The lottery

R

rgp

Well-known Member
Location
Milford,OH
OK, so no one hit the correct numbers last night. The pot is now $800,000,000 [hope that number is correct] {eight hundred millon} . My question is , seriously ... What would ones first move be if they actually won the darn thing ?? Attorney ? Finance advisor ? Favorite bar ? ;)
 

The best advice is first, change your phone number. Second, Google Lottery losers to see what happens to a lot of winners. Then get an attorney, a CPA and a for fee financial planner.
If any one tries to hit you up for money, tell them to speak to the attorney. That distances you from all the "relatives", scammers, etc. that come out of the woodwork.
 
I guess I'd go with the attorney to make a new will, probably set up some charitable trusts. Wasn't there a lottery winner once who was murdered the next day by their children. Not that I'd think my daughter would knock me off to get the money but gee it would be both awesome and scary to have so much money.
 

rgp said:
What would ones first move be if they actually won the darn thing ??
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My first move would be to make sure they are really giving it to someone who has never entered a lottery. Not since I last bought a bolita ticket in Tampa in the 60s anyway.

Guess my next move would be to find an attorney/financial advisor I could trust. I'd be worried everyone would be after the $$.
 
Pack a bag and move to a hotel immediately while you're making arrangements for the lawyer accountant/financial planner because everyone who knows where you live will be magically showing up to 'visit'.

Life changing $$ for sure and many of those changes wouldn't be good as your entire life would change immediately, even relationships with family members which may have always been your emotional safe harbor.
 
The odds on Powerball and MegaMillion are about 400 million to one....but, eventually someone will win. We buy a ticket once or twice a week, but I don't harbor any fantasies about getting rich....I just look at it as a minor form of gambling. Usually I just buy a state lottery ticket, for $1, since the profits from that go to the states education systems.
 
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I would probably just call the number on the ticket.

Then I would call a realtor.
Thimble-Island-Home-01.jpg


“You know the bank I used to cry all the way to. I bought it.” - Liberace
 
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horseless carriage said:
Governments could make a lot more revenue by taxing people who don't understand mathematics or basic probability.
Hold on, I forgot about the lottery.

Ignorance of basic mathematics is why most lottery winners end up bankrupt.
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The problem is not math, though.

Kind of a funny story - my cousin and I bought a little store together back in 2010; beer and liquor, groceries and produce, and a small deli (also the lottery). Within months we were doing great! Then the State Board of Equalization showed up. We owed taxes we didn't even know existed. Plus, we had to build on a separate bathroom for customers, a new storage area, a janitor's closet with a plumbed floor sink, and replace all 5 of the drinks coolers. The building was almost 70 years old, and, fortunately, we had already re-wired everything, but the stuff we still had to do plus the taxes we weren't even aware of cost us so dearly we almost gave up rather than pay out.

But we'd bought it so cheap, and it was doing so well, we decided to hang in there. But I sold my half to my cousin after about 3 years, which is when we were finally square with the taxes and add-ons and all that. He sold the whole shebang a couple years later, and a year after that, it burned down in a wildfire.

But, my point is, you don't just have to know math, you have to know law. And financial laws and business laws (and regs) are countless and extremely complex. So, yeah, if you win a lottery, you need an advisor.
 
As others have said, the first thing I would do is contact my attorney for his advice on finding a financial advisor. I would like to think that the only extravagant thing I would buy is a nice modest summer home in the Durango Colorado area. I would hope that I would not change much but hard to say if I would or not. I don't have to worry about such a dilemma though since I don't even think about the lottery.
 
rgp said:
OK, so no one hit the correct numbers last night. The pot is now $800,000,000 [hope that number is correct] {eight hundred millon} . My question is , seriously ... What would ones first move be if they actually won the darn thing ?? Attorney ? Finance advisor ? Favorite bar ? ;)
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Move away from your home and don't tell anybody where you've gone, get a lawyer to set up a trust to receive the $$, get a financial advisor, apply for name change in a different state, change phone number, keep the win a super secret.

I've actually read a really good book on the topic, by a top financial advisor. The above is what he said to do.
 
I never buy lottery tickets because I would not like to spend the rest of my life buying bigger an better things, dodging
people, spending money. Money and "things" bind you to earth, keep you from attaining the spiritual growth you could gain.
Winning the lottery would be the biggest HEX one could receive.
But, That's just me.
 
rgp said:
OK, so no one hit the correct numbers last night. The pot is now $800,000,000 [hope that number is correct] {eight hundred millon} . My question is , seriously ... What would ones first move be if they actually won the darn thing ?? Attorney ? Finance advisor ? Favorite bar ? ;)
Click to expand...
Go into hiding. :cool:
 
I would contact my financial advisor, hire an attorney, keep our current home but do some remodeling, pay off my sister-in-law's mortgage and pay for my 3 nieces' college educations, buy a second home in some other country and give most of the remains to charity. There are so many worthy causes... cancer research, homelessness, food insecurity, etc.

My life is good. Why not contribute to making other lives better as well? I don't need to go to space. I'm not Jeff Bezos. ;)
 
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