Why Lottery Winners so Rarely Remain Wealthy

[charby]

I'm not sure if there is an anonymous way of doing so. Court records are open unless sealed. Some states require it be published for X amount of time, usually so creditors can find out.

Even so, financial stalkers generally aren't stupid. And they can be very motivated, persistent leeches. If they can't get at you, they'll go after your family and friends. Or go after them as well as you, of course. Trusts are the best vehicle for financial security. If you set up a trust for your family or whatnot, you're not the bad guy, the trust is. Sure you wrote the restriction list, but those sneaky lawyers are the ones interpreting it so that they can't get $200k out of their trust to open up a ferret operated car wash and grill. It'd be trivially easy to set up a trust to invest in index funds and G7 bonds that solely provides you with the interest that would guarantee you'd be rich for life unless we go back to living in caves. That's easy as pie.

That's not a shield against the crazy, unscrupulous and the criminal. Thankfully some states allow anonymous claims, couple allow LLCs to make the claim. My state doesn't require the lotto commission to disclose the claimer, but they publish the first name, last initial and town. Plus photo. 

My idea of a man servant isn't sounding too bad.

[HeroHog]

HH, as a veteran your eligible to join USAA.   Even now, before you hit the lottery, it might be worth your while to join and check out some of the member benefits available.

THANKS! Joined and saved myself $80 a month AND got better/more insurance coverage on the cars and house!

[Scout26]

OUTSTANDING !!!!

[birdman]

I would have thought you'd go for more of a War Machine look.

Eh, I'm a traditionalist.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Eh, I'm a traditionalist.

Alright, but if you start quoting Shan Yu, I may get a little worried.

[birdman]

Alright, but if you start quoting Shan Yu, I may get a little worried.

Well...I don't have easy access to a volcano...

[BlueStarLizzard]

Well...I don't have easy access to a volcano...

If you put your mind too it, I'm sure you could make one.

[Northwoods]

3) Buy a good, dependable new vehicle with an extended warranty, again, paid in full then.

If you hit the jackpot, and take the cash lump sum, even after taxes you'll have around half a billion dollars.  Why the hell would you care about a warranty on any "good, dependable new vehicle"?  If the car's a lemon you donate it to your favorite charity and buy another since it represents around 0.01% of your net worth.  Assuming your net worth right now is $50k that's about the same as buying lunch at McDonalds, possibly even less than that.

[KD5NRH]

If you hit the jackpot, and take the cash lump sum, even after taxes you'll have around half a billion dollars.  Why the hell would you care about a warranty on any "good, dependable new vehicle"?  If the car's a lemon you donate it to your favorite charity and buy another since it represents around 0.01% of your net worth.  Assuming your net worth right now is $50k that's about the same as buying lunch at McDonalds, possibly even less than that.

Actually, I've thought about, in the case of winning big money like that, just buying three identical, solid, lightly used cars and picking my favorite small, grungy dump of a shop with a hard working owner, and offering him an even million for a contract that simply says he'll make sure I always have two cars in absolutely perfect working order.  He gets to upgrade everything around the shop and buy himself a used wrecker to improve his service for all customers, and he's effectively repaying a loan by doing maybe 2-3 days of work and a few hundred in parts for me each year.  (Figure preventive rebuilds on one car per year, and an hour or two of regular maintenance on each one.  Oil changes, lube jobs and alignments don't take long in a properly outfitted shop, and a daily driver that gets regular attention rarely needs anything big.  Three identical ones means he could easily find a fourth and keep it tuned up and ready to go just in case, and/or keep a couple rebuilt engine/transmission sets around to swap in, so most of the big work is done in his spare time.)

[Scout26]

I'd be going through the last couple of years of Top Gear (The British one, not the lame-o American version) and pick out a few that they recommend.

I know that an AMG Mercedes GT is on the list.

[Firethorn]

I'll admit, with that much money I'd be buying a Tesla Model S or two.

At least partially because I get the impression that while Tesla charges for it's service, it at least knows how to treat its customers right.

By all reports, it's extremely rare to pry one of their cars out of the hands of its owner.  Usually by giving them a NEWER tesla.

[K Frame]

and learn how to be an *expletive deleted*hole with a really thick skin, you're going to have people coming out of the woodwork begging for money and calling you all sorts of names because you won't give them any money.

They do that anyway.

But, if my train comes in, all of my friends ride, too.

