There must be 109 million ways to ruin your life after finding out you won Powerball. But the most critical decision comes quickly, after about the fourth or fifth time you check the numbers.
To go public or not? To grip a check the size of a Charlie Sheen poster for the cameras? Or to hide your good fortune from an admiring and envious world?
"We've heard from a couple" who say they own the $109 million Powerball ticket sold in Abingdon last week, says Carole Everett, spokeswoman for the Maryland Lottery. They might come down to present the ticket in a few days, she said. Lottery officials hope they'll go public at a big media party.
"We encourage it," Everett says. "We like it. We like to show happy winners!"
Don't do it, Mr. and Mrs. Powerball. Anonymity is the first step to megawealth sanity. Sudden riches are hard enough to handle. Fame will crush you.
Don't even tell your kids.
"Every person that you have ever met is going to contact you," says Steven Danish, a professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University who counsels lottery winners. "You get threatened. You get invaded. You get surprised. They try to raise your guilt. You get confused about who your friends are and who they aren't."
Some states make lottery winners disclose their identities to the public to claim their prize. Not Maryland.
As a member of the working media I would love to know who you are, Powerball winners. A laid-off construction worker and his schoolteacher wife? A homemaker and a BGE lineman? Harford County Executive David Craig and wife Melinda?
Don't indulge me. Get a good lawyer — not your brother-in-law! You haven't told him, remember?
Figure out the biggest and best-known downtown Baltimore law firms. Interview a couple. Hire one. Pay them by the hour and pay them well. You can afford it. Ask about taxes, trusts, investments — and privacy.
Invest conservatively. Invest for income. Whether you take the annuity or the lump sum, you have more than enough money for you, your heirs, your heirs' heirs and all kinds of charities. You don't need to turn $100 million into $200 million. Try too hard and you're more likely to turn it into $10 million.
Firms such as T. Rowe Price or Vanguard can preserve your hoard, generate a nice annual income and not rip you off. Don't go with your stockbroker cousin.
Move, if you must. Buy a new house. But no more than five bathrooms, please.
Don't get a swollen head. Winning $109 million is a freak accident, like falling through a manhole and getting eaten by an alligator. It does not bestow dignity or virtue. But you can become honorable and good according to how you wield your wealth.
We're in the worst economy in 80 years. People still starve in parts of the world. Be kind in ways large and small. Anonymously. Lawyers can facilitate that, too.
Faceless charity is not only the most praiseworthy type, as certified by the major religions. It's also economically efficient, because it preserves incentives for recipients to help themselves. They won't know whom to pester for another bailout.
Learn about incentives. Don't let Powerball millions turn into a welfare trap for you and your relatives. Lottery windfalls that smother our reasons for getting out of bed leave us poorer than before we bought the ticket.
Buy a new car if you want. Not a Porsche. Take the family to Disney World.
If you must tell people you won the lottery — to explain Disney World — don't disclose the amount. Let them think you pocketed a few grand on Pick 4.
"When was the last time somebody in Maryland won this big?" I asked Everett. In 2003, she said, a woman won $183 million in Mega Millions. Big news conference, lots of media.
"And who was that?" I asked. She couldn't say, she said, because the family decided they no longer wanted publicity. (For the record, it was letter carrier Bernadette Gietka, a letter carrier from Dundalk.)
See? For any outed lottery winner, the glory and adrenaline of publicity are paid for with years of wondering whether your friends like you or your dough.
"There are people who are going to try to intimidate you," says Danish. "Or swindle you. Or try to force you to share the money. And you're going to feel guilty because you can't make everybody's dream come true."
The lottery is a raw deal for everyone except government, which gets some of the revenue. Many who play can least afford it. Those who win are extremely rare. The winners sometimes turn out to be the biggest losers.
That's another reason to skip the mediafest. You've just obtained financial independence. Don't let it be said that your last job was as a highly paid flack for the lottery industry.
It should be optional for a winner to disclose their identity or at least only require a initial for first name e.g." Mr. or Ms. I. Won" and no photo op. The world is a different place today and predators abound.
When I win the lottery,my home state says that I must hold a press conference.They don't say that I have to appear as I normaly appear.I'm wearing a disguise to the horse & pony show.
"Some states make lottery winners disclose their identities to the public to claim their prize. Not Maryland."
I hope the Maryland lottery winners are wise enough to remain anonymous especially since they have the option.
Nothing good comes from going public.
"I WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS IF GIVEN THE OPTION!"
"You make a living by what you get, You make a LIFE by what you give!"
