24/7 Wall St.

Can you imagine winning $400 million in a lottery drawing? This is empire-making money. A winning ticket in the Powerball was sold at a gas station in South Carolina. You probably only partially can imagine the elation and dreams that follow after winning such a sum, but did you know that it is commonly said that most lottery winners, regardless of the size of the jackpot, end up bankrupt?

24/7 Wall St. has tracked this phenomena for a while, and we do not wish for anyone lucky enough to have won king-making money to end up in the poor house. There are many things that a lotto winner needs to do. There are many things that a lotto winner also needs to avoid doing.

Here are 12 things to do (and not do) if you win the lottery or a judgment.

What you need to first consider when you win a vast sum like this is that you likely have just become a target for poachers, scammers and users. Some of them will be friends and even family members. The most common theme among those who end up broke is that they did not seek and follow the advice of highly respectable firms to handle their financial planning and tax consequences, and of course the scenarios where they end up buying houses and cars galore. Not setting up and living up to realistic limits to expectations is a kiss of death in this matter.

24/7 Wall St. has created a 12-step instant wealth management program that will be a starting point for anyone lucky enough to win a lottery drawing of anywhere close to this size. This would also pertain to anyone who wins a large financial judgment as well, and even those who unexpectedly inherit large sums of money that they were not (or were) expecting. Many websites have told winners what they should do, but we went a step further by identifying 12 things not to do if you win.

We have full details here, but some of the top acts of self-destruction avoidance will be around the following: not making the ticket official and guarded, keeping it to yourself, deciding on the upfront payout without a care, financial and tax management, keeping or accruing debt, living beyond reality, being too charitable and more.