Woke Up A Millionare

Newtown High School students were asked what they would do if they woke up a millionaire. The answers varied from paying off family debt to buying exotic animals.

Buying a house was the top answer from the forty-two random people asked to answer the question, with eight people having this response. 6 people said that they could donate to charity first. These students were not asked from a list or given specific answers to choose from. 

“I would help the children in need so then they don’t have to pay for things on their own,” NHS freshman Makenzie Fregoe said. “I would start off by donating 1/4th of it to Saint Jude and then each year give more. Then, if I find another organization that could also use it, I would give it there too.” 

Another student had a different type of charity in mind when responding to the question.

“I would go to the animal shelter and adopt all of the animals that don’t have homes. I would also find them all homes because I feel really bad,” NHS freshman Olivia Fernandez said.

With the future in mind, college was also a popular response with 5 people saying they would save money for their long-term benefit. Along with that,7 students said investing would be the first thing they would do.

“I would invest and save for the future because I want to stay a millionaire and don’t want it to be gone in a day,” NHS senior Stephen Mammola said.

“I would invest the money,” said NHS junior Kai Svendsen.

However, some students thought outside of the box. One teacher said he would buy a restaurant franchise, and a student said they would first go to Chipotle (and then buy a nice house). 

 “I would check where the money came from,” NHS freshman Anthony Batista said.

“I would probably buy a beach house because I love the beach,” NHS freshman Delia Stango said. 

In the United States, 7% to 18% have a net worth of a million+ dollars, and of that, 79% of those millionaires are self made and did not inherit their money. The average age of a millionaire is 57 years old, and only 1.4% are under 30 years of age.

For 4 students, if they woke up a millionaire they would travel.

“I would fly to Paris,” NHS freshman Presley Webb said.

Although the question was “what would you do if you woke up a millionaire,” math professor Nick Kapoor who was interviewed by NBC said the odds of becoming a millionaire from winning the lottery are one in 300 million. To put this in comparison, you’re more likely to die from a bee sting or be dealt a royal flush in poker than win the lottery.

“I think as long as you're not buying them every single day, because that's kinda like gambling it's a waste of your money in my opinion, you could get lucky. I think it's fun but not something you should do everyday,” NHS senior Andrew Stango said. 

If Stango woke up a millionaire, he said: “I would buy something nice for myself and then I would probably save the rest of it. Maybe I'd buy a nice car or pay for my entire college.”