Now it's 120x more likely you'll get *unlived* by a family member. Listen up, if you want to live...

our slash ass credit you just won a 656 million dollar lottery what do you do now someone asked me to repost my comment from another thread here so here you go thanks you / snatcher le congratulations you just won millions of dollars in the lottery that's great now you're ducked no really you are you're ducked if you just want to skip the biographical tales of well of some of the math tax protagonists skip on down to the next comment to see what to do in the event you win the lottery you see it's something of an open secret that winners of obnoxiously large jackpots tend to end up badly with alarming regularity not the $1,000,000 dollar winners but anyone in the 9th figure ranges at high-risk eight figures pretty likely to be screwed seven figures yep painful perhaps this is a consequence of the sample the demographics of lottery players might be exactly the wrong people to win large sums of money or perhaps money is the root of all evil either way you are going to have to be careful don't believe me consider this large jackpot winners face double digits multiples of probability versus the general population to be the victim of homicide something like 20x more likely drug overdose bankruptcy how's the for irony kidnapping and triple digit multiples of probability versus the general population rate to be convicted of drunk driving the victim of homicide at the hands of a family member 120 X more likely in this case ain't love grand a defendant in a civil lawsuit a defendant in felony criminal proceedings believe it or not your biggest enemy if you suddenly become possessed of large sums of money is you at least you will have the consolation of meeting your fate by your own hand but if you can't manage it on your own don't worry there are any number of willing participants ready to help you start your vicious downward spiral for you mind you many of these will be friends friendly neighbors or family often they won't even have evil intentions but as I'm sure you know that makes little difference in the end most not evil most hunt malicious Samar none a good for you Jack Whitaker a Johnny Cash attired West Virginia native is the poster boy for the dangers of a lump sum award in 2002 mr. Whitaker 55 years old at a time 1 what was also at the time the largest single award jackpot in US history 315 million dollars at the time he planned to live as if nothing had changed or so he said he was remarkably modest and decent before the jackpot and his ships sure came in right wrong mr. Whitaker became the subject of a number of personal challenges escalating into personal tragedies complicated by a number of legal troubles Whitaker wasn't a typical lottery winner either his net worth at the time of his winnings was in excess of 15 million dollars owing to his ownership of a successful contracting firm in West Virginia his claim to want to live as if nothing had changed actually seemed plausible he should have been well equipped for wealth he was already quite wealthy after all by all accounts he was somewhat modest low-profile generous and good-natured he should have coasted off into the sunset yet not exactly Whitaker took the old cash option 170 million dollars instead of the annuity option and took possession of 114 million dollars in cash after 56 million dollars in taxes after that things went south Whitaker quickly became the subject of a number of financial stalkers who would look at his regular breakfast hideout and accost him with suggestions for how to spend his money they were unemployed no an interview tomorrow morning wasn't good enough they needed cash now perhaps they had a surefire business plan their daughter had cancer anis needed dialysis needless to say Whitaker stopped going to his breakfast haunt eventually they began ringing his doorbell sometimes in the early morning before long he was paying off-duty deputies to protect his family he was accused of being heartless cold stingy letters poured in children with cancer diabetes miss you name it he hired three people to sort the mail a detective to filter out the false claims in the con men and women was retained Brenda the Clark who had sold Whitaker the ticket was a victim of collateral damage Whitaker had written her a check for forty four thousand dollars and bought her house but she was by no means a millionaire rumors that the state routinely pay the Clark who had sold the ticket ten percent of the jackpot winnings hounded her she was followed home from work threatened assaulted Whitakers car was twice broken into by trusted acquaintances who watched him leave large amounts of cash in it five hundred thousand dollars and two hundred thousand dollars were stolen in two separate instances the thieves spiked Whitaker's drink with prescription drugs in the first instance the second incident was the handiwork of his granddaughter's friends who had been probing the girl for details Don Whitaker's cash for weeks even Whitaker's good-faith generosity was questioned when he offered ten thousand dollars to improve the city's water park so that it was more handicap accessible locals complained that he spent more money at the strip club amusingly this was true Whitaker invested quite a bit sin his own businesses tripled the number of people his business is employed making him one of the larger employers in the area and eventually had given away 14 million dollars to charity through a foundation he set up for the purpose this is of course what you are supposed to do set up a foundation be careful about your charity giving it made no difference in the end to top it all off Whitaker had been accused of ruining a number of marriages his money made other men look inferior they said wherever he went in the small West Virginia town he called home resentment grew quickly and festered Whitaker paid for settlements related to this sort of claim yes you read that right for his family in their immediate circle were quickly the victims of odds defying numbers of overdoses emergency room visits and even fatal his granddaughter the 18 year old brandy who Whitaker had been giving a $2,100 per week Allods was found dead after having been missing for several weeks her death was apparently from a drug overdose but Whitaker suspected foul play her body had been wrapped in a tarp and hidden behind a rusted-out van her 17 year old boyfriend had expired three months earlier in Whitaker's vacation house also from an overdose some of his friends had robbed the house after his overdose stepping over his body to make their escape and then returning for more before stepping over his body again to leave his parents sued for wrongful death claiming that Whitaker's loose purse strings contributed to their son's death amazingly juries are prone to award damages