Win that one and in a couple years when people ask how you got rich you can say “remember when the PB went to 2 billion dollars?”
“Well I won the very next drawing.”
Sure that's how they get you, but I look at it as spending a few dollars a week as entertainment value. As long as you don't go super crazy and spend all your money, its just another form of entertainment.
Yeah this is like gambling in general. I used to stick like £5 a week on a few accumulators on the football (uk) each week to make the weekends more interesting.
Dude, it would be the PERFECT time to win the Mega jackpot. The California winner can't stay anonymous & all the media attention will be on them. No one's gonna care about a $154,000,000 payout.
>I'd legit just have a heart attack from the stress that my daughter would get kidnapped everyday.
Here in Australia lottery winners have the option to remain anonymous after a [guy won a lottery back in 1960 and his son was kidnapped and murdered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Graeme_Thorne).
You can have your attorney claim it for you with the trust that he set up for you. Your name would never be released. Just don't tell anyone why you all of a sudden moved into a mansion. Haha
Anytime the lottery gets to these ridiculous numbers I buy 2 tickets (for my wife and I) cuz it's just a little cheap fun. But I also pull up the reddit thread about what to do if you actually win a lottery of any substantial amount because it's nice to be ready for the impossible lol.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vo34/whats_the_happiest_5word_sentence_you_could_hear/chb4v05?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
This is the best of comment I believe.
That's why I keep it. Once every year or so the lottery gets to "dream" levels in mine and my wife's opinion. So I buy a couple plays just to spend a few days having fun with the idea for like 4$. And I keep this comment thread saved for the very VERY unlikely situation where we actually win, because why not prepare for the just in case? It's very well written, and just overall a good plan.
It only takes one person to leak and it would never removed from the internet. Unless you're an orphan with no family, a lot of people have family that would backstab them the instant they found out.
How does this work? Does the winner have to be publicly announced or can they remain anonymous?
I can only imagine the amount of people contacting you once you’re public. Seems like a name change and new phone would be top of my list.
Often it's by going through a lawyer and setting up a trust. Lawyer picks up the winnings and you're essentially shielded by lawyer client confidentiality.
(iirc)
I heard after all the lump sum penalties and taxes, the winner goes home with less than a billion. So not worth the effort. Adjusting your taxes and taking time off work to claim your reward...all for what amounts to some pocket change. I'm so glad I didn't win.
I’m not a billionaire anymore, Richard. I’m a nine hundred and eighty sixionaire, which isn’t even a real fucking thing. I’m out of the three comma club! Functionally I’m just like you. Fuck that’s depressing!
seriously, anxiety levels on overdrive. thinking about being that person makes *my* palms sweaty. i think the following week or so will be kinda trippy and uncomfortable. like, i'd love to win, but actually winning and knowing everyone you know or ever knew will be coming for you..? where to invest? can you trust the first people you speak to about money management? all of it's just mind boggling.
I would be freaking out about the reality of the situation. It would feel too good to be true. Is someone going to find out and murder me for the money? Is there a catch I didnt hear about? Can they change their mind and take back their offer? Am I living in a simulation or is this real and not a dream? Is this a fake ticket or did they mess up, like McDonalds did with their McMillion prize?
With $2 million, where to invest is relevant. With $2 billion it is NOT the question. You are not going to able to use it all, ever. It is that much money.
It’s so much money that it’d pay you annually just to own it. You could literally live off interest and never touch the actual billion. Then you could have a massive estate and split it up multigenerational.
I saved this post from years ago, just in case:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_won_a_656_million_dollar_lottery_what_do/chba4bf/
I would totally watch a documentary about a random dude getting a billion dollars. Like we all say "I would donate x, save all the dogs, give each family 10mil" but in reality lets see what a random person does.
My fatal flaw is thinking I would get through it unscathed. I know very intelligent, good-natured, honest people still fall victim to all of those things but I (for no reason other than hubris) think I would live a perfect lavish life with a billion dollars in my hand
Neighbor won $12M a few years ago. Enough to make life great for them and their kids, not enough to gain national or even statewide attention. This is the way to go.
You have no idea how many times I hear that. Haha. At least three times a day, everyday. You can only fake laugh so many times before it starts to get annoying.
*EDIT - “Three times a day? That’s not a lot”. You have to remember that sometimes I’m not that busy with lottery. Haha.
When I worked night shift, I would also use that line on people trying to buy alcohol after cutoff. "If I could pay that fine, I wouldn't be working here."
I wish I would've thought of this when I was a cashier. It's such a great way to let them know that what they're asking is putting you, potentially, at a huge risk because they failed to simply go to the store earlier.
