$600M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

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MnD
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$600M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by MnD »

I'm really torn on this one. $200M seems like quite a haircut on the cash option.
Mods - when I win, please feel free to move this to "Help with personal investment". 8-)
All figures pre-tax.

Cash
$350,100,000

Annuity
1 $9,806,555
2 $10,198,817
3 $10,606,769
4 $11,031,040
5 $11,472,282
6 $11,931,173
7 $12,408,420
8 $12,904,757
9 $13,420,947
10 $13,957,785
11 $14,516,096
12 $15,096,740
13 $15,700,610
14 $16,328,634
15 $16,981,780
16 $17,661,051
17 $18,367,493
18 $19,102,192
19 $19,866,280
20 $20,660,931
21 $21,487,369
22 $22,346,863
23 $23,240,738
24 $24,170,367
25 $25,137,182
26 $26,142,669
27 $27,188,376
28 $28,275,911
29 $29,406,948
30 $30,583,226
Total $550,000,000
Last edited by MnD on Fri May 17, 2013 8:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bUU
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by bUU »

I guess I always assumed you could just take the cash and buy an annuity that would pay out that full amount (and therefore have the flexibility of doing it later, or as a hybrid thing).
KritonD
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by KritonD »

Cash. I think the annuity is calculated based on the current return from treasury bonds, which is historically low. Calculate what you'd have if you took the cash and earned a paltry 5% a year for 30 years (1.5 billion).
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

Take the cash. The PV of today's dollar will be worth more overtime assuming you take reasonably good care of it. How much can you spend in one lifetime? Do you have any idea how much the estate taxes will be on that, even if you do place it in various trusts - you can pretty much guarantee at least 1/3 of it will go Whoosh! into the big tax pit called the Estate and Inheritance Tax.

You know the standard advice if you do win - Tell no one!!! Obtain legal counsel, set up a trust, have the trust claim the ticket. Purchase super high limits on personal umbrella. Be sure to share your largesse with charities that have low overhead including the John C. Bogle Financial Literacy Project (an approved charity, just ask Mel :wink: ). Enjoy your life.
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
nimo956
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by nimo956 »

This is an interesting and relevant question, since I plan on winning the Mega Millions today and the Powerball tomorrow. I was doing the math just the other day. The odds of winning one are the same as being 1 of 40 people picked out of the entire world population. If you imagine 4.4m Earths, each with the same population, the odds of winning both are the same as being the one picked out of that total combined population. Seriously, should I even go into work today?
Last edited by nimo956 on Fri May 17, 2013 10:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
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G-Money
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by G-Money »

Sounds familiar: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =94579&f=2

I'm in the camp of avoiding counter-party risk in this situation. Cash for me.
Last edited by G-Money on Fri May 17, 2013 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DouglasDoug
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by DouglasDoug »

So sad. Majority of people who chase this nonsense do not practice simple investing.
Iorek
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Iorek »

G-Money wrote:Sounds familiar: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =94579&f=2

I'm in the camp of avoiding counter-party risk in this situation. Cash for me.
But where do you put the cash? :moneybag
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G-Money
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by G-Money »

Iorek wrote:
G-Money wrote:Sounds familiar: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =94579&f=2

I'm in the camp of avoiding counter-party risk in this situation. Cash for me.
But where do you put the cash? :moneybag
Invest according to your AA, taking into account your new need, willingness, and ability to take risk.

If your concern is that you might get a higher ROI using the annuity, with that much at stake, I would borrow a line from Will Rogers: "I'm not as concerned about the return on my money as I am the return of my money."
Don't assume I know what I'm talking about.
Johm221122
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Johm221122 »

Who backs the annuity, it is a little over guarantee association limit
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clacy
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by clacy »

I would take the cash and run. Invest in plenty of hard assets. Safety and pacing inflation would be my primary onjectives. I would hold plenty of non-boglehead investments. Lots of hard assets such as gold, investment grade diamonds, real estate and plenty of government bonds/cash.

