What would you do if you won the lottery?

[puma1552]

Curious, why would anyone ever take the lump sum (I know they say this is what you should do)?

You get WAY less than the annuity option, and the logic of "take the whole lump and invest it and end up with more than the annuity" is a pretty risky move and it would take a LOT of luck to even turn the lump sum back into the annuity amount.

Not to mention, if you take the annuity, I think it's spread out over something like 26 years in the case of Powerball, personally I would much, much, much rather get X million per year distributed and get the whole jackpot than get like half of it in one lump sum.

 

[TheAppleFairy]

I'm sure my wife would want to use it so that we can visit her family overseas.

Same here, my in-laws all live in Japan. I see you're from Bergen County. My wife likes to go to Mitsuwa in Edgewater NJ. Try no to go on Sunday mornings if we need alcohol or appliances. Interesting county laws there.

 

[Shrink]

Curious, why would anyone ever take the lump sum (I know they say this is what you should do)?

You get WAY less than the annuity option, and the logic of "take the whole lump and invest it and end up with more than the annuity" is a pretty risky move and it would take a LOT of luck to even turn the lump sum back into the annuity amount.

Not to mention, if you take the annuity, I think it's spread out over something like 26 years in the case of Powerball, personally I would much, much, much rather get X million per year distributed and get the whole jackpot than get like half of it in one lump sum.

And might you feel differently if you were 68 years old with no immediate family?

 

[Huntn]

Curious, why would anyone ever take the lump sum (I know they say this is what you should do)?

You get WAY less than the annuity option, and the logic of "take the whole lump and invest it and end up with more than the annuity" is a pretty risky move and it would take a LOT of luck to even turn the lump sum back into the annuity amount.

Not to mention, if you take the annuity, I think it's spread out over something like 26 years in the case of Powerball, personally I would much, much, much rather get X million per year distributed and get the whole jackpot than get like half of it in one lump sum.

Age of winner, plus the idea of today's dollar's value vs what the dollar will be worth 20 years from now. There are safe investments that you could live comfortably on with as little as $3 million in bank if your expectations were not too large.

 

[IGregory]

I would also like to invest in companies like apple and Microsoft and buy stock. Or would like to start my own company starting with cell devices.

You'd be better off putting yourself on a budget, less risk. After taxes I'd figure out how much I could spend each year in equal amounts until I reach 85. I would spend up to that amount and no more. If you hit it real big why worry about investments. You only need so much to live. Where the lottery is guaranteed income, budget yourself and you will be set.

 

[designs216]

1) Set up my mother in comfort.

2) Hire a financial planner to maintain/shelter.

3) Move out overnight, change phone numbers, contact info.

4) Give massive amounts to charity.

5) Fire the necessary evils.

6) Smell the roses, volunteer, spend all the time I want with my kids while they are.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

Nope, never saw "Office Space". And from the clip...

I guess the referencing of the TV show renders the posts innocent in their intent because it's quoting a cultural reference.

Write it off to my ignorance, I guess...

When 99% of the population of the internet has seen the movie it could probably just be written off as a joke.

 

[G51989]

Probably buy every car I've lusted after as a child.

 

[TedM]

If I could feasibly invest in that new tech that uses tubes to transport people from LA to NY in a high speed manner, I would do that. Otherwise I would build a mansion with tons of secret passages.

 

[WhiteIphone5]

If I could feasibly invest in that new tech that uses tubes to transport people from LA to NY in a high speed manner.

that sounds awesome, i remember watching a video on youtube on how roller coasters would take you everything within the state lol.

Google has a lab where they " are working" on a transport from here to the moon"

Edit: damn it they took it off wikipidea!! i guess it was too good to be true.

found a link:
http://www.technewss.com/2013/04/google-x-secret-google-lab-plans.html

 

[TedM]

that sounds awesome, i remember watching a video on youtube on how roller coasters would take you everything within the state lol.

Google has a lab where they " are working" on a transport from here to the moon"

Edit: damn it they took it off wikipidea!! i guess it was too good to be true.

found a link:
http://www.technewss.com/2013/04/google-x-secret-google-lab-plans.html

This is more along what I had in mind:
http://www.et3.com/

I think an elevator to the moon isn't as plausible as this.

 

[The.316]

Of course after I help out my family and close friends, Im going shopping! I am a straight dude that loves clothes, shoes, watches, etc. I can spend hours in a mall, as long as its got some decent stores for men. I like to shop, so sue me If its one of those powerball winnings, Im shopping all over the world. $300k

Id then have just a couple of houses; one in Florida where I use to live, and one somewhere here in Europe, maybe Paris or London. I have a couple of houses here in Greece already, so I would just finish renovating the one I have in the village. Nothing out of this world, just enough space to have myself a ridiculous man cave. $2 million

Id buy a couple of cars for each house, and again, nothing crazy. Id have an SUV for each house, maybe Q5 or Range, and maybe something like an M3. $300k

Id build a restaurant, in which my cousin would run. He is an amazing chef here in Greece, and I know he would run it perfectly. $200k

Season tickets to the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers for the next 20 years. $100k

Enjoy life. Travel to places I have never been, taste foods Ive never tasted before, etc.

