There isn’t a soul in the United States, hell the world, that hasn’t been talking about tonights $1.5 Billion Powerball Jackpot. Everyone from school teachers, to hot rodders, to dog trainers are talking about what they would do with that kind of money and whether they would take the Annuity payments or the cash option. Regardless of how you receive it, this is life changing money of the most ludicrous sort.

The Powerball annuity payments would start you off getting approximately $25 million per year, with an increasing rate that would reach somewhere around $90 million by your final payment 29 years from now. Take the cash, and it’s approximately  $930 million up front. Mark Cuban, who knows what being a billionaire is all about, didn’t start off rich and had some great advice for whomever wins tonights jackpot.

Here’s what he told the Dallas Morning News, as advice for the winner.

• Hire a tax attorney first.
• Don’t take the lump sum. You don’t want to blow it all in one spot.
• If you weren’t happy yesterday you won’t be happy tomorrow. It’s money. It’s not happiness.
• If you were happy yesterday, you are going to be a lot happier tomorrow. It’s money. Life gets easier when you don’t have to worry about the bills.
• Tell all your friends and relatives no. They will ask. Tell them no. If you are close to them, you already know who needs help and what they need. Feel free to help SOME, but talk to your accountant before you do anything and remember this, no one needs 1m dollars for anything. No one needs 100k for anything. Anyone who asks is not your friend.
• You don’t become a smart investor when you win the lottery. Don’t make investments. You can put it in the bank and live comfortably. Forever. You will sleep a lot better knowing you won’t lose money.

So for the sake of argument, what do you do after hiring your tax attorney and getting all your financial affairs in order?

Here’s my thoughts.

Prepay the kid’s college, and put some aside for friends and family who can’t afford to send their kids to college.

Call our parents and let them know they are officially retired and to put their houses on the market. They don’t need a big place if they are going to travel, and something with less upkeep will be smart. Get them a place with housekeeping and no yard maintenance and let them enjoy it. They deserve it.

Buy a snazzy new car for the wife.

Hire a housekeeper for the wife.

Stop looking at Craigslist and eBay. Okay, this is only temporary. Trust me.

Add more great people to the staff here at BangShift.com. There are several guys in this industry that I would hire in a heartbeat to come over to the darkside with us and have some fun.

Add some cool toys to take live streaming to an entirely different level, and the staff to make it doable and fun.

Decide where you want your Taj Mahal of hot rods and race cars to be located. For me, probably somewhere in the middle of the country to use as a home base for traveling to and from races with said cars.

Buy a building. Daphne and I have decided that buying a building/complex that was previously a car dealership would be perfect. That way you have all the shop space you want, parking lots to do burnouts in and to throw autocross events at, and plenty of inside space to hold all your toys. I’d build a nice “home” inside it for the times that you are there, and to house all your buddies that will come to play.

Buy myself an old Dually and have Crosby lay it on it’s nuts and make it cool like a new one but better looking. Just because.

Get the vacation home in Mexico that Daphne has always dreamed of.

Start filling up the dealership with all the fun stuff needed to go racing, including cars, parts, tools, etc. Remember, the way to make a small fortune in racing is to start with a big one.

But what kind of racing would we do? Hmmmmm Well I would have to have a couple of different drag cars of course, and I want to run SCORE really badly so that would be on the list. Then there is something that will turn corners so I can go run at the USCA events.

The hard part would be to keep yourself from buying anything and everything car related because there just isn’t enough time to race or drive them all. Of course with this kind of money I guess you wouldn’t have to worry about it.

During all this, you have to decide which of your friends are going to have to come work for you so that they can come enjoy all this stuff with you. And who you are going to help out. Like Cuban said, you know the friends that struggle and what would help them out. But what about all the others? Not your friends, but the other people we all come in contact with at some level who could use a helping hand? Or just a shot at making something of themselves? I have a feeling I would be the guy writing random checks to people just because. Maybe we just start a foundation. We can give out scholarships, be charitable, and help people just because. Hmmm…that sounds almost as fun as buying cars and going racing.

And I would think that you have to come up with some kind of game plan for someone to keep you in check. After all, buying a car a day on Craigslist, at the auctions, or whatever, will be a quick way to run out of money. Given my propensity for drooling over stuff I can’t afford, I can only imagine how dangerous I would be if I COULD afford it.

Crosby would say I’ll still be cheap though even if I have the money. I hope he’s right.

Man, thinking about all this, which is nowhere near the detail that you would actually have to consider stuff, is work.

I sure hope that some lucky BangShifter out there wins it. If WE do, you can rest assured there will be a party like none other and you are ALL invited.

Fingers crossed!

Good luck all!