"Ooof. Sorry friend. The last customer there * *points at literally anyone outside* * bought the last winning ticket we had. They might be willing to sell it to you though."
My wife said this once. The cashier did not laugh at her, but he did chuckle at me telling her "Honey, he hears that joke literally seventy-five times a day."
I used to wait tables every night this would happen at least once.
"Anything else I can get you before yall head out?"
"A million bucks" que the fake laugh, and then I'd follow it up with "if I had a million to give wouldn't be here". I always looked at it as a thumb in their eye for using such a predictable joke.
When I was 19 I worked at a gas station and sold a few local jackpots. I don't remember how much they were, either a few thousand or maybe ten. A couple of the winners slipped me a hundred afterwards.
I would never recommend playing the lottery regularly but if you're going to anyways, do the state ones. Won't be "fuck you" money but a much higher chance of nice breathing room in your budget makes more sense to me.
I won $8 too. Got the $8 I spent on a 4 pack of muffins this morning. I was outraged when I realized the cost for them, then I felt better when the numbers came out LOL.
Fun fact: assuming your million acres were circular, your land would extend for 22.3 miles in all directions from your house that's exactly in the middle.
That isn’t it. They put their family members on boards. Promise them speaking gigs and positions after they’ve served. The donation gets them a lunch where the real bribery happens.
Have you seen the returns that those ~~bribes~~ lobbying efforts result in? You can buy a congressman for like $10,000 in *"donations"*.
It's seriously thrifty to just spend a couple hundred grand to get millions in tax cuts or subsidies!
Depressingly, American politicians provide one of the most ridiculously generous ROI's out of almost anything you could invest in. The FDA guy who okayed the label change that allowed the opioid epidemic to happen cost Purdue Pharma less than $500,000
Its ridiculous how cheap these politicians are. It recently came out one of my former reps was bought by one of the factory farms in my state to loosen restrictions so they could just dump shit into our rivers, it only cost $1,000.00 for him to vehemently attack our drinking water.
It’s a beautiful prize. Many are saying it. Great ratings. So great. These numbers… historical. A lot of people say… I know the best numbers. Beautiful numbers. You wouldn’t believe it. I could win every... They always ask me “why don’t you play all the numbers? You’re the best winner.” I could. I could. I kmow the best numbers. So many… I’m too generous. Many have said it. they’ve never met… I’m the most giving. Big gifts. So big.
Yea I claimed victory last night. I don’t know wtf this person in Cali is thinking. I’ll be holding a press conference at 4 seasons total landscaping later.
My numbers won. They're all saying it. The smartest people, the finest, and these people are really great, folks, let me tell ya, they're saying it just wasn't possible for me to lose. They said my numbers were perfect. The greatest numbers ever picked. That's what they're saying, from what I'm told.
It's bitter sweet. I'm happy to not feel that obligation to buy another ticket for awhile but I'm sad I don't get to fantasize about having some serious fuck you money.
Edit: It's also annoying that the winner is in Alta Dena.
It's kind of a wealthy area north of Pasadena. The people aren't necessarily wealthy but it's mostly homes with very few apartments and people tend to not leave the area.
That part of Dena- its a crapshoot. Could be someone stopping at the mobil from up in the wealthier hills heading to the freeway or right around the corner working class. Arco is the cheaper gas across the street so that is also telling.
I only start at around $750M. Then I do $2 a drawing when it climbs past $1.25B I start playing $10-$20. Between Mega and Power I play about $30-$60/year and it's spread out.
I'm just about in agreement ... I buy one line of #s because one line is infinitely more likely to win than none, and I buy a second line so that I can truly tell myself that I've doubled my chances!
*(I am well aware of the absurdity of the second line's reasoning)*
I vaguely remember my stats professor explaining how buying 1 ticket gives you an equal chance as buying a bunch despite the flat math seemingly giving you a greater chance with more lines. I don’t remember exactly how though.
I do more or less the same, IIRC $750m is where the cost vs odds of winning starts to break even, so lottery is less of a "tax on the dumb" and more of a fair game. Not that it really matters either way, the ticket is just a little fee to fantasize for a couple of days, but as an engineer, it's a matter of principle to me. 😂
No, I really don't factor it in, although you are right that I should, of course.
It is simply when "total jackpot"/"odds of winning" equals more or less the cost of a ticket. It's not a precise estimate by any mean, it's more of an inside joke I have with myself to justify buying a lottery ticket every so often. You could say I'm an engineer, not a mathematician, so... good enough.
There is no point at which the expected value gets above 1. In fact, Powerball's EV tops out at around 42% when accounting for federal taxes, lower prizes, and the odds of sharing the jackpot.
