Investing

Powerball Lottery Now $700 Million: 12 Things Not to Do If You Win

Jon C. Ogg

Published: August 22, 2017 11:20 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 8:54 am

Americans are frequently reminded by politicians and the media that the American Dream has died. After all, a life of hard work, saving money and endless planning and investing is just too much for many people to handle. The American Dream hasn’t exactly died, but the new version of it is very different from that of your parents and grandparents. The New American Dream has become winning the lottery.

Last week the Powerball lottery drawing reached a $510 million annuity value with a $324.2 million lump-sum cash payout. There was no winner in Saturday’s drawing, so the Powerball lottery for the Wednesday drawing went higher to a whopping $650 million annuity value or a $411.7 million cash value — and now the lottery has reached a $700 million annuity value or a $443.3 million cash value.

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Whether a lottery winner chooses to take this payout over a period of 30 years or takes the payment all upfront, this is more than enough money in either scenario to create a multi-generational empire.

Winning the lottery is one of the greatest things most people could ever imagine. There is also a very sad side to winning the lottery. Many winners end up losing all or most of their lifetime gift, and some winners go broke in just a few years.

There is an old adage that says no one should ever have to get rich twice. Those who become filthy rich overnight better have a serious plan in place to protect themselves from going broke. It is easy to get wrapped up in thinking about things you would do after winning the lottery. While almost everyone who plays the lottery only thinks about the things they could buy and what else they could do with the money, people rarely think about what they should do before they go start spending their millions.

24/7 Wall St. has created a guide for lottery winners, the 12 things you should not do if you ever win the lottery.

While the odds of winning the Powerball are about 1 in 292 million, the 12 things not to do can also be used for anyone who comes into vast money unexpectedly through an inheritance, settlement or lawsuit, becoming a stock-option millionaire or from the sale of a business.

There are some serious pitfalls that lottery winners and the newly rich must avoid. After all, with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. Take this to heart, and it is no joke: your life may depend on it!

Most lottery winners will choose to take the cash lump sum option rather than the annuity payout over 20 years. The reason is that it is vast and instant wealth, and it is money than almost everyone can imagine making in their lifetimes. And there are an endless number of temptations that the newly rich just sometimes cannot avoid.

The first reality check is it’s rather easy in this day and age to blow through $100 million, $200 million or even $500 million if you want to. Again, endless temptations are coming your way. A lack of planning and refusing to live within reasonable limits must be avoided.

Lottery winners should assume that their family relationships and friendships will be tested. This may seem like a joke, even if it is far from it, but bragging about getting super-rich could literally cost you your life. Thinking that mundane things like financial planning, tax advice and budgets are out the window is a recipe for disaster.

Again, no one who becomes filthy rich should ever have to worry about going broke. Still, the endless temptations can become too strong for many people to handle. Start adding up the costs of buying and then maintaining and insuring all of the things that add up. Mega-mansions, yachts, private jets, luxury cars, lavish vacations, art and jewelry, private island retreats and other temptations. And why not have an entourage too? None of these or other things for the filthy rich are cheap. These come with limitless price tags, and the ongoing annual costs of maintaining them only act to magnify that. Even a combination of just a few of these new vices could wreck your new vast fortune.

There is one thing to take to heart before seeing the 12 things not to do if you win the lottery or become filthy rich overnight: If ANY of these points sound silly, then the key lesson you need to know right now is that you are already at severe risk of going broke if you ever become filthy rich in a short time.

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Hopefully at least some reality is setting in here. The entire point of this list of things not to do if you win the lottery or become filthy rich is to keep you from ever going broke. The life lesson that it is easy to fail and hard to succeed holds true even for the newly rich. Again, you should only have to become rich once. Getting rich is hard enough. Staying rich is even harder.

Here are the 12 things not to do if you win the lottery.

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1. Do not forget to sign your winning ticket, nor to report it immediately.

It probably seems crazy to think that some people might not sign a winning lottery ticket. It may seem even crazier to think that a lottery winner would forget to report the winning ticket to the state. Still, these are common mistakes that are made. Imagine if you have the winning ticket and it gets stolen. Or think about if it burns up in a house fire. Endless millions of lottery dollars have gone unclaimed. Some people somehow manage to not report to the state that they won.

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Now imagine how you would feel if you lost a winning lottery ticket. Or what about if someone else takes your winning ticket and then shows up to collect the prize? Fighting over a winning lottery ticket is no simple task, and disputes have arisen over who was the real owner of winning lottery tickets.

