You won the lottery. Describe the first 48 hours.

In My Humble Opinion
21

After all the boring legalities/tax stuff are complete, sit tight, wait till Monday, go into work as normal, but with one difference…

Tell the arsehole departmental supervisor that no one likes what I REALLY think of him, pull no punches, lots of profanity will be involved, then walk out, enjoying not having to deal with his delusional Machiavellian crap anymore…

In the ultimate fantasy world, I’d then buy the company from the owner, FIRE the ADSTNOL, go through the company, purging all of his deliberate inefficiencies he put in place, and flip the org chart, putting the warehouse staff and techs that do the actual work at the top of the org chart where they belong, and the sales drones at the bottom, also, the sales drones will no longer be permitted to make irrational unreasonable promises to the customers before checking with the tech staff to see if it can actually be done

The new outsourced facility that can’t repair worth crap and is causing the company to hemorrhage money will be shut down, we’ll cut our losses there

Any fake/incorrect “DOA” returns by the brainless onsite “techs” will result in the immediate firing of that tech, no, you can’t write up a failed item as “DOA” because it’s less paperwork on your end, not our problem, do your job and do it right, or find another job

Any contracted onsite tech found harvesting parts from a replacement machine to fix the one already on site will be fired and the tech billed for the full retail cost of the item times FOUR, yes, that $2,000 thermal printer you “borrowed” the print head from and then put the bad units head into the replacement machine and try to send it back as “DOA”, you are going to pay $8,000 out of pocket for that AND lose your contract with us as well

Then I’ll sit back and enjoy not having to work anymore, I’ll be a benevolent owner, as long as things are done right, and logically

22

I would probably do nothing at all for awhile.
I definitely wouldn’t tell anyone who knows me at all. Only lawyer people.

23

I would likely be in shock the first 48 hours. Once I regained my senses, I would contact my good friend who is a lawyer and find out exactly what I need to do legally. I would quit my job as soon as I had money coming in. I would buy some land, maybe 20-50 acres, and get plans for an amazing horse complex in the works. I would start deciding who had been my true friends and how much money I would give them. Start researching various animal rescues and set up trusts for them.

So much to think about.

24

Jeebus guys, is the USA still stuck in the 20th century? All the paranoia! :slight_smile: Buy your ticket online. Print off a copy of the ticket. You see that you’ve won. So then you ring Camelot, and let them take it from there.

25

That’s not how it works here at all. I don’t think any state allows online sales. Some states don’t even allow you to use a card to pay for a ticket.

26

I hold the tickets for the group playing at work. I’d sign them, then call the others to sign them as well. I don’t think they’d mind being waked up for news like that.

We’d get legal advice of course.

In our state one can win anonymously, but with that many people playing the news would get out. So I’d take my phone off of the hook.

As soon as I got my money I’d quit work. The boss wouldn’t mind, he’s one of the other players. Then I’d get my own lawyer and start making plans for donations. I already know the things I want to do.

27

False opening premise.

28

Sign the ticket.

Call my accountant and lawyer to get things rolling to claim the funds.

Hire an armored truck to transport ticket to the lottery claims office.

My most recent home state of South Carolina gratefully allows lottery winners to remain anonymous. Still I would ask the aforementioned lawyer about routing the ticket through a trust or LLC just to minimize any possible publicity from a leak.

Hire an immigration attorney for Mrs Iggy and Iggyette, ASAP. While that process grinds on, set them up with as much one-on-one English classes as they want/can tolerate.

Buy a few homes for Mrs Iggy’s family and close friends and move them ASAP. Hire armed guards 24/7 for them. No more of this 17 people living in a 4 bedroom and ducking the neighborhood gunfire for any of them. And the risk of kidnap for ransom would go up tremendously for all of them if anyone could link me to them so the anonymity is all the more important.

Submit my 30 days notice at my current job. They know I have been looking for a new position Stateside. No reason to tell them my move is anything but the result of a successful job search.

29
  1. Check ticket. Check ticket again. Check lottery numbers again. Say “OMFG!!” to myself.
  2. Find out where tickets are confirmed; sign ticket.
  3. Drive to lottery office. Tell receptionist “I believe I have a high-value ticket here”. Show ticket to lottery official. Go through whatever procedures they do at the lottery office.
  4. Go home and tell my wife the news.
  5. Start planning what to do next.
30

What?

31

I would not mention this to anyone. I have a safe deposit box, and I would sign and date the ticket and lock it away. I would be at work as usual Monday morning, where I would put in a vacation request for the following week. Once on vacation, I would go to Arizona and meet with my adopted brother, who is a senior partner in a financial firm.

Once all of the details are in place, I would give notice at work that I am retiring. I wouldn’t claim the win until I had started what I would hope to seem like a normal blue collar retirement, and then I would try to live as anonymously as possible, most likely in another state.

Then, let the flamboyant life style begin…

32

There would be a lot of waiting.

