Hell, I’d be pretty comfortable lasting till 75 at 2.5 million, which is slightly more than I’d make if my fiancee and I kept working from then till now. Basically, if I could just have the lifestyle I enjoy without having to be in work 8 hours a day, I think I’d be happier than having the stress of tens of millions of dollars staring me in the face every day.
Yeah, exactly. Well, 20-30 million would let us set up family and friends as well so it would be an ideal amount.
The thing with hundreds of millions you’d basically have to set up a foundation and hire people to manage it/do good with it. You certainly can’t spend it all.
I just want my debt paid off. So whichever one of you wins, I will PM you with the minimal amount it would take.
Just finance an AAA MMO! There goes $100-200M!
Also, finance John Carter Returns, the sequel. There’s another $250M down the drain!
I’m in the ‘tax on the stupid’ and ‘buying hope’ camp
So, the GF and I bought $5 worth yesterday. And I got her $52 worth of tickets (13 weeks) of powerball for Valentines instead of $50 worth of roses.
The number of people willing to throw money at these odds certainly put those Kickstarts into persepctive. Given they offer 8 zillion times the return, I’m surprised they weren’t more heavily oversubscribed :)
I’'l just leave this predictable link here, mainly because they describe the lottery as making you ‘richer than Mitt Romney’. Kind of seems like once that becomes a random comment in articles on lotteries, you’re not doing so well as a presidential candidate. Or maybe you are, who knows?
So, by the way - lump sum payment or annuity?
I always assumed annuity but I don’t have a hugely strong argument either way.
Apparently, according to some article about giant lottery winners I read somewhere, that’s pretty much it: set up a blind trust, have the winnings paid into that, hire folks to manage it, do good works, pay yourself as much as you want, and remain as anonymous as possible. Otherwise, crazytown.
Well, certainly not on the things “normal” people spend money on. The 1% are different from you and me, pace Fitzgerald.
NV doesn’t participate in the lottery, so folks here were making the 45 minute drive to Primm to stand in this DMV-esque line:
That’s been exactly my thinking, Warren. Winning a smaller jackpot you’re still rich, and could stop working and live comfortably if you’re smart with the money. Sure old “friends” and family will be wanting some “help”, but I’d think that would reach ridiculous levels with a record jackpot with a lot of publicity. You’d have to leave the country.
Of course, I suppose it wouldn’t suck so bad splitting time between Monaco and your private island. :)
I would think that the annuity option would help avoid being broke after buying one too many Ferraris, and you get more money as well. My thinking is unless you don’t think you’ll live the 20 years you take the annuity.
Two more winning tickets were sold, one in Kansas, the other in Illinois.
Also, don’t know whether any of them were an Office Pool-type ticket, which would require a further split.
I know nobody in Kansas, but I have numerous cousins in Illinois. Here’s hoping someone in the family won it. (Not because I think they’d give me any, but because if I can’t have the life-changing experience it’d be cool for someone I know and care about to.)
If it’s only 3 tickets that’s not so bad per ticket. Figure $210M per ticket @ 70% for the lump sum is $147M, minus 40% taxes is ~$88M per ticket all said and done. It’d be rough, but I could squeak by on (the interest in a 0.15% rate savings account on) that.
I say take the lump sum. If you’re even remotely responsible, you’ll be fine. Then you can do large ticket stuff (like trusts) without having to wait.
Clearly this stems not from winning millions, but from boy-named-Sue complex. What the hell were his parents thinking?
Never take annuity. Winnings are non-transferable and the payment is made out over 26 to 30 years, with the final year being a balloon payment. If you die, your family doesn’t get to continue getting your payments.
I WON
JMJ, got a spare $20,000?
Glad to hear it. I knew you’d kick that STD eventually.
Seems like more of a “things that happened to you recently” post, though.
Apparently only one of the three winning MegaMillions tickets has been claimed. And that person did so anonymously, as their $218m share was presented to a cardboard cut out in a press event. I didn’t realize that was an option with lotteries, though I can certainly see the reasoning.