Mega Moola Giveaway!
Jun. 17th, 2005 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swestrupHere's a serious question on a silly topic (or something like that -- 
):
Would you except a no-strings-attached gift of $50,000 Canadian, from me?
You see, I sometimes fantasize about winning 10 or 20 million dollars in the Lottery. I've often thought that if I were to win such a huge chunk of cash, I might want to spread the love around and earmark 1 or 2 million to be given away to various friends and relations in $50,000 chunks.
I figure that 50 grand is enough to make a real difference in someone's life, but is small enough that I wouldn't mind giving it away. Too many of my friends seem to be spending their time working at stressful jobs when they could be much happier if the money wasn't so tight. Heck, I know *I* would be much happier if the money wasn't so tight!
The sticking point is: its money. I can easily imagine that many of my friends would refuse the gift in the worry that it might somehow affect their friendship with me, or that it would feel like a handout, or that they might somehow feel obligated to me, so here's the question:
Would you accept such a gift? Why or why not? And none of this "You'd never give me any money -- I am not worthy" nonsense. Sure, I wouldn't give money to everyone, but I'm more interested in how people think about this subject, than about their estimates of their chances of me giving them money. After all, its not too likely that this fantasy is likely to be real any time soon now, is it?
):Would you except a no-strings-attached gift of $50,000 Canadian, from me?
You see, I sometimes fantasize about winning 10 or 20 million dollars in the Lottery. I've often thought that if I were to win such a huge chunk of cash, I might want to spread the love around and earmark 1 or 2 million to be given away to various friends and relations in $50,000 chunks.
I figure that 50 grand is enough to make a real difference in someone's life, but is small enough that I wouldn't mind giving it away. Too many of my friends seem to be spending their time working at stressful jobs when they could be much happier if the money wasn't so tight. Heck, I know *I* would be much happier if the money wasn't so tight!
The sticking point is: its money. I can easily imagine that many of my friends would refuse the gift in the worry that it might somehow affect their friendship with me, or that it would feel like a handout, or that they might somehow feel obligated to me, so here's the question:
Would you accept such a gift? Why or why not? And none of this "You'd never give me any money -- I am not worthy" nonsense. Sure, I wouldn't give money to everyone, but I'm more interested in how people think about this subject, than about their estimates of their chances of me giving them money. After all, its not too likely that this fantasy is likely to be real any time soon now, is it?
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-17 06:49 pm (UTC)However, consider this. In the US, you can give a tax free gift of $10,000 per person per year. Otherwise, the recipient looses approximately 25% of your generous gift to the US Government. I personally would rather take a lesser gift amount than to give some of your money away to "uncle sam". Sure, I would net more $$ from a 50,000 gift than a 10,000 gift... but about $12,500 is lost to taxes. Though you could just give me 10,000 a year for 5 years and achieve the same thing.
darn taxes! how does the Canadian tax system work in terms of monetary gifts?
p.s. I think of the same scenaio alot. I have thought of various ways to give money and assistance to my family and friends (and also weighing tax implications) if I were to win a huge sum of money. For example... here... I could set up what is called an "AB Trust" and be a co-trustee with whomever I wanted to have the money. In this form of trust, up to 600,000 per trustee is tax free. I could stick a bunch of money in the trust, name them a trustee... and then they can just pay themself out of the trust. Ofcourse, I would do things like buy a house for them (my family that is) and stuff like that too... and all of my friends and extended family would get 10,000 gifts every christmas!!
no subject
Date: 2005-06-17 06:58 pm (UTC)There is also no tax on gifts, so I can simply give a large sum to whoever I want in Canada, no problem (other than, like, having the large sum to give...)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-17 08:09 pm (UTC)anyway, i really like that you would think to share your new found wealth with family and/or friends. maybe, i like it because it was something that i would do as well.. and people are generally drawn towards people that have similar ideas. the willingness to share fortune with others is a trait that I very much admire