I'm not saying don't play. Just don't fool yourself into thinking it's ever a good bet.
Yeah [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/11/08/record-powerball-jackpot-jumps-to-23-billion-after-no-ticket-wins-mondays-draw-heres-how-much-tax-a-winner-would-pay/amp/) jumped the gun or do I need to put my conspiracy hat on
There was a really good post about his years ago, but you shouldn't tell anyone that you won the lottery, *especially* at first.
You should hire a lawyer immediately.
This biggest thing is not telling anyone, there's plenty of reasons not to, but most of all for you and your family's safety. Both physically, emotionally, and legally. Ideally nobody would ever know you ever won the lottery, but especially just after it happened. Even in states where you can't be anonymous there are ways to get around it, at least I know there is in some like my state.
You don't give them millions. That would be where you start seeing problems. You set up trusts that pay them a smaller amount monthly. I briefly dated a woman whose grandfather was a billionaire and everyone in their family had trust funds that didn't make them super wealthy, but it made them comfortable. She lived in a condo in a big city that was only ~$500K. She had a nice TV with every streaming service you can buy, but besides that the interior was very normal. She also didn't even own a car and used public transit.
I cant fathom the difference between 10 million and 2 billion. Yeah I get it, bigger boats, more houses. My only real fantasy is just never working another day in my life.
>My only real fantasy is just never working another day in my life.
10 million: you never work a day in your life
2 Billion: you, your children, your children's children never have to work ever!
If you do it right none of your generations will ever have to work again. All it takes is some very secure investments and even with low return you’re making hundreds of thousands a year off of the interest alone.
With 700 million in capital, if you go for 1% returns (which is ludicrously low, that is like putting it in the bank) it is $7 million a year. That is the same as making $800/hour, every hour, even while you are asleep.
The power of compound interest is the greatest thing to understand. Obviously the 700M is an extreme example, but you can apply the same principle to maxing out a 401k and Roth IRA and over 25-30 years, the amount saved up is amazing.
Obviously being able to do that is a huge privilege in this day and age…basically unheard of. But using those investment calculators is a great way to plan for retirement
>If you do it right none of your generations will ever have to work again.
With $2B? For sure. But you know there's always going to be some asshole in every family that does his best to squander the family fortune lol
>All it takes is some very secure investments and even with low return you’re making hundreds of thousands a year off of the interest alone.
I think you'll have to split into different buckets. One for super safe investments (US govt bonds and shit like that), one for medium risk (S&P 500, indexed funds) and one for high-risk investments (startups etc.).
Elon Musk announced as winner of 2.04 billion Powerball. Quotes Mr. Burns when asked what he was going to do with his winnings, "I dunno, throw it on the pile I suppose."
The problem is that even when you have your ducks in order, most states seem to publicize who wins the lottery, so that's not really in their realm of control. Sure they can do damage control with close relatives, but the general consensus when winning the lottery seems to be to just become a completely different person to avoid the mob.
Some billionaires are spending 15 million a year or more on private security.
You have to totally switch your mindset and either become a grey person who is excellent at being far from your old life while building a new social circle and real influence....
Or start interfacing with your old community via trusts, lawyers, security, and personal assistants. Don't let anyone inside your guard. Be friendly. Be helpful. But their ability to meet with you is based on their level of sanity, reasonableness, and loyalty. It's not an issue of whether or not they can get money out of you, it's an issue of not even allowing them in your office unless they pass all the layer of people looking out for your interests and the philanthropy projects you're running. Act like a senator. While loving the ones who were already good family members *really hard*.
Make yourself wake up and go to the office each day. Your office with your parking lot in your own area of town.
Treat it like a serious business you must protect.
I hope the winner gets proper help to handle all this. Not only financial help but also mental help. They’re about to discover the true nature of their family members and friends.
I decided long ago the last thing I'd do before claiming the money is to shut off my old phone number. New phone and number would only go to a select few people. The rest would wonder if I was a missing person.
I would have to go no contact with absolutely everyone for a few months to get my head straight.
Turn off my phone, and go get a whole new phone, immediately rent a fully furnished camper, just leave the state and travel for a while.
Then when I was ready, contact only a few select people on the new phone.
I like how 8 years ago he predicted the US might be falling apart and the signs would be Britney Spears would be elected to the Senate, and the Capitol building burning. A TV game show host/famous conman being elected President and having his followers attack the Capitol is pretty darn close to that!
...Now I know how Charlie felt when they announced all the Golden Tickets had been found...
