You just won a 656 Million Dollar Lottery. What do you do now?

Most states make it next to impossible to remain anonymous when getting your money; in these places the only thing you can do is plan a escape strategy, then make a run for it once you get your money.

You're correct. This is true mainly because we have 1/10th the population of the US.

One of our national lotteries is only sitting at 57 million right now.

As a Canadian, I can win a lottery in the US, pay the taxes, and then get most of them back at the border.

Yes but if a Canadian wins big bucks in America, they can apply to get (a percentage) of the winnings back when they re-enter the country.

One of my dad's landscaping clients won 50 million dollars last summer. Pretty decent from where I stand.

They win a million I think. I could be wrong.

`

Yes your stupid people tax is larger.

But it didn't say you win your largest lottery, did it?

It costs extra if you want me to wear clothes.

Hire me to be a homeless filmer

Very smart thinking

Trying, but the odds are forever against you. Just like 99.9% of other people who go to Vegas, you'll lose a hell of a lot more than you'll win.

Trying, but losing.

New idea. Go buy fancy stuff, and try and make some celebs feel poor.

The Clippers will go for 800 mill plus. Probably over a billion I'd estimate.

You mean you don't want to buy a soccer team?

I'd go start myself an Indycar team, buy up the contracts of Scott Dixon, Jack Hawksworth, and Takuma Sato, self-sponsor each of the cars for a few years with famous racing liveries, and when the team does get to be good, start raking in the sponsor cash

When you have a billion its modest. Interest rates are better the more money you have

I don't know where you live, but where I live I could get 2% on demand deposit. On term deposit I could get as much as 4%, and with riskier investments (carefully spread around to mitigate the risk) I could easily realize something like 6-10%.

WTF is hubby? Your dick?

Centre?!

Dude, don't be so disrespectful. No one needs a coma!

Mr Kim

You are now banned from /r/pyongyang

That's dear leader to you! Off to the salt mines!

I would with the kind of chicks that would double up on a dude like me

True

I'm quoting the same movie as I_smell_awesome

Excellent advice. I used to work at a lottery (I even gave out the big novelty cheques sometimes) and I have told many family and friends that the smart people who win the lottery do not show up right away. The smart people follow most of the advice given in this most excellent series of posts. However, they also do a couple of other things:

• change all telephone numbers and ensure the new ones are unlisted before going to claim the prize
  
• stop home mail delivery. Get a PO Box, and if your postal service allows it, ensure that mail is only delivered if it is addressed to the family members whose names are listed as belonging to the PO Box. Change all your billing records to the new address and phone number before claiming the prize.
  
• once you have eventually claimed the prize, do not read mail from sources you do not know. The sob stories will break your heart. Save yourself the anguish and do not read them
  

In some jurisdictions (including mine), you have to agree to some minor publicity when you collect your prize. This can frequently mean a photograph and your name in the media. I have a few pieces of advice for this:

• only one person should collect the winnings. You want to minimize the chance that you are going to be recognized. If there is more than one person in the photo, then there is double the chance that one of you might get recognized. Try to be as anonymous as possible.
  
• ask that the novelty cheque and subsequent media release name you without using your full name. So if you are John Quincy Smith, ask to be identified as "J.Q. Smith." This doesn't work as well if you have an uncommon family name, but in some cases it can help anonymize you a bit.
  
• if you're likely to be photographed, then now's the time to play dress up. Wear a hat. Wear sunglasses if you can. Men, grow some facial hair. You are going to get your 15 minutes of fame, whether you like it or not, so my advice is to look as unidentifiable as possible when you go to get your prize.
  
• if the lottery corporation has prize offices in more than one location, collect your prize at a location that is as far away as possible and/or where you know the fewest people
  
• before collecting the prize, you will have already made your arrangements for the funds. Collect the cheque and immediately deliver it (to the bank, to your lawyer, wherever you have made your previous arrangements).
  