in cases such as these Whitaker settled again even before the deaths the local and state police had taken a special interest in Whitaker after his newfound fame he was arrested for minor and less minor offenses many times after his winnings despite having had a nearly spotless record before the award Whitakers high profile couldn't have helped him much in this regard in 18 months Whitaker had been cited for over 250 violations ranging from broken taillights on every one of his five new cars to improper display of renewal stickers a lawsuit charging various police organizations with harassment went nowhere and Whitaker was hit with court costs instead Whitakers wife filed for divorce and in the process froze a number of his assets and the accounts of his operating companies Caesars in Atlantic City sued him for 1.5 million dollars to cover bounced checks caused by the asset freeze today Whitaker is badly in debt and bankruptcy looms large in his future but hey that's just one example right wrong nearly one-third of multi-million dollar jackpot winners eventually declared bankruptcy some end up worse to give you just a taste of the possibilities consider the fates of edit continued below due to character limit so what the hell do you do if you are unlucky enough to win the lottery this is the absolutely most important thing can do right away nothing yes nothing do not declare yourself the winner yet do not tell anyone the urge is going to be nearly irresistible resist it trust me one immediately retain an attorney get a partner from a larger national firm don't let them pawn off junior partners or associates on you they might try all law firms might but insist instead that your led be a partner who has been with the firm for a while do not use your local attorney yes I mean your long-standing family attorney who did your mother's will do not use the guy who fought your dry cleaner bill do not use the guy who have trusted your entire life because of his long and faithful service to your family in fact do not use any firm that has any connection to family or friends or community trust me this is bad you want someone who has never heard of you any of your friends or any member of your family go the closest big city and walk into one of the national firms asking for one of the trusts and estates partners you have previously looked up on Martinville comlink from one of the largest 50 firms in the United States which has an office near you you can look up attorneys by practice area and firm on Martinville to decide to take the lump sum most lotteries pay a really pathetic rate for the annuity it usually hovers around 4.5% annual return or less defending it doesn't take much to do better than this and if you have the money already in cash rather than leaving it in the hands of the state you can pull from the capital whenever you like if you take the annuity you won't have access to that cash that could be good it could be bad it's probably bad unless you have a very addictive personality if you need an allowance managed by the state it is because you didn't listen to point number one above why not let the states just handle it for you and give you your allowance many state lotteries pay you your allowance the annuity option by buying US Treasury instruments of running the interest payments through their bureaucracy before sending it to you along with a hunk of the principle every month you will not be beating inflation by much if at all there is no reason you couldn't do this yourself if a low single-digit return is acceptable to you you aren't going to get even remotely the amount of the actual jackpot take our old friend mr. Whittaker using Whittaker is a good model both because of the reminder of his ignominious decline and the fact that his winning ticket was one of the larger ones on record if his situation looks less-than-stellar to you you might have a better perspective on how large your winnings aren't Whitaker's jackpot was three hundred and fifteen million dollars he selected the lump sum cash upfront option which knocked off one hundred and forty five million dollars or forty six percent of the total leaving him with one hundred and seventy million dollars that was then subject to withholding for taxes of fifty six million dollars thirty three percent leaving him with one hundred and fourteen million dollars in general you should expect to get about half of the original jackpot if you elect a lump sum may be better it depends after that you should expect to lose around 33% of your already pruned figure to state and federal taxes your mileage may vary particularly if you live in a state with aggressive taxation schemes three decide right now how much you plan to give to family and friends this really shouldn't be more than twenty percent or so figure it out right now pick your number tell your lawyer that's it don't change it twenty percent of one hundred and fourteen million dollars is twenty two point eight million dollars that leaves you with ninety one point two million dollars do not consult with family when deciding how much to give to family you are going to get advice that is badly tainted by conflict of interest and if other family members find out that Aunt Flo was consulted and they weren't you will never hear the end of it neither will Aunt Flo this might later form the basis for an allegation that aren't Flo unduly influenced you and the lawsuit might magically appear on this basis no I'm not kidding I know of one circumstance related to a business windfall not a lottery where the plaintiffs won this case do not give anyone cash period just don't do not buy them houses do not buy them cars tell your attorney that you want to provide for your family and that you want to set up a series of trusts for them that will total 20% of your after-tax winnings tell them you want the trust empowered to fund higher education some help not a total purchase of their first home some provision for weddings and the like whatever do not put yourself in the position of handing out cash once you do if you stop you will be accused of being a heartless bastard or Beach trust me it won't go well it will be easy to lose perspective it is now the duty of your friends family relatives hangers-on and they're in a circle to skew your perspective and they take this job quite seriously setting up a trust a managed fund through your family that is in the double-digit Millions is ask me anything xing ly generous you need never have trouble sleeping because you didn't lend uncle jerry $20,000 and small denomination unmarked bills to start his chain of deep-fried peanut butter pancake restaurants deep not a restaurants your attorney will have a number of good ideas how to pass this wealth out without turning your siblings spouse children grandchildren cousins waitresses into the latest paris