So I have a good feeling about the next Powerball drawing. The jackpot currently stands at $1.4 billion. But I’m a little concerned because I’m not certain how to proceed after I’ve won.
I’ve read lots of articles about hiring a lawyer, hiring an advisor, etc. But really, what are the nuts and bolts of this process? I need specifics. How do I find these folks? Do I get out the Yellow Pages and flip to Lottery Lawyers? Do I walk into my local credit union and fill out a deposit slip for $643 million (I’m taking the cash option)? Do I make an appointment with my current, work-from-home, part-time financial guy? Do I use my Fidelity app to take a photo of the check and deposit it electronically (like I did with the $20 check my brother gave me for my birthday)?
The next drawing is Saturday, so I would appreciate the answers before then.
BTW, every Doper who replies will receive a gift card for $5 to Buc-ee’s on the day I deposit the check.
The first thing to do is to PM me. For a modest 5%, I will arrange everything so you and your family can live in luxurious comfort free of worry for the rest of your lives.
I’m 65, and I’m surprised to have lived this long. I wouldn’t bother with hiring anyone beyond a live in chef, butler, and chauffeur. How would a financial adviser or lawyer help with my goal of spending as much of my winnings as possible after gifting my kids their share?
Your kids would likely benefit greatly by having their share being put in a trust so that their pile of cash doesn’t get walloped by gift taxes. Both an estate lawyer and a good CPA are going to be well worth their hourly rate in helping you set those up.
I’m not going to win the Powerball. I stopped to get a snack on the way to work Tuesday, and the woman at the cash register asked if I’d like to buy a ticket. I told her no, because I already have one. No one’s ever asked if I wanted to buy a ticket. It was a Sign from God… and I didn’t recognise it.
Look up a highly-rated law firm in your area, one that caters to big businesses and high net worth clients. Make sure they have an estate planning department, and ask to speak to a partner in that department. Once you have him or her on the phone, tell only them about your good fortune and ask them to keep it confidential and if they have connections with wealth management financial advisors. If they’re a big firm, they’ll have all kinds of business relationships like this. They’ll set you up with a business advisor, and once you get started on that advice, you can use the business department of the law firm to set up your legal entities to accept your wealth, and then move on to their estate planning department to set up your wills and trusts.
Anyway, that’s what I plan to do when I win the big one this Saturday.
ETA: The first thing to do is to open a safe deposit box at your bank and stash the winning ticket there while you get a grip on yourself.
My state, Washington, requires anyone winning $200,000 or more to show up with an attorney to claim the winnings. While claiming my $50,000 winnings a few years ago, I asked the gal behind the counter about this. The main reason to to protect the state if the lottery winner does something stupid with their winnings. She gave me a list of attorneys if a winner doesn’t know who to hire. I noticed many on the list were also investment counselors besides being a lawyer.
If this is the cash option you are not going to get that. You will have to pay federal income tax and this will be about 37%. They may only withhold 20% up front, but you will still owe the 37% when you file taxes. And if whatever state you are living in has income taxes you will owe that too. In my state, Oregon, I would pay an additional 10% at least.
I always look at the cash out option of being about 1/4 of the jackpot. The jackpots are sort of false advertising. I know a lady who won $7.7 million, she ended up with almost $2 million after taxes. Almost.
I think a million to each Doper who replies is much more fair, which is chump change compared to your net $643 million payout (or even if it’s significantly less than that, as Dallas_Jones points out).
I’m looking forward to my registered check for $1,000,000.00, since I have now officially replied (hey, you just said replied, not replied with actual, usable advice).
Are there any complications if I try to deposit $341,841,745 (Oregon cash payout after winning the current Powerball) in my local bank or credit union?
In Canada lottery winnings are tax free and always lump sum, but our national lottery tops out at $70M with the excess going to multiple $1M secondary prizes.
You know, I’ve been searching, and there is a lot of information about the merits of receiving a lump sum vs an annuity, and the way you claim your winnings, and how you could potentially take an annuity and then sell that to someone else (thus getting a lump sum in a different way), and so on. But nothing about how the money is actually paid.
My speculation is that it will vary and there are options. My guess is that a direct deposit is the most feasible way to do it. I don’t know if a cashier’s check would be done. Clearly there are concerns about the security of getting the money to a person, and letting someone walk away with a piece of paper that can be lost or stolen would likely preclude that as a form of payment. Maybe your lawyer could negotiate that, but I’m sure the last thing that they lottery folks want is a story about how someone claimed their winnings and then lost it. That would be terrible PR for them and possibly reduce participation in future contests. Maybe they’d give you a cashier’s check if it’s under a certain amount.