• as soon as you deposit your winnings, you and your family need to disappear for a month. Most of the excitement and focus will be in the immediate aftermath of you winning the prize. Now is the time for you and your family to rent a cottage on a beach in a foreign country and lay low
  

I think this advice, combined with the most excellent advice given above, will help you to manage your winnings and hopefully insulate you a bit from the madness of a jealous public.

Best advice in the thread. I'd print up a copy and follow it exactly.

Couple of points. From an investment manager (who will never manage the money of a lottery winner).

First off (just being nit-picky) the 10 year treasury is yielding a little over 2.5% not 3.5%. reduces your income from $640k to about $455k a year. So while it seems small, it is significant.

I would also recommend that you look at Municipal Bonds. The gross income is less, but you do not pay any federal tax on it, unlike treasuries. And it is fairly easy to find extremely safe bonds with little credit risk. Example - you buy 10 year treasury bond at 2.5=$455,000. You will pay 40% federal tax on the interest. Your income is down to 273,000. You buy 10 year Municipal at 2.25%, you get $409,000. Maybe $370k if you end up paying some state tax for non-local bonds.

As for dumping into an Index fund. Watch fees. And remember this is a "long term" investment. And understand your actual returns. The 7.5% number is pretty accurate - if you reinvest all your dividends back in. If you use those dividends to live on, your return is about 5.375%. Either way, it is a decent annual return - but try not to stress over day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month returns. Last year it was up 29%. the year before it was up 13%. 2010 it was negative. But this is a long term investment 5-10-30 years. So try not to stress about it.

Hiring an Investment Manager - I understand the sarcasm above. But there are plenty of advantages to having one. Fees would not be 1% - most have sliding scales; the more you bring, the less you pay. If you were to walk through the door of any reputable asset management firm with 90 million, your fees are going to be a quarter of a percentage point or less. Also, wealth management firms handle more than just buying investments for you. Family wealth management firms handle everything. Your investments. Your bills. Accounting. Your taxes. Some even help with finding services - need a gardener? An electrician? They will find the right person for you.

If you won $655 million? Have more than one money management firm.

Learn about your investments. Learn about stocks, bonds, etc. Enough that you understand what your advisers are telling you. Review your investments thoroughly a minimum of twice a year, or after any major world event. And do not hesitate to talk to your manager much much much more often if you feel like it. Yea, its work. But its not complicated. Best advice I can give you on investments. If you do not understand it, do not invest in it. Don't be afraid to "look stupid" asking questions again and again until you understand. a real life ELI5 about any investment will save you from "Looking stupid" by losing all your money in some complicated transaction you didn't really understand, but signed a check for anyway.

Lastly, and most important. I don't care who your lawyer, accountant, investment manager, wealth management firm is. Your money is at the end of the day YOUR responsibility. You can't just hand it off into "good hands" and expect the rest of your involvement will only be cashing checks and buying stuff.

Non investment wise - get an apartment with a doorman while you are getting your new life arranged. This will help protect you from strangers invading your home and ringing your bell.

Good luck!

I used to think this through while running (long Army career, hated to run). After many iterations here was my plan:

• Leave the house immediately, go to a top hotel in nearest big city.
• Get a lawyer in the big city.
• Give the lawyer instructions on how to help the family (pay bills of brothers and sisters, buy houses and cars, let them use them, insure the shit out of everything) and other instructions.
• Give the lawyer, and only the lawyer, my destination and a phone number.
• Leave the country for a year. I'd probably go to England or Germany, actually probably both. I'd live well, but not make a show of it (many years living overseas, sometimes in places where not everybody loved the U.S. Army).
• Call no one but the lawyer. Don't contact family directly unless someone dies. They'll have a house and a car, and I'd send food money if necessary.
• Once I had a daughter I figured I'd have to get some kind of tutor/nanny. Never puzzled my way through that.

It helped that I'd spent a career in the Army, routinely not seeing any family for two or three years at a stretch.

How do you know some much about winning the lottery?

I would love for you to take us through what you should do when you've won say a measily 8-11 Mil.