Sir Winston Churchill
Nothing good comes from going public.
Especially when the d-bag media enables people to more easily pester you.
But what I really want to know is -- what if your stockbroker cousins work at T. Rowe and Vanguard?
Idaho requires that your name be released to the media, unfortunately, so there's no way to keep a win from your family. I wouldn't do the press conference or the photo op, but just having your name out there is bad enough.
I think they should retire and conserve their money.
Even though some states require that you hold a press conference if you win a jackpot, but from my understanding; there are ways to get around that. That's why it is so important to get an attorney when you do win a jackpot. The attorney can set up a Trust, LLC,....etc and the attorney will represent you to claim your winnings and you can remain anonymous. What are they going to do if you don't come forward, but you have an attorney to represent you with the winning ticket?.......not give you the winnings. I've already decided on setting up a trust, when I WIN A LOTTERY JACKPOT.
I would not go public if I were the winners you have alot of people in that town,
that are waiting to see if they know who it is. I would definitely move from the area
as people will never see you the same. I like the prvious post claim it and make people
think you won a small amount of money maybe $50,000.00, however if they let any
family members know they are going to tell people as well. I would say they have a hard
decision to make $109,000,000.00 is alot of money.
Yes, a trust to claim your winnings here in Maryland is the way I will go. I will never go public, and I appreciate Maryland for having this option. Congrats to the PB $109,000,000 winners.
Here in NY it doesn't matter if you hire an attorney and set a trust, still have to go public and do the photos and media. Last winner that did this was in 2009, he came out after one month to claim his prize with a trust and wearing dark shades. The only thing that an attorney can do here in NYS is to prevent the media from interviews, but the photos are mandatory. I haven't heard many incidents after winning, but one with the Lady from staten Island that her husband wants a cut of a lotto prize everyone else has banished.
My state doesn't let you collect anonymously, and they require you attend a press conf for the big wins.
great quotes take some good thinking to understand fully.
" I just miss - I miss being anonymous."
, you miss it to , if your found out to be a large jackpot winner and bugged for cash none stop.
"Obviously you don't want to be anonymous, but you don't want everyone to know your life."
Money all you need for people to notice you in shopping world
enjoy being rich, just don't you dare let anyone and everyone know that your a lottery winner, they they think they now have some "right" to ask you for your money without shame.
"I remember him saying, 'Rich and famous? It's much better to be just rich'. I didn't quite get it to begin with. But he's right. You lose anonymity. I say to my family that you've no idea until you lose it how precious anonymity is. ."
just try getting comfortable with being a large public lottery winner- t hat whole side of it, the loss of anonymity, the loss of privacy. Giving up that part of your life and not having control of it
"Success made me self-sufficient, but it also took away my anonymity. I'm just this quiet nobody, and all of a sudden people are nervous around me. That was kind of weird."
now replace Nervous around you, with their Greedy around you, money lusting eny, etc, do you really want that? are you sure?
"As a social good, I think privacy is greatly overrated because privacy basically means concealment. People conceal things in order to fool other people about them. They want to appear healthier than they are, smarter, more honest and so forth."
and i want to appear poorer ,less lucky , darn right we should conceal some things when its for our own good/protection form others. , screw the public, their the enemy here.
know how the dems openly call for robbing rich people, your now their target bro of their hatred.
the public is not concerned a darn about your safety, your security, and your privacy. they care about your money!
"I have as much privacy as a goldfish in a bowl."
aka its better to be a rich fish, in a tank with 10000+ other rich fish to bend in with
, then to have everyone "know who you are" and stare right at you. not good feeling having no privacy out in public.
"If the right to privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual,to be free from unwarranted public intrusion."
I really believe that we don't have to make a trade-off between winning the lottery and privacy. I think trusts and lawyers gives us the ability to have both :D
"Privacy and security are those things you give up when you show the world what makes you extraordinary. "
Winning PB/MM And being able to buy anything to want, is not necessarily a hardship in any way. the invasion of your privacy, are what constitute the pain of a lottery winner.
Publication is a self-invasion of privacy."
and that;s why i never shed a tear to idiots going public. learn by thinking ahead of time pros and con's
, and not by finding out hard way......
Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.
same can be said to state lottery's on relying on them to have your privacy above their marketing.
, their intrest is making you a marketable dream "buy tickets and can win just like X here" shows you off
"bye bye privacy" it just flyed out window like a bird thats never flying back in its cage to freedom.
You lose your privacy, and sometimes, people don't see you as human.