First, I would not even start my 48 hour clock until the announcement of how many winners there are has been made. Until I know how much money we are talking about, do nothing. (Except maybe make sure that ticket is somewhere VERY safe.)

Then it gets complicated.
See, I am far too broke to be able to get that rich quick.

Like, I’d want to hire a lawyer to handle cashing that ticket for me, but I’d need to find a lawyer who’s okay with not getting paid for a few months, because right now I don’t have any money to give him.
Ideally, I’d like to have TWO lawyers for that. One to hold the ticket, one to witness me handing the ticket to the first one.
Ideally, two lawyers who don’t like each other at all.

Then I can try to find a financial adviser. Again, I need one who is willing to start working before they start getting paid, because part of their job will be to help me decide what form of payment to take, with goals of maximizing my take and paying as little in taxes as humanly possible. *

Now, if we are talking about something huge like the current Powerball, I can probably afford to quit my job once the first payment arrives. But for something small like a million dollars, … I may need to spend the entire first year’s payment on things that will shelter future payments from taxes, so I might need to keep my job.

But I expect that all of my first 48 hours will be spent preparing myself to responsibly receive that money.

    • If I have won hundreds of millions of dollars, I fully intend to spend a lot of that doing good things for the community. Possibly including stuff like building roads and infrastructure. Maybe give a bundle to the local mass transit guys so they can do better service. I just prefer that how it gets spent not be up for a vote. :wink:
33
  1. Have coronary, clutch chest, fall over dead. Relatives discover your body, and the winning ticket, the following week. And go to court to determine how to divvy up your hard-earned winnings…
34

I would think that one important factor is whether your address and phone number are listed or not.

If they are, you can be certain that you will get all kinds (hundreds and maybe even thousands) of phone calls asking you to buy into stocks and/or bonds or other investments.

In a similar vein, you will get many calls or visits from people who want you to loan or give them money.

The worst might be from relatives (long lost relatives or other kinds) begging for money. I think most of those call would just be “tests” to see if you were sufficiently stupid to give these bloodsuckers money. Don’t do that. But it’s your money and it’s up to you.

I would suggest you read the news stories about other winners. I have read some and they almost always lose all their money very quickly. Many of them just go kind of crazy and buy things they really don’t need and waste their money in all kinds of stupid ways.

One good suggestion is that lotteries almost always give you a choice between getting all the money in one lump sum or in a monthly amount for the rest of your life.

Most every single winner chooses “one lump sum”. That is the worst way to get the money. The other way is so much better because it ensures you will have money for the rest of your life.

The biggest recommendation I would make to you is this: Move somewhere where people will not have access to your address of phone number. Then, once you arrange to get the monthly payments deposited into your bank account, you can move to a nicer home in a different city.

Leave any and all money-grubbing relatives behind. And whatever you do, be sure you never ever ever lend or give any money to anyone - especially relatives.

35

[quote=“Charlie_Wayne, post:34, topic:742605”]

One good suggestion is that lotteries almost always give you a choice between getting all the money in one lump sum or in a monthly amount for the rest of your life.

Most every single winner chooses “one lump sum”. That is the worst way to get the money. The other way is so much better because it ensures you will have money for the rest of your life.

QUOTE]
Charlie, this would be true, if you could guarantee that the bloodsuckers in Washington would not raise taxes on me.
I don’t trust them that far.

36

One of the enjoyable things about winning the lottery would be the opportunity to give money to my relatives. I wouldn’t put them on salary or anything, but I can’t think of any reason not to write them a nice check.

37

Sign the ticket and get it in a safety deposit box.

Call a lawyer I know and trust and have him start acting on things including searching out an appropriate financial person.

Head to a little place I know back in the mountains. After coming down with “the flu” or something else, of course.

38

Since I’d absolutely need to tell someone and I wouldn’t want to tell my family, I’d tell the Dope.

Then I’d tell my banker.

Then I’d tell her that if she blabs to my family I’m giving her a padlock-shaped lip piercing. The kind that’s easier to cut around than to cut through.

Then we’d discuss investment options.

And then I’d see a notary about a will. It would still say the same things that would be the legal default, mostly, but having it in writing can help. I’d name Financebro the executor, both because he is Financebro and because Notfinancebro is a horrible waffler. You may agree with Financebro’s decisions or not, but he takes them quickly and stands by them (if he ever happens to be wrong, he even owns up to having been wrong).

39

First, I don’t understand why signing the ticket is on anybody’s list. I sign it and put my name on it as soon as I buy it. That way I have a legal claim even if I lose it before the drawing and somebody else tries to claim the money.
The first thing I do is tell my parents because they are lawyers and can find me good representation. Then I set up a LLC to claim the money so I can try to remain anonymous. I would probably call in sick from work for a couple of days.
Then I have the corporation make a public statement that anybody who solicits money automatically gets nothing. Then I start making purchases.

40

You should have a will anyway. It really does help.