I have asked this question to countless people (mostly in hair salons) as an alternative to small talk, and it always yields interesting results.
Rules:
- You get the money right now, right where you are. If it’s 10pm and you’re in the middle of nowhere, your money will still go poof at 11pm.
- As a result of the above, tell us what time it is and roughly where you are (big city, desert, small town, …)
- You must spend the money. You cannot give it to someone to hold on to it for you for a while.
- Normal world rules apply, e.g. you cannot buy a $250k car at a dealership in 1h in cash, and you cannot buy a house in 1h either.
- Remember that getting from where you are to the place you need to go takes time. Factor that in!
Edit: I’m glad you guys had fun with this one. Feel free to post similar hypothetical questions. I kinda like these.
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I live in Las Vegas. I’m about in the middle of town and it’s 2200. There’s a pawn shop about 20 minutes away from me that’s open until 0100 every night. They’re a large normal pawn shop but specialize in jewelry and gold. I’d buy all of the precious metals, collector coins, and valuable jewelry. I’d sell the collector coins the next day to a different pawn shop that specializes in collector coins, the precious metals to the gold and silver pawn shop, and the jewelry to a third pawn shop. I’d probably walk away with less than a quarter of the original million and doubt I could spend it all before it vanished but 100-200 k in less than 24 hours is pretty damn good!