5% US Stocks
5% Wold ex-US stocks
15% Real Estate
15% Gold
10% Other hard assets
25% T-bills
25% T-bonds

More or less a Permanent Portfolio type of asset allocation in order to KEEP my wealth, with any real growth as a bonus.
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bottomfisher
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by bottomfisher »

My biggest concern with cash would be others' expectations. If they know you are getting an annuity for $9 - $30 million per year, close family and friends will expect a certain gift amount. If they know you have $350 million on hand, then those hand out expectations drastically increase. I could see a situation where distant relatives or friends are really upset because they didn't get their $1 million gift. But in the end I probably would take the cash due to theoretical risk associated with annuity insuror dissolving as noted by those above
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

bottomfisher wrote:My biggest concern with cash would be others' expectations. If they know you are getting an annuity for $9 - $30 million per year, close family and friends will expect a certain gift amount. If they know you have $350 million on hand, then those hand out expectations drastically increase. I could see a situation where distant relatives or friends are really upset because they didn't get their $1 million gift. But in the end I probably would take the cash due to theoretical risk associated with annuity insuror dissolving as noted by those above

Why would you care what others think or expect? If you haven't heard from them or seen them in more than 1 years time short of them living in a natural disaster area, then are they really your friends? Place it in a trust - a legally binding document that can not be piereced and say nothing to no one - change your phone number, have the number blocked and get caller id, have a state of the art alarm system installed at your home, a large umbrella policy, set up a charitable trust for which to give back from and don't make "new friends or acquaintainces" because they won't be interested in you, but they will be interested in being acquainted with Ben and Ulysses. :greedy :moneybag :greedy
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Bogle101
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Bogle101 »

I would lean towards the annuity as a way to hedge against having the euphoria of so much cash at once leading to making horrible decisions, whereas the annuity would act like a reset button. Oh no! I just blew nine million in one year. Yay! Another check is coming.
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Iorek
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Iorek »

DouglasDoug wrote:So sad. Majority of people who chase this nonsense do not practice simple investing.
IMO, when the odds of winning are about 1 in 175 million and the cash value is $350 million, it's not clear that it is nonsense to purchase a ticket.

Of course the real reason I purchase a ticket is so I can "plan" how to spend it. :)
Browser
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Browser »

Does it make any difference to your heirs? I'm an old guy so it will probably wind up with the heirs whether I take the cash or annuity. So many wines and women and so little time. Even if you're not an old guy, maybe should consider how to best pass it on.
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clacy
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by clacy »

DouglasDoug wrote:So sad. Majority of people who chase this nonsense do not practice simple investing.
Entertainment value for me. Spending $100/yr on lotto tickets is sort of fun. For the vast majority of people that I see purchasing tickets though, your point is dead on.
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MnD
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by MnD »

I buy a few when the cash jackpot approaches or exceeds the odds and I hear about it - maybe $25 a year.
I have a detailed plan in my head of how I'll manage the win.

I wish a Boglehead would win - go to the press conference and explain matter-of-factly that these winning will be a great compliment and addition to the couple million they have already amassed through decades of diligent savings and low cost index fund investing, and that other than expanding their horizons on spending and charitable donations, the win is not really a game-changer. :mrgreen:
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kenyan
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by kenyan »

Iorek wrote:
DouglasDoug wrote:So sad. Majority of people who chase this nonsense do not practice simple investing.
IMO, when the odds of winning are about 1 in 175 million and the cash value is $350 million, it's not clear that it is nonsense to purchase a ticket.

Of course the real reason I purchase a ticket is so I can "plan" how to spend it. :)
You should factor into your analysis the tax element - you are using post-tax dollars to purchase a pre-tax jackpot. Living in California, that $350M would decrease by half. In addition, there is the probable multiple-winner scenario that will further degrade your expected return.

I would do it for entertainment, but nothing more (yes, I know the responses on here are tongue-in-cheek for the most part).
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prudent
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by prudent »

I would take the cash so the assets were under my control and not dependent on someone else to stay solvent enough to make the payments for 30 years. A prize of that size is so immense I wouldn't care about the tax hit to take the cash option.
Five Scoop
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Five Scoop »

I found that online resources report federal tax on lottery winnings is 25%. State taxes vary, California is 0%.
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G-Money
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by G-Money »

Five Scoop wrote:I found that online resources report federal tax on lottery winnings is 25%.
Where did you find that?

Here's what I found:
The prize, no matter how the winners take it, is considered income. So the highest federal tax rate of 35% will apply.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/30/pf/taxe ... index.html

That was last year, when the top federal tax rate was 35%. This year, it's 39.6%.

See also:
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lottery2.htm
http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack ... n-in-2012/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percenta ... ottery_win
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

G-Money wrote:
Five Scoop wrote:I found that online resources report federal tax on lottery winnings is 25%.
Where did you find that?

