Powerball Lottery Hits $415 Million: 12 Things All Winners Must Not Do!

Investing

Published: May 6, 2016 11:40 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 9:46 am

Is it possible that the new American dream has become winning the lottery? This is a real question now that lottery mania has become one of the nation’s greatest interests. After all, if you can become filthy rich overnight just by picking random numbers for a buck or two, that has to beat a lifetime of hard work. The Powerball lottery drawing for Saturday, May 7, 2016, has reached a whopping $415 million annuity value. The cash value is of course discounted, but a $269.7 million cash value is hardly chump change. In fact, this is multi-generational empire building money.

There is a more serious side to the lottery most winners and dreamers fail to ever think about: with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. It might seem impossible to blow $50 million, $100 million or more, but the reality is that it is now easier than ever to waste or lose that sum of money.

24/7 Wall St. has tracked many lottery winnings over the years, and we have come up with a self-help guide of 12 things not to do if you win the lottery. Again, it is just too easy to go broke, and it is important to remember an adage here: you should only have to become rich once!

Sadly, many lottery winners have gone broke in just a few years. There are many pitfalls here, above and beyond deciding whether you should take the lump-sum cash payment or take a payout over the rest of your life. Most people who win the lottery choose the lump-sum payment rather than getting annual checks. So what happens if you win the lottery?

Again, extreme wealth comes with extreme responsibility. You have to consider how this can impact your family and your relationships. Will you work, or will you just chill out for the rest of your days?