Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Lottery winning question

So, how would you really handle the money if you hit a multi-million dollar jackpot in one of the lotteries? Or if you don't play, suppose a rich relative died and left you umpteen millions - same question.

I don't mean what stuff you'd buy or who'd you share it with but how would you realistically manage a sudden influx of thousands of times your annual income? Would you put it all into an account managed by a financial advisor, put a tax lawyer and accountant on retainer, do it all yourself?

Where would you put it - straight principle protecting income accounts, play the market with a mix of equities/income, put it into real estate or some lasting commodity like precious metals? Would you try to see how much you could grow it or just aim to spend the last penny the day before you died?

Everybody always thinks about the wonderful things they'd do with the money (or just make jokes about farming until it's all gone) - from expensive toys to buying a whole new church for the congregation to just blowing it all on hookers and cocaine; or maybe build the church to get right with God after all the hookers.

I've been rearranging my finances getting ready to retire early next year and the thought struck me about how folks would handle the actual mechanics of dealing with sudden wealth.




P.S. If you don't play the lottery then good for you, but no one cares to hear your holier than thou attitudes about it so please spare us.

I'd probably ask a professional what SAFE options I might have to provide the most regular income from it, and then choose from those options.

(I appreciate your "P.S.", but I'll bet you'll still hear from people who don't have a TV set.)

I would turn most of it over to a money management expert.

How is one to watch HOCKEY without a TV set when one lives miles from nowhere?



Jim,

My wife and I have discussed this some. Depending on the number of "millions" or fraction thereof, we have some ideas. Both of us like Hawai'i. If enough was won (coupla millions) or inherited we might move to the Big Island, we could afford to live off our present retirement but we can't afford to buy any sort of a nice place there now. I'd like to have enough left over for a decent size offshore boat, though.

If it were in the multi millions, as in more than 5 million, I'm sure we'd find some sort of very safe account to add a few bucks to our present yearly income and perhaps we move out of the wilderness here assuming we could afford a decent size property somewhere closer to modern medicine (one of her big concerns).

If it were a very BIG inheritance or win, I'd like to think I'd find some sort of deserving cause or charity to get a good chunk, after leaving enough for our nieces and nephews on both sides. We have no kids of our own.

I might take lessons in "sports betting"..................................................but the odds are against that.............

That's pretty much how I've decided to handle my retirement. We've already had a meeting to go over my situation and determined that barring a true economic apocalypse I can keep my same standard of living indefinitely and even grow the principle quite a bit by the time I'm 90. The "standard of living" is what I was concerned about more than actual dollar amounts.



I'm also clear to get a red sports car and a 23 year old girlfriend. If I got the 23 year old girlfriend I'd be flat broke in 3 years but dead in 2 1/2 so that would work itself out...

If you got a 46 year old girlfriend could you stretch that to 5 years and die broke so no one gets any of your hard earned money?

I'd ask strangers on the internet for financial advice. Then I'd throw my phone in the drink and disappear.

Hey, I like that idea! You want a job as a financial advisor?

If I was your financial advisor I'd tell you to get a 19 year old girlfriend, a red sports car, a big boat, and maybe an airplane.................. as I'll make sure all the money is gone within a year................





but you'll have fun

Can’t say, I wouldn’t even give it a thought until I actually had to think about it..you got something you’d like to share with us?

Wish I did, but unfortunately nothing earth shaking. Have recently been consolidating various pensions, company retirement accounts and whatnot accumulated over the last four decades so I've been dealing with those decisions. That got me to wondering what other folks might do to handle a certain amount of money, and winning the lottery seems more interesting than 403(b)'s.

Just making conversation, but you never know when someone will come up with an idea you hadn't thought of, like the 46 year old Valsdad mentioned.

Before I even claimed the prize I’d sit down with my tax attorney to understand my options. Claim it as an individual or as a trust ? I’d want to start in the most tax efficient way. Then set it up to produce steady increasing income for the rest of my life. What I wouldn’t do is buy toys with the money. Most large lottery winners are broke in just a couple of years.

Hard commodity assets physically held.

I knew the Luck family in Virginia. They turned raw land into successful quarries.

E Carlton Wilton was my boss as a boy. He had spent a decade draining swamps which he bought for pennies and then built the very wealthy West End of Richmond.

When I was in South Florida I knew the Torcise family... they had turned worthless land in northern Key Largo into Florida Rock and Sand as well as the Ocean Reef Club.

The paper mill in West Point Virginia is worth ten times more then it last sold for. Why? It is grandfathered. No way in hell such a plant could ever be built again without incurring 10x the cost.

Ken Meckley owns Meckley services in Northern Virginia. He got his start with his uncle in the Pennsylvania scrap iron industry. Used to cut up abandoned dozers and such for the scrap metal value. Sold it when the market was high.

Knowing the value of things. Anticipating the future value of things. Hard work and strategic timing.

Hard commodity assets physically held.

I doubt you could lose it any quicker on whores and coke

Multimillions?
Both kids would get 1 million in separate trusts

With the rest I’d put a chunk into hunting/fishing land.
More and better woodworking tools.
Normal size house and shop.
Move there.
Stop being a pharmacist but continue preaching and doing woodworking.

I’d keep a chunk in reserve to make sure I don’t go broke and provide me a yearly income of what I make now.

Use the money I already have to travel and hunt and live on.

I would hire a cpa to advise me about taxes and stuff but would basically handle my own investments and spending.

If like almost everyone that ever wins a big chunk of cash I would handle it poorly and be broke in 5-7 years!

Actually I would hire pros and get it right.

Simple enough, I would purchase a new Denali and a caravan then travel this wide land for twelve months whilst pondering the issue.


And if I am still undecided I would probably spend the next ? months hunting and fishing 'til I got my answer.


I am nothing if not thorough.

Kids get really nice newer car after 1 year of driving.
Would buy an ice cream stand for my 13 year old daughter to run
with me. An education over the next 5 years that is invaluable.
College loans paid off after graduation, they work during school to help room and board.
A new car at graduation.
Set up with a decent home, if they are stable enough. Under 250k. No showplace.

Done with that.


Property.
Enough to never see neighbors, move around and not see foundries.

Gold/silver. If it's many millions, several million in metal. US held and foreign bank.
It's not about making money, it will yield behind the markets. It's about insurance.


Commercial real estate. Need to be sensible, but would not have to value shop
too much. It's not exactly about getting rich, you are. It's about getting this
money out thereprotected but working for you.

My mom has always wanted a '57 Chevy.

I happen to know (not closely) someone who won $60 million. I also happen to know (more closely) the lawyer who set up the companies, charities, wills and trusts for winner. He’s the first person I’d call.

The aim would not be growth, so much as preservation. Even a 2% return on that money is more than I could reasonably spend every year, so I’d just make sure the principal remained and the excess spread among my son, step kids and grandkids, and their get for future generations.

It’s not going to get any easier for young people. The income gap is too great.

Again I lost $4 on powerball tickets last night. All my long lost kin will stay lost for another week. My army of lawyers will continue to chase ambulances etc.