Here's what I found:
The prize, no matter how the winners take it, is considered income. So the highest federal tax rate of 35% will apply.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/30/pf/taxe ... index.html

That was last year, when the top federal tax rate was 35%. This year, it's 39.6%.

See also:
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lottery2.htm
http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack ... n-in-2012/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percenta ... ottery_win
I believe Five Scoop was referring to the withholding.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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kenyan
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by kenyan »

Five Scoop wrote:I found that online resources report federal tax on lottery winnings is 25%. State taxes vary, California is 0%.
Ordinary income tax. California tax is only zero on its own state lottery. Since Powerball is not a CA state lottery, the top tax rate of 13.3% will apply.

a.
California Lottery Winnings.
California excludes California
lottery
winnings from taxable income. Enter in column B the amount of
California
lottery winnings included in the federal amount on line 21 in column A.
Make no adjustment for lottery winnings from other states. They are taxable
by
California.
Last edited by kenyan on Fri May 17, 2013 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by The Wizard »

Five Scoop wrote:I found that online resources report federal tax on lottery winnings is 25%. State taxes vary, California is 0%.
States vary, yes, but the IRS goes up to 39.6% tax bracket for large winnings.
The 25% withholding has little to do with the eventual amount owed....
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

I know full well that the lottery is a tax on innumeracy. OTOH, I could pay $20+ dollars for a movie ticket, popcorn, and bottle of water to see a film with considerably less imagination than what I can conjure up for my post-win life.

And yes, as a previous poster mentioned, my press conference would bite the hand that fed me and advise people not to waste their money unless their house and cars were paid off, education funds were topped off, retirement was well on track, etc. and they didn't mind paying the price of admission to the "what if" daydream.

I'll take mine in cash please.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

Grt2bOutdoors wrote:
You know the standard advice if you do win - Tell no one!!! Obtain legal counsel, set up a trust, have the trust claim the ticket. Purchase super high limits on personal umbrella. Be sure to share your largesse with charities that have low overhead including the John C. Bogle Financial Literacy Project (an approved charity, just ask Mel :wink: ). Enjoy your life.
I was told once that in order for a trust to claim a winning ticket, the trust must have been formed prior to the drawing. I'm not a lawyer and have no idea if it's true or not.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
lws6772
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by lws6772 »

Iorek wrote:
G-Money wrote:Sounds familiar: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =94579&f=2

I'm in the camp of avoiding counter-party risk in this situation. Cash for me.
But where do you put the cash? :moneybag
In several big heavy safes. A friend of mine had one the size of a refrigerator. :D
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by fedsocprof »

bUU wrote:I guess I always assumed you could just take the cash and buy an annuity that would pay out that full amount (and therefore have the flexibility of doing it later, or as a hybrid thing).
And you'd get those valuable "mortality credits" as well! :D
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Watty
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Watty »

Cash
$350,100,000

Most likely after looking at the taxes I would keep maybe $50 million and use the rest for charity to avoid most of the taxes. Realistically having more than that would make no possible difference in my or my heirs life.
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G-Money
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by G-Money »

kenyan wrote:
Five Scoop wrote:I found that online resources report federal tax on lottery winnings is 25%. State taxes vary, California is 0%.
Ordinary income tax. California tax is only zero on its own state lottery. Since Powerball is not a CA state lottery, the top tax rate of 13.3% will apply.

a.
California Lottery Winnings.
California excludes California
lottery
winnings from taxable income. Enter in column B the amount of
California
lottery winnings included in the federal amount on line 21 in column A.
Make no adjustment for lottery winnings from other states. They are taxable
by
California.
Powerball is a multi-state lottery. It is offered in California. http://www.calottery.com/play/draw-games/powerball

According to the California Lottery Winners Handbook,
You’ll be happy to learn that Lottery
prizes are exempt from California
state and local personal income
taxes.
http://static.www.calottery.com/~/media ... nglish.pdf

I believe this means if you are (1) a California resident and (2) you buy a winning Powerball ticket in California, then you don't owe California state or local taxes on the winnings. But I don't know anything about California law, and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Don't assume I know what I'm talking about.
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tc101
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by tc101 »

You know the standard advice if you do win - Tell no one!!!
Is it possible to remain anonymous? Has anyone actually done that? Does using a trust really work?
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tc101
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by tc101 »

I found the answer
All but five states (DE, KS, MD, ND, OH) have laws that require the lottery to release the name and city of residence to anyone who asks. Other states may offer to assist you in some way, including such things as the creation of trusts. But generally, you will want to hire an attorney to review the laws in your state to see what options you might have. Photos and press conferences are up to you for most, but not all states. Check with your state lottery to see if photos or more are required. Most of the time, it is advisable to get it over with the press so that you don't have one or more reporters following you around to get that "exclusive" interview. Even if the you can keep your identity secret from the press and the public, you will have to be known to the lottery - so they can confirm that you are eligible to play and win.
http://www.powerball.com/pb_contact.asp
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MnD
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by MnD »

I've heard don't sign your winning ticket.
Put it in the safe deposit box, set up a trust, then have a designated trust representative sign the ticket in the legal name of the trust.
If you sign the ticket in your name - you have to show up and claim it in most states.