This was originally posted in 2008 on AR15.com

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/686685__ARCHIVED_THREAD____What_would_you_do_if_you_won_the_275million_power_ball_drawing_.html&page=2

It is answers like this why I browse Reddit, for this kind of knowledge and heartfelt advice.. Fuck all the memes, the recycled fucking sayings over and over again, the circle jerking, the teenagers etc etc.

Shouldn't part of the advice be to move out of whatever, relative, slum you live in and into a place where most people have money and won't be hitting you up for money for smokes?

I'm moving to Sun Valley or Jackson Hole until everyone forgets I won.

I agree with all of this except #4. Not every investment manager is shady. There's a reason every rich person has one. Just like you go to a top 50 law firm for a lawyer, go to a giant bank and use their investment people. Why would you assume that you are better at investing than someone who has spent their life doing it?

In this state, lottery winners are announced (i.e. you can't be anonymous), but apparently trusts can "win", to insulate the winner somewhat.

Is there a major difference between strategies between states where you can be an anonymous winner and states where you can't?

Is it actually really possible to be an anonymous winner at all, even in those states?

This, somehow, was super stressful to read, but extremely interesting.

I'm commenting so that if I'm ever in this position I'll be able to go back and find this advice.

the only thing about your post I find weird is the whole "don't hire an advisor/investment manager" etc angle.. when you first comment is about all the people that go broke?

people who go to actual smart and respectable advisors/lawyers etc will keep their money a hell of a lot longer than someone who's clueless and tries to DIY. the tax issues you'd have investing millions of dollars are pretty fucking substantial to just be "winging it" - there is a reason accountants, lawyers and advisors are a thing and it's not because they're stupid douche bags (despite any negative interactions you may have had with them)

not that your advice is bad but it neglects a lot of real world issues.

I may have missed this, but I've always wondered where to put the money right away. If they're going to give me a big fat check, I don't think my current credit union is going to be a good place to initially deposit this large sum. So my question is, what is the first thing you do with that big check?

Great! Now I'm prepared! dumps out shoebox full of scratch and wins from the shady Indian guy at the texaco

Usually when I buy a lottery ticket, the first thing I think about is what I would immediately do if I won. Since the odds of winning are basically 0, to me that's what my $2 buys me -- a few moments thinking about this very "what-if" scenario that you've eloquently described. So thanks for saving me $2.

Great advice but I have one question and I hope someone replies. What if you win and you're broke before hand? I imagine it's going to be rather difficult to head to a different city to stay at any hotel to consult any lawyer if you don't have the inital funds to do so.

r/threadkillers

Proof that winning the lottery will turn you into an aloof, paranoid schizophrenic afraid of human contact (otherwise known as Gatsbyism)

There is one thing i don't get: Why do you have to claim the price in public? In my country (i have to admit the lottery jackpots are only around 2-5 mil) you can claim the prize annonimously. Why would i ever want that to be public knowledge?

What also may be a good idea is to move to a western European country where no jury exists. Most judges would laugh and fine the accuser in many of the cases you described.

A lot of people dont understand the real reason rich people buy treasury bonds. The real reason is they cant not be taxed by the federal government. If you buy a 30 year treasury bond it pays 4% interest which is just enough to beat inflation and have a little extra change left over but most importantly this 4% the government pays you can not be touched by the IRS, it is tax free. Though if you state has state income tax they can tax this money but then that is where municipal bonds come in. If you buy long term municipal bond like bond to build schools or highways from your state government not only can the IRS not tax the interest neither can the state, the money is 100% tax free. There is famous case of a new jersey billionaire buying up almost the entire issuing of bonds from the new jersey department of transportation because they knew it was great way to park their money, earn interest and not pay taxes. Also if they default on the bond which is next to impossible the bond holders which is basically the one billionaire take control of the NJ DOT assets which is the toll booth operations all across new jersey which would bring in a lot of money and easily make back the losses in a few years.

this is my favorite thing I've read on reddit since joining 3 months ago

Wow that's the best advice ive ever seen re winning a lottery!

thank u

Or you could move to a better country.