For lottery winners, they see you as their own personal ATM, and are insulted when you fail to give out cash,
now you can't so you was not warned told before hand to use a trust.
Lucky for me I can remain anonymous if I win, and honestly I'd have to second guess telling my family because, I have a feeling they'd run there mouth.
Don't even second guess...just don't do it if you win. I wouldn't tell any of my family I won because people will assume that just because you have so much money, you should have no problem lending any to them. Like others have stated here, I would hire me a law firm (actually, I already have that set...I would just need to schedule an appointment to discuss my "issues"). I would actually accompany my lawyer(s) to the lottery headquarters, but I would be so incognito, I would give Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence a run for their money in being disguised...I would of course be there as the financial representative and I would insist the press release identify me as such and not as the winner. Then I would pull up my Outlook calendar and start planning trips around the world...of course, after the lump sum of cash hits my accounts and I have all my tax planning out of the way. No way am I trying to go to jail.
Absolutely some of the best advice I've ever seen with regard to winning a large jackpot.
A winner living in the Sate of New York will present a big winner some problems with regard to remaining anonymous, but the solution to that is to simply disappear.
Here in Pennsylvania you are required to allow your name and town to be revealed. The picture and ceremony is optional.
When I win, I will skip the hoopla & spend some quality time at my new undisclosed vacation home !!!
I will get some advice from a reputable investment firm.
I like nice cars, so I will indulge in a nice car or 2!
I will blend into my new neighborhood as well as I possibly can.
There many bargains in the real estate market, so now would be an ideal time to win.
Best wishes to lottery post members, but I want tonite's Mega Millions for myself !
Agree w/Cypher & with the MAXIMUM AXIOM in all field of speculation World Wide:
All things considered, when making money it's best to make it in the DARK!!!
Vanity, Narcissim & Ego must GO
EddessaKnight
I'm a stubborn soul and nobody is going to make me do anything I don't want to do --- As long as, I don't sign anything stating that I have to have my picture taken; I will not get my picture taken and there is no law that says I have to be photograph. I refuse to open the door for every Tom, Dick or Harry to come after me or my family for money. There was a situation some years ago, where a man won the lottery and he had a giving soul; he would give money to family and total strangers and when he couldn't give no more; he committed suicide because people kept coming. Winning the lottery is a wonderful thing, if you are lucky enough to win, but it also put the winners in jeopardy for unsafe and unhealthy situations. No state should make and cannot make you pose w/ a big check for the media........you should have that chose to "smile for the camera" or not. I would definitely fight it.........and I would still get my winnings.
Can someone list te states were you can remain anonymous?
I vote for optional use of name claiming.
I vote for staying out of the Stock game. Keep it in your backyard with a smith and Wesson .
I vote for sensibility in winning and savings.
The best person to manage your money...yourself. You've gotten thru life this far, ya had to retain something in that noggin...
The best things in life never took winning the lottery to appreciate....
Sounds like a plan, only I think I would take a cross country trip going to as many sporting events I could.. sounds like a hell of a vacation to me.
I know several people who live in the area and by shop at wine world from time to time. I told one of them I hope she is the winner and playing it safe. I encouraged her to keep it to herself if she won. She assured me that she isn't the winner.
Although I am curious as to who the winners are. I employ them to...KEEP IT ANONYMOUS!!!! And...congratulations.
i think everyone who wins the lottery should take some of the money and go to money management school honestly. That's what I'd do anyway.
I'm gonna party like a wildman for at least a year and then come back home and start actin' respectable and such... maybe.
Maybe not.
Sounds like a plan.
That and an assertiveness training class.
Texas allows limited publicity, although what that really means is unclear. The state lottery website's winners list is laundry list of trusts, LLCs, and FLPs, with winner notices having 'representatives' claiming in many cases. In any case, I'd leave it to the pros to protect my identity. I'd tell my immediate family - adult kids, parents, sisters. We are all pretty close, and none of us live large. There are a few extended family members who would be first on the doorstep if they knew, but they won't learn about it from any of us.
"respectable and such" won't last. Not a whole lot of fun in it for you, Ridge. Besides, why change a good thing, 'wildman'?
Since you're in Missouri maybe you can get somebody to show you the back of a lottery ticket. Somewhere it will say something about being subject to all rules and regulations of the lottery. If one of those rules is that winners have to be photographed and do the dog and pony show the only way you can get out of doing the dog and pony show and having your photo taken will be to give back the ticket and get your dollar back. My guess is that if you're ever faced with making that decision you'll find that having your picture taken isn't as bad as you thought.