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Old 09-15-2018, 10:25 AM
 
28,122 posts, read 12,418,621 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alonso Gil View Post
The more money you win, the more people show up with their hand out. That plus lawyers and accountants, and at some point, it really is "too much".


When Powerball or Megamillions jackpot is hundreds of millions of dollars, it makes me sad to see people wait in line to throw away their money on a game that is almost impossible to win. And if you do win, you have the problems I outlined in my first paragraph.


Would you rather have a 1 in 200,000 chance of winning $250,000 (do the taxes yourself), or a 1 in 200,000,000 chance of winning $250 million? I would prefer the former. A thousand times better chance of winning, none of the hassles of winning way too much, and for me, $250,000 is life-changing. I don't require six houses and a dozen sportscars to feel better.
More people win the lottery than you think, except only a few win the really big ones, and those are the only ones the media reports on. They usually dont make a big deal out of somebody winning a $20, or 30 million dolllar lottery, but lots of winners out there like this, we just dont hear about them.
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Old 09-17-2018, 09:53 AM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,492 posts, read 15,342,596 times
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Better for someone mature and smart enough to know what to do with it.

I know my plans are much more subdued at this stage of my life, than they were at 22.
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Old 10-24-2018, 04:18 AM
 
Location: USA
3,568 posts, read 1,335,512 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rstevens62 View Post
More people win the lottery than y you think, except only a few win the really big ones, and those are the only ones the media reports on. They usually dont make a big deal out of somebody winning a $20, or 30 million dolllar lottery, but lots of winners out there like this, we just dont hear about them.
Agree.

A former coworker win $3million
Neighbor's daughter won $10million

Life changing amounts but we don't hear about every winner.

Lots of winners choose to remain anonymous.
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Old 10-24-2018, 11:11 AM
 
10,489 posts, read 6,922,342 times
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I hate those articles detailing the lottery winners who go bankrupt, because it fails to stress an important point: Not all people are equal in terms of how they respond. Some people are idiots and some people live their lives with a modicum of sense. If you made bad decisions in your life before you won the lottery, you're going to make bad decisions after you win the lottery. Likewise if you lived your life with some basic wisdom before winning the lottery, then you'll make good decisions afterwords.

I didn't win the MegaMillions last night. I didn't throw my money away. I spent $10 because, hey, you never know. But had I won, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have blown it on a bunch of ridiculous bling such as Maseratis for all my friends, a ginormous house, and a host of other things.

Instead, I would have stuck the money somewhere safe, herded my family together and gotten on a cruise ship for 90 days until the ruckus had all blown over. My family and some security guards. Cruise ships are a great place to be because they would be really hard for your average grifter to board. The press would have a hard time, too. We would just enjoy our luxury suites until the world forgot about us. I figure the $200,000 I'd spend on that would be totally worth it.

During that time, I'd have gotten on the horn with reputable financial planners, attorneys, and accountants to craft a plan. Then we'd just hop off the boat in some anonymous port and get on with our lives.

Last edited by MinivanDriver; 10-24-2018 at 11:29 AM..
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Old 10-24-2018, 11:29 AM
 
13,262 posts, read 7,930,328 times
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Happily, more and more states are allowing people to win lotteries anonymously. This helps cut down on the grifters, and relatives you never heard of coming to knock on your door.


My husband and I often play "How would we spin this much money if we won". The smaller amount, the cheaper our aspirations are.


If we won $500 - $1000, we'll save it toward vacation. $5000 to $10,000? Buy a used car. $11,000 to $100,000? Buy a new car, and use the rest to pay the mortgage down. $100,000 to $500,000? We'll bank it, toward retirement. A million? The kids get some, and we buy a vacation home in Louisiana somewhere.


Over a million? Grandkids get college funds, in addition to everything else we've allocated our imaginary funds to.