Maybe I'm naive but I don't forsee problems with people wanting money from me if I won. My friends, coworkers and extended family members are for the most very ethical and well grounded and the vast majority wouldn't have a problem getting a bank loan if they needed more money for something (bigger house, education, vacation etc.) Am I to assume they would approach we for money (loan or grant) when they are unwilling to borrow it through traditional sources? "Give me money - because you have it?". I would be very surprised to see that. A couple of nephew in-laws might, but they burned that bridge about a year ago.
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by ryuns »

clacy wrote:I would take the cash and run. Invest in plenty of hard assets. Safety and pacing inflation would be my primary onjectives. I would hold plenty of non-boglehead investments. Lots of hard assets such as gold, investment grade diamonds, real estate and plenty of government bonds/cash.

5% US Stocks
5% Wold ex-US stocks
15% Real Estate
15% Gold
10% Other hard assets
25% T-bills
25% T-bonds

More or less a Permanent Portfolio type of asset allocation in order to KEEP my wealth, with any real growth as a bonus.
You might be a Boglehead if---when fantasizing about winning the lottery, you spend most of your time deciding on your asset allocation. I'm the same way. People around here often ask whether the very rich should invest like a regular upper-middle class worker, and my thought is always no. I'd probably go overboard trying to diversify--gold, other commodities, commercial real estate, timber, pipelines, stocks, corporate bonds, government bonds, maybe a fancy piece of art or two, maybe a pro sports team...
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by StormShadow »

clacy wrote:
DouglasDoug wrote:So sad. Majority of people who chase this nonsense do not practice simple investing.
Entertainment value for me. Spending $100/yr on lotto tickets is sort of fun.
Me too... except I only spend $2. 8-)
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

MnD wrote:I've heard don't sign your winning ticket.
Put it in the safe deposit box, set up a trust, then have a designated trust representative sign the ticket in the legal name of the trust.
If you sign the ticket in your name - you have to show up and claim it in most states.

Maybe I'm naive but I don't forsee problems with people wanting money from me if I won. My friends, coworkers and extended family members are for the most very ethical and well grounded and the vast majority wouldn't have a problem getting a bank loan if they needed more money for something (bigger house, education, vacation etc.) Am I to assume they would approach we for money (loan or grant) when they are unwilling to borrow it through traditional sources? "Give me money - because you have it?". I would be very surprised to see that. A couple of nephew in-laws might, but they burned that bridge about a year ago.
Get ready to be surprised - love of money does weird things to people. And be prepared to be approached by ordinary strangers - by the droves with stories of medical hardships which may or may not be true, financial hardships, unemployment, kids who need money to eat, rent to provide shelter, your local minister wanting to speak with you about that new building or enhancements to the existing structure, donations to the local schools, etc. I'm telling you......it will be like the locusts or as that new football recruit recently mentioned about him discovering all these new "cousins he never knew he had" that moment it was announced he was drafted to the NFL.
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tc101
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by tc101 »

It looks like using an anonymous trust works in states where you could not normally remain anonymous. Apparently the trust laws also vary from state to state.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 848371.php

Some states have open document laws that force lawyers to reveal the beneficiaries in a blind trust. However, your attorney can inform you in the event that this happens. Some states with such laws will only reveal beneficiaries if the requester has a viable reason for knowing the information. Thus, the state lottery officials may be the only person to see your name.

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5616648_bl ... ners_.html

Here are the laws for each state

http://lotteryheadlines.com/winning/lot ... formation/
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Ged
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Ged »

Iorek wrote:
DouglasDoug wrote:So sad. Majority of people who chase this nonsense do not practice simple investing.
IMO, when the odds of winning are about 1 in 175 million and the cash value is $350 million, it's not clear that it is nonsense to purchase a ticket.
Depends on the odds of being the SOLE winner.
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MnD
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by MnD »

Another Houston lotto winner used the same tactic in May 2010 when he collected his lump-sum payout of $48.8 million through the MAED Trust after a delay caused by a photocopier snafu that blackened the front of the ticket.