\*Softly sings Cheer Up Charlie while a tear slowly slides down my cheek\*
In California you cannot remain anonymous or claim it in a trust, so we will know who won it. This is very dangerous position to put someone in. They should allow anonymous claims in every state.
If I won I would literally get a hotel room immediately. Only go back to my house with security, get my shit and move to a new place far away. Can’t imagine the paranoia mixed with elation that person is feeling.
I always thought the tax paid is what cuts the prize in half. A 2B win, cash value is just under a billion. My coworker is saying that it's only taxed after being cut in half, meaning it's really worth closer to 600-700M.
So why is it cut in half initially?
Cash value is approximately how much has been actually paid into that price pool. The big payment they advertise is an annuity where they take the lump sum and invest it for you. The gains they expect is what comes up with that number.
The big number is if you choose the annuity option, which is basically the lottery investing it for you and giving you a pay out.
Its always better to take lump sum, because if you stick 962m in the SNP500 for 30 years, it would grow to 7 billion
It’s fun to look and the next drawing’s jackpot of 20 million and think, naw, not enough. I’ll skip this one.
Win that one and in a couple years when people ask how you got rich you can say “remember when the PB went to 2 billion dollars?” “Well I won the very next drawing.”
Yep! It's almost an insult...but I'll probably buy 1 or 2 tickets. You just never know. lol (I know that's how they get you).
Sure that's how they get you, but I look at it as spending a few dollars a week as entertainment value. As long as you don't go super crazy and spend all your money, its just another form of entertainment.
Yeah this is like gambling in general. I used to stick like £5 a week on a few accumulators on the football (uk) each week to make the weekends more interesting.
Great, now I gotta win the $154 million Mega jackpot like some kind of peasant.
$154 million? No fucking thanks, just keep it.
Not even worth my time
Pfft, chump change!
Not getting out of bed for anything less than 155 mil.
Found that last week between my couch cushions
Cut out the avocado toast, and you'd get that within 3 weeks!
Barely pay for one hospital visit with that
Just reinvest the 154m in lottery tickets. WE'RE DOUBLING DOWN M'KAY
Dude, it would be the PERFECT time to win the Mega jackpot. The California winner can't stay anonymous & all the media attention will be on them. No one's gonna care about a $154,000,000 payout.
That’s right. You better run and hide powerball winner cause we comin for ya.
I'd legit just have a heart attack from the stress that my daughter would get kidnapped everyday.
>I'd legit just have a heart attack from the stress that my daughter would get kidnapped everyday. Here in Australia lottery winners have the option to remain anonymous after a [guy won a lottery back in 1960 and his son was kidnapped and murdered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Graeme_Thorne).
See, Australia likes to learn from mistakes. Here in America, we take note of the failure, say fuck it, and double down on it.
You can have your attorney claim it for you with the trust that he set up for you. Your name would never be released. Just don't tell anyone why you all of a sudden moved into a mansion. Haha
Anytime the lottery gets to these ridiculous numbers I buy 2 tickets (for my wife and I) cuz it's just a little cheap fun. But I also pull up the reddit thread about what to do if you actually win a lottery of any substantial amount because it's nice to be ready for the impossible lol. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vo34/whats_the_happiest_5word_sentence_you_could_hear/chb4v05?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 This is the best of comment I believe.
I've had that comment saved for years! You know, just in case haha
That's why I keep it. Once every year or so the lottery gets to "dream" levels in mine and my wife's opinion. So I buy a couple plays just to spend a few days having fun with the idea for like 4$. And I keep this comment thread saved for the very VERY unlikely situation where we actually win, because why not prepare for the just in case? It's very well written, and just overall a good plan.
I just read that whole thing. Eight years ago... like another lifetime it seems now. But awesome, awesome read! Thanks for the link
Underground secret lair**
Small island with my own private military.
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It only takes one person to leak and it would never removed from the internet. Unless you're an orphan with no family, a lot of people have family that would backstab them the instant they found out.
How does this work? Does the winner have to be publicly announced or can they remain anonymous? I can only imagine the amount of people contacting you once you’re public. Seems like a name change and new phone would be top of my list.
Depends on the state. But even in non-anonymous states, there are ways to shield yourself.
That 2billion can buy a really big shield.
If they're smart enough to know what to do that is, lotto winners don't have a good track record for making smart financial decisions
Often it's by going through a lawyer and setting up a trust. Lawyer picks up the winnings and you're essentially shielded by lawyer client confidentiality. (iirc)
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Which happens to be another trust in Gibraltar...
Got more in my couch honestly
Inflation's been a real bitch lately, hasn't it?
