Like many people, I play the U.S. state lotteries from time to time-- Mega Millions usually, Powerball sometimes. I don’t play regularly-- I’m good at math, I have no illusions that I’m going to ever win with my dollar ticket-- but there is an undeniable amount of pleasure in just “buying the daydream” for a day or two.
Now, for the purposes of this thread, assume I won. $100 million, single winner. Now what?
The drawing is at 7:00 pm, it’s 7:05 pm and I know I have the winning ticket. What next? Lock myself in a room until morning with a shotgun?
I assume quickly contact an attorney would make matters go more smoothly. I don’t personally have a lawyer on retainer, so who would I call? What kind of lawyers specialize in lottery winnings?
At some point, I have to come forward and claim my jackpot. Does that have to be done openly, or can I claim it privately, i.e. my name isn’t released to the press?
The old argument: lump sum or over 20 years? What are we looking at, after taxes? FYI, let’s stick to the Mega Millions/Powerball lotteries. I’m 34 years old, unmarried, and living in an America where mad inflation is probably just around the corner again, if that figures into the equation.
What kind of financial advice do I seek out? Is this something Charles Schwab can handle, or are there “boutique” operations for lottery winners?
What about all the friends and families that come out from the woodwork? I would like to give some people I know gifts, either purchased or monetarily-- what’s the best way to go about that? I figured a convenient way might be a gift of an annuity with a principal they can’t touch, i.e. they get to enjoy the annual payout for the rest of their lives in return for legally promising never to ask me for money again.
Finally-- smart investments? I’m a safe kind of guy, but I’ve got a $100 million in my pocket (okay, $50 million, or whatever is leftover). I can live a little here, take some risks. What’s the best setup for me to always ensure I have as large a stable income as possible for the rest of my life, money to leave behind to my children (and not the government), and still keep enough petty cash around to, say, buy a cruise around the world or establish a charity or the like.
Anyway, a lot to chew over, figured I’d ask. I’ve searched online before for any blogs written by lottery winners-- I can imagine they’d make for fascinating reading, “I’m suddenly rich!” and all-- but I’ve never found any.
I thought most lotteries employed people to give you such advice. It is bad PR for them if lottery winners just go bad because they can’t handle that kind of money.
My wife and I have this all planned out, just in case.
Drawing is Wednesday, I would find out thursday on my way to work.
I call the wife, and let her know that she needs to take Friday off.
Friday morning, she and I head to the Lottery office to fill out paperwork. (ticket is signed and kept in a ziplock baggie in my wallet until then.
From the lotto office, we immediatly hit a Denny’s, get drinks and a phone book and pick a lawyer and a financial advisor.
Any questions we have after that would be answered by one of those 2 fine folks (I’m mostly interested in how to gift sums greater than $10K to friends without hurting them tax-wise).
My plan is to take the money and run. Lump sum payout, which I figure will be right around $30 million after taxes. There are several large accounting/financial firms in LA that deal with lottery winners and the like, so they would be our next call. In general, since we have no kids, there is no reason to leave anything remotely resembling an estate if we don’t want to. So…$5 million gets stashed overseas. This is “bail-out/revenge” money, to be used if the government goes communist/fascist, or if anybody from the financial firm gets greedy and absconds with any of our money. I want the ability to have them tracked down and killed. $5 million or so goes to establish residences in several of our favorite places. A few million goes to establishing trust funds/scholarship funds for the children of our friends. The rest gets invested in a diversified portfolio designed to pay out a healthy amount for us to live on for the next 50 years or so. If we work it right, we die while sipping the last of a nice bottle of wine bought with the last of the bank account.
As for gifts, Tristan, don’t sweat it. The taxes would be paid by you, not them.
I would wait until the last possible day to collect my winnings.
I would take a lump sum payment.
I would spend the rest of my life not working, but simply spending money.
Lump sum payout - call it $30 million after taxes I believe [my roomie has all the numbers figured out …]
We would buy a particular property [a grape farm in the Central Valley mrAru’s aunt and uncle used to own, nicely productive and would give us a bit of a backup income]
A million goes to renovating it and making the 200 year old house handicapped accessable and adding a small additional house for the farm foreman and his family. We want to be ‘gentleman farmers’ and actually have a good manager running the place so we can travel if we want.
5 million in various overseas investments [low yield, reasonably safe ones] and $5 mil in an account belonging to each of us to spend however we want, the rest to be in a general business account for the grape ranch.
I plan on only spending the interest off the savings account my $5 mil is in, and taking a small annual income off the grape ranch. MrAru would probably do the same.
