Crazy. $1.3 Billion dollars. Can you imagine that? The projected cost in 2013 of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is $8.835 billion. You could pay for 15% of JWST. Incredible. Truly.
Let’s say I live to be 100 years old. And let’s say I increase my salary by a factor of 10. That’s a bit under $1 million a year. So with an annual income 10 times my current salary over the next 70+ years means there’s still $1,230 million left over. That of course assumes you’re not earning interest. And even if you got the full amount (don’t forget about taxes and whether you opt for lump sum or annuity), invested the $1.3 billion at todays savings account rates of 0.9% APR, in 70 years your account would have $2.4 billion. You could live purely off the interest (~$12 million the first year).
Andy Ihnatko has a good take on it too:
Yup! Powerball will be at 1.3 billion dollars by Wednesdays drawing. At least 1.3 billion dollars.
Thats definitely a dollar amount where winning would become terrifying. If you were to win a dollar amount thats life-changing but still well below what a dope could squander away, you could choose to remain anonymous and make it stick. The only people whod know would be your closest friends. And only the observant ones. Andy never orders guac on his burrito; thats, like, a $2.50 upcharge would be the first loose thread that would unravel my cloak of lies.
But if you were the lone (its possible) winner of a $1.3 billion jackpot? Oh, ****. Youd need to go right into hiding before anyone identified you. Close all of the curtains, lock every door and window, leave your car in the driveway, and check into a hotel in a different city. And take public transportation, in case an Uber driver might fink you out.