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Ask HN: What would you do with a million dollars today?
18 points by vicvvv on March 29, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 55 comments
It seems that VCs is throwing money indiscriminately at anything with a narrative.

Do you disagree with the fact that eco-chambers are getting bigger and louder? This in turn crowds out the true subcultures and emerging behavior.

If content marketing, meta-verse, tokenization of everything, short-form video, and meme investing are overrated, what seems underrated but high impact in the future?

What real problems are worth solving today with computers?




Unify mobile and desktop. Mobile hardware can run loads that required actual desktops 5-10 years in the past. For everyday use, especially office and productivity work, mobile hardware goes beyond capable.

But it's limited by the handicapped mobile platforms, who are nothing more than ad clients.

All it takes is to create an open (as in user has full access, no limits), responsive platform and current status quo will disappear overnight, nobody will look back. Same code running on your high-powered desktop and you "phone" or tablet, making no distinction between them other than to adapt to screen size. What programs you use on either device will solely depend on the actual program's resource requirements, nothing else.

Your AAA game will make no sense to be run on your phone (which can be attached to a screen), unless the game is engineered to scale to such low extremes. Your code editor, on the other hand, can be run wherever.


"handicapped mobile platforms, who are nothing more than ad clients."

Unfortunately desktops seem to be going the same way.

There are a few linux phone and tablet projects, eg pinephone.


If the goal is generally to invest, then be boring. Split it among several ETF's.

If the goal is to support a project which will improve the world, I'd support existing projects to either make clean water more accessible or help the world's poorest people become more self-sufficient (eg, Heifer International).


Since this is anonymous ... you know what, I have a million dollars. I'm going to keep some invested for the future, but it's far past time to give more of it away. I'm going to follow my own advice.

Thank you for the hypothetical question. It reminds me that hoarding money isn't an end goal, but a means that enables other goals.


I'd be remiss if I didn't drop a suggestion to the nonprofit I volunteer at :)

https://ukandu.org/

It's an amazing group and mission. Some of the best people I've ever met in my life.


As someone who shares this opinion, its refreshing to see this shared online. Many onlinr opinions state that hoarding is an end goal. but I agree its far more rewarding to give back when you have more than enough


Could go one layer further and use the 1MM assets as a base/collateral to write options against and generate cash flow from the principal. Say 20% on 4 etfs you like, & 20% cash, then wheel it out (write ~20delta calls+puts ~45 days out). rinse lather repeat. Naive take, written crudely, but feedback nonetheless.


So short vol?


I would go with tax preparation software. Barring that, OCR, and then, internet radio.

https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry-trends/indu...

Profit is the most reliable signal of what people need. If they're paying extra, it means they get even more value out of it.

Not allowing profit is when economies fall.


Burn it: https://www.gqmiddleeast.com/features/how-the-klf-burned-a-m...


Mu Mu would approve.


With a 'wind fall' 1 million dollars,

I would take about 20% and plan to squander it. Vacations, car, cloths.

I would put 80% in something with a time lock of about a year. Something with a penalty for early withdraw. This would provide 2 features:

1) Time to think about it

2) Protection from 'newly discovered' relatives and friends who want a piece. "Sorry I would love to help, but the money is invested, and there are SEVER penalties for early withdraw, you do not want me severely penalized do you?"

Now if you are talking about how I would invest a million dollars, that would be different. Short term I like lampshades idea of Wheat. Anything natural gas. Anything to protect against inflation.


Get wild and put it in an target retirement date ETF


whoa there, slow down!


$1 million free-and-clear to me alone? After taxes, I'd put it into index funds and then take some time off to spend time with family and to change to a certain career adjacent to my current one that I would love to do.

$1 million for investment, but otherwise free-and-clear? I'd form an LLC and then buy into local cash-flow businesses like laundromats, equipment rentals, and apartment rentals. Then I would use the cash flow from those business to pursue more exploratory business ideas.


The most impactful idea I’ve ever had is that the us government procurement system is broken. Use it or lose it creates waste, programs are planned and executed by people who don’t understand them, rules are not tied to outcomes.

A new system for procurement and allocation could save trillions of dollars of waste. A couple economists and game theory specialists might be able to crack it. It’d be worth a million to try.


Pre pay for kid's school, invest in low risk funds, pay off my mortgage. After the mortgage, I have zero debt. From there, it's very easy to just keep saving and paying cash for things (like cars).

A million dollars is not a lot but applied well, it can reshape a life.


I think there are real problems that computers can solve, such as engineering rockets to obliterate meteorites that may destroy earth. Also, producing jobs for citizens that have an interest in computers. On the other hand, computers can also generate problems that must in turn be dealt with. Thus computer in themselves have an entire eco-chamber of worth. One million dollars could be used to make more money perpetually, thus it could be used for help or hurt. Thus you would need to use it for immediate help such as food, clothing and shelter while the money continued to generate upon itself.


I would invest in something that would have an amplified impact, but probably no benefit for me.

Personally, something that would really help me, is that I make very irrational stupid decisions and waste time. I would like to create some piece of software that prevents that. Something that prompts me, with messages like "What should you be doing?" or helps me make decisions.

Also, I would like it if it presented news articles that are not obviously biased, and then you have a quiz that asks questions about if you know what the bias was, or if the conclusion of the article was correct.


