No one won Powerball. Next Wednesday's drawing... $1.3 BILLION

[SheilaT]

16. The truly sad thing in all of this

(aside from lotteries being a tax on the financially ignorant) is that the majority of winners haven't a clue how to deal with all that money. Some insane percentage of them are bankrupt inside of five years.

Advice to potential winners:
1. Take the twenty year payout. It's more money. You might learn something about money management before the twenty years are up.
2. If at all possible, take your winnings anonymously. If you live in a state that requires disclosure, set up an LLC or some such before collecting.
3. Get good financial advice before you even consider collecting. Find an accountant, an investment adviser, a tax person before you even consider collecting.
4. Do not quit your job immediately. Give it at least three months, preferably six before even considering quitting. Chances are you've been a working stiff for several decades, and you won't have a clue what to do if you don't have to go to work every day.
5. Understand that this vast sum of money will not make all your problems go away. If you've got a kid doing drugs, that won't end. If your mother-in-law is totally impossible, she's not going to change. If your marriage is already on the rocks, realize that divorce is in your future. You may have to give the soon-to-be ex a significant part of that money, but you're still going to be very rich.
6. Even though you are going to be very rich, this money is not unlimited. As strange as it seems right now, you can foolishly spend it all and wind up broke and worse off than ever a few years down the road.
7. Which is why you need to look at the #3 above, and take it quite seriously.
8. The odds are astronomically high that you won't win. Nothing will change. You'll still be going to that same miserable job every day, posting here on DU, and cleaning the cat's litter box every day. Sigh.