I spent a few hours this afternoon in a contemplative mood over the question: if I had a unexpected financial windfall, what would I do with it? Not how would I pay down a mortgage or pay off my car, or how i might budget it or invest it, the responsible things, but what would I blow it on? What irresponsible thing would I want to do with it? Here is the result of hours of thinking:
Yes, that’s an empty list. Literally, nothing. I’m not good at this irresponsibility stuff.
So I started again with a modified premise: what would someone who wants for nothing do with it? Wanting something would fall as a subset of all possible things, so make the superset list and see if anything sticks out. That list was longer:
- buy a new car
- buy some new gadget (laptop, phone, tablet)
- convert it all to ones and tip lots and lots of strippers
- move to a swank penthouse apartment for a year
- vacation someplace exotic this year; twice
- hire a personal assistant
- host weekly dinners for friends at fun restaurants for the rest of the year
- rent out a venue and host a party for 100 of my closest friends
- set a monthly “must spend this money” budget with the consequence that any unspent money goes to Republican presidential candidate (how’s that for motivation!) — I could even recruit friends to help
Some of those things are are so outside the realm of reality that it’s just not going to happen. A new car? I barely drive the one I have. And I really hate moving so the penthouse is pretty unlikely. Most of the others, however, all seem perfectly doable and a couple I’m rather excited about. Perhaps I dream too responsibly and in general not often enough.
And now we wait for Thursday to see if that unexpected windfall comes to fruition.
Digital Ramblings 