, it’s a surf beach. I’d wake each morning to the sound of native birds in between the crashing waves.

I don’t think I could win that kind of money and not give a big slab of it away. You’d want to be thoughtful about choosing charities and causes. I reckon you’d want to give big slabs —a few million a pop— to a couple, and then smaller parcels of donations —$100K each— to a whole heap.

Would I work? Easy to say it now, but yeah, I think I would. That being said, I’ve never forgotten Trevor, the guy who worked as a checkout operator at a supermarket in Huntly who won $27m. After initially insisting he’d be back at work, he decided, yeah... nah. Maybe I’d be the same. Maybe I’d just do this show and lose the Monday to Friday.

I’d love to travel more. I’d love to read more, to learn languages. I’d love to use that windfall to buy time. But all of this is hypothetical of course, because I haven’t actually bought a Lotto ticket. I never have. I wouldn’t even know what to do! I guess I’m just too rational. Even as I watched the jackpot roll over onto $50m, the equal-highest-ever, I couldn’t help but think that if that leads to heaps more ticket sales, statistically speaking the chances of winning Powerball by yourself are actually becoming even slimmer.

I get it though. I know why people have a punt. Buying a Lotto ticket isn’t so much a ticket to win $50m. It’s a ticket to dream. This morning though, I reckon I’ve done that for free.

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