Your numbers all came up on 240 million dollar lottery?

After taxes its about 114 million... Wow. Believe me in the long lonely watches of the night at my job I have pondered this. So many wind up broke after just a few years.

First I would take the yearly payments lump sum is for suckers.

Next tell no one except a lawyer you have known for years. He is obligated by law to keep your trust... or he loses his bar card.

Take him with you when you go to pick up the confirmation.

Make sure you have the $ in the bank (s) before moving forward.

If or when you leave your job do so on friendly terms with everyone you can...without them knowing you have money.

Make handling your money your business.

Never hire friends for this business.

Watch your spending. For the first years give yourself a budget that leave you with a large reserve.

If you buy any vehicles don't buy new and don't change your life immediately.

Plan vacations in offseason. The best time to go to Disneyworld is the day after Thanksgiving thru The new year. Less people less traffic.

If you go for a new house do it in your second year.

Read everything you can about investing and learn to do your own.

If anyone askes why you quit your normal job tell them health reasons.

Did I miss anything?

Don't think so O' Enlighted One....*writes everything down*

Yeah... that's the way to do it.

BUT How do you keep the Lottery Officials Quiet?

In your local state,there will be some publicity.You can ask them not release your name,or at least your last name.Enough of your friends watching televised news will recognise you.I agree on waiting for yearly payments,it sort of puts you on a budget.

The lottery office is required to have you sign a release before the can release your name or image to the public. That is in America in most states. Privacy would only be an issue if you go shooting your mouth off.

I always imagined I would tell people I had been hurt in an accident. That way I could leave work in a friendly way with no one the wiser. They would assume I am on disability or that I had recieved some insurance money. I would have my lawyer start a corporation with me and my family as sole stockholders. Then any property I bought would be put in the name of the corporation.

I've always thought that even winning one of those $1 million dollar prizes (like McDonald's Monopoly game or something like that) would be enough for you to live nicely if you played it smart.

Those prizes are often $50,000 a year for 20 years and not a $1 million dollar lump sum. If you live smart, continue to work (for the next 10+ years) and invest wisely, you would have a very comfortable retirement.

It's the folks who spend the money on cars, vacations, luxurious homes, give away to friends & family, that normally go broke. Many continue to gamble at places like Las Vegas and lose the money that way.

I sold cars for 10 years. I once sold a car to a guy who told me quite a tale. Seems he was a landlord and had a renter who had won some lottery. Yes, that's right, the guy wins a lottery and RENTS a house. Anyway the landlord said the winner blew through his first years installment of his winnings in about two months, and had to come beg for help from the landlord. The landlord covered him for the remaining 10 months, on the understanding the guy would pay up when he got his next big check. All was fine until about six months into the next year, when the winner was again broke. Once again he went to the landlord but this time the home owner had a twist. He carried the guy for the remainder of the year but then insisted the winner pay a year in advance from that point on. The moral of course is some people just can't handle money no matter what.

My wife always watches Oprah. Oprah has apparently said many times on the show the main thing you need to do is always sign your own checks! So many people, mainly actors, especially child actors, make huge sums of money then get ripped off by somebody they trust. If you make it a point to sign every check, and know what its for, you stand less chance of having that happen.

The one thing I know for sure is I'd want to start a business. My wife is a great baker, with cheesecakes her specialty, and she'd love a shop of her own. Me, I want a bookstore, with maybe a small model section. A combined bakery, book, and model shop seems to be a pretty good fit for us.

I would take the ticket to a large bank and offer it for sale for half the prize amount. I would get it all at once, no taxes, etc., and the bank would know they will double their money over the pay-out period and could plan accordingly, OR...
I would auction it off, again getting a lot of money all at once, no taxes, etc.
Let's face it. It would be pretty tough to blow through half of 200m or so.

Art

Why would you want it in yearly payments? If you die, I don't think your family gets what is left......The smart thing to do would be take the lump sum, and then invest it in a diversified portfolio that makes about 10% a year. Now call me crazy, but I think you would make a lot more that way. You guys do the math.....

-Doug

Lump sum! If you win 240 million, the lump sum payment after taxes should still be in the 50-80 million range. I can't imagine blowing through that amount. Heck, if you banked half of that you'd be able to live like a king on the interest alone not to mention the other half presumibly at your disposal.
Certainly I would be cautious and probably attempt to keep the winning secret.
And I'd like to think that my lifestyle wouldn't get radically extravagant but it sure would be nice to not worry about house payments and cars breaking down.
Of course a Panther in the back yard might seem a bit on the extravagant side.

Cheers,
Charles

I'd be satisfied w/enough to just pay off my house and not have to work anymore - it just a matter of determining how much I will need to blow year after year :-)

Never ever spend the winnings.. If you end up with 140 million I'm sure you can live off the interest. All you would need to do is hang in until the first couple interest payments come in and then enjoy. Me I would travel, to get away from all the folks trying to grab some cash from you... Then Id settle somewhere nice and start a small business.. Say selling kits... But who knows...


Dave

With $114M I would buy enough investment property to give me a rental return to suit the lifestyle I want to live. ...and with the other $100M i would party like there is no tomorrow!

I would purpose build my own house, with the basement dancefloor/home cinema and the modelling room with the raised seethrough floor with the 1/72 model airfield underneath...

Not that I've thought about it much

Cheers
Wiz

Younger folks with families = wise investments for their families future, and a little enjoyment along the way.
"Grumpy old farts" with no family = party until you drop dead and don't give a damn about the estate. :-) :-)

The wife always said that she would continue to work even if we won over 100 million. However I think that the first time I called her from Aruba to ask her about her day at work she would have a change of mind.

I'd move to North Dakota or Wyoming That way people wouldn't be so keen on following me to my new home :-) :-)

I'd finish off college then hed to a good university! Yikes, every semester costs about 1000$ to my parents, good thing i bring back good grades or id see the guilotine!

BTW, forgot the most important... share with your armorama friends

Chad has a point................. and Just Screen the Phonecalls.... Gate the Driveway and Fence in the rest!!!

Can only agree whole heartedly with Dave,we get people over here who say it wont change my life I will still go to work each day, B.S. I would party for the rest of my life I would never know another winter or have to set a alarm clock and I would see as much of this planet as I could before we submerge it

$$$ I would pay off all my debt. Then I would sell my current house and most likely build a log cabin on a large wooded lot. Even though I like my job and I like what I do I would definitely quit. Wouldn't do it on the spot though. I like the guys I work with and wouldn't want to screw them over. Heck, I might even stick around until they've found my replacement. Then after taking some time off I would probably look into starting my own business; probably a computer consulting firm. Oh, and I would probably get my butt back to school for a degree in computer science.

Or

I would just blow all the money of booze, girls and fast cars :-)

Take the lump sum and see how fast I could spend it