As the Mega Million jackpot goes over $300 million, someone is going to win.
And need some serious advice.
You would think that after having overcome trillion-to-one odds, the idea of running through the money would seem silly to most winners. But studies shows that 90 percent of people do just that within five years of winning the jackpot.
I have helped, studied and written about many lottery winners. Here is the advice I give:
Never let anyone know you won.
Every lottery winner who goes public eventually tells stories about people harassing them.
Power Ball winner Jack Whittaker said, "There should be a book to tell you how to handle it when people get thrown into the limelight."
You are asking for trouble if you have a news conference and tell the world that you have a bunch of money that you never planned on having.
UPDATE: The winners were in Washington State and Idaho.
Idaho has had Powerball winners chose to remain anonymous in the past.
Here is what the Washington state website says about claiming a ticket anonymously:
Can I remain anonymous if I claim by establishing a trust?
As a public agency, all documents held by Washington's Lottery are subject to the Public Records Act. Lottery prizes may be claimed in the name of a legally formed entity, such as a trust. However, in the event of a public records request, the documents forming the artificial entity may be released, thereby revealing the individual names of winners.
The news conference turns out really well for the lottery officials promoting their product, and it provides a good story for the media. It will not, however, turn out so well for you.
Bowling Green, Kentucky attorney Steve Thornton announced that a few years ago that one of his clients had won the Kentucky lottery. Steve set up a corporation and protected the client's identity.
If you win the lottery, find an attorney who can do the same thing for you. Your life will be much happier. If you decide later on that you want to be famous, you will have enough money to fund your own reality show.
Take the annual payments, not the lump sum.
Never take a lump sum. The annual payments are a better deal.
Lottery winners are totally unprepared for sudden wealth.
If you take the money as a lump sum, and become overcome by lust, drugs, sex, bad friends, bad family, bad investments or other factors, then the money will be gone, and there will be no way to get it back.
If you take annual payments and run through the first check, you have 29 more chances to get it right. It gives you time to organize a plan and take advantage of ways to save taxes and improve return.
Even though you ignored my advice and bought a lottery ticket, listen to me on this one.
Spend money on some good advice.
There are a ton of tax breaks for the wealthy. When you win the lottery, you need to find people who can get those tax breaks for you.
Asking for good advice does not mean calling the bookkeeper for your bowling league. You need someone who has dealt with big money and is not trying to learn while they earn.
Big-time advisers don't advertise in the phone book under "Help for Lottery Winners," but if you ask some well-respected attorneys, you will eventually get referred to the adviser you need.
There are people who are good at helping rich people become richer. Get one of them working for you.
Use your money for a purpose.
There was a great book written in the 1980's by Ami Domini called The Challenges of Wealth. It was a groundbreaking study of sudden wealth written during a time when few studies were available on the subject.
Her research showed that rich people are happiest when they help a cause that they really believe in. The most joyful people were those who gave money for scholarships, helped their church and formed non-profit groups.
You can leave your children enough money to be comfortable without spoiling them. People who leave their families too much money wind up with children like Paris Hilton.
If you study history, you will find that most of the people who amassed great fortunes, like Carnegie and Rockefeller, gave substantial amounts of money to charity while they were still alive. Even more gave money to charity upon death.
You have an opportunity to take care of family and have plenty left over to make an impact on society. It will make you content and make the world a better place
One last thought:
Winning the lottery is a random event. It has nothing to do with skill, hard work or talent.
If you ever start feeling cocky about your brains and good fortune, remember that I told you not to buy the ticket in the first place.
Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC of Richmond, Kentucky, is an award-winning columnist, structured settlement consultant and Huffington Post Contributor.
He is an expert on the topic of lottery winners.
He is the author of the book, Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win the Lottery.
You can read more about Don at www.donmcnay.com
McNay founded McNay Settlement Group, a structured settlement and financial consulting firm, in 1983, and Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC in 2000. You can read more about both at www.mcnay.com
McNay has Master's Degrees from Vanderbilt and the American College and is in the Hall of Distinguished Alumni of Eastern Kentucky University.
McNay is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table and has four professional designations in the financial services field.
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