Winning The Lottery.

[The Mystery Machine]

So DH and I discussed this this morning and decided that we would just go ahead and set up trusts for everyone if we hit it big.

Yes, we talk about.

 

[jfoofj]

My best friend from high school's family won just under 8 million in the Megabucks lottery when we were in college. They were a hard working, paycheck to paycheck family... the kind you want to win. Well, they did have a lot of issues with family and friends who expected money or wanted "loans" and one even went to court over a supposed verbal agreement. It caused them a lot of stress, but overall I think they are pretty darn happy they won the lottery. Her parents are still happily married and have been able to help my friend and her sister out financially and with childcare since they (the parents) don't work and my friend and her sister both work and have small kids.

I would love to hit a lottery of some sort... but I would keep it extremely quiet and put a large chunk of it (after paying off some mortgages and bills and taking a kicking trip to Disney) away and try to live off interest.

 

[ZachnElli]

If you win the Powerball you have to give out your name to claim it, that's what we have here Powerball. There have been several people here in Nebraska to win it and several of them who were very smart and had financial planners help them. The local paper did an article on them and several were not available for comment and they could only write about them what was public knowledge (property bought, cars, homes, etc.). My dh has told me the name of the financial planner to contact if something happens to him (life insurance) and he'd be the same one if we ever came into money like the lottery.

 

[PatsGirl]

I'd rather by unhappy and rich than unhappy and poor

If I won a large lottery ($1M or more) I'd definately get financial advise of course. But, I know pretty much how I'd use it: pay off my mortgage, buy property (a bar and apartment) in St. John, put away enough for DD's college payments for 8 years (big hopes there huh?), renovate (add garage) and all necessary repairs on my present home, buy myself a Jeep and a luxury car and then, and ONLY THEN, would I consider handouts to anyone other than my own children.

If there was lots of money left, I think I'd take X amount and split it up equally between each of my siblings (who can then decide whether or not to share with their children) and my parents, hopefully enough for everyone to pay off their mortgages and other debts. Everything else would be invested for my retirement.

 

[daisax]

Most lotteries require that your name be published (they have to reassure people that a real live person won the money and that the contest is legitimate). The stuff with the press conference and posing with the giant check is optional.

The smartest course is to wait a while to claim it, get all your financial ducks in a row first, do the bare minimum possible to claim the prize, and then don't give any interviews about it.

I can think of several very large lottery winners who won >$100 million and were never heard from again, even though it was a huge story at the time. I assume they're doing just fine -- they just aren't exposing themselves to more headaches than they need to.

 

[freckles and boo]

Money can't make people smarter. Those who made poor financial decisions before winning usually make poor decisions after winning.

 

[handicap18]

I've thought about winning large amounts of money.

If you seriously want to enjoy your winnings (talking big jackpot winnings), as many have mentioned, get financial help from a professional. Trust funds are great. Keeping as quite as you can about it is also good advise.

I personally would buy my inlaw's house and the house next door. Then buy another house in the neighborhood. We would then live in that 3rd house. Have the inlaw's house and the house next door knocked down and build a bigger house (would a "smarter" house too... solar panels for electricity, better water system, more efficient all around). This way this kids stay in their same school and we're in the same neighborhood.

The kids would each get a trust fund for college and then a smaller fund for their future life.

We regularly donate small amounts to 3 different charities. I would up that. I would pay off my sisters mortage. Then the money she would be paying for that she can then use for what ever else she wants without having to get anything else from me. Same for my BIL.

I would love to quit my job and probably would, but one thing that people never mention and you never hear about in these types of discussions is.... what about medical benifits and coverage? Right now I pay nothing for my benifits. My company pays $178/week for my medical/dental coverage. That gives us $20 copay for perscriptions, $10 copay for Dr visits and $50 copay for emergency room and we pay for nothing else.

I would want to find some sort of coverage. No one ever thinks of medical coverage. Heck, you just won millions and millions. Your covered. Well with no mecial benifits from a job a broken leg will cost you what, $20,000? The birth of a new baby (that doesn't need a c-section and/or a stay in a special care nursery) will run upwards of $100,000. Those $10 doctor visits now become over $100. Got perscriptions? Yep, they just went up by a factor of 5.