I guess it depends on if this counts as computers (technically it does IMO!), but with a million bucks to start a business I would get like an excavator and a dump truck and start a contracting company or something similar. Or a bucket truck and industrial wood-chipper and start a tree company. Something along those lines. There's tons of demand, a high barrier to entry, and it's all real-world usefulness.

The big roadblock is I don't know how to drive a dump truck, excavator, or bucket truck though. :)


I have no affiliation with them, it's just something I want to do one day:

https://digthisvegas.com/


I did this years ago. Highly recommend. Got to operate 3 different machine for 10 minutes a piece with instruction over a headset.

And it’s not “drive in circles”, it’s “dig a 3ft hole, pile the dirt then drive backwards over it so you can see how hard it is flip the machine over”

Very cool experience.


Maybe buy the equipment and rent it out to the contractors who can't afford their own? This has always seemed like a goldmine industry to me.


Fund a service that provides weekly, short (1,000 words or less) summaries of news events from multiple angles. Not just summaries of other news sites, but educated, informed takes presented in "we don't want to waste your time, so we'll get to the point" fashion.

I would love to spend an hour a week reading a newsletter about what's going on in the world. Especially if it lets me ignore the hype and advertising-led news cycle.


I know it's a typo, but I kind of like the idea of eco-chambers. It made me think of the Biosphere 2 project. I'd love to see somebody take another crack at that.

To answer your question - $1 million would fund two or three skilled people full time for a year. So the problem has to be relatively small. I'd maybe spend it on an ad blitz to try to find homes for dogs and cats currently in shelters in a small number of cities.


With that I could dedicate to work in a spiritual successor of the FoxPro family of products (https://tablam.org).

Is not as high-impact that save the earth, but I think is important to give real alternatives to the excess of "cloud-dependent" tech that exist. Local-first, truly personal, etc.


Retire, duh.


With only a million dollars? At what age, in what country/state, and at what withdrawal rate?

"Experts" in the US often say about 20 years at a $40,000/yr withdrawal rate. Withdraw more, or enter a recession, or require more time, and a million dollars isn't enough.


In Malaysia, a million dollars will buy you a mansion, provided you don't spend it on anything else. A million dollars is far higher than the standard retirement savings.

Actually, just living off say, 3% interest, and withdrawing $2000/month, you'd get a luxurious lifestyle here. It'll cover health insurance, bills, rent, a mid range car, eating at restaurants every day, plus a little extra to buy some nice toys.


Portugal. 4% SWR (tolerating dips to 3.5% occasionally). Once you're old enough to collect Social Security (if US centric), you can tolerate a bit more drawdown or market vol (or lower your annual WR) with the additional monthly benefit. D7 visa requires only ~9k EUR/year in passive income for the lead applicant, a bit more for each additional adult or child on the application. Universal healthcare system buffers you against medical tail risk wiping out your assets. Non Habitual Resident tax status is favorable to this level of wealth.

(not investing advice, see https://www.reddit.com/r/ExpatFIRE/ for more info or other leanFIRE locations)


I'm in the UK.

40 years old. A million pound would last me the rest of my life.

Assuming I earn ~£50k a year, lets say £35k a year after tax and deductions, for the next 20 years, that comes out at about £700,000 after tax income. I live comfortably right now off that.

That still leaves me £300k.

My outgoings are pretty small, and will be drastically smaller in 5 years or so when the mortgage is paid off.

If you give me a tax free million today, I would quit my job tomorrow, as that's more than I'll earn for the rest of my life.

That's not counting money I already have in savings too.


You're listening to experts that can't do math. 20 yrs x $40k is $800k. Did the other $200k vanish??


The strategy is to withdraw 4% of the original value per year perpetually, hoping that the principal holds value.


$1,000 / 20 = $50


Before age 66? Before 40? Where in the US could you retire on $1mil?


The "flyover" states.


I'd pay off some debt for myself and some family, set aside a chunk for a close family member to purchase a home, and set aside a fund to pay for health insurance for another who can't afford it.

A million dollars is not enough to guarantee you can improve the lives of many but it's certainly enough to do it for a few.


I would do nothing. Honestly probably more of a net positive than what a lot of people are doing in the crypto space.


Could you elaborate on this please? If I play the devil's advocate: aren't Climate or Ukraine DAOs net positive in terms of 'good' simple action?


This in turn crowds out the true subcultures and emerging behavior.

Are true subcultures like true scotsmen?


A million dollars would be a lot but with some funding I'll like to work full time on https://formester.com and build a go to place for any kind of form on the internet.


$1m in 2000 is $10m today is $100m in 2040. Maybe dollars is the overrated thing?


> What real problems are worth solving today with computers?

1 million dollars would solve one problem: buying myself a house. I can handle the transaction using a computer.


Buy second and possibly third passport and establish solid residency and business presence offshore to widen my choices and freedoms.


I think audio and voice are big untapped markets which are worth diving into more deeply.


I would hire a developer and a marketer and get my projects off the ground properly.


Invest, retire.


Invest in VTI.


Retire from my present job and teach.


Could nearly buy a house.


"Two chicks at the same time."

But in all seriousness, I don't think $1mm is enough to move the needle in the grand scheme of things. I would save it for retirement, maybe buy a new car.


VTWAX and chill.


> what seems underrated but high impact in the future?

Depends on who you ask, but I'm going with "wheat".


In other words, you want to separate the wheat from the chaff.


Unfortunately you have to wait for a while to reap returns.




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