We each have a very nice gaming desktop, and a pair of new televisions, so the main decorating would be in new furniture rather than electronics. Though there is a serious extreme power chair they make that is designed for outside rugged use … it is fairly expensive but spiffy. id see about getting one and fitting it with a fuel cell instead of a battery.
I couldn’t do this. Too many ways it could go wrong. Besides, why deny myself 179 days of wealth when I don’t have to.
To the OP: I think Powerball and Mega-Millions require the winner to announce. It’s not like some of the state lotteries, which are often claimed by anonymous foundations and trusts set up specifically to avoid publicity.
One of the first things I would do when my win became known would be to hire a secretary to handle all the phone calls. The rule would be: If you ask, you are placed on a list, and will never receive a single penny. Period. Relative, friend, former lover…it doesn’t matter.
I guess one’s first thought, upon winning that kind of money, would not be, “Gee, now I can afford to sit around in my bathrobe blogging!”
I suspect the only people who put up “I’m rich” websites are people who want you to fork over $49.95 to have them tell you how they got rich… which makes you wonder why they need your stinking $49.95 in the first place. :dubious:
Some States allow you to stay private. Others (like California) make it part of the public record by law. If you can stay private, immediately set up a trust. If not, change your number.
Back in the late 90’s I used to travel to, among other places, Dayton where I would always stay in the same hotel. One of the times that I went there the big news was that one of the janitorial staff hit it huge. His wife sewed the ticket into his shirt pocket. He wore the shirt to the lottery office and cut out the ticket when he got there.
My wife and I have also discussed this scenario, and we’ve decided we’re boring. I’d almost certainly finish my degree, though without having to stress about money any more. I’d like to think I’d remain productive and do research as a career, though again without the stress of finding grants and employment and whatnot. I’d be able to be leisurely about it. We’d both get new cars - nothing fancy, just nice and reliable. We’d probably keep the house we’re in now, since it’s plenty big enough, but we could pay it off and afford to do some remodeling.
Once I graduated, who knows? I think we’d fit in some traveling and playing for a while.
Since it seems to be the buzz amount let’s go with 30 mil.
5 to my parents
5 to my brother
5 goes into various investments/savings
The other 15 stays with me. I will move somewhere warm ('Zona) get a relatively small sensible house with a pool, get some cars (Sensible, Luxury, crazy “I’m-rich-why-the-hell-not”) then go on a MASSIVE vacation. Hit Vegas in this country, then do the rest in Europe.
From there I don’t know.
Edit: Once I am done with all of my “fun”, I would probably get some part-time job at a bookstore or something to pass the time, I just wouldn’t feel right being lazy all the damn time.
I figure the law enforcement guys responding to a request for a “wellness check” at my address will find my corpse, and likely pry the winning ticket from my cold dead hand before calling the coroner to take the body away. Win like that, my heart’s gonna go kablooey.
I believe that there is a place on the back of the lottery ticket to sign your name. If so, I recommend doing that immediately. Otherwise, if you lose or misplace the ticket, anyone who finds it can claim it.
And if you plan to share your prize with someone, I think it’s better (from a tax perspective) to claim them as co-winners rather than giving them a cash gift.
I really haven’t thought much past quitting my awful job. Oh, I’d travel around the world and give money to my family and friends, but all of that would be a distant second to the satisfaction of calling work and announcing they will never see my ass again.
Having spent over a year driving round Europe in a motorhome (I believe you call them RVs in the US), I can think of nothing better to do with any lottery win than that. I’d pay off my parents’ and all my siblings’ mortgages, or if that was inequitable give them all equal lump sums (double for my parents, obviously, they did all the hard work!), set up trust funds for my nieces and nephews, then take off and spend as long as I wanted doing exactly whatever I liked. We had no money at all last time we did it, so I don’t think we’d need to carve big chunks off the capital as long as we had decent returns on it, which I would pay my brother-in-law (a solicitor) and sister (an accountant) to ensure for us. Last time we travelled, we had a budget of 150 euros a week (currently $212, apparently), and that covered food, fuel, places to stay and whatever entertainment we desired. If we doubled that we could live like kings and still make it last a fair old length of time, I reckon.
After I’m done giving cuts to my best friend, mom*, and sister’s family, a goodly proportion will go to the Nature Conservancy to buy a parcel of land of my choosing (subject to negotiation of course). I’ll also donate a goodly sum to my boss’ business. Me, I’ll save most of the rest in dividend-earning securities, sufficient to ensure a healthy (very roughly $50,000/year) lifestyle. I’ll only splurge on a round the world trip to a number of places on my Must Visit Before I Die list, and either a high-performance car and/or get into amateur auto racing, something I’ve always wanted to do.
*As a kid I promised my parents I’d repay them one day for all the money they’ve spent on my education, boarding and such. This will allow me to do so.
