Imagine you have won the lottery, and have 5 million dollars after tax to spend in San Francisco, where you currently rent a 2 bedroom apartment with three roommates who are your best friends but who you hate living. Describe how you would use the money, keeping in mind you don't have a high paying job so you want to do fun things and also set yourself up for the future.
First, I would use half the money to buy myself my own home in San Francisco. I wouldn't buy anything too fancy, but I would want my own place in a good neighborhood where I wouldn't have to share a room with a roommate. With the remaining 2.5 million I'd set aside 500 thousand in an account for future maintenance of the house and property taxes. Then I'd put aside 1 million for my retirement savings, putting it in a longterm investment account. With the remaining million, I'd use another 500k for short term savings, and put that in a more aggressive investment. I'd spend the rest of the money on a few fun items, like taking a big trip with all of my roommates and buying a new car and some nice clothing. For our trip, we'd live the life of luxury, taking first class flights and staying in nice resorts across the world, visiting places like Paris, Rome, Singapore and Tahiti.