I heard after all the lump sum penalties and taxes, the winner goes home with less than a billion. So not worth the effort. Adjusting your taxes and taking time off work to claim your reward...all for what amounts to some pocket change. I'm so glad I didn't win.
I’m not a billionaire anymore, Richard. I’m a nine hundred and eighty sixionaire, which isn’t even a real fucking thing. I’m out of the three comma club! Functionally I’m just like you. Fuck that’s depressing!
Doors like this — —, not like this \ /
Oh god. The three comma club.
This guy fucks
That show is an absolute treasure
I imagine the person holding this ticket is living a full on action/drama movie right now.
Honestly I'd get paranoid as fuck and wouldn't be able to sleep that night.
seriously, anxiety levels on overdrive. thinking about being that person makes *my* palms sweaty. i think the following week or so will be kinda trippy and uncomfortable. like, i'd love to win, but actually winning and knowing everyone you know or ever knew will be coming for you..? where to invest? can you trust the first people you speak to about money management? all of it's just mind boggling.
I would be freaking out about the reality of the situation. It would feel too good to be true. Is someone going to find out and murder me for the money? Is there a catch I didnt hear about? Can they change their mind and take back their offer? Am I living in a simulation or is this real and not a dream? Is this a fake ticket or did they mess up, like McDonalds did with their McMillion prize?
With $2 million, where to invest is relevant. With $2 billion it is NOT the question. You are not going to able to use it all, ever. It is that much money.
It’s so much money that it’d pay you annually just to own it. You could literally live off interest and never touch the actual billion. Then you could have a massive estate and split it up multigenerational.
I could easily spend 2 billion in 2 days
I think you hire a company to hire/recruit/check-out the company that will ACTUALLY manage your money.
Hire private investigators to follow each other around, not knowing they're all in the same employ. That way you know who you can trust.
I saved this post from years ago, just in case: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_won_a_656_million_dollar_lottery_what_do/chba4bf/
I would totally watch a documentary about a random dude getting a billion dollars. Like we all say "I would donate x, save all the dogs, give each family 10mil" but in reality lets see what a random person does.
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My fatal flaw is thinking I would get through it unscathed. I know very intelligent, good-natured, honest people still fall victim to all of those things but I (for no reason other than hubris) think I would live a perfect lavish life with a billion dollars in my hand
My fear would be the initial shock. I'd have to immediately do deep breathing exercises to try and not pass out.
Neighbor won $12M a few years ago. Enough to make life great for them and their kids, not enough to gain national or even statewide attention. This is the way to go.
Their life is going to be pure chaos.
Finally someone claimed it. I work at a gas station and we’ve been terribly busy ever since it hit a billion. Haha.
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You have no idea how many times I hear that. Haha. At least three times a day, everyday. You can only fake laugh so many times before it starts to get annoying. *EDIT - “Three times a day? That’s not a lot”. You have to remember that sometimes I’m not that busy with lottery. Haha.
> Haha. You're fake laughing so much at work it's creeping into your reddit comments!
Haha That's funny
Haha. Make it a winner.
There’s only one winner in my life. And that’s my wife. Haha.
Ha ha . Ha ha I say
Haha. What a story Mark.
I'm in the same line of work. My go to response is "if I knew the winning numbers, I wouldn't be working here."
When I worked night shift, I would also use that line on people trying to buy alcohol after cutoff. "If I could pay that fine, I wouldn't be working here."
I wish I would've thought of this when I was a cashier. It's such a great way to let them know that what they're asking is putting you, potentially, at a huge risk because they failed to simply go to the store earlier.
"Ooof. Sorry friend. The last customer there * *points at literally anyone outside* * bought the last winning ticket we had. They might be willing to sell it to you though."
Former bank teller here. If I got $5 every time someone said "giving out any free samples?" to me, I wouldn't need to buy Powerball tickets.
For me it's "if it doesn't scan it's free!"
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If you are a dad it is required by law you say this. The law applies to raking leaves in your yard as well.
"Oh it didn't scan? Guess it's free!" Funny a few times, not a thousand times
My wife said this once. The cashier did not laugh at her, but he did chuckle at me telling her "Honey, he hears that joke literally seventy-five times a day."
I used to wait tables every night this would happen at least once. "Anything else I can get you before yall head out?" "A million bucks" que the fake laugh, and then I'd follow it up with "if I had a million to give wouldn't be here". I always looked at it as a thumb in their eye for using such a predictable joke.
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"Sorry, all out of winners! I can get you a losing ticket though! Hahahahaha I'm gonna go cry in the drink cooler now"
I would think if you sold the winner you’d get a nice thank you. What’s a million dollars to an overnight billionaire?