In more ways than not, a winning lottery ticket is like the last form of bearer bonds. Whoever shows up with the right paper gets paid. You have to sign and secure that ticket, and you then have to report to the state.

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2. Do not dare go brag about winning the lottery, not to anyone.

Winning tens or hundreds of millions of dollars would be hard to not brag about. Be advised: Don’t do it! Keep quiet, because keeping this a secret for as long you can is a must. Your friends or family members cannot be trusted to keep your secret a secret.

Telling everyone you know before you collect your winnings can put you in danger. And the danger comes in more ways than just one. Everyone who has ever done anything for you now may come with their hands out asking for something. You may even become a target. Have you heard of kidnap and ransom insurance before?

It is sad to report that some lottery winners have ended up being murder victims, and for far less than the massive empire-building jackpots. If you can manage it, and if your state allows it, try to remain anonymous for as long as possible. How you became vastly wealthy will be found out in time anyway. Do not rush out and hurry that process along and jeopardize yourself.

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3. Do not just automatically decide to take the lump sum cash option.

Most people elect to receive a lump sum immediately rather than getting money sent out over a lifetime. Getting a sum of $100 million, $200 million, $300 million or more all at once just sounds better than $10 million or $20 million a year. Don’t immediately jump to that conclusion without considering your history and your expectations.

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A figure that has been cited in the media is that around 70% of lottery winners end up broke again. Some manage to go broke within a few years. Let’s say that you can choose to get over $300 million in a lump sum payment; do you know for sure without consideration that is a better choice than receiving a payout of more than $500 million slowly over the course of a lifetime?

Again most people choose the lump sum rather than taking the annuity payment. After all, it is instant empire-making money.

Go see a reputable and visible tax professional and a reputable investment advisor at a top money management firm with a widely recognized company name and a long corporate history. This theme of “reputable and visible” will echo throughout. Do this before you automatically make the decision about a lump sum or annuity option.

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4. Do not think for a second that you are now the smartest person about finance.

Winning millions of dollars instantly does not make you any smarter about money than you were right before you found out you hit it rich. In fact, it might make you realize that you knew very little about money. Lottery winners, and those who come into unexpected vast sums of cash, need to immediately get outside financial advice. If you are living paycheck to paycheck before the lottery, does it seem logical that you suddenly know the best things to invest in? How likely is it that you will immediately know the best tax and asset protection strategies?

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There are many ways to invest and to protect that new fortune. Strategies of the extremely wealthy often go way beyond just buying stocks and bonds and letting those investments ride. As far as who to use, or who not to use, chances are very high that your drinking buddy might not be the best choice as an advisor and expert.

Having a solid and respectable team of financial advisors and managers from reputable firms will act as your buffer to protect your assets now and in the future. Do you know how to protect your assets against all threats and know exactly how to protect your estate in case you die or become incapacitated? Here is a very real hint: If you answered yes, you probably did not bother playing the lottery.

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5. Do not let your debt and existing obligations remain in place.

If you suddenly become filthy rich, it is important to get rid of your old financial obligations and debts. Do this immediately without a second thought. If you feel like “I’m rich and don’t have to pay anymore,” you are already deep into the path of dooming yourself.

Whether you take the lump sum or the annuity option, if you have a single penny of debt in the immediate future and distant future, then something is seriously wrong. For that matter, you should not have a single debt ever again. One lottery winner in California was reportedly strapped with debt from property purchases.

If you manage to go broke down the road and still have a mortgage, car payments, student loans, credit card debt and personal bills, all your friends and family members should get to spank or ridicule you every day for the rest of your life.

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6. Do not dare run out and start buying everything for everyone, not even for yourself!

Everyone probably has a list of things they would love to own. Buying nice things is fun. It can even create a rush for some people. Imagine getting to buy whatever your imagination can think of. Now take a breath for a second.

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Society and the endless commercials trick the public into thinking they need to own endless numbers of things. It’s just stuff! Do not go out and buy dozens of cars. Do not go buy multiple houses. Do not run out and keep buying things for friends and family members (nor for yourself). This will put you on a bad path if you do not avoid the impulse buying. Do you really want to be your friends and family personal welfare department?

If you start buying everything for everyone, chances are high that they might expect that to last forever. The other end of the story is that you do not have to be a cheapskate either. Still, after hearing a real-life personal story of one lucky winner buying more than 30 cars and multiple houses in three months, it is just crazy.

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7. Do not go out and live the big life, at least not way too big.