:shock:
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gtg970g
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by gtg970g »

Ged wrote: Depends on the odds of being the SOLE winner.
To increase the odds of being a sole winner choose a combination of larger numbers. Many people choose numbers associated with dates which only go up to 31 so by choosing larger numbers you decrease the odds of sharing in the loot. Not my observation, heard it on the radio from professor of statistics the last time the prize money was this big.
mbenz1997
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by mbenz1997 »

I would take the cash. Take 1% and start a business and probably spoil myself a little. The other 99% I'd probably divvy about 1/2 index fund, 1/2 bond fund, all averaged in over the course of several years. I'd use another 1% on speculative stock or as venture capital.

To those who think it is a waste of money - I agree. But I like to play when it goes above 100 mn. I don't spend hardly any money on alcohol, don't smoke, don't buy coffee, so I think $20-30 when it's above 100 mn is not a high price for entertainment value. Besides, it's fun to dream a little!
sjb19
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by sjb19 »

robebibb wrote:
Ged wrote: Depends on the odds of being the SOLE winner.
To increase the odds of being a sole winner choose a combination of larger numbers. Many people choose numbers associated with dates which only go up to 31 so by choosing larger numbers you decrease the odds of sharing in the loot. Not my observation, heard it on the radio from professor of statistics the last time the prize money was this big.
Never thought of that. Interestingly, when ~200M tickets are bought (which should happen around this level jackpot) the odds of no winners, 1 winner and 2+ winners are all about 1/3.
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

robebibb wrote:
Ged wrote: Depends on the odds of being the SOLE winner.
To increase the odds of being a sole winner choose a combination of larger numbers. Many people choose numbers associated with dates which only go up to 31 so by choosing larger numbers you decrease the odds of sharing in the loot. Not my observation, heard it on the radio from professor of statistics the last time the prize money was this big.
The one thing NOT to do is to use the winning lottery numbers on the show "Lost" - 4 8 15 16 23 42. Back in 2011, 41,763 tickets were played with that number in a Mega Lottery game.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/0 ... 04723.html
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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MnD
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by MnD »

mbenz1997 wrote: I don't spend hardly any money on alcohol, don't smoke, don't buy coffee, so I think $20-30 when it's above 100 mn is not a high price for entertainment value.
That's good. In my neighborhood the triple-combo package is popular. (Tall-boy high strength beers, pack of cigarettes and some lottery tickets)
70/30 AA for life, Global market cap equity. Rebalance if fixed income <25% or >35%. Weighted ER< .10%. 5% of annual portfolio balance SWR, Proportional (to AA) withdrawals.
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Clearly_Irrational
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by Clearly_Irrational »

I'd take cash and I'd break it down into five chunks:

1) Annuities
2) Portfolio
3) Real Estate
4) Business
5) Spending money

Might go buy a ticket today, I usually indulge when the jackpot is larger than the odds of winning. It's an entertainment expense.
bsteiner
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by bsteiner »

For what may happen when you say that the ticket was owned by an entity, see the Tax Court opinion in Tonda Lyn Dickerson, T.C. Memo 2012-60 (2012): http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/InOpHistoric/ ... CM.WPD.pdf .
umfundi
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by umfundi »

I took the cash. The $2 is in my pocket.

I bet I'll have more than you will (in the Powerball account) on Sunday morning.

Keith
Last edited by umfundi on Fri May 17, 2013 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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exoilman
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by exoilman »

Cheap fantasy for $2, I'm all in!

Sam
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BolderBoy
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Re: $550M Powerball Jackpot - take cash or annuity?

Post by BolderBoy »

TomatoTomahto wrote:
Grt2bOutdoors wrote:
You know the standard advice if you do win - Tell no one!!! Obtain legal counsel, set up a trust, have the trust claim the ticket. Purchase super high limits on personal umbrella. Be sure to share your largesse with charities that have low overhead including the John C. Bogle Financial Literacy Project (an approved charity, just ask Mel :wink: ). Enjoy your life.
I was told once that in order for a trust to claim a winning ticket, the trust must have been formed prior to the drawing. I'm not a lawyer and have no idea if it's true or not.
I think it depends upon the state as well. In Colorado (at least for in-state lotteries) I'm pretty sure that the actual winner's human name must be divulged.
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