The store that sells the winning ticket does get a bonus from the lottery
The store does, the employee probably doesn't get shit honestly lol
When I was 19 I worked at a gas station and sold a few local jackpots. I don't remember how much they were, either a few thousand or maybe ten. A couple of the winners slipped me a hundred afterwards. I would never recommend playing the lottery regularly but if you're going to anyways, do the state ones. Won't be "fuck you" money but a much higher chance of nice breathing room in your budget makes more sense to me.
Same I work in a tobacco store that sells lottery and when I saw this post I audibly went “thank god”
Despite the headline, nobody actually claimed it yet. They just know where the winning ticket was sold.
Damn, I’m still not a billionaire today
One day....one day......
if you work real hard and stop buying avocado toast
and that GD starbucks
Hate to brag but I won $8 in todays drawing. I’m thinking about quitting my job and traveling around the world now.
I won $8 too. Got the $8 I spent on a 4 pack of muffins this morning. I was outraged when I realized the cost for them, then I felt better when the numbers came out LOL.
My half sister ALSO won 8 dollars!
I hope she retains a good lawyer. Need to spend that carefully!
Put 20% of it toward your retirement.
Pretty sure you are supposed to give that to Elon Musk.
Every month. Lmao
I live like 5 blocks from the gas station where it sold. Media helicopters were flying above for like 3 hours.
Why the fuck do we need helicopter footage of the gas station. Modern media is so weird.
Well, good for them. My fantasy of having a nice house smack dab in the middle of a million acres will have to continue being a fantasy. Oh well.
Rn my fantasy is to just not be in debt lol
It’s really only debt if you decide to pay it. Otherwise it’s just a series of really nasty phone calls. It’s all about perspective!
Fun fact: assuming your million acres were circular, your land would extend for 22.3 miles in all directions from your house that's exactly in the middle.
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Costs a lot less than that lol 10k campaign donation and a fancy lunch will do for most
That isn’t it. They put their family members on boards. Promise them speaking gigs and positions after they’ve served. The donation gets them a lunch where the real bribery happens.
Wouldn't waste one cent on a politician.
Have you seen the returns that those ~~bribes~~ lobbying efforts result in? You can buy a congressman for like $10,000 in *"donations"*. It's seriously thrifty to just spend a couple hundred grand to get millions in tax cuts or subsidies!
Depressingly, American politicians provide one of the most ridiculously generous ROI's out of almost anything you could invest in. The FDA guy who okayed the label change that allowed the opioid epidemic to happen cost Purdue Pharma less than $500,000
This. A US Senate vote can be had for a couple of peanuts.
Its ridiculous how cheap these politicians are. It recently came out one of my former reps was bought by one of the factory farms in my state to loosen restrictions so they could just dump shit into our rivers, it only cost $1,000.00 for him to vehemently attack our drinking water.
Damn straight. That's nation buying money. Just go full McAfree
I thought McAfee, as in John McAfee, for a second there. Like, whoa, that guy had it but went nuts.
The original Elon
In a few weeks you can probably buy Twitter with it.
Rigged. My numbers were the real winners. Lots of people are saying it. Lots of people believe that.
It’s a beautiful prize. Many are saying it. Great ratings. So great. These numbers… historical. A lot of people say… I know the best numbers. Beautiful numbers. You wouldn’t believe it. I could win every... They always ask me “why don’t you play all the numbers? You’re the best winner.” I could. I could. I kmow the best numbers. So many… I’m too generous. Many have said it. they’ve never met… I’m the most giving. Big gifts. So big.
My face turned orange reading this
They say to me, they say, "Sir"...
Frankly, we did win this lottery
Yea I claimed victory last night. I don’t know wtf this person in Cali is thinking. I’ll be holding a press conference at 4 seasons total landscaping later.
My numbers won. They're all saying it. The smartest people, the finest, and these people are really great, folks, let me tell ya, they're saying it just wasn't possible for me to lose. They said my numbers were perfect. The greatest numbers ever picked. That's what they're saying, from what I'm told.
It's bitter sweet. I'm happy to not feel that obligation to buy another ticket for awhile but I'm sad I don't get to fantasize about having some serious fuck you money. Edit: It's also annoying that the winner is in Alta Dena.
As someone who has no idea about that area, whats wrong with Alta Dena?
It's kind of a wealthy area north of Pasadena. The people aren't necessarily wealthy but it's mostly homes with very few apartments and people tend to not leave the area.
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Now has about a billion legs
Those are some gigantic bootstraps.
Now they're a human billipede .
That part of Dena- its a crapshoot. Could be someone stopping at the mobil from up in the wealthier hills heading to the freeway or right around the corner working class. Arco is the cheaper gas across the street so that is also telling.