hilton edit continued below due to character limit for you will be encouraged to hire an investment manager considerable pressure will be applied dont investment managers charge fees usually a percentage of assets consider this if they charge one percent which is low i doubt you could find this deal actually they have to beat the market by one percent every year just to break even with a general market index fund it is not worth it and you don't need the extra return or the extra risk go for the index fund instead if you must invest in stocks this is a hard rule to follow they will come recommended by friends they will come recommended by family they will be your second cousin on your mother's side investment managers will sound smart they will have lots of cool acronyms they will have nice PowerPoint presentations they might might pay for your shrimp their lunch at TGI Fridays while reminding you how poor their side of the family is they live for this stuff you should smile thank them for their time and then tell them you will get back to them next week don't sign anything don't write add on a cocktail napkin lottery lawsuit cases have been won and lost over drunkenly scrawled cocktail napkin addition and subtraction figures with lots of zeros on them never call them back trust me you will thank me later this tactic smiling thanking people for their time and promising to get back to people is going to have to become familiar you will have to learn to say no gently without saying the word number it sounds underhanded sneaky it is and it's part of your new survival strategy I mean the word survival quite literally get all this figured out before you claim your winnings they aren't going anywhere just relax five if you elect to be more global about your paranoia use between twenty point zero zero percent and thirty-three point zero zero percent of what you have not decided to commit to a family fund immediately to purchase a combination of longer-term US Treasuries five or ten-year are a good idea and perhaps even another g7 treasury instrument this is your safety net you will be protected from yourself you are going to be really tempted to starting being a big investor you are going to be convinced that you can double your money in Vegas with your awesome roulette system by funding your friends amazing idea to sell lemming dung buying land for oil drilling by shorting the North Pole lice market global warming you know this all sounds tempting because even if I lose it all I still have dollar sign xx million left anyone could live on that comfortably for the rest of their life yep except for 33% of everyone who won the lottery you're not going to double your money so cool it let me say that again you're not going to double your money so cool it right now you'll get around three point five percent on the 10-year US Treasury with eighteen point two million dollars twenty percent of 91.26 mil after your absurdly generous firm invested in those you will call down 638 thousand four hundred dollars per year if everything else blows up you still have at and you will be in the top 1% of income in the United States so how about you not duck with it a and that's income that is damn safe if we get to the point where the United States defaults on those instruments we are in far worse shape than worrying about money if you are really paranoid you might consider picking another g7 or otherwise mainstream country other than the US according to where you want to live if the United States dissolves into Anarchy or Britney Spears is elected to the United States Senate put some fraction in something like Swiss government bonds of 3% if the Swiss stop paying on their government debt well then you know money really means nothing anywhere on the globe anymore I'd study small field sustainable agriculture if you think this is a possibility you might have to start feeding yourself six that leaves say 80% of ninety 1.2 million dollars or seventy two point nine million dollars here is where things start to get less clear personally I think whom should dump half of this or thirty six point four million dollars into a boring S&P 500 index fund find something with low fees you are going to be constantly tempted to retain sophisticated advisors who charge nominal fees don't period even if you lose every other dime you have six hundred and thirty eight thousand four hundred dollars per year you didn't have before that will keep coming in until the United States falls into chaos duck advisers and their fees instead drop your thirty six point four million dollars in the market in a low fee vehicle unless we have an unprecedented downturn the likes of which the United States has never seen should return around seven point zero zero percent or so over the next ten years you should expect to touch not even a dime of this money for 10 or 15 or even 20 years in 20 year thirty six point four million dollars could easily become one hundred and fifteen million dollars seven so you have put a safety net in place you have provided for your family beyond your wildest dreams and you still have 36 point four million dollars in cash you know you will be getting 638 thousand four hundred dollars per year unless the capital building is burning you don't ever need to give anyone you care about cash since they are provided for generously and responsibly and can't blow it in Vegas and you have a huge nest egg that is growing at market rates given the recent dip you'll be buying in up great prices for the market what now whatever you want go ahead and burn for a thirty six point four million dollars in hookers and blow if you want you've got more security than 99% of the country a lot of it isn't trusts so even if you are sued your family will live well and progress across generations if your lawyer is worth his salt I bet he is then you will be insulated from most lawsuits anyhow buy a nice house or two make sure they aren't stupid investments so go ahead and be an angel investor and fund some startups but refuse to do it for anyone you know friends and money oil and water Michael Corleone II clay have fun you earned it by putting together the shoe sizes of your whole family on one ticket and winning the jackpot excellent advice I used to work at a lottery I even gave out the big novelty checks 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 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 mind 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 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 throw you made it to the end you're ducking mad lad I'll cut you a deal smash like and subscribe for more curated content more light it's free and that's a great price

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Id: -1R6hH9DSgc

Length: 22min 12sec (1332 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 20 2019