1). How often the interest is paid depends entirely upon how your trust is structured. You might elect to take your interest payments quarterly, bi-annually or annually. To take full advantage of the long-term capital gains tax, however, you should opt for the annual interest payment. You'll only be taxed on the interest earned, regardless of how often you draw it off; your principal is taxed only once, at the time you claim your jackpot. Provided you never dip into it, that principal will remain intact for the rest of your life, or longer if you so desire.
2). Risk is determined by the volatility of your selected market. High volatility=high risk, but will also return higher yields if you guess correctly and the market rises. On the other hand, if you're wrong, you stand to lose a substantial portion of your initial investment. Low volatility=low risk, and therefore will return a lesser yield, but then you won't lose much should outside factors adversely affect your investment. Commodities are highly volatile and therefore very risky, and yes, you can lose your entire investment if, say, you bought a December call on copper, and then a mine collapses with loss of life, causing all mines in the region to be shut down for a while. That's what I mean by outside factors affecting your investment. Blue Chip stocks, which include solid, dividend-paying companies like Coca-Cola or Johnson & Johnson, are normally considered to be very safe based on their history of past performance.
As I write this, short-term CD's and bonds are paying a higher yield than their long-term counterparts, such as stocks, for example. At the same time, however companies which hold lucrative military contracts, such as Lockheed or Daimler-Chrysler, can be very safe and profitable during times of military conflict. Naturally, a labor strike at either of these companies would have an adverse effect on your investment, so you have to weigh that possibility against the degree of likelihood of the strike actually coming to pass. This is why research is so important in the investment world.
3). A good financial planner is worth his weight in gold. Typically, when hiring a financial planner, the old adage, "You get what you pay for" should be heeded, but not taken for granted. What I mean is that just because someone is a licensed financial planner and charges high fees doesn't make him your best choice. Select one who has a proven performance record, and then speak with a few of his clients before signing with him. Your banker or your attorney will be able to point you in the right direction to get you started. Keep in mind, though, that, like an attorney, a financial planner is only an adviser. That is, you have to let him know what your specific long-term and short-term goals are. It's his job to show you various ways of achieving those goals, but it's ultimately your decision to make. If you just dump ten million bucks into his lap and say, "Call me after you've doubled this," my guess is that your phone will be covered in dust and cobwebs before you get that call, assuming it ever comes. The news section on this forum is full of stories of people who decided that taking an active part in their own financial futures was suddenly beneath their respective stations, or that it was simply too boring; after all, that's why they hired a financial planner. People who have sudden wealth thrust upon them tend to forget that they've won a finite amount of money, and they wrongly assume that it will never run out. Consequently, their entire fortune is gone in only a few years, and all they have to show for it is overwhelming debt and the memory of the dinner party they attended when they were able to boast of buying 100,000 shares of Mattel at 50.
4). The only way to guarantee you won't lose any of your money would be to stuff your mattress with it and never get out of bed; any investment carries a degree of risk, simply because we don't know what the future holds. Companies fail; droughts, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters happen at the most inconvenient times. All you can do is to minimize the degree of risk by sacrificing the possibility of higher returns with historically safe investment vehicles such as passbook savings accounts, CD's or physical real estate. Another effective way to reduce your risk would be to study the markets in which you're interested. The stock market is divided into sectors such as transportation, construction, durable goods and textiles, to name just a few. Select any of these and educate yourself on factors that might affect that sector. The transportation sector, for instance, is obviously affected by the price of gasoline, the federal wheel tax, natural disasters such as hurricanes (because a hurricane can and will affect insurance premiums), high-profile plane crashes, etc. It's important to know the market which you've chosen. Let it obsess you; allow it to occupy your every waking thought. It doesn't have to be boring. In fact, it can be quite exciting to be among the first to spot a major market trend, and then to watch the money roll in.
I've said it before, and I still believe that the ideal time to speak with a financial planner is now, before you win a major jackpot. Doing it now gives you the rudimentary information you'll need to make responsible and profitable decisions when the moment comes. If you wait until after you pick up your check, you'll be distracted by a million thoughts running through your mind, and you'll make your decisions based on what you know at that moment, and that could prove to be a very costly mistake.
The Motley Fool (www.motleyfool.com) has an excellent tutorial for first-time investors, or for people who just want to learn about investment vehicles. The service is free, and I would recommend it to all of my fellow members who want more information on investing their upcoming fortunes. What works for me won't necessarily work for you, so I can't give you any specific advice on where or how to invest your money, and I'm not qualified to do so; I'm not a licensed financial planner. I hope I've given you enough information to get you interested in investing, but there is no substitute for education. You might even consider taking a course on investing at your local community college. These classes can be found under "Adult Education" or "Continuing Education" in the college catalog. They're relatively inexpensive and generally take eight to ten weeks to complete (meeting one or two nights a week). While they're by no means comprehensive in scope, they will give you the necessary knowledge to make intelligent decisions when the time comes.
Hope this helps ...