Blowing through $113 million in 4 years

[Addled Platypus]

Originally posted by DanS
By the way, the powerball jackpot is at $240 million.

which states ?

west coast US about 15 million

[DanS]

http://www.powerball.com/powerball/pb_map.asp

[MRT144]

theres powerball and megamillions, which are seperate but similar in nature: multistate lotteries

[Rufus T. Firefly]

While this guys story is sad (drug overdoses, shady "friends,' etc.), I remember reading a story a few years back about another lottery winner who blew through it all in a few years, and regretted nothing. His logic was, basically, that he could have harvested it and been comfortable for the rest of his life, but comfort was for p*ssies. Instead he had lived HUGE for a few short years, and that was worth it.

Can't say I disagree.

[Eli]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
While this guys story is sad (drug overdoses, shady "friends,' etc.), I remember reading a story a few years back about another lottery winner who blew through it all in a few years, and regretted nothing. His logic was, basically, that he could have harvested it and been comfortable for the rest of his life, but comfort was for p*ssies. Instead he had lived HUGE for a few short years, and that was worth it.

Can't say I disagree.

Or he could lived slightly less than "HUGE" for all of his life. Idiot.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Eli


Or he could lived slightly less than "HUGE" for all of his life. Idiot.

It's the difference between having a lovely home, nice things, and a great inheritance to leave the kids

versus

3 solid years of grade-A "escorts" and top-shelf tequila, 24/7.

Each man must choose...

[MOBIUS]

I want to know where the other $202 million went. Taxes?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
I want to know where the other $202 million went. Taxes?

Some of it. But, if memory serves, You get a reduced prize if you opt to take it all at once; you only get the full value if you agree to being paid over 20 years.

[Eli]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


It's the difference between having a lovely home, nice things, and a great inheritance to leave the kids

First, since he wants to live as good as possible we can assume that the kids get nothing.

Even with a less than reasonable return rate, he could've gotten at least 2-3 millions per year.

So ok, the money from the first few years goes on building a great house and buying a yacht and whatnot. But later on, with 2-3 millions per year you can do whatever you want. I mean, people live reasonable, average lives with 50k a year and even less, we're talking about 3 millions. So you can't have a pool full of caviar and refill it every day, but besides that, is the difference between a 10k$ bottle of champagne and a 1k$ really worth it? Or the difference between a 1k$ blowjob and a 10k$ one?

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


Some of it. But, if memory serves, You get a reduced prize if you opt to take it all at once; you only get the full value if you agree to being paid over 20 years.

I'd be too much of a skinflint to opt for taking it all at once - I won that money fair and square dammit!

[Eli]

I'll be too paranoid to trust the damn company, country or anything to last for 20 years.

[Aeson]

Even if you buy that living "HUGE" for a few years could be worth it... he'll regret the last month or so for the rest of his life.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by DanS
In another article, it was said that 90% of lottery winners blow through their winnings in 5 years. Amazing.

My father is an investment advisor... he and his colleagues have countless stories of lottery winners blowing up their wealth. It's not always a case of people not receiving proper advice, but actually not listening to it...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris


My father is an investment advisor... he and his colleagues have countless stories of lottery winners blowing up their wealth. It's not always a case of people not receiving proper advice, but actually not listening to it...

There's actually a great book to be written about the fate of lottery winners; i'm just too damned busy.

[snoopy369]

There should probably be a mandatory counseling service for lottery winners of >$1m ... not that they have to take the advice, but at least that way they could get the advice, and have it put in a serious way...

Seriously though, $315 million over 20 years is over $15m a year. Say $8m after taxes... even in Chicago, you could buy a GREAT house with the first year's money (and even could get a two-year or three-year mortgage just to split it across a couple of payments), and then have 20 years' worth of $8m to spend each year, and KNOW that you will have 20 years of comfort. Why take the money in a lump sum, unless you plan to invest to beat the ~20-30% penalty?

Oh, and Imran, I wouldn't recommend taking the lump sum even though you do make slightly more as long as you can make over about 4% annually over it. At 5%, you end the 20 year period with $275m or so taking 8m a year (post-tax), and $305m or so taking it in a lump sum $115m. The extra 30m is nice, but given the risk [of being stupid and over-spending it] it's probably not a good idea.