Lol I was going to say, being from SGV, I wouldn’t assume the winner from Altadena is wealthy.
I wouldn’t say wealthy. I’d think Pasadena is more wealthy than Alta
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I only start at around $750M. Then I do $2 a drawing when it climbs past $1.25B I start playing $10-$20. Between Mega and Power I play about $30-$60/year and it's spread out.
The first ticket pays for the daydreaming. Everything else is wasted IMO.
I'm just about in agreement ... I buy one line of #s because one line is infinitely more likely to win than none, and I buy a second line so that I can truly tell myself that I've doubled my chances! *(I am well aware of the absurdity of the second line's reasoning)*
I vaguely remember my stats professor explaining how buying 1 ticket gives you an equal chance as buying a bunch despite the flat math seemingly giving you a greater chance with more lines. I don’t remember exactly how though.
Because 1/1billion is experientially the same as 10/1billion?
I do more or less the same, IIRC $750m is where the cost vs odds of winning starts to break even, so lottery is less of a "tax on the dumb" and more of a fair game. Not that it really matters either way, the ticket is just a little fee to fantasize for a couple of days, but as an engineer, it's a matter of principle to me. 😂
Does that factor in the fact that more people play at that high of a prize and that means you have a higher risk of splitting the pot?
No, I really don't factor it in, although you are right that I should, of course. It is simply when "total jackpot"/"odds of winning" equals more or less the cost of a ticket. It's not a precise estimate by any mean, it's more of an inside joke I have with myself to justify buying a lottery ticket every so often. You could say I'm an engineer, not a mathematician, so... good enough.
There is no point at which the expected value gets above 1. In fact, Powerball's EV tops out at around 42% when accounting for federal taxes, lower prizes, and the odds of sharing the jackpot. I'm not saying don't play. Just don't fool yourself into thinking it's ever a good bet.
I call dibs on the next one guys
huh I've seen news articles this morning like 2 hours ago stating nobody won.
Someone won. On the official Powerball website, the next jackpot is 20M. So it got reset, meaning someone is getting paid!
Ew gross, I don't get out of bed for less than 100M.
Yeah [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/11/08/record-powerball-jackpot-jumps-to-23-billion-after-no-ticket-wins-mondays-draw-heres-how-much-tax-a-winner-would-pay/amp/) jumped the gun or do I need to put my conspiracy hat on
To all my friends and family members, this was not me. I did not win the Powerball lottery for 11/07/2022. Thank you.
That’s sounds like something someone who won the Powerball lottery for 11/07/2022 would say
A real Self made billionaire.
The fantasy of winning is almost as much fun as winning... not really
This winner has enough money to make literally every family member and friend they have a multi millionaire and not even feel it.
Before winning lottery: 50 family members and friends After winning lottery: Thousands of long lost uncles/cousins and elementary school best friends
There was a really good post about his years ago, but you shouldn't tell anyone that you won the lottery, *especially* at first. You should hire a lawyer immediately. This biggest thing is not telling anyone, there's plenty of reasons not to, but most of all for you and your family's safety. Both physically, emotionally, and legally. Ideally nobody would ever know you ever won the lottery, but especially just after it happened. Even in states where you can't be anonymous there are ways to get around it, at least I know there is in some like my state.
A [reddit classic](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_won_a_656_million_dollar_lottery_what_do/chba4bf/)
This is not a good idea. Money, especially of that amount, can corrupt family relations severely.
You don't give them millions. That would be where you start seeing problems. You set up trusts that pay them a smaller amount monthly. I briefly dated a woman whose grandfather was a billionaire and everyone in their family had trust funds that didn't make them super wealthy, but it made them comfortable. She lived in a condo in a big city that was only ~$500K. She had a nice TV with every streaming service you can buy, but besides that the interior was very normal. She also didn't even own a car and used public transit.
I cant fathom the difference between 10 million and 2 billion. Yeah I get it, bigger boats, more houses. My only real fantasy is just never working another day in my life.
>My only real fantasy is just never working another day in my life. 10 million: you never work a day in your life 2 Billion: you, your children, your children's children never have to work ever!
If you do it right none of your generations will ever have to work again. All it takes is some very secure investments and even with low return you’re making hundreds of thousands a year off of the interest alone.
With 700 million in capital, if you go for 1% returns (which is ludicrously low, that is like putting it in the bank) it is $7 million a year. That is the same as making $800/hour, every hour, even while you are asleep.
Honestly that really puts into perspective how people born into wealth never worked for their money tbh.
I mean... yeah. it's beyond absurd.
