What I would do with Rs 1 crore

esterday, we carried a piece on how you can make a crore and lose it.

 And we invited readers to tell us what they would have done had they made a crore.

A number of them graciously obliged. Here are some interesting observations. Take a look:

• How would you spend Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million)?
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1. Real estate was a big hit

Let's see what Deepika has to say:

"If my investments touched a crore, I would buy two apartments (Rs 40 lakh or Rs 4 million each). I would live in one and give the other on rent. The balance Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) would be put in the bank to earn an interest."

Sekar echoes her sentiment. "I would have bought a few houses and given them out on rent. That way, I do not spend time monitoring my investment. It appreciates over time and I also get a decent return."

"I would have invested in real estate at a prime location, given it out on rent and earned a steady income for life," says Rashmee Alvares.

Arvind would not encash all his money, but sell the average performing stocks. With his profits, he would go for a property at a location where land prices are booming. With the balance, he would take his friends out to lunch and his family for a holiday.

Rohit Chaturvedi says he would sell out 50% of the investments and invest in any B-city like Indore, Jaipur, Coimbatore or maybe even Pune or Hyderabad. He would invest in two to three properties and give out one or two on rent.

The rest of the investment he would sell when he was getting a good price. Instead of spending his entire life trading, investing and accumulating money, he would do up his home, buy a car, a bike and a vacation.

Swamy Patil would have invested a portion in property which would yield high returns. He would then invest the balance in some fixed investments and stocks. That brings us to the stock market again.

2. Those addicted to stocks would not let go!

"No second thoughts. I would have invested it all again..in multiple stocks," says Lenu.

Shitij Kohli echoes the sentiment. "I would have re-invested the money just like Ketan. The lure of money is too strong and one gets the confidence that your gamble of reinvestment will pay off, as did the earlier one."

S K Raman has everything he wants in life. A home, savings for retirement and a home loan which gives him the necessary tax benefits. His answer: "Given the above conditions, what would one do with the money? Stay invested in the market and have the thrill of watching it go up and down!"

Others, too, would have continued to play the market, but not with all the money.

Salil Kumar would have pulled out all the money and reinvested only the initial starting amount of Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million).

Ditto for Parameshwar. He would leave the starting amount in the stock market. 

He would invest Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million) in Public Provident Fund, post office schemes, fixed income instruments and property as well as use some money to become a partner in a friend's business.

And he would splurge Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) on luxuries.

J C Pillai would have done the reverse. He would pull out the initial amount of Rs 30 lakh and leave behind most of the profits of Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million).

He would also help family and friends and buy a car with the profits. The initial Rs 30 lakh would find its way into fixed return investments.

Nagaraju would have left half the money in the stock market and invested Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) in National Savings Certificates, Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) in mutual funds, a home of around Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million), along with a home loan -- to avail of the tax benefit -- and keep Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000) as cash.

"The share market does the most obvious things in the most unobvious manner making it very risky," says Kamal Gupta. "I would have pulled out the amount and reinvested Rs 30 lakh. The balance would be kept as a reserve."

Sandeep Maheshwari would pull out all the money, put it in a bank and, when the market fell, pick up some stocks cheap.

3. Some would call it a day

"I would have withdrawn the money," says Yaurav.

Vaidyanathan Ramesh agrees. "If the value of my stocks touched Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million), I would have sold them and retired."

4. The adventurous would start a business

Jayaram would prefer to start a business. His reasoning is clear: since the money rose out of a gamble, he could gamble with it again.

If this initiative did succeed, he would not only get a very satisfying return on his investment but also the pride of having started his own business.

5. Charity, anyone?

Ashish Gupte says that if anything was left after allocating to his priorities (retirement, children's education, parents' health) and a holiday package for the family, he would donate the rest to charity.

Raj agrees: "I would divert the remaining into development work. Maybe fund a water resource project in a remote part of the country. I need to give myself the satisfaction of being a socially responsible man."

But this is only after a bit of fun and games. "Once I recover, I would go on a hitchhiking trip to some part of the world. Picked up the latest car, buy 6 of them, and have the tax men chase me. After all, what value does money have if you cannot derive pleasure out of it?"

Harsha would start social activities with the eventual aim of entering into politics.

6. A little bit of everything

Property, charity, stocks, luxuries and even taxes: Prem Kumar Aparanji has thought about it all.

Here's what he says: "I would leave the principal amount of Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) in the market. With the balance Rs 70 lakh (Rs 7 million), I would first settle my taxes (boy, won't the government love me!)."

According to his calculation, he would have been left with Rs 48 lakh (Rs 4.8 million). His first priority would be his wife. She would get Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) to set up a small lifestyle boutique.

Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) would find its way into property: land, mind you, not houses to rent. "I would have bought huge tracts of land near the outer limits of a growing city, like Kolkata or Chennai, where the IT sector is stretching the city's limits. I would have then sold it after three to five years for a huge premium."

Then come the "ladies at home who will be given Rs 8 lakh (Rs 800,000) for whatever they want to spend on."  

Charity begins at home but does not stop there. So Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000) will be utilised here. 

The remaining Rs 2 lakh (Rs 200,000) he would be left with would find its way into "mindless spending, most likely on gizmos and, yes, a treat too."

Happy spending!

How would you spend Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million)? Write to us!

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