$1B Lottery

[Elbata]

Try to think of yourself as a philanthropist when you buy one of these tickets.

Or highly speculative investor.

 

[ERD50]

I keep reading these responses saying what a disaster it would be to win $1b. How it would ruin your life. I kinda understand the underlying point that money ain’t everything. But still, I can’t get past the notion of how fun it would be to buy things I’ve never but dreamt of. I guess I feel it would not ruin my life. I’m willing to attempt it.

I don't want to be so rich that I attract attention. I don't want to worry about someone kidnapping a family member. I don't want to need a security force everywhere I go. I don't want constant requests for donations.

I'd rather have enough to be very, very comfortable, but not enough to stand out.

-ERD50

 

[HFWR]

I don't want to be so rich that I attract attention. I don't want to worry about someone kidnapping a family member. I don't want to need a security force everywhere I go. I don't want constant requests for donations.

I'd rather have enough to be very, very comfortable, but not enough to stand out.

-ERD50

Ditto!

Fortunately, I matched exactly zero numbers...

 

[TrvlBug]

I matched 0 because I bought tix for the wrong game . Was at the grocery store and told the clerk I wanted 4 tix to the biggie game. She asked which game, told her I didn't know the name of it. Well neither did she...she buys tix as often as I do . I looked at my tix and will see if any of tomorrow's Power Ball numbers match!

 

[Souschef]

Well I guess i will be here tomorrow instead of on my private island LOL

 

[Badger]

I have enough but then I have very modest needs and wants and what I really want can't be bought. If I was to buy a ticket and win I would give most of it away. I suppose most people would think I was nuts but they probably do anyhow.


Cheers!

 

[aaronc879]

I suspect winning would likely turn out to be the nightmare version of a dream.

For those of you who are already comfortably retired, I think winning this kind of jackpot would be more bad than good. However, for someone like me who is at least 15 years away from a comfortable retirement, winning would be a very good thing. I would be even happier winning a smaller amount with less publicity, say a million or two.

 

[Lcountz]

I'd want to see if Suze Orman would still recommend you work until 70.....


Or, that is isn't enough money to retire "comfortably" on.!!!!

 

[jfn111]

No winners so $1.6 billion on Tuesday. I think I could live off of that.

 

[Aerides]

I'm in the camp of spending a few bucks to have fun entertaining the "what ifs". Since it's rolled till Tuesday I'll likely blow $10 or something.

But if I ever won, I'd go the incognito route and talk to a good expensive lawyer before I ever come forward. You'll never see me on TV holding the stupid big check, not without changing my name and in major disguise!

 

[ncbill]

There are still a few states where you can claim anonymously, or via a trust, so you're not personally identified.

I would probably play were I in one of those states.

If you see the top prize has been claimed by the "Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve Family Trust" you'll know I won...

 

[RunningBum]

I used a credit card, bought them online, no need to go to the store.

Probably can't stay anonymous that way, can you?

 

[Montecfo]

I do not buy lottery tickets. I am glad that many people step up to pay this voluntary tax.

If you notice, winning seems to bring a lot of misery.

 

[gstillson]

I do not buy lottery tickets. I am glad that many people step up to pay this voluntary tax.

If you notice, winning seems to bring a lot of misery.

This is because the vast majority of regular lottery players buy $50 to $100 a week when they have no business spending that large of an amount on their income. The winner is most likely to be selected from that group of players, who have these addictions and other problems so the money seems to bring misery when it is just the problems the person had before.

I feel if someone on ER.org won the lottery based on a couple times a year purchase for a lark, there would not be a story of misery.

 

[Fedup]

$1.6 Billion is a crazy number. Even worse than I thought. Maybe too many people dream of retirement.

 

[scrabbler1]

+1

IIRC I have never bought a lottery ticket in my life because I think that is not a very wise way to spend my money. I wouldn't even know how to do it.

"Uh, 'scuse me, Mr. Convenience Store Clerk... uh.... I guess I wanna buy a lottery ticket or somethin', so, er... um... well ok, uh... how's that done?"

I have been in a few office pools (like a mutual fund for lottery tickets) over the years. The last time I bought my own lottery tickets was for a big jackpot in the mid-1990s. I felt like how you described a possible purchase, like a complete fool as I tried to figure out how to choose the numbers for the two games on the ticket.

 

[Montecfo]

Possibly. But in most states your identity is published. Most of us I think benefit from being the semi-anonymous millionaire next door. Winning the lottery blows you cover and old friends family scammers and hangers-on contact you from what I read.

Oh well, nothing i need to worry about.

