If you won a ridiculously large sum in the lottery, would you help out friends and family with their debt or put it into a savings?

It's a tough call all around. I would take care that I would never again be wanting for anything first, then I would help my children, then close friends if they needed or would accept it. First, decide if you're going to be helping someone by paying off their debts, or will they just be back in the same mess in a year?

Some people are just spendthrifts, and no matter what you do to help them, they will fall right back into trouble. These people are the ones you should set up a trust for, giving them a monthly income, but not supporting them entirely. Of course everyone wants to do something nice like buy your children a house, but can they really afford to keep up a house?

It might be best to keep the house in your own name, and rent it to them cheaply, just enough to pay taxes and insurance. That way, they are assured a place to live, and if they fall on hard times, you can choose to let them not pay for awhile. Set the house up in a trust so that when you die, it reverts to them.

Hopefully, by then they will be responsible enough to handle it. You can always give it to them outright when you know for sure that they can afford all the expenses of home ownership. Giving someone large sums of money may not be in their best interest either.

How many lottery winners are now broke because they fell for every sob story, and spent like drunken sailors? I think again, it's better to provide an income than to lay out a large sum at one time. Friends are a totally different matter.

I know I would not react well to someone paying off all my bills, because it would make me feel indebted to them, no matter how many times they said otherwise. It might be nice, however, to make sure that they get some of the things that they can't afford now. Be there for them in emergency situations when they are low on cash, such as when a car breaks down, or they have unexpected medical expenses.

You don't want to make someone feel like less of a person simply because you have so much more than they do.

I would first determine how the money will be dispersed to me, either a lump sum or over 20 years. Then I would determine what sum I would need as principal to invest at low risk and be able to generate a yearly income at least twice my current annual income. Then I would purchase in cash, a nice home for myself, somewhere that I can envision myself living the rest of my life, without going overboard.

With the amount that is left, I would divide it into 3 equal parts. One part I would save as an emergency fund, the second I would donate to different charities and the other third I would distribute among family and friends based on their needs. I would do it in this order, otherwise, emotions may influence me, and I may wind up giving away more money than with hindsight I should have.

I would definetly put it into savings for my childrens college fund, if there's an emergency and if anything happens to me it will be there for my future husband and children. I want my family to have happiness and decent things so I would use it sparingly mainly for what is needed and nobody likes to live paycheck to paycheck.

I would find a way to invest and set up trust accounts for family and friends. I don't think that people can handle instant wealth. It seems to be the basis for a lot of problems later down the line.

If a trust is set up for everyone so that money is no longer something to worry about, they can be much more comfortable and happy. I would also offer to help with schooling, a business grant if they have a small business plan, and any "crisis" financial situation. I don't think I'd just bail them out though because that often just leads to more debt.

I would buy my children a home, at least put a huge down payment so that they did not have to worry about a home. I wouuld get braces for the children that needed them and any high end things that they would struggle to pay and then I would put a set amount into a savings account for each of the 3 children and buy my RV and save the rest. Since I am almost retirement age I would want to have an RV for my retirement.

I would definitely give some to family to pay off their debts. My parents, for example, are upside down on a house they love in an area they hate. So I would pay off the house so that they could move on to a house that they love that is also somewhere that they would want to live.My brother is working his way through college and I would love to be able to set him up so all he had to do for the next two years was study, and worry about his education, rather than about how to pay rent.

I will admit that in terms of family other than immediate members, this question gets a little stickier for me. I have 9 aunts and uncles and a whole passel of cousins. Even if I won the lottery, I don't think I could afford to pay for their debts or give them all an equal amount of money.

Moreover, I have family members who have lived on the dole for years without even looking for work - I don't know that I would feel comfortable further financing that lifestyle. I do think I would try to do something on the smaller side for everyone, though.It would all depend, of course, on the size of my jackpot post taxes, etc.

I think you should give some of it to friends and family and then the rest keep in saving for you to spend.

We'd definitely help friends/family, then local place of worship and other worthy projects. We'd make sure we've invested the bulk wisely, then - as you put it - live a bit larger. Thanks for letting me take a couple of minutes to daydream!

I would try to do both, but then my vision of "living large" is probably a bit different than most folk have in mind. Trust Fund I would set up a trust, first, to protect the money and keep it growing on its own, as much as possible. You see, "living large" means not having to work, but doesn't necessarily include living in the lap of luxury, in my mind.

Once the trust is set up, the interest would be used for living expenses and helping those dearest to me, as long as their requests were reasonable. No giving money so that a relative can open that restaurant they always wanted, but money to help them achieve goals where they put forth considerable effort. Assuming I bought rental properties, which I would probably do, I would be happy to rent to relatives who are a bit down on their luck, but they could not live for free.

I'd be happy to help pay a portion of educational needs as part of that help.

First, I would pay my dad back all the money other family members have borrowed from him and probably never will pay back. Their debts with him would be erased but that's all they'd get because they'll never learn anything if someone keeps handing out money to them. Set up trust funds for the grandkids with conditions about only using it for college; fix up our house and give it to a large family who needed a house and couldn't afford one.

Then hubby and I would buy an RV and hit the roads with our three dogs.

It depends on the kind of debt. For instance, last year, my son's God mother, jobless, get into debt just to go on holiday in Italy for three weeks. And when she got back to our country she asked me to lend her money to pay the bills and the doctor for the kids.No, sorry, in this case, I won't help.

I don't go on holiday because I don't have enough money and pay close attention to my expenses and so I think anyone should do the same. So, yes, I would help those who need but also who deserve the right to get some help. And I personally wouldn't change my way of life because I would have earned a huge sum of money.

The ones who deserve help I would, and I would try to invest some of it and try to profit extra that way.

I believe we went to this world to be happy; now, you can't be happy if the ones you love aren't, then if that money can help them to get rid of any (non game- or something like that) debt that makes them unhappy, then I would help them out :).

Not only would I not want to be known for handouts; I wouldn't want my friends and family to be known for taking them either. I would much rather give them a below market interest rate on a loan, or better yet, simply co-sign their loans when they go to get financing from a third party. I don't know if I would scale up my lifestyle considerably right off the bat though as I would do everything in my power to avoid the dreaded lottery winner stereotype.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.