Brewster's Millions- what would you do?

[Grant Lamontagne]

For those who have never seen the movie (and I'm referring to the 1985 version, not the 1946 version!), a regular guy named Montgomery Brewster recieved a challenge that would change anyone's life.

A wealthy and distant relative passes away and offers Monty the choice- take a million dollar inheritance and sign away his right to the real fortune, or prove he is worthy of the full $300 million inheritance.

The challenge?

Simple- spend $30 million dollars in 30 days.

There were a few rules, such as:

1- you can't destroy anything of value.
2- nothing illegal.
3- pay market value for goods and services.
4- no gifts, no charities, no gambling.
5- you can't tell anyone what you are doing or why.
5- at the end of 30 days you can have absolutely no additional assets over what you have before the challenge, and your current assets can't increase in value- or, no fixing up your house or gold plating your 1997 Honda Civic.

If you succeed, you get $300 million dollars, if you fail, you get nothing, and anything you bought, any remaining funds etc is all absorbed by the legal firm who is handling the estate.

Or, you can take the million and walk away.

Which do you choose, and if you take the challenge, how do you do it?

Def

[inkster]

I'll try for the 30 million.     I would even spend some of it on my mustache.

[Grant Lamontagne]

300 million wouldn't help that moustache!

Def

[inkster]

Well the jokes on you.  I know a place that can do it for 29,000,000

[Antti Lammi]

I have thought about it and i probably take that million and walk away, even that million would help me to take early retirment on work and still live decently rest of my life.
Spending 30 million in 30 days and have nothing at end would be impossible task to me.


Only Tools Matters

[Grant Lamontagne]

A million dollars doesn't go very far here unfortunately.  There are some places I could go in Canada that I might be able to eke out a modest living off it, but I doubt I could actually stop working on that.

If I intended to let be off it I'd have to go someplace else.

Def

[Antti Lammi]

I calculated if each month i get 2500 i would live with that amount roughly 35 years. Offcourse its less if goverment take taxes out of it. With that sum my life would change bit better, after taxes i get roughly 2000/month and minus food/gas just to travel and eat at work its roughly 500/month so calculating those that sum would give me pretty good living. If i roughly use 2000 per month it would take me 40 years to spend that million and because we share bills with my wife, that would leave more money on savings.
By calculating all that that money would take pretty far over 35 years.


Only Tools Matters

[BPRoberts]

A million wouldn't be enough to retire comfortably here, but it would let us own a nicer house free and clear, and switch to lower stress/part time work (or keep on as is and retire earlier down the road). I'll take the sure thing.

[SteveC]

I'd take the million and walk away happy 

[PitCarver]

I'd simply take the million also. 
I'm too old to try to figure out what to spend  30 million on.  I haven't even been out to "shop" in months.

[GearedForwards]

I'll preface this with that I'm 29 and live in the UK, even with the cost of living crisis and my relatively young age, a million would be enough that I would effectively be set up for a very comfortable life. It would make me debt-free and the owner of a freshly renovated (and solar-panelled) house, with probably around £700k leftover for investment and living purposes. Even just living off it (sans any interest), I could have a monthly allowance of £3600/month for a little over 16 years, an insane quality of life given the lack of mortgage/rent.

That said, I'd shoot for the whole shebang, and I think it'd be a lot easier than thought:

- Best money can offer private medical for check-ups and to expedite some stuff.
- First class flights or chartering private jets, whichever is more expensive at the time.
- Concierge service everywhere.
- Bodyguard and personal assistants whilst traveling the world like a billionaire.
- Renting out the entirety of any premises whenever possible, entire exclusive restaurants, Disney World etc.

I think hitting the 30 mil in 30 days would actually be pretty easy, that's before looking into 'hacks,' like booking services well into the future, which are not assets or improving your own assets.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Good points indeed.

Let's remember that this movie came out in 1985, and it would have been a bit more of a challenge to spend a million dollars then, as it was worth a lot more!

If I put the entire million in the bank, without spending any of it, at 5% interest, that would be about $50,000 a year in interest.  One could live a relatively modest living on that, as many people here do.  But, with housing costs skyrocketing since COVID (purchase or rent) and the highest tax rates in the country, you probably wouldn't want to stay here.

I'd still shoot for the 300 million.  I feel like a private jet to a fancy suite in Dubai for a month with Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock would put a serious dent in the 30 million.

And if I don't win the challenge, I can write a book afterwards where I detail what happened and probably hit 300 million sooner or later!   

Def

[RF52]

I would take the 30 mill and give it to charity, that way I spend it all without having anything of value left at the end of the month and helping someone that would need it.

[Antti Lammi]

I would take the 30 mill and give it to charity, that way I spend it all without having anything of value left at the end of the month and helping someone that would need it.

That would be great but as rule number 4 states:
no gifts, no charities, no gambling so basicly couldnt give money for good cause. These are tricky rules to follow. Even if you tfy make donation most likely it would be withdrawn or declined and charity wouldnt get money.


Only Tools Matters

[RF52]

Aah, missed that one
Back to the think tank

[pfrsantos]

I'd go for the 300MM. Renting an island, hiring Michellin chefs from around the world, having the best actors/actresses performing just for me, private concerts from any artist I want...

 

Right now, they're launching a ney lottery here. The prize: €20.000 every month, for 30 years. With the government taking 5% from every gambling prize over €5.000 and the current life expectancy, I don't see myself playing.

Awlso:

[MadPlumbarian]

I’d settle for the 1m, with what little we live off of, we’d blow the doors off of what we do now for like the next 30yrs, and with how hard it is to get around, yeah if we tried going for the 300m the first thing we could do is hire a limo service or something that will help the Mrs get around but still she’s got her limitations, thus why we’d probably never come close to hitting the 30/30. I mean if we were to have $75/day for 37yr it would be 999,000, and that would totally make our day!
JR

[nate j]

I would take the challenge to spend $30 million in 30 days.

As for how to do this under the rules, I think those who have mentioned private shows by A-list musicians, comedians, etc. may be on a viable track.  Top performers can command $1 million or more per show.

Perhaps an even easier alternative is to set up a political action committee and do ad buys.  Television air time can be pretty expensive.  While this is obviously on the extreme end, a 30-second spot during the 2024 Superbowl is expected to go for around $7 million.

Finally, consider that $1 million in 1985 would be the equivalent of about $2.8 million today (with $30 million and $300 million in 1985 being the equivalent of $84 million and $840 million respectively today of course).  So, if it were adjusted for inflation, it might be relatively more attractive to take the smaller sum upfront, and relatively more difficult to spend the larger sum in 30 days.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, I had similar thoughts and decided to just use the same numbers rather than try and convert to today's values.  I enjoy doing math, but it still didn't seem like it was worth the effort, especially considering the international nature of this forum and everyone already having to convert to their own currencies!

As for the political ads, did you see the movie?  That's exactly what he did- he financed his own campaign, which he tried to tank by using the slogan "Vote For None Of The Above."

He ended up backing out because he was going to win and that would have been considered an asset!

Def

[nate j]

As for the political ads, did you see the movie?  That's exactly what he did- he financed his own campaign, which he tried to tank by using the slogan "Vote For None Of The Above."

He ended up backing out because he was going to win and that would have been considered an asset!

Ha!

Hadn’t seen the movie, but it seems the easy way around that issue would be to do issue advocacy ads, not backing any particular candidate(s).  Or forget the political angle, and just do 30 second clips of waterfalls or leaves blowing in the wind or something.

[Alan K.]

I'd take the million dollar pay out.  It would be close to impossible to spend 30 million in 30 days and not have anything to show for it at the end of the month.