Thank you for this advice. In fact, I am going to bookmark it and save it as a doc in my Drive. One does never know when comes this handy.

Replying to you just so I can have some way to save this cos can't be bothered bookmarking

This is amazing!

Willie Hurt. Lol.

Old reply thanks to r/threadkillers, but if I ever win a jackpot, I want to hire you as my advisor for a year or two.

saving.

[deleted]

You need to go into more detail and provide more real world examples.

Jk. Beautifully written. As someone who never plays the lottery, I read this even though I didn't have to.

I feel like I had deja vu scrolling down.

Wow.....

Definitely filing this away.

Saving for when I inevitably win the lottery.

Well goddamn. I'd give you good if I won the lottery.

This is brilliant!

Ok.

But I don't have to go to work anymore, right? That's why I play. I play for the hope of freedom.

Thank you for this, it's what I have been thinking about for a long time and you have seemed to coalesce my ideas into words and a plan. Oh dear redditor, I will contact you if I ever have that fabled windfall and will grant you gold once I can afford it!

Commenting here so that I can read this again should I ever become a multi millionaire. Fantastic advice. I'll follow most if not all of it. Many thanks, Blake Class.

winning the lotto sure sounds like a lot of work... sheesh.

Im not sure why I read all that. I never play the lottery. I guess it made a very interesting read.

Whats wrong with helping out friends? Friends can be an extremely valuable asset

Reading this entire thing I feel like I already fucking won the lottery. So many plans, so much strategy.

Gewd advike

COME BACK TO THIS IN THE EVENT OF MONEY

Just in case I do.

Very well written. I would love to see lottery success stories for a change. There's a couple winners on that lottery changed my life show that seems to be doing well.

Saving for future lottery winnings

2006 was a bad year

Thank god my family is all dead and my friends all make tons more than I do now.

I'm just commenting so I can easily find this if I should ever win the lottery.

Even though that will never happen, there is a lot of good advice about how you should handle money in general here. Thank you for taking the time to type this up.

I know I probably shouldn't, but I believe you 100% me Internet stranger man.

.

Saving this for when I come into big bucks.

Noted for bookmark!

Thank you for the incredible advice...now I just need this ticket to come through!

TL;DR income inequality is the root of all evil.

Damn

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R

Jesus fucking Christ, dude.

Thanks for the world's most helpful novel, dude.

Not bad advice except you MUST hire a financial ( a.k.a wealth) advisor, but similar to your good advice about the large law firm (the only way to go in this scenario) pick a large, established banking or financial institution like Merrill Lynch, Janney Montgomery or JP Morgan. Their advice will be crucial on how to reach your financial goals. They have experience managing multiple millions of dollars and most lottery winners do not. Dumping everything into an index fund and some treasuries is a colossally bad idea.

Also, move. Go somewhere where you can be anonymous- a large city NY, LA, London, Chicago, or, on the flip side, somewhere very sparsely populated-Wyoming, Montana or South Dakota.

As for the dude from WV who won, just because he was worth a few mil when he won doesn't mean he was smart or good with money. I have met plenty of genuinely stupid multimillionaires. Sometimes hard work, a willingness to take risks and some luck will get you there. And the willingness to take risks likely ruined him in the end after he won.

Number 4 is horrible advice and I would seriously question your expertise on the subject. Simply plopping ~$60m into an index fund and letting it ride is intensely stupid because you are still left subject to market volatility, potential crashes, etc.

Don't get an "investment manager" from some retail outlet. You have $120m (prior to giving some away to family, but you can still count it for this purpose). Get a private banker from UBS, CS, etc. Look into a (hybrid) family office. It may cost 1% per year but their job is to not only attempt to generate better than market returns but also to help you hedge against bad years and unfortunate events. They look out for you when you shop for a home or business. You can call them to arrange private jets for you and your friends trip to Cancun. Their job is to be your much more financially literate business partner, and to take care of your money.

