I love questions like this because I think it's fun to speculate about what you would do with millions of dollars won in a big lottery. I have thought about this long and hard over the years and here's what I have come up with:
1. Know yourself. If I won a big jackpot...say over $20 million net...and I mean net after all taxes are paid...I would want to make absolutely sure my future and my money was secure. As I have little tolerance for risk (in investment terms) and I plan to live a low profile, under the radar kind of life this is my plan.
2. Form a Trust. For me a Revocable Life Trust looks like it would suit my needs. I can control it myself and change it if necessary and it is generally not open to public scrunity. And if you form a Turst in some states you might be able to keep your name out of the papers. For some people a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) is also a good option but I think the Trust serves me better.
3. Pay off all debts. First things first. I'd pay off all of my debts. And I do mean everything. Mortgage, Credit Cards, Personal Loans, Car Loans, absolutely everything!
4. Take a perchantage right off the top. I'd take something right off the top to disapear and live off of for a while. Something like 1% to 5% of the remaining money. But depending on circumstances...like if my name was in the paper and I had to disappear for a long while or hire security it might be as much as 10%.
5. Government Securities. Next I'd put a big chunck in government securities...somewhere between 35% to 50% of the remaining money. Most of that..say 75% to 80% would be in U.S. securities such as T-Bills and T-Bonds...long, short and intermediate term. The remaining perchantage would be in other safe and secure "westernized" countries. Maybe Canada, Austraila, New Zealand, Great Britain, Germany etc.
6. CDARS. Absolutely some chunk of the money would go into CDARS as they are insured and provide some degree of liquidity. My notion is somewhere between 10% to 20% but maybe as much as 25%.
7. Tax Free Municipals. In order to generate some income to live off of and reduce the tax burden I'd also put some of the money in U.S. Tax Free Municipals. Again something like 10% to 20% sounds right to me. and I'd look for those that have the highest financial rating. I'll take less of a return for a more secure investment.
8. Stock Market. I would invest some of my money in the stock market...but given the risks involved it would be a small percentage somewhere between 5% to 10% of the total. I would look for only Blue Chips and so called Widows and Orphans stock as well as some highly rated Corporate Bonds. I would prefer individual stocks over Mutual Funds. Most of that money would be in the U.S. stock market (maybe 60% to 75%) but I wouldn't ignore some of the overseas markets.
9. Real Estate. I think some of the money has to go into Real Estate. Again maybe something like 5% to 10%. I like REIT's (Real Estate Investment Trust's) myself but in some cases I think actual land could be a good investment. I would shy away from individual rental properties. Too much work and too much potential liability.
10. Money Markets. Some degree of the money would go into cash and currencies. I'm thinking somewhere between 2% to 5% would be kept in cash reserves and foreign currencies.
11. Cash. I'd also keep some cash squirrelled away. Maybe 2% of the total would be cash in safe deposit boxes, vaults and bank accounts. And some of this would kept be in foreign countries.
12. Gold and Silver. About 3% to 5% of the total money would be invested in Gold Coins. I would shy away from bullion, but coins are easy to buy, easy to sell and provide some degree of safety in case of inflation or world wide financial meltdown. About 10% of this money would be in Silver.
Diversity and security are the keys to me. I would shy away from risky investments and I'd stay away from stuff like art, antiques, cars and even houses...except of course the one I would eventually live in. I'm also not real keen on rental properties...platinum...diamonds and stuff like that.
Now a good CFP (Certified Financial Planner) and Investment Broker would be required to guide me through this process and they may even convince me to alter my strategy a bit and change some of the percentages. But overall I'd stick pretty close to this model.
Jim