This is what concerns me the most. We have 3 young children, including 1 with special needs. I use 2 perscriptions a month, DS has 2, DD has 1 and DW has 3. Plus DW is dealing with other mecial issues and we're already paying for 2 therapies a week out of pocket.

If I were to get my same coverage without the group plan it would be over $300/week or $15,600/year for the rest of my life. Not to bad if I win millions.

That is my biggest concern. Medical bills add up quick. Even with winning millions. God forbid you get cancer or something like that. That will eat up EVERYTHING.

Other than that, we'd probably spend more time at Disney..

 

[sbell111]

First, instead of handing out $$$ to relatives....I would pay off their mortgages...that way, they wouldn't have the option of blowing through a big wad of cash and keep asking for more. I would explain to them that this gift is a one time thing and I would not be their personal ATM. ...

I've decided that what we would do if we won an obscenely large payout is that we would look into the debt load of our closest relatives and give them all an amount equal to the largest debt. That way, everyone would be rewarded equally and those that have always been responsible will come out ahead. I don't believe that we would make any future payments to these people other than making sure that our parents' retirements were taken care of.

Is that an option. I thought you had to agree to make your name public. If this is an option I would DEFIANTLY go this route. I would also cancel my home phone number immediately.

As I understand it, whether you have your name released varies based on the laws of your state.

We don't have a landline, so it shouldn't be necessary to change our numbers, but we would have to move to someplace that could be better secured/fortified. I actually have a double gated subdivision already picked out, I'm sorry to say.

I think that guaranteeing that your winnings lasts starts from the very first day. You have to first map out exactly what will be owed in taxes and how much will need to be invested to ensure that the winnings lasts forever (literally forever since you are also providing for your children in perpetuity). You then build your investment portfolio to provide the rate of return that you will need to continually build your nest egg. You set yourself up with an annual 'salary' that allows the balance to either grow or stay the same, as necessary. From that salary, you pay your annual taxes (capital gains, property, etc) and tithe/give to charity. The rest is yours to spend.

The amount that you actually get to spend annually if you were to win the $170,000,000 Mega Millions may be something like 2.3m after savings, taxes, and gifts, but as long as you stay within that allowance, the money should last literally forever.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I wouldn't want to win more than a million, because I think trouble would start right away if you won 10 million or more. For instance, how much would you give to your siblings? Would you stop there or give to your best friends, cousins, good neighbors? And then there would be all those people after you, with good causes or big needs or just wanting a piece of the action. My privacy would be invaded, can you imagine the calls and requests from strangers? I also think I would become distrustful of people's motives. I don't want to live like that.

I completely agree. People always think I'm crazy when I say I wouldn't want to win more than $100,000 (to pay off debt and have a little nest egg). I also think that a lot of my appreciation for the things I have is because I worked for them. I think I would lose a lot of that appreciation if I could just have anything I want, whenever I wanted it. I would also continue to work (if even just part time or volunteering). I need to have more of a purpose to life than just spending my millions and laying on a beach.

 

[SanFranciscan]

I know that it serves us well to believe that only people less intelligent or responsible than ourselves would spend their winnings and be broke again. Yet I remember an article about an man in Texas who was wealthy before he won a huge sum of money in the lottery. He made the mistake of taking I think it was $35,000,000 in a lump sum. He even quit attending church services because he couldn't handle how often he was being approached by strangers with some tale of woe that they were certain would be fixed with his money. According to the article, he had already been wealthy so you know that he was already pretty good at telling people "No." Yet even he couldn't take being besieged as persistently as he was.

I also think that it is unrealistic for people, especially those in low-level jobs, to think that they won't change after winning because they will be going to work with a whole new attitude. When the boss tells a lottery winner to get out there and mop that floor, what do you think is going to happen? I think that employee will tell the boss to go mop it himself.

I am not a spendthrift who just buys everything she sees. In fact, I spend a great deal of time trying to influence my husband who always wants soooo much, which is really tough considering the double standards in what is considered bossy and controlling. Yet knowing how exhausting it is to try to be diplomatic about this with just one person, I can't imagine how I would handle being hit up again and again by people with well-rehearsed sob stories.

I wonder if maybe those lottery winners really do earn their money afterall.