Posted on 10/23/2018 11:49:00 AM PDT by lowbridge
The head of the Mega Millions on Monday revealed the very first thing the potential winner of the game’s historic $1.6 billion jackpot should do: Sign the ticket and keep a low profile.
The simple yet sage advice came from Gordon Medenica, the game’s lead director and director of the Maryland lottery.
“Sign the ticket! Because keep in mind that little slip of paper is a billion-dollar bill — imagine that,” he said on NBC’s “Today.” “So you want to secure it and also be calm. Don’t be running to the ‘Today’ show the next day.”
Medenica also advised, “Get some good advice, get a good financial adviser, good lawyer, tax accountant, all that. Get your affairs in order. You’ve got between six months and 12 months to come and claim the ticket.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Yuk Yuk
For later reading.
Hey! You’re already ahead by a buck.
Get a cup of Cuban coffee
First thing I would do is disconnect all phone lines and get new non-listed private phone numbers.
For those who recommend taking the time payment annuity. IIRC, when you die, your beneficiaries become liable for the tax bill. The bill on the total amount, ie, if the payments are $50M per year and there are another 20 payments, then the taxable amount is $1,000M. Due at once. But, you say, I won’t get the whole amount for many years, the IRS doesn’t care. This is one of those reasons many people are screaming out the window “It’s my money and I want it now.” At that point you have no choice but to sell the annuity at it’s present value which sometimes is less than the tax bill.
Most of the things in life that I enjoy cost little or nothing. I mean it.
I don’t have to have toys or gadgets to enjoy life. A couple hundred thou a year would be MORE than enough for me and mine.
The work would be how to give it away rather quickly to the most worthy, and efficient, organizations.
If you take the lump sum and bank anything more than 3% yield, you’ll have way more money than taking the annuity. Plus you must factor in the unpredictability of future tax rates. The 17 trillion debt will have to be paid someday and you’ll be the “rich” the dems love coming after.
Let’s see. I’d be 100. I’ll take the lump sum, thanks :)
The old “I’m spending it on wine women and booze. The rest I’m going to waste “
Win in a state that you don’t have to disclose your identity.
You are hired!
If I win $1.6 billion I’m not gonna need a fixed income over the next 30 years. Plus, what if the lottery goes belly up? Or decides they’re not gonna pay because some future government decides to keep the money? Take the money now
“I think anonymity varies from state to state.”
It seems that a recent winner — a woman — was in a state that requires publishing winners’ names, which she definitely didn’t want. She took it to court and, although it took a while, she finally got a judgment in her favor and could remain anonymous.
If the state's finances were to get really bad, suspending lottery payouts would be high on the list as one of the first things to be cut. I believe that has already happened in Illinois.
It takes a lot of discipline however to "lay low" after winning such an amount. I personally know a $1m winner (on a scratch ticket) up in Massachusetts. He managed to keep a lid on it for about 48 hours but then he made the mistake of telling a few people and suddenly everybody in his family knew. He started hearing from relatives he hadn't seen in decades and he had to change his phone number.
By the way, I think it is so crass for people to suddenly try and "buddy up" with people who come into good fortune - after ignoring them for years. It's so transparent and shameless. Don't they have any self-respect?
My friend with the million dollars did the smart thing. He took the lump sum, paid off his mortgage, his car loans and banked the remainder, eventually putting much of it in mutuals. He also maxed out his 401(k) contribution at work now that he didn't have a mortgage to pay.
But no shiny new car, no other conspicuous luxury. His life is essentially unchanged. He still has the same job, drives the same car and wears the same clothes. His only real splurge is taking a two-week vacation in Hawaii each winter with his wife.
See, he realized that a million dollars (actually about $480K after taxes) wasn't life-changing. But he made the most of that $480K by making the necessary moves to achieve long-term financial security for himself.
If the state's finances were to get really bad, suspending lottery payouts would be high on the list as one of the first things to be cut. I believe that has already happened in Illinois.
It takes a lot of discipline however to "lay low" after winning such an amount. I personally know a $1m winner (on a scratch ticket) up in Massachusetts. He managed to keep a lid on it for about 48 hours but then he made the mistake of telling a few people and suddenly everybody in his family knew. He started hearing from relatives he hadn't seen in decades and he had to change his phone number.
By the way, I think it is so crass for people to suddenly try and "buddy up" with people who come into good fortune - after ignoring them for years. It's so transparent and shameless. Don't they have any self-respect?
My friend with the million dollars did the smart thing. He took the lump sum, paid off his mortgage, his car loans and banked the remainder, eventually putting much of it in mutuals. He also maxed out his 401(k) contribution at work now that he didn't have a mortgage to pay.
But no shiny new car, no other conspicuous luxury. His life is essentially unchanged. He still has the same job, drives the same car and wears the same clothes. His only real splurge is taking a two-week vacation in Hawaii each winter with his wife.
See, he realized that a million dollars (actually about $480K after taxes) wasn't life-changing. But he made the most of that $480K by making the necessary moves to achieve long-term financial security for himself.
If memory serves, she was from New Hampshire.
I’ll sign it for you; Mr Kimber and I don’t mind the publicity.
Then give the ticket along with a promise of a commission to a best friend and have him claim the prize.............
The first thing to do is contact a lawyer who will setup a contract of ownership of the ticket. If you receive the total and plan to gift a portion to other family members, you will be hit again for gift taxes on each payout exceeding the lawful limit. Giving each family a percentage of ownership allows them to collect their net percentage. Fund retirement accounts for each family member. Fund 529’s for each child of each family member. Give a percent ownership to a new charitable foundation you setup for your favorite cause. Take a very generous salary for administering the fund assets and payouts.
New Hampshire. I think that sounds correct, since I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it — just heard in passing. We don’t play; I wouldn’t even know how to buy a ticket.
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