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 ...
Sucker!
If I win I shall invest it all in houses and lots.
Whore houses and lots of whiskey.
I read something to the effect of $29 million a year? Surely that would suffice. I suppose the real lump sum motivator is morally/financially bankrupt government. People assume they won’t be good for the money over time.
Claim the winnings through a trust with any children or relatives having shares in it. The tax implications will be taken care of through the trust, then any distributions can be set up as interest free loans with no fixed repayment schedule (actually no expectation of repayment at all if you get right down to it), etcetera. That’s how our political class plays that game. If your morals and scruples don’t permit that sort of behavior, then there will be ongoing tax implications with distributions, as far as any interest, dividends or other taxable income generated by the trust.
Yeah, and I always tip the government 20% when I pay my taxes, you know, for doing such a great job and all.
If you lose the ticket and somebody else signs the ticket, the ticket belongs to them.
~~~
Then don’t lose the ticket.
IF you never lost anything in your entire life, I’m pretty sure you’re not going to misplace your winning mega millions ticket. If you do, then you didn’t deserve to have it anyway.
On the flip side, if your name gets published as having won 1.6billion dollars, there is going to be a line down the street for 8 miles of people waiting to walk onto your property and slip on your sidewalks. Every ex you ever dated and dumped will come out of the woodwork to claim you were abusive, and 300x more then that will claim to have dated you and been abused even though you never met them. Even your eccentric until James will turn on you when the mansion you buy for him doesn’t have 50 rooms.
One more step, I would have a notary witness and confirm your signature on the ticket.
905 million cash
Take out 40.4% Federal (highest tax bracket plus insipid obamacare tax)
Take out your state income tax (AR=7%)
Final after tax lump sum for ME= ~$550,000,000 in the bank.
Id take $55,000,000.00 off the top and tithe.
Then invest the 495,000,000.00 in one of two ways:
1) 500 mm in double tax exempt GO munis so I never have to pay taxes again.
OR
2) divide it up in 4 100mm blocks.
1) 100mm in tax free AR munis Aa2 school bonds with state aid. 4-5% coupon. I don't care if I pay premium.
2) 100mm in taxable munis prefereds and corporate bonds for higher cashflow. Nothing below 5% coupon.
3) 100mm in Mortgage Backed securities with GNMA/FNMA obligations for monthly asset backed income. Typically 3-handle coupon but usually has a government backing.
4) 95mm in equities in stocks with at least a 3% dividend yield and that George Soros or China cant mess with: JNJ, AAPL, T, VZ, D, SO, DUK, BUD, KO, PEP, UNP, Visa, PG, DWDP, BA, CAT, DE, etc.
So I have a tax free debt income, a taxable debt income, a taxable asset backed income, and a growth income in the market.
It would take a couple of months to buy that many securities and structure them in a laddered portfolio, but I would continue to work for a while and pay off debts with my income generated.
Of course wife and I would be gifting the maximum annual exclusion of $11,000,000.00 to each family member.
The goal would be an average of 4% coupon: 4% on 500mm = $20 million a year tax free income. We can't spend that. We would be gifting ALOT.
First donations would go to Church(es), NRA, GOA, FreeRepublic, etc.
We'd probably retire in 2020 and give 18 mm away every year and live on 2mm tax free income. We just couldn't spend that much money.
30 years ago if you told me Kodak, Sears, AIG, Arthur-Anderson, Wachvovia, and Lehman Brothers would be gone or forced to be bought, I'd think you were crazy.
Nope. Take the lump sum.
First thing to do is pray.
Second, get the ticket to a lockbox.
Third, show up at estate attorney office with a CPA and show them your iphone screen shot of the winning ticket.
GO from there building your legal fortress.
After all the trusts and LLCs are set up, then you call me and I'll sell you a fixed income, laddered portfolio as per your goals and suitability.
Here in AR, with 7% state income tax, I'll net 550mm out of the 906mm cash payout.
With 4-5% coupon tax free bonds, I'll make >$22mm a year from interest alone, and STILL have my 550mm after the calls/redemptions/maturity dates.
You can claim under a trust?
Last weekend I told my wife we would have to find a way to spend $189,000 a week for the rest of our lives.
Based on the fact we are pushing 60, that has probably doubled by this afternoon.
Its nice to dream.
Exactly!
It’s not worth the mental cycles. First, because I didn’t buy a ticket. Second, because if I did buy a ticket there is statistically no way I can win. The odds are so astronomical as to be statistically zero.
Which is why I didn’t buy a ticket and don’t have to stress over what I’m going to do if I win. :)
You can in NC. That may vary by state.
Roger that. Amen.
Does anyone know if there is a right of inheritance in that annuity? I think most people would be afraid to take that option if there isn’t.
Both signing the ticket and taking the annuity are not good pieces of advice. In order to preserve anonymity, and that should be a priority, you can’t sign the ticket until you have formed a trust, and then it will be signed over to the trust. The annuity vs. Lump sum loses significant money overy the long term.
Ah the lottery. A tax on people that can’t understand math.
Let me show you how it works.
Give me a dollar, nope you lost.
Give me another dollar, nope you lost again. Hey but you were close.
They don’t build those casinos by people winning.
I’ve heard in NY State your name will get published. I think anonymity varies from state to state.
I’d sign the ticket. And move immediately. I’m also good at ignoring “friends” and relatives who ask for money.
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