The rest goes into whatever a financial adviser thinks is best. If you are talking about a couple of hundred million, I dont think you need to invest must. After you go splurge, you just need to budget yourself correctly, and you, and your childrens children, will be set for life.

Im sure Im not the only one who has either fantasized about winning the lottery, and/or talked about it with friends.

And then Id buy Greece. With the economy as bad as it is here, Im think $1 million should be enough LOL.

 

[Keukasmallie]

My first decisions would involve whether to claim it myself or give it to my kids to claim. It would depend on the payout formulas, I think. In any event, it wouldn't change my life much at all except bring unwanted attention to my good fortune.

 

[robbieduncan]

Im think $1 million should be enough LOL.

You would barely touch the sides of their debt with that.

 

[wvuwhat]

I'd probably just buy up a lot of rental properties.

Fix up immediate family, a million a piece sounds good.

Buy a nice house in a gated country club, join said country club.

Donate to a few charities.

Buy a Range Rover, Ferrari, and a nice daily driver.

I'd probably start some sort of business just to keep myself busy.


...No, I haven't given this any thought.

 

[AbyssImpact]

I would go put it all on Apple stock. Going to go $1000 soon

 

[AhmedFaisal]

<snip>

 

[Larry-K]

I'd probably take a day off.

 

[macs4nw]

Two chicks at the same time.

Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I had a million dollars I could hook that up, 'cause chicks dig a dude with money.

In my crystal ball, I could see huge, dual paternity suits for both of you. Sorry to ruin your dream.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

Interrupt work, go back to university and study something else for fun

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Power ball is up to 400 million bucks. What would I do? Anything I damn well wanted to!!!

 

[kazmac]

what I will do

Quit my job, move out of my apartment.

Set my mom up like a Queen whereever she wants to live. Pay off my sisters debts and give them money to start anew somewhere else.

I'd get an apartment in NYC, sound proof the hell out of it and go to NYU for film studies etc.

I would give a little $ to my community college and maybe donate so a few kids can go there on scholarship.

I'd also make sure that there are creative classes in local schools (Music, Art, Writing, Design) - that's very important to keep up.


Unfortunately I don't think offering to completely fund Bolt Throwers' next album will help (they have to write the songs darn it!)

Macs:

I would definitely buy a new Mac Pro for me, both of my designer friends, and help them financially too.

and I would also save and/invest some.

 

[Seniordan]

Probably just go to school and study random things that interest me.

 

[MagnumOP]

Curious, why would anyone ever take the lump sum (I know they say this is what you should do)?

You get WAY less than the annuity option, and the logic of "take the whole lump and invest it and end up with more than the annuity" is a pretty risky move and it would take a LOT of luck to even turn the lump sum back into the annuity amount.

Not to mention, if you take the annuity, I think it's spread out over something like 26 years in the case of Powerball, personally I would much, much, much rather get X million per year distributed and get the whole jackpot than get like half of it in one lump sum.

There is technically no difference between the lump sum and the annuity options. The lump sum is merely the present value of the annuity payments brought back to today and summed up. If you took the lump sum and invested it identically as the lottery would have, you would generate the same annual cash flows.

A person should take the lump sum if they think they can earn a higher rate of return on the invested money than the lottery would earn. In other words, if you want to invest the cash in riskier assets with chance to end up with more at the end, take the lump sum.

A person should take the annuity if they do not think they will earn a higher rate of return on the money. In other words, if you are more risk averse than the lottery institution you should take the annuity.

So, the decision hinges on your risk tolerance and the rate of return you think you can earn. In the formula for calculating the present value of an annuity the important (or only changeable input in this case) is the interest rate, i.

So, really, you perfectly described why someone would take one option over the other.

 

[MagnumOP]

Regular lottery winner ($1-$3 million jackpot):

• Pay off all of my debts
• Pay off most of my immediate family's debts
• Put the remainder into a trust account making me, my wife, and future children, grandchildren, etc the beneficiaries
• Supplement my lifestyle with the earned interest from said trust

Mega lottery winner ($100 million and above)

• Pay off all of my debts
• Pay off all of my immediate family's debts
• Pay off a few very close friends' debts
• Put $40 million into a trust account making me, my wife, and future children, grandchildren, etc the beneficiaries
• Supplement my lifestyle with the earned interest from said trust
• Take $50 million and become an angel investor
• Use the remainder to setup a non-profit organization to fund academic scholarships for deserving third world country students to either attend university in the US or in their home country

I would like to remain active and working under both scenarios. This probably means I wouldn't still be in my exact current profession, but definitely still working.

I agree that I would like to stay low key and not advertise to anyone that I had won the money.