You already know the big life is heading your way. How could it not be heading your way with all that new money? Still, the temptation to keep buying or accumulating endlessly can wipe you out in a short time.

If you go from living a simple life to instantly having the wherewithal to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) per week, what do you think happens to your expectations in life ahead? Chances are high that you will want more and more. Again, the cost of yachts, jets, private islands, mega-mansions, vintage cars, fine art and the rest of the luxury market can burn millions in a very short time.

If you start gambling in Las Vegas and are not happy until you are gambling with hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) per play, you are dooming yourself. Now just wait until the real con men find you.

Taking you and your favorite 500 people on a luxury cruise around the world can become very expensive, very fast. Having an entourage generally only works for people who keep making more and more money — and they usually end up broke for that cost.

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8. Do not think that budgets are just for poor people and for the middle class.

It may seem silly on the surface that you might need a budget and might need to consider limitations. The harsh reality is that creating and actually living on a budget are not just tasks for the poor and the middle class. The very wealthy, at least those who stay that way, know that even a vast sum of money can vaporize. Major lottery winners generally become wealthier in an instant than everyone they know combined.

This also goes back to having advisors and being prudent, but at the end of the day you do still have a finite sum of money. Chances are very high that you will make some serious purchases and your lifestyle will be changed forever.

Without setting limits for yourself and for what you do with others is a recipe for disaster. Again, many lottery winners go broke. If they went broke in a very short time, what do you think the reflection about wishing for a proper budget would be? In short: Do not think you don’t need a budget!

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9. Do not become the business backer for your friends and family.

Many lottery winners and newly rich become business backers for their friends and family. If you knew little about money or finance yesterday, what makes you think you will understand venture capital or merchant banking now? It may sound powerful and enticing. Do not dare fall into this trap.

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One common theme that has come up with lottery winners who suddenly get vast sums of cash is that their friends and family start pitching them on endless business ideas. Sure, some will sound great and some will sound crazy. This could expose you to more than just a loss. You could end up with endless liabilities in some cases.

If someone has no knowledge of a particular business and does not know what it takes to actually run a business, will they do better because a lottery winner who lucked into vast wealth gave them money to start it? If your answer is yes, you seriously need to protect yourself (from yourself).

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10. Do not think about giving your new fortune away immediately.

Many lottery winners and others who become filthy rich fall into the trap of thinking that they need to immediately share their newfound wealth with society. It may seem nice to give away vast amounts of cash to charity or to religious institutions. This might not be the case for everyone, but giving away an entire fortune or a large part of it to a charity or to religious institution needs great consideration.

Imagine that you give away that fortunate and a serious crisis arises in your life or your family’s life. You simply gave away all financial means to change it. There are ways that you can be quite generous without doing the unthinkable. Rather than giving everything away now, the current charitable trend of the extremely wealthy is to plan for how to give the money away upon death. This allows you to divvy up what you want to give back to society and decide what you want to leave for heirs.

Should you be charitable? Absolutely! Should you give it all away? Absolutely not!

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11. Do not get athlete or celebrity envy.

Many movie stars, entertainers and athletes live a life of luxury. Lottery money gives a winner the chance to live a life of luxury up with the lucky few. This privilege comes with pitfalls that can make them go broke. Keeping up with the Joneses is bad enough. Trying to keep up with celebrities is a recipe for disaster.

It may seem cool to own a 200-foot yacht, or perhaps to have an entourage or maybe a film crew following you around. It may seem cool owning castles in Europe. Owning an original Picasso painting sure sounds impressive. Having a big new private jet makes sense for a lot of people. Now go add up the price tags of these things, plus the cool cars and houses and the rest of it. You can go broke really quickly. Just ask actors and athletes who did this how they feel now.

Trying to dodge taxes might even sound appealing to misguided people. Before you do this, think about how many athletes and celebrities who have gone broke over tax dodging, and some even went to prison.

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12. Do not think that laws or decency standards no longer apply.

There are some people who believe that the rich can do whatever they want without consequences. It is true that the wealthier you get, the more high-class trouble you can find. It is also true that the rich can afford better attorneys and a better legal defense than the rest of us.

Living a reckless life without concerns about the law will not keep you from going to prison, or worse. A good sports coach will tell any star athlete upfront that chances are high they will have to be human for far longer than they are going to stars.

It is quite frequent that movies and television shows glamorize scoundrels. The reality in life is that fictional scoundrels would be scoundrels in real life. What good would it do you if you are incredibly wealthy and such a pariah that no one will associate with you? Remember, you don’t get to take any of your wealth with you.