24/7 Wall St.

It seems nearly unimaginable to actually win the lottery. Odds are often one in 270 million, but for the lucky one or few of each lotto winning there are instant empires built. Now there is something even larger than Friday night’s $353 million Power Ball lottery. There is an NCAA $1 billion prize for whoever can pick the perfect bracket.

The $1 billion bracket is sponsored by Quicken Loans, but it is insured by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A). Yahoo! Sports even has a sign-up page. What is so different about winning the NCAA bracket versus the lottery is not actually the size. Whether you win $1 billion or $353 million, chances are high that this is dynasty money. The real difference is that millions of people each year throw away endless money at the lottery, never winning a dime. The NCAA bracket is open to anyone. So, what to do if you win?

24/7 Wall St. recently came up with a 12-step what to do (and not do) plan for lottery winners. The reality is that this plan is almost the exact same plan that anyone who wins the bracket should do. It is also the same plan that anyone who wins a big legal judgment or unexpectedly inherits a lot of money should follow.

Can you imagine winning millions of dollars, or hundreds of millions of dollars, and then ending up bankrupt in a few short years? It happens. 24/7 Wall St. does not want this to happen to you.

Among the actions you must immediately take are securing your position, getting proper financial and tax advice before you even go get the money, protecting yourself from friends and family (and even from yourself) and many other things.

Again, the odds of winning a lottery are astounding. A figure thrown around about the odds of winning the $1 billion NCAA bracket from USA Today Sports has been put at one in 9.2 quintillion. That does not seem right, and certainly many people have decided to run algorithms and programs out the you-know-what to try to better predict the outcomes of each and every game.

Many people will be thinking about (and talking about) what they would do if they win the $353 million lottery or the $1 billion NCAA bracket. 24/7 Wall St. already has a guide of what winners should do immediately. With great success comes great responsibility.