A billion? Some of our favorite charities get a nice fat lump sum, in additon to everything else we've allocated out. And we laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh. lol
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Old 10-24-2018, 11:34 AM
 
Location: Central IL
20,726 posts, read 16,190,043 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kygman View Post
We've watched those shows where lottery winners buy a huge house and several cars. If I ever won, our 2006 Buick Rendezvous with 260,000 miles, and my Chevy S-10 with 87,000 miles are doing just fine and would still last us for a long time. Most of any money spent would be on our house. It was built in 1911 and still has most of the original windows and a lot of the original wiring. New wiring, windows, roof, and plumbing and we'd be done on it. Other than that, and a little donation to our kids, we'd be ready for a little vacation and still have a whole lot left over
If we're talking multiple millions of dollars I won't sweat spending $50k on a new car, even though my current ones are 2005 and 2012. 50k of $10 million = 0.5% - I'm not gonna sweat that, no matter HOW frugal a person I am. ...even AFTER taxes it's 1%. People don't lose all their millions by buying a typical car...they have far bigger things going on - like lousy real estate deals...
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Old 10-24-2018, 12:30 PM
 
28,122 posts, read 12,418,621 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MinivanDriver View Post
I hate those articles detailing the lottery winners who go bankrupt, because it fails to stress an important point: Not all people are equal in terms of how they respond. Some people are idiots and some people live their lives with a modicum of sense. If you made bad decisions in your life before you won the lottery, you're going to make bad decisions after you win the lottery. Likewise if you lived your life with some basic wisdom before winning the lottery, then you'll make good decisions afterwords.

I didn't win the MegaMillions last night. I didn't throw my money away. I spent $10 because, hey, you never know. But had I won, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have blown it on a bunch of ridiculous bling such as Maseratis for all my friends, a ginormous house, and a host of other things.

Instead, I would have stuck the money somewhere safe, herded my family together and gotten on a cruise ship for 90 days until the ruckus had all blown over. My family and some security guards. Cruise ships are a great place to be because they would be really hard for your average grifter to board. The press would have a hard time, too. We would just enjoy our luxury suites until the world forgot about us. I figure the $200,000 I'd spend on that would be totally worth it.

During that time, I'd have gotten on the horn with reputable financial planners, attorneys, and accountants to craft a plan. Then we'd just hop off the boat in some anonymous port and get on with our lives.
Im sure other people who have won said the same kinds of things...before they won...after it actually happens, things change.
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Old 10-24-2018, 12:42 PM
 
Location: 912 feet above sea level
2,264 posts, read 1,467,279 times
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Well, obviously.

Money is a tool. Like any tool, it can be used unwisely. But it can also be used to great effect.

For example, a burger-flipper or cashier wins $2 million after taxes. He spends a quarter million on a nice house (moving where that's possible - there are more places than not where it is). Another $100,000 is used to buy/upgrade a vehicle or two (within reason) and allows for some immediate spending money - furniture, a vacation, etc. Finally, the remaining $1.65 million is invested, with 4.5% being withdrawn annually to spend. That's over $70k to live on, with the earnings covering taxes and inflation, so that purchasing power exists in perpetuity. He doesn't have to work, or can work doing something that he enjoys doing.

This isn't hard.

Obviously, we've all heard the stories of the lottery winners who react foolishly. But since stories about how lottery winners are doing just fine aren't interesting, some people delude themselves into thinking that the stories they hear account for all eventualities. That's not the media's fault, either - people shouldn't be so clueless.
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Old 10-24-2018, 12:43 PM
 
10,489 posts, read 6,922,342 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rstevens62 View Post
Im sure other people who have won said the same kinds of things...before they won...after it actually happens, things change.

And there have been people who used it wisely. Basically, if you're inclined to spend money like a pimp with a week to live, then you'll burn through $800 million the way you'd burn through $800.
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Old 10-24-2018, 01:51 PM
 
28,122 posts, read 12,418,621 times
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I would be interested in seeing how many past lottery winners that came from states that did NOT consider lottery winnings as taxable income. I think there is only a handful of states that do not tax lotto winnings.
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