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Most states if not all have rules that the winners names must be made public. Just a little FYI to all those who plan on winning and not telling anyone.
 
First, financial advisor at my bank.
Second, surprise when they're sleeping, slip a check under my parents bed to pay off their house, in full, and another $500,000 dedicated for retirement.
I'd pay off my brothers house next, same procedure.
Pay off my tuition, my brothers tuition, then splurge.
Then buy a McLaren, move to Florida, buy a nice house, and live large. Would buy shares of safe stock and start a company dedicated to innovating (putting a lot of $$$ into R&D). Before I saw this thread, was actually thinking about it yesterday.

Living the dream. :cool:
 
Don't tell a soul

The ticket would go in our safe deposit box, and the only person I'd tell is our attorney. I'd have him set up a revocable trust, with him as the trustee, and my family as beneficiaries. When all is ready, he would go claim the prize.

In my state, the ticket can be claimed by a trustee, on behalf of a trust. For publicity purposes, only the trustee would be identified. The only one knowing my family would be the IRS, and briefly the lottery commission: they are required to check if winners owe back taxes or child support.

The trust would quickly be dissolved and the proceeds transferred into a family limited partnership (for protection of assets). A substantial part would go into a charitable gift fund. We would set up distribution of the maximum allowable amount per year free of gift tax to extended family members. Currently, it's $13,000/year, and if both my wife and I make the gift, each person would receive twice that amount, each year.

However, educational expenses and medical expenses are not included in the annual gift limit, as long as we pay the provider directly. So, we would arrange a way to pay medical bills and send the children of our extended family to college, if they want.

Then, we would resign our jobs, hit the road and see the world. We only travel a few times a year now, but this would be a permanent vacation.

I'd probably never tell anyone we won the money, aside from our lawyer, accountant, and financial manager. If anyone asks where the money comes from, I can always say that I bought lots of Apple stock back in 2003.

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Most states if not all have rules that the winners names must be made public. Just a little FYI to all those who plan on winning and not telling anyone.

In some states, there are ways around this. In others, it won't work. Check your state laws or ask your lawyer.
 
Curious, why would anyone ever take the lump sum (I know they say this is what you should do)?

If you opt for the annual payments, the lottery commission goes to the financial markets and buys an annuity with the same lump sum. The annuity has an implied interest rate (or discount rate), and that is what determines your annual payments. For Powerball, the payment increases each year (4%, I think), so the payments aren't all the same amount.

At the moment, interest rates are really low. If you took the annuity, you would be locking in that interest rate until your last payment (30 years, for Powerball). If interest rates increase, your payments don't. It's not difficult to invest in a balanced portfolio that yield a better return over that period of time, and minimize volatility. Hire a good financial manager.

The other consideration is taxes. If you take the annuity, you will get lower taxes on the first $450,000 each year (if you are married). But, if you win a really big jackpot, you would be receiving many times that each year, and it would be taxed at a marginal 39.6% today. Your guess is as good as mine whether that rate will be higher or lower 10-20 years from now. It may be more productive to pay the taxes now, and be able to earn a better return on it for the next 20 years. With good financial planning, there are a number of ways that you can reduce your taxes legally without giving up control of the money.
 
Become a Philanthropist. A lot of the money would go to create scholarships for deserving students, especially the poor.
 
What would be the first thing you buy?

E350 Benz White with black rims and Nice $200,000 house in cash.


Would you Invest in a company?
Yes, only companies with DRIP stock plans. I'll be living off of the Dividend payments.
Would you like to start a company?

No
Own restaurants?
NO

Save or go crazy with your $$$?

Do some traveling to Hawaii and the Caribbean. Pay off all of my debts. Then, I'll save the rest. My father is my investment adviser. He's a very smart investor. :D


I'
 
If I won a large sum of money, I will buy a house in the city I like most, a SUV, travel, and then I will go back to work. :p
 
Thanks to some day trips and friend's vacation and the ability to buy tickets for the lottery for weeks in advance, I now have pick 5s and pick 6s in New York, New Jersey, Penn and Florida. (should add conn to that...._Plus my normal mega and power tickets. Pretty sure I have to win soon. That's just good math. ;)
 
I would definitely take the lump sum. By taking the yearly option, does it keep paying if something happens to you, or is your death the end of payments?

I don't have my eyes on anything big. I have no desire for a dozen vacation homes in multiple countries, a warehouse of exotic cars, a yacht, or anything like that.

As for a house, I'd like to design my own, around 4000-5000 square feet, to be situated on a river or lake in a mountainous area like north Georgia, Tennessee, or North Carolina. Big deck, hot tub, bar, etc. Somewhere near a decent metro area with some stuff around. I don't want to live out in the boonies on acres of land with no sign of life around me. And some kayaks. Gotta have some kayaks. I'd have a badass office with a view and all kinds of fun computer junk.

For cars, I'd actually maybe just get the fancy version of the car I already have, a Kia Sorento. It works perfectly for me. No desire for big muscly sports cars. I might get an older Alfa Romeo Spider convertible just because I've always loved those little things, but that would be my sporty fun car, not my every day car.

Would fill up my son's education account and make sure he went to good schools and that that was all paid for.

Would pay my parents back for everything they spent on me for education, private elementary and high school, and my college education. Would probably also set my dad up for retirement, since he's been unable to after losing so much in the recession. Although he won't stop working. He basically does his job now from a laptop while traveling.

Would probably help my sister out, although we'd have to set some ground rules (that girl could burn through the state's GDP in a few days).

Ummm..would probably travel some just to appease my wife, but I got the travel bug out of me when I traveled worldwide for work for 7 years straight.

Other than that...yeah, my sights aren't set really high.
 
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