$586 Million?

[Fishingmn]

My 1 ticket didn't win - back to the original plan of retiring at 55.

Looks like I won after all.

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, it was announced that two winning tickets were sold, one in California and the other in Georgia. And the jackpot went up to $636M.

Lotto officials said that if no winning tickets were sold, the jackpot would have gone up to $1 Billion. Holy cow! Only in the USA.

 

[NW-Bound]

I may be wrong but thought the annual payments stop if you die before they are completed.

Not true. The payments will go to the late winner's heir(s).

 

[bondi688]

The winning ticket in San Jose was sold in a small gift shop (Jennifer's Gift Shop), and it will stand to get one million dollars for commission, which is tremendous for that small business.

 

[aja8888]

Lotto officials said that if no winning tickets were sold, the jackpot would have gone up to $1 Billion. Holy cow! Only in the USA.

A billion here, a billion there....sooner or later it's a trillion and that's real money.

 

[kombat]

This is why I would accept the prize anonymously.

I don't understand why anyone would ever play a lottery that permits winners to claim jackpots anonymously. In my neighborhood (Ontario, Canada), it's the law that lotteries HAVE to publish the name and photo of jackpot winners, and rightly so, in my opinion.

Who would play a lottery where every third week, the winner was "anonymous," and the lottery CEO held a press conference where, instead of handing out an oversized cheque, told reporters, "I can't tell you who won, but trust me, it was all fair, random, and above-board. The fact that my son-in-law just bought a Porsche and a new lakehouse is pure coincidence."

Seems like it'd be rife with corruption and fraud.

All that said, I would never want to win that much money. I've seen enough episodes of "The Lottery Changed My Life" to know that such a vast sum would completely ruin your life. As mentioned earlier in this thread, it would bring out the worst in everyone around you. No matter how much you gave a friend/relative, it would never be enough. You would eventually grow defensive and resentful of everyone, people would universally consider you to be a "Scrooge," and every relationship you value (except perhaps your spouse) would decay.

I would like to win $2 million or so, no more. Just enough to allow me to skip the next 20 years or so of the rat-race and skip ahead to the part where I get to spend my days doing whatever I want instead of commuting to work and back, but not so much that I can't turn away beggars and shysters with a shrug and a "Sorry, can't help you, it was just a small jackpot, we just paid off our house and topped up the retirement accounts."

 

[kombat]

let's be honest. So if I gave you $10K would you take it? $100K? $1M? But oh no, not $100MM.

That's exactly right. I'd take $2MM, but I truly believe that suddenly coming into $100MM+ in unearned money would change me. And to be honest, I like me the way I am.

I also just want to note how silly this whole "lump sum" nonsense is. Call me crazy, but if you win $30 million, you should GET $30 million. Not that it'll ever matter in my life, but I'm glad I live in a region that allows lotteries to deliver what they promise. In Ontario, if you win the $50 million LottoMax jackpot, you actually GET $50 million. All at once. No diminished lump-sum option, no tax, just 1 cheque for $50 million.

 

[GrayHare]

If lottery operators want higher-income people to buy more tickets, there should be no tax on the winnings, or better yet, make the prize no income tax for life.

 

[haha]

If lottery operators want higher-income people to buy more tickets, there should be no tax on the winnings, or better yet, make the prize no income tax for life.

No one would trust your second idea, and anyway, for almost everyone, a big fully taxed win would be better anyway.

There is a conceit held by "rational" people that intelligent people don't ever buy tickets. Do intelligent people buy wine, or beer?

Those of us who buy these would agree that they do, and actually the risk/reward of $10 spent on tickets vs. $10 on wine or beer would have to favor the tickets. Yesterday's thread about how we might spend a win seemed to show people enjoying themselves, even without ever winning.

Ha

 

[RunningBum]

I agree that allowing anonymous winners puts some doubt into whether there really was a winner, but having my name out there with that kind of money isn't what I want. I would gladly take $586M before taxes and discounted or spread out over time if I got it quietly.

A couple years ago I did get an online subscription for a month to mega millions (allowed in VA, not sure about other states) and it was fun to play the "what if" game. I think using NetJets might be the nicest upgrade, though the green in me doesn't like the idea of private jet travel.

I think buying a ticket or two for a lottery, or entering a pool with friends or co-workers is fine. I hear some people put $20-100 or more in a lottery, sometimes every drawing, and that's what I call a tax on the stupid, but it's also their own business. I also can't see waiting in some of the huge lines I saw on border towns, but that's also their business how they spend their time.

 

[Walt34]

Does Firecalc work with 9 digits?

Apparently so. (I just used default numbers for spending.)

 

[Independent]

The first $10 million of advertised winnings converts into $100k or so of annual after-tax payments (increasing annually). That would be split between my kids. They all work hard, the extra money would give them some security or money for extras. I'd happily make it more if I thought I could do that without enticing them to retire too soon (yeah, I know this is an early retirement forum).

I'd upgrade housing. The big luxury would be a NetJets card. I'd hope that traveling by private jet would be so easy that even my wife would enjoy it. And, I would reserve "safe" instead of "thrifty" places to stay when we get to our destination.

That's peanuts on this kind of money. Most would go to charity. I'd spend time with tax advisers before I claimed the prize. Probably much of it would go into a charitable trust in the same tax year that I got the money. I would contact the Gates Foundation and see if I can get a list of potential projects.

I'd also use some of it for political donations. I have opinions, it would be fun to see them on TV.

 

[NW-Bound]

...
That would be split between my kids. They all work hard, the extra money would give them some security or money for extras. I'd happily make it more if I thought I could do that without enticing them to retire too soon (yeah, I know this is an early retirement forum)...

Yes, it would also be my concern. Even with my pitiful stash by comparison, if we would leave it to my children when they were in their 20s, I think they would go straight into ER, then became bored and got into trouble. As it is, most likely my wife will live long enough that they would be mature and in their 50s when they see the bulk of the money, if there's anything left (and I surely hope that's the case). But I will see to it that I would transfer some to them while we are still alive.

Good old money families really know how to educate their children, I have to give them that.

 

[Hamlet]

I think that there would be a noticable upgrade in the quality of my comic book collection.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Damn, I didn't win.... Again !

Of course I didn't buy a ticket, so I didn't expect to win.

If lottery operators want higher-income people to buy more tickets, there should be no tax on the winnings, or better yet, make the prize no income tax for life.

My state does not tax lottery winnings for in-state wins, the feds do though.

What would you do if you won the lottery ?

I have no idea what I would do with that kind of money. It is kind of unfathomable.

for fun, Google "If I won the lottery". I get 269 million responses in the search engine. People must think about winning the lottery quite a bit. It's not likely to be a very good retirement strategy though.