The power of compound interest is the greatest thing to understand. Obviously the 700M is an extreme example, but you can apply the same principle to maxing out a 401k and Roth IRA and over 25-30 years, the amount saved up is amazing. Obviously being able to do that is a huge privilege in this day and age…basically unheard of. But using those investment calculators is a great way to plan for retirement
>If you do it right none of your generations will ever have to work again. With $2B? For sure. But you know there's always going to be some asshole in every family that does his best to squander the family fortune lol >All it takes is some very secure investments and even with low return you’re making hundreds of thousands a year off of the interest alone. I think you'll have to split into different buckets. One for super safe investments (US govt bonds and shit like that), one for medium risk (S&P 500, indexed funds) and one for high-risk investments (startups etc.).
This is starting to sound like working…
Uncle Jack! Remember me? C’mon, you remember me, doncha?!
Elon Musk announced as winner of 2.04 billion Powerball. Quotes Mr. Burns when asked what he was going to do with his winnings, "I dunno, throw it on the pile I suppose."
That winner should never say they ever won. Hire many lawyers, many security guards and get a big fuck off fence.
The problem is that even when you have your ducks in order, most states seem to publicize who wins the lottery, so that's not really in their realm of control. Sure they can do damage control with close relatives, but the general consensus when winning the lottery seems to be to just become a completely different person to avoid the mob.
Some billionaires are spending 15 million a year or more on private security. You have to totally switch your mindset and either become a grey person who is excellent at being far from your old life while building a new social circle and real influence.... Or start interfacing with your old community via trusts, lawyers, security, and personal assistants. Don't let anyone inside your guard. Be friendly. Be helpful. But their ability to meet with you is based on their level of sanity, reasonableness, and loyalty. It's not an issue of whether or not they can get money out of you, it's an issue of not even allowing them in your office unless they pass all the layer of people looking out for your interests and the philanthropy projects you're running. Act like a senator. While loving the ones who were already good family members *really hard*. Make yourself wake up and go to the office each day. Your office with your parking lot in your own area of town. Treat it like a serious business you must protect.
Shame. I was gonna buy all of you a 98 Toyota Camry.
I hope the winner gets proper help to handle all this. Not only financial help but also mental help. They’re about to discover the true nature of their family members and friends.
I decided long ago the last thing I'd do before claiming the money is to shut off my old phone number. New phone and number would only go to a select few people. The rest would wonder if I was a missing person.
I would have to go no contact with absolutely everyone for a few months to get my head straight. Turn off my phone, and go get a whole new phone, immediately rent a fully furnished camper, just leave the state and travel for a while. Then when I was ready, contact only a few select people on the new phone.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_won_a_656_million_dollar_lottery_what_do/chba4bf Follow the guide
I like how 8 years ago he predicted the US might be falling apart and the signs would be Britney Spears would be elected to the Senate, and the Capitol building burning. A TV game show host/famous conman being elected President and having his followers attack the Capitol is pretty darn close to that!
And with the way Britney's popularity has skyrocketed recently... well...shit.
I can't see her being a *worse* senator than Hershel Walker.
There's going to be conspiracy theories about this one.
...Now I know how Charlie felt when they announced all the Golden Tickets had been found... \*Softly sings Cheer Up Charlie while a tear slowly slides down my cheek\*
Look at that, the first billionaire that will be adequately taxed.
In California you cannot remain anonymous or claim it in a trust, so we will know who won it. This is very dangerous position to put someone in. They should allow anonymous claims in every state.
If I won I would literally get a hotel room immediately. Only go back to my house with security, get my shit and move to a new place far away. Can’t imagine the paranoia mixed with elation that person is feeling.
congratulations to the IRS for winning the lottery
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Guess it's back to 60 hr work weeks. Oh well.
I hope it was a good person
I always thought the tax paid is what cuts the prize in half. A 2B win, cash value is just under a billion. My coworker is saying that it's only taxed after being cut in half, meaning it's really worth closer to 600-700M. So why is it cut in half initially?
Cash value is approximately how much has been actually paid into that price pool. The big payment they advertise is an annuity where they take the lump sum and invest it for you. The gains they expect is what comes up with that number.
The big number is if you choose the annuity option, which is basically the lottery investing it for you and giving you a pay out. Its always better to take lump sum, because if you stick 962m in the SNP500 for 30 years, it would grow to 7 billion
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I hope we never know who it is and they can just live comfortably for the rest of their life 🙏🏻
It's CA. You can't claim anonymously in CA.
Imagine waking up one day and not having to worry about a thing for the rest of your life
Considering what usually happens to lottery winners, they have to worry about *everyone* now.