I just sold a company for 40 million USD.
What do you even do with that sort of moderate influence?
It's too little to build (or crash) world economies, and I'm too indecisive to invest a single dime in a publicly traded company. No, scratch that. I'll never invest a god-damn scent-of-sent in their game.
What the fuck man, what do I even do with this?
How is that not enough in California? Assume you invest this and get no real returns and you will live 80 more years (both extremely conservative assumptions). You can pull out $500k per year. Almost everyone in California lives off less than $500k per year.
I agree with your point that you can buy a lot more in places outside of California, but if you were to have that much money, the more important question is what kind of lifestyle you want to live. There's no reason to pinch pennies and live your life in rural Nebraska to stretch your money if you hate the countryside and there is no reason to live in the suburbs so you are close to jobs if you want to own land out in the country.
Well a ~39 million dollar windfall in california is a take home of something like 12-15 million after the feds get done bending you over, and and the state is done claiming their sloppy seconds. Then there's property taxes, and the insane prices for acreage in most of the state... I swear to god I don't know why anyone would choose to live in that hellhole, even before half the state burnt to the ground... Maybe I'm just extra bitter because most of the country is breathing their smoke right now.
But I digress. Even 5 million is absolutely enough to retire on there, but you'd be living a surprisingly middle-class lifestyle for a multi-millionare.
And at the other end of the spectrum, I don't want to live like a king in the third world either.
I feel like texas might be a good compromise between the two...
Building on the "fuck you" position.
$40m isn't enough to live the rest of your life out freely in a place like California, but in a place like West Virginia you could buy a town. If it were me, I'd put that money in a few places that generate good interest, which will pay taxes and general expenses. Move to a place that's cheap to live, a place that's isolated, a place where you can step out on your back porch and fire a rifle and not piss off anybody, nor put them in danger.
I was looking at Scranton, PA as a general location, found a nice house here. You're secluded and in the middle of nowhere, only a few neighbors, on a small lake. It's a half-day drive to NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, anywhere in NJ/DE/MD/VA/NY/CT/RI/MA. It's a great jumping-off point while still be isolated. Even better if you are an sportsman, as PA is about the best you can find--the first Monday after Thanksgiving is practically a state holiday.
As for influence... who the fuck cares. $40m won't buy you international influence, and only a couple instances of national at best. Live your life, don't fuck with that bullshit. If you don't want to end up with concrete shoes in the Susquehanna then don't get into that. Live your life, do it quietly, do it happily. $40m buys you 10 years in CA, but buys you and your children a lifetime of comfort in PA.
Even better in WV, but you just don't have access to anything there--that's the true "fuck you" location. That's "fortress on a hill and quietly kill intruders" kind of "fuck you".