They may not beat the market during bull years - in fact, they probably won't - and that is the entire point. They act like a collar strategy for your wealth. You may not see a full 33% return on your money like index funds are right now, but you also won't have years where your wealth sheds like a snakes skin.

Oh, and he will definitely pay for your drinks. And not at TGI Fridays.

Welcome Captain Buzzkill

This is Reddit, advice falls on deaf ears, and this place is a serious as a hangnail.

This is a fantasy question, save the dread

Here is my idea

I'll set up a Foundation called "Cynicism United National Treasury" to help young Americans actually enjoy some lighter things in life.

He also wasn't living his life as usual like he planned.

I mean, a 2k weekly allowance?

This is exactly what I was thinking, it sounds like something that would happen where I live if you weren't someone who was born and raised in the area and happened to win the lottery.

I think in almost every state you can claim through a trust. Even if they somehow bar that (can they?) you just change your name (not difficult) and hire a Hollywood style makeup artist to change your appearance dramatically for a day. All told, a couple thousand dollars to hide your identity. It's certainly not airtight but it will defeat 99.9% of the bullshit.

Read it.

Pretty much this. A couple of a million is like enough to get a moderate house in a nice area, maybe a new car and then live off you're winning for the rest of your life if you make sensible decision and live modestly.

Most people I've heard of that win a few million and blow it, buy a boat, get all their friends new cars, go on luxury cruises, fine dining regularly and then it's all gone in a few years.

You wrote 10,000 characters... how long did that take?

Thanks for that! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

The OP also doesn't list any successful lottery winners (those that still have a comfortable or even luxury living) because they don't make the news

The advice the OP gives is good, but without it's own errors or inaccuracies.

Millions of people win a lotto?

Yup

there was a reality show called lottery changed my life or something like that

Yes. Thanks. The guy who commented above me would lose it all. Doesn't seem together.

Step 2): buy a bigger safe.

Just imagine all of that karma.

But if he spent all his money on that what would he put in the vault?

Something about the size of a standard two car garage should do it. It is about seven pallet loads of money in cash.

And a custom house to store the vault! I vote for evil genius lair!

You mean a new house built around the safe.

Make a safe out of all the money

With a diving board.

With that sort of money, he could buy an apartment block, convert it into a giant vault, and fill up at least a floor or two with $1 bills

After that, he waits a few months. Then he deletes his account, and makes a new one. This new one pretends to be a different person who moved in, and they open the safe.

what bills are being used?

[deleted]

Or just buy reddit yourself and turn this site into whatever you want.

What?! How do you pay for public schools?

And Ireland and the UK

And Australia :)

They also are not 650 million dollars.

Gonna move to canada to win the lottery now, Taxes are the only reason i didnt wanna win in 'Merica

Fuck you Canada.

Did I ever say that? No, it's obviously still a lot of money. I was stating the fact that winning 600 million doesn't get you near that amount.

Pff. Where did he ever say anything about how much money that is? He just stated a fact. Nothing more. You shut up, dumbass

Yay America!

In my state, it's more than 40% after state taxes (To my knowledge at least)

Only because a friend from school's mother won like 10 million dollars and the government took a little over 50% if I remember correctly.

Taxes are never fun, especially when you win the lottery..

I think shorting Antarctic ice caps was a pretty solid idea.

No, he copied it from some forums.

That's a good question I don't know why you got down voted.

That's a solid investment ....until you chop it up of course

I like the way you think

Holy shitsnacks he did say a metric fuckton

Yeah that's at least eleven whole cocaines.

Cocaines

I am never first to post this!

Brb writing screenplay

There can only be one.

You devious genius.

I meant get a lawyer, a good accountant, etc, but also used your money for stuff you enjoy. They don't have to be responsible. That's the whole point of having a lawyer, you don't have to be responsible, the lawyer does that for you!

One per second, on one machine? Over 20 years.

Because without a lawyer you will get fucked. No one with that much money doesn't have an assets lawyer.

people can be greedy assholes and will do anything they can to sue you for money.

