Quote Originally Posted by tony
Do you really think you'd be any happier than you are now? I know the shallow answer would be "hell yeah!" But think about it, unless material things bring you real joy how much better does it make your life?

There was a study done that found lottery winners are no happier a year later than before they won the money and some would rather give the winnings back. Personally I think it takes the fun out of life, I think even the Ferrari and two Porsches I would buy wouldn't be fun because I didnt work for it. I tell my girlfriend I'd just give her the ticket and let her deal with it rather than go through the trouble myself. Just curious what others think..
Depends on your goals and ambitions, most lottery winnings lead to bankruptcy and/or divorce within a few years...

I know for a fact I would be happier, not just because of materialistic things like having the chance to build a ground up street version of an old JGTC twin turbo NSX but have the chance to help people in a greater way. I've come up with a few designs for low-cost "modular" housing that could be assembled in hurricane or tsunami area's either for permanant safety from a storm or temporarily for relief afterwards. I've seen just about everything there is to see in the US and we take what we have for granted, it's time to branch out with a certain amount of time dedicated to helping build or rebuild communities elsewhere. Can you imagine what it would be like to cook a huge meal for an entire community in south america or wherever, maybe a place that suffered a drought that season and didn't get the crops they needed or anticipated. Then help them construct an irrigation system and resovoirs to prevent it from happening again. It's endless what could be done and with a solid foundation built you can then enable yourself to get donations and grants and have an even greater affect...but it all has to start somewhere.

Of course I'll still want to construct my modest 4,800+ sq. ft. modern industrial shop & loft with about 40% dedicated to living area and the rest as a fabrication, repair, and garage Plus I know where a killer subdivision up in the mountains are that never had a single lot sold. Just a perfectly paved road with banks and turns like that of a world class circuit track, they built a demo house up front and locked the gate a couple years later. Most of the land is too steep to build on or would be too expensive make it worthwhile, not including the grading for each driveway. I would purchase the entire place, close out the road so it made a loop and have my own test track with a guest house up front and my place in the middle somewhere. Is that too much too ask for?!