[freakazoid]

I'm not sure if there is an anonymous way of doing so. Court records are open unless sealed. Some states require it be published for X amount of time, usually so creditors can find out.

Even so, financial stalkers generally aren't stupid. And they can be very motivated, persistent leeches. If they can't get at you, they'll go after your family and friends. Or go after them as well as you, of course. Trusts are the best vehicle for financial security. If you set up a trust for your family or whatnot, you're not the bad guy, the trust is. Sure you wrote the restriction list, but those sneaky lawyers are the ones interpreting it so that they can't get $200k out of their trust to open up a ferret operated car wash and grill. It'd be trivially easy to set up a trust to invest in index funds and G7 bonds that solely provides you with the interest that would guarantee you'd be rich for life unless we go back to living in caves. That's easy as pie.

That's not a shield against the crazy, unscrupulous and the criminal. Thankfully some states allow anonymous claims, couple allow LLCs to make the claim. My state doesn't require the lotto commission to disclose the claimer, but they publish the first name, last initial and town. Plus photo. 

I think with that kind of money, you can have those problems taken care of for you. 

[charby]

They do that anyway.

But, if my train comes in, all of my friends ride, too.

If any of my friends or family wins, I wouldn't expect anything. Maybe after all the commotion calms down, we meet for lunch somewhere and catch up.

[MechAg94]

I think with that kind of money, you can have those problems taken care of for you.  

I think you would be inundated with people trying to part you from your money no matter what amount you won from the lottery.  I read an article about it years ago and most of them said it took 6 months or so for most of that to die down.  I can see spreading a portion to more distant family and people I like at work.  The main thing IMO is to get a fixed amount in your mind and no more.  I have little patience for emotional sob stories now.  I hate to imagine what my attitude would be become like after that.

Other than paying off debts and dedicating some money to buy a few toys, I think the first step is just getting the money in your control and figuring out how to minimize the govt's cut.  With this much, I figure I would set up some sort of trust and bring my brothers into so.  

[HankB]

I think you would be inundated with people trying to part you from your money no matter what amount you won from the lottery.  

A few years ago they interviewed a black guy who'd won millions in a lotto, and asked him how he was spending the money. He said he'd set some aside for his grandchildren, and so long as they kept their grades up, he was paying for all their college expenses. He also said he had a firm rule about who he'd donate money to: If you come to me asking for money - you ain't getting it.

[KD5NRH]

Other than paying off debts and dedicating some money to buy a few toys, I think the first step is just getting the money in your control and figuring out how to minimize the govt's cut.  With this much, I figure I would set up some sort of trust and bring my brothers into so.

Hence the tax attorney.  I know enough people with net worths far into the seven and eight figures to get a few solid recommendations on that, and you can bet my first week would be spent sitting down with at least three of them to get their opinion and some hard numbers on what theirs has done for them, who they've previously used and fired, etc.

[K Frame]

That's the great thing about having virtually no family anymore - I don't have to worry about that kind of crap.

Friends I don't really worry about, either. I have a very small circle of friends, and generally we've been friends for decades. They're people I know and trust.

In my circle of friends, Mtnbkr is the newcomer, since we've only known each other a little over 12 years.

Still not sure how he weaseled his way into my heart.... 

Probably that time Abby stuck that chef's knife in it...

[41magsnub]

"Powerball is at $1.3 billion. Us population is at 300 million. They should just give each person $4.3 million. Poverty solved"

 

[wmenorr67]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvE84AGMWpE

SFW.

This was from what would've been Wednesday's drawing.

[makattak]

"Powerball is at $1.3 billion. Us population is at 300 million. They should just give each person $4.3 million. Poverty solved"

 

Behold the results of our public school system.

[Fly320s]

"Powerball is at $1.3 billion. Us population is at 300 million. They should just give each person $4.3 million. Poverty solved"

 

Just a rounding error.  Good enough for NASA.

[Ben]

Behold the results of our public school system.

    

Poor 41 is gonna be living with that one for a while. At least he's got meat. 

[41magsnub]

   

Poor 41 is gonna be living with that one for a while. At least he's got meat. 

Um, the facepalm and quotes should indicate it was not me that originally wrote it and posted it here for the entertainment of all!

[Ron]

Um, the facepalm and quotes should indicate it was not me that originally wrote it and posted it here for the entertainment of all!

Yep, it's buzzing around social media in that exact verbage.