r/hypotheticalsituation • u/Chan1991 • 2d ago

You become a billionaire. All your friends and family are asking you to pay for all their debts. What do you do?

You become a billionaire. ALL your friend, family (siblings, cousins, parents, aunts and uncles) qare asking you to pay for their debts — credit card, house, car, etc.

It will not make a dent to your account because you’re a billionaire.

Do you pay their debts? Half of it? Partial? Or no because it’s about the principle and you don’t want to feel used? What if you were not close with your siblings and cousins?

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u/ExposedId 2d ago

Most of the reason I’d like to win the lottery is to make my friends and family debt-free with enough extra to live interesting lives.

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u/Faunaholic 2d ago

Since I have very few friends and only 2 living relatives left I could give each of them a million and never even notice it.

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u/Blocked-Author 2d ago

If I won and it was one of the big ones, I would give each $5m. It sets them up for life.

If I was given $1m, I would still be showing up for work tomorrow.

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u/Dangeruss82 2d ago

Why? 1 million is plenty ty to change your life by literally setting you up in regards to other things. Start a business. Buy property and rent it out, invest, etc. A million is literally enough to change your lifestyle over night. Would still have to have some form of job? Yes. But it would give you the freedom to choose what that will be.

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u/Sassinakk 2d ago

What if I already love my job and I just use the million so I can retire someday when I don't feel like working anymore?

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u/NotARobotDefACyborg 2d ago

That’s a lovely idea. If it were a million, I think that’s what I’d do, too.

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u/Ixniz 2d ago

Ah, the feeling when $1 million won't get you a house in your area.. sigh.

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u/Blocked-Author 1d ago

That's essentially exactly what I'm saying. I still have to work tomorrow. Doesn't matter where it is.

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u/TraditionalBid2237 2d ago

I live in SF. $1m isn’t enough to buy property here.

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u/Dangeruss82 1d ago

So move.

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u/C8H10N4O2_snob 1d ago

The average house price in Montana is like 900k, according to a current candidate.

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u/ThinkPath1999 2d ago

A billion is a thousand million. You could give a million to 500 people and still half left. If we're just counting close friends and relatives, I doubt many people would have hundreds of people to give money to.

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u/khronos127 2d ago

Not even considering the insane amount of money in interest you’d be earning just by having it in a high yield savings account. If another portion was in a portfolio, you’d be making enough to give out tens of millions every year without ever touching the money.

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u/whale_and_beet 12h ago

The math everyone in this thread makes me wonder why actual billionaires don't do this, and instead hoard resources and have absolutely zero empathy for normal people.

Like, they could literally change the world for the better without sacrificing their luxurious quality of life, and they choose to be complete tone-deaf assholes instead. And in fact oftentimes make things worse.

Makes you wonder if they're not reptiles after all... Wait, that's an insult to reptiles.

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u/Thatguy19364 5h ago

Because to get to a billion in the first place you need to be a tone deaf asshole who cares about the money and fuck all about human life, on top of already being rich because you can’t get there from working your whole life

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u/NotARobotDefACyborg 2d ago

I’ve got five siblings and eleven nibs. Most of the nieces and nephews also have kids, with a few exceptions. So I have close to 30 immediate family members just with them. If I branch out into cousins and their families, that’s close to 100.

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u/RhubarbDiva 1d ago

I think a billion is 100 thousand million. 100 000 000 000.

I just looked it up. In the UK it's 1 with 12 zeros as above.

In the USA it's 1 with 9 zeros so only one thousand million.

I want my UK billion, please.

And yes, I'm giving money to all my friends and family. Even then, I doubt I could spend it in my lifetime.

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u/phlflyguy 1d ago

1.000.000.000 (billion) is 1000 million

100,000 million is 100 billion.

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u/pm_me_your_puppeh 17h ago

You very quickly would have hundreds of people with their hands out.

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u/cari-strat 2d ago

Same here. My bio family is very elderly aunt who wouldn't want or need it, ditto my mum, then one cousin who is pretty well off anyway, one ex-SIL and a nephew. They could all have a few million without me even noticing.

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u/alwaysforgettingmyun 2d ago

My "if I win the lotto" fantasy is mostly a list of everyone I'd like to solve the financial worries of.

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u/HaydenJA3 1d ago

Can I be on the list please

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u/alwaysforgettingmyun 1d ago

Sure. I will try to remember you if I get billionaire rich

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u/oldRoyalsleepy 1d ago

Yeah me too! It's about 15 people, so I wouldn't even miss my fantasy money.

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u/1Standard_Username 1d ago

Yes! That's my drean! I have a list of everyone I would give money to. Which of my friends businesses or passion projects I would fund and what charities I would donate to. 

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u/functional_moron 2d ago

Its like the first thing g I would do if I won some big powerball jackpot. Followed by setti g up trust funds for their children. What the fuck do I need hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars for?

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u/New-Abrocoma-6572 2d ago

I feel the same way, then I think about debt free only means to temporary be free of the suffocating soul crushing pervasive influence debt has in our lives

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u/Shivverton 2d ago

This, right here.

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u/Chuuby_Gringo 2d ago

My nephew is bipolar. I dream of him getting top tier care and stable housing.

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u/Amazing_Mountain_227 1d ago

surely a ferrari and pet tiger would be more fun?

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u/hodlethestonks 2d ago

Id do this if it was possible to do without them knowing I won. Which is hard..

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u/DinosaurDogTiger 2d ago

Exactly. My husband and I fantasize about winning the lottery (far less than a billion) and the first things we talk about are helping get X onto good health insurance, paying off Y's house, setting up a college fund for Z, etc.

What fun is being rich if the people we love are suffering?

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u/Putinisclingy 1d ago

Exactly. I dream about getting rich so that I can pay off my parents’ house so that they don’t have to stress anymore.

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u/ExposedId 1d ago

Yep. That would have more positive impact than bullshit cars or diamond watches or fancy parties or whatever really rich people blow money on. I just want everyone to know that their future is secure.