But it is

The commenter might have been referring to the property tax on their new home. As is often the case with "extreme home make over" the increased property tax often force the owners to sell their new home.

So you'd potentially let your family become homeless and suffer because they were terrible at managing their money?

Well, at least it secures you from messing more shit up.

Also don't tell Susan... because Susan is a total bitch.

Time to pack my bags.

They really don't give a shit over there.

Why not all crazy, reality TV show sets? Then charge admission. We might be on to something. All we need is millions of dollars.

Note to self - set up charity before collecting winnings; donate entire amount of tax bill to charity; chuckle evilly

He/she was referring to the taxes before you even see a penny of the money

My sides are literally in orbit.

That's a good point. Honestly, I commend your selflessness with all that hypothetical money... But I am curious, wouldn't you be worried about giving such a large sum to any program? I mean, I'd be very upset if I gave that much money to program directors, and they just pissed it all away on their bloated budgets and bureaucracy. I would be downright depressed. Not saying it would definitely happen, but that is main the reason I'd be reluctant to give such large sum away to some organization.... Well, we'll say 500 million. I'd definitely want to keep a large portion for myself as well.

Edit: That's not actually the thing that would piss me off the most. I'd also be worried that by giving them such a large boost to their budget, they'd alter the distribution of their resources, and in doing so indirectly put the money toward some bullshit it wasn't intended to go toward.

san francisco so thats about a one room condo or so

Midwest. $300k would buy you a real nice house on plenty of land.

Where I'm from that might get you a shed, If you're lucky.

Thats a fucking mansion (not literally) and Oregon, and beautiful.

Desert Southwest. That's big. I could easily, easily do a 5bd 4ba two story 3000ft²⁺ house for that amount. There would be a gaming room, mini bar with pool and arcades, home theater, at least cat6 wiring with multiple outlets per room and whole home WiFi-N/AC. The fifth bedroom would be a "panic room". Completely self contained, with a mini kitchen, bath and landline phone. It would be surrounded by thick walls and a faraday cage, hopefully stopping anyone from seeing what I'm doing if I'm trapped in there while I call the police.

As I'm already slightly paranoid, and knowing Hinterkaifeck was a thing, as well as that homeless Japanese lady, there will be cameras at every entrance and in every main room, as well as any long hallways. The panic room will have a gun safe with multiple sizes and calibers, and plenty of ammo to stop a gang of 5-6 thugs, if they somehow manage to get through the reinforced door. Oh, and big (fake) cameras pointed at the front/back/sides of the house. These will be backed up by more discreet cameras that hopefully go unnoticed until it's too late.

Oh, and a pool in the back yard. With a cage around it in case any friends bring over kids.

2 bedroom ranches go for 80k here in Michigan.

In Buffalo, NY, where I've lived my whole life, a $500,000 house is quite nice.

Something like this in the city:

http://www.trulia.com/property/1039267955-51-Woodbridge-Ave-Buffalo-NY-14214

Or something like this in the burbs:

http://www.trulia.com/property/3149852503-5450-Via-Del-Sole-Buffalo-NY-14221

Personally, I think those new suburban builds are ugly.

I am completely serious, this is a newish three bedroom appartment in munich.

Los Angeles... 2 bed/1 bath house for $550K in a bad school district. If it's a great school district make that more like $650K.

You know how I'm going to avoid being one of those guys that ends up getting sued by every person he meets? I'm going to live a modest life in a reasonable area, where no one really knows me. Plus, I'm gonna need the rest of that $656m to pay the electric bill for all my security cameras, televisions and gaming devices, and my internet bill. Cuz I'll have T1 or better. None of this crappy TimeCast mess.

Oh, and my camper/truck setup alone will be another $100,000+ before gas and insurance.

California?

NO AND THEN!

don't forget about the property taxes on such an expensive house

so all your life is destinated to work for some one else and pay money for others, kinda sad life.

"Reason for termination:"

"Brought negative energy into work environment"

Depending on what state you're in (assuming you're in the U.S.) this is legal.

I got bills to pay.