# Financial Planners. I just won the Power Ball.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/financial-planners-i-just-won-the-power-ball/742583>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 9, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/financial-planners-i-just-won-the-power-ball/742583 "2016-01-09T15:54:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/financial-planners-i-just-won-the-power-ball/742583/21 "2016-01-10T16:59:03Z")

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> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> I believe one interpretation of the question is, … where does he put that money so that it’s safest from loss.

Just out of curiosity, why does any average person care if the 900 million loses a little of its value? Will that make your new yacht unaffordable? 🙂

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/financial-planners-i-just-won-the-power-ball/742583/22 "2016-01-10T22:02:33Z")

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> [@botsgotme](#):
>
> Well, if you belive that inflation is coming, buy gold and other precious metals.

Following phrases of the sort “If you think X is going to happen, then do Y.” is a guaranteed simple way to get extremely wealthy which is why everyone in the world is mega rich now.

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**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/financial-planners-i-just-won-the-power-ball/742583/23 "2016-01-10T22:10:03Z")

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Question:

Do I have this right? If I suddenly had an after-tax windfall of $400 million, I could probably invest it in some way that yields, at very low risk, $20 million a year in interest (i.e. 5%) without losing any of the original principal?

Then each of my kids could have $100 million when I die, yielding $5 million a year in interest?

(Except inflation isn’t taken into account here though…)

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**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/financial-planners-i-just-won-the-power-ball/742583/24 "2016-01-10T22:14:47Z")

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Inflation risk is a thing to prepare for, yes.

Also, better to assume a 4% return in your equation to be safe.

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**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/financial-planners-i-just-won-the-power-ball/742583/25 "2016-01-10T22:19:32Z")

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Not at very low risk, but if you accept historical risks of the stock market, and put some money into bonds, and reallocate to take advantage of down periods in the stock and/or interest markets, there is no reason you couldn’t have $20 million a year in gains/dividends and interest and still leave $100 million to each of your children. Inflation is taken care of because you’ll actually make about 8% in the stock market, so if you spend 4% of it, you should be able to keep up your standard of living.

Given the large numbers and the impact of compounding, if you ONLY lived off $5 million a year, you could leave your children with even more money.

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