 

[Aerides]

There's a long story I've read from a link here a while back about all the strategies you can employ to get around the lack of privacy, including legally changing your name before you come forward, (and then back again afterwards) as well as your appearance (hat, hair, glasses alone can do a lot), as well as fully understanding the absolute minimum required by your state. IE, you might have to take a photo, but you might not have to speak, or smile.

That's why the first thing you do is see a lawyer, not run in front of the TV news crew.

 

[scrabbler1]

That's because for so many people winning the lottery was a disaster. I suspect that for most of the forum members here, many of whom are already used to dealing with large sums of money, they would be more disciplined and controlled than the general population with a windfall like that. But even that's no guarantee. Jack Whittaker was already a multimillionaire when he won the lottery for $300+ million and it was still a disaster for him.

One needs only to look at the numbers of people who come into large sums from whatever means, playing football, inheritances, or lotteries, and are bankrupt within a few years, more often than not with serious damage to their relationships and health.

Given that we buy so few tickets in the first place, I only buy when the jackpot is a more "normal" size of a few million or so. A billion dollar pot brings out the people who normally don't buy, so that lowers the odds even further than usual.

While a billion dollar prize would indeed be nice, I think we could squeak by on only three million or so, after taxes.

I always likened the $300k I took when I cashed out the company stock which began my ER 10 years ago like winning the lottery. The stock was the closest thing to "found money" because it was an extra add-on from my regular salary and 401k company match. The last thing I was going to do was to squander it - it is the backbone to my ER, the monthly dividends it spins off, that is.

 

[scrabbler1]

Bolded - stats question - wouldn't the odds of winning be the same to an individual no matter how many people play, or is your comment more related to that the odds that there will a winner somewhere increases?

I thought that too. And remember, with more people buying tickets, there is a better chance that you will only share the top prize with someone else, lowering your winnings.

And speaking of winnings, if I were to ever win it, I'd take the 10-year payout, not take it one lump sum. I like the idea of receiving a huge check every year for 10 years without discounting any total.

 

[RunningBum]

I thought that too. And remember, with more people buying tickets, there is a better chance that you will only share the top prize with someone else, lowering your winnings.

And speaking of winnings, if I were to ever win it, I'd take the 10-year payout, not take it one lump sum. I like the idea of receiving a huge check every year for 10 years without discounting any total.

No you wouldn't, it's a 30 year payout, not 10. You're essentially locking into an annuity at today's current, pretty low, interest rates. As an investment, you're almost certainly better to take the discounted lump sum now and invest it. Practically speaking, spreading it out over 30 years may be easier to adjust to and manage when it's that big. But if it were a $10M jackpot, I think I'd rather get the lump sum now rather than $333K/yr.

 

[omni550]

A while ago I read "Money for Nothing: One Man's Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions" by Edward Ugel.

He has some interesting stories of lottery winners a few years later when he'd approach them to buy out their future lottery payments. Quite fascinating.

"This is a tell all book about the largely unregulated but legal industry that sells money to lottery winners in exchange for a portion of their future lottery payments. Having worked in this industry for The Firm, as Ugel refers to his former employer, we learn that in states that allow such sales, this industry follows lottery winners who are often people who suddenly receive and mismanage a lot of unexpected money: often impulsive, poorly educated, lacking good advisors. When they need fast cash, The Firm and others capitalize on their need, again, legally. This also is the story of gambling, the pervasive industry in our society from lotteries to casinos to video poker games and more. Ugel, a gambler since age 19, tells a sordid tale of gambling addiction, and we all have much to learn from the author's important perspective on the proliferation of gambling opportunities."

omni

 

[Midpack]

We don’t buy lottery tickets, but sometimes we do just for fun when the $ prize gets astonomical. We’ve bought less than a half dozen lottery tickets in our lives.

DW and I talked about buying yesterday with this $1B prize, but we had the TV on at breakfast and they reported ‘you’d have better odds of winning Olympic gold or scoring two hole-in-ones in a single round of golf than winning this lottery.’

We didn’t buy a ticket...

 

[scrabbler1]

No you wouldn't, it's a 30 year payout, not 10. You're essentially locking into an annuity at today's current, pretty low, interest rates. As an investment, you're almost certainly better to take the discounted lump sum now and invest it. Practically speaking, spreading it out over 30 years may be easier to adjust to and manage when it's that big. But if it were a $10M jackpot, I think I'd rather get the lump sum now rather than $333K/yr.

Thirty-year payout, I would take the lump-sum only because I don't want to count on living until 85. But I am otherwise in the "practically speaking" camp.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Thank goodness I didn’t win yesterday. Now there’s so much more money that I’ll pocket on Tuesday