I know what you mean. I would put it in my partners name as I have MS and would spend too much on treatments. Drawing in 15 min. Wish me luck.
I’ll take cash money right now. 20 million is Kiss My Ass Money, as in with that much in the bank, I can tell the world to kiss my ass. And I would. The Druidess and I will live very comfortably, probably splitting time between a ranch out west, and an island estate somewhere warm.
I’m young enough ( ~45 ) and lazy enough that the easier option would probably be to take the annuity. I have no particular confidence in my investing acumen to be able to out invest the annuity - regular checks would work just fine. In CA it is 26 payments starting at 2.5% and rising each year, until it is 5% ( i think ) in the final year of payout, which helps hedge inflation a tad.
However…I’d almost certainly take the cash. Mainly because I’d want to give 40-50% to family ( mostly ) and a few friends. Plus I have a pretty hefty mortgage that it would be nice to kill off immediately. ~6 million for myself would be more than enough for me to retire reasonably comfortably, especially if I gave no thought to posterity. And I wouldn’t, because after all I already gave half of it away upfront ;).
Well? Don’t keep us in suspense! 
The annuity is always the better option.
What are the survivorship benefits? This is not mentioned in the linked article.
I actually just went through a similar exercise, not for a lottery but for a pension, which turned out to be worth a lot more than I had bargained on. Keeping the pension was effectively an annuity, and a very good one. At my age, however, there are other factors to consider.
My pension would be reduced to fund a survivorship benefit for my wife, about half the pension. However if we both died early, my children would get nothing. Taking the lump sum and putting it in an annuity of the proper type doesn’t pay as high a return as the pension, but guarantees that my kids could get something. This is supplemental to other retirement savings, if it were the bulk of my retirement savings I’d think otherwise.
If I had no children I’d certainly have taken the pension. I don’t see this covered very often in discussions of annuities. For 30 year olds, I suspect the annuity makes sense (for Florida at least) but I’d have to analyze the rate of return.
For large jackpots even just the annuity payment is enough for any reasonable person to quit the job. Spending large chunks early is just a good way of getting into trouble, even if the spending is on charity.
Really, just the first million would be enough to get some wheels and automatic firepower to keep the zombies at bay, and after that, what good is money in the middle of the apocalypse?
I would take the lump sum. I would quit my job, have my house totally and thoroughly renovated, quit my job, buy a new set of wheels,qiot my job, buy a horse or 2, (I would board them)quit my job, donate a chunk to my favorite charities, quit my job, & gift some friends nicely, and… just chill. Did I mention I would quit my job?
Well we did not win. Maybe as karma goes we need an extra 10 million. Now it’s at 50. lol. Good luck next time. I won $12.00 two weeks in a row. At least I’m playing for free. Good luck with the MS.
I think you should maybe quit your job!
I would take the money all at once and set up a private charitable foundation. I’ve been a grant proposal writer (mostly to private foundations) for 34 years and I so l-o-o-o-o-n-g to be on the giving side instead of the asking side. I know what kind of guidelines I want, what documents, what application procedure. My foundation would support many types of organizations… oh, I’ve had it mapped out in my head for years.
<Thelma stares dreamily into the middle distance>
Lump sum. Pay off the house, while doing one remodel project (master bath). I wouldn’t quit my job because it provides great benefits (government health care and pension), but my husband would quit his. We have a good accountant and a good investment plan, so none of that would really change.
Annuity. It’d be like having a great high paying job that I didn’t actually have to show up for.
Lump sum. I won’t live long enough to collect all of the yearly payouts.
I’m 50. No time to do the full payout. Lump sum.
Get an attorney to work with my very fine existing accountant. Take care of bidnezz.
Then travel. On the cheap. Just… See the world at our own pace. Best thing I can think of doing for the next 10-20 years with my Dearly Beloved.
The question I’d have to ask myself is, how much wealth do I really need? So to me, the question isn’t “how best to invest $40 million over the course of 25 years vs. how best to invest $20 million (minus taxes) up front?” The question is, “once I get my bills paid off, buy a decent house, and put some into low-risk investments for a modest monthly income, WTF do I do with the rest of this money?”
I have no interest in mansions, yachts, lifestyles of the rich & famous, etc. Give me a nicely-furnished ranch with a few acres to grow some of my own food on. Give me a modest monthly income that allows budget travel. The rest will go to charity when I die.
Lump sum, so I could achieve my dream of doing nothing.
However, I might try to make a small fortune in racing. It only takes a bigger fortune to do that.
An annuity is an inheritable asset just like any other asset or property.
Take the lump sum. Set up trust funds and invest in such a way that I have a good income from tax-free stuff.
Then travel!