Current Events > if you won the Powerball, do you think you would go broke?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I honestly doubt it because I would likely still be living a similar life to what I do now. I dont see myself wanting to spend the money on big mansions and fancy cars

I'm already broke

Annuity is looked down on, but there's some benefit to gentler streams that aren't 1-time. Lump sum is objectively better, but to avoid going broke, I might take the annuity tbh.

PiOverlord posted...

Annuity is looked down on, but there's some benefit to gentler streams that aren't 1-time. Lump sum is objectively better, but to avoid going broke, I might take the annuity tbh.

You could take the Lump sum and then put them in cascading CD's. If it's 20 million, put 1 million in a 20 year CD, 1 million in a 19 year CD, so on and so on. So you would get a million each year plus the interest.

Almost no chance.

Not a chance in hell. My life wouldn't be lived much different. I'd move to my dream spot for retirement and sure I'd splurge on a nice piece of property but it would only be a sliver of my winnings. Once that was bought my life wouldn't be any different from now only I would quit working. But my spending habits would be the same meaning 95% of the time outside required monthly bills I don't spend a penny.

I mostly have everything I want in life. I'm well established and already have far more money than I need and I barely spend it. I save/invest like 80% of my monthly income. A book here or there, some movies, and some games here and there. That is pretty much it for spending.

I would have the money in so many saving accounts the interest would be unreal

I would not go broke.

No, but my life would likely be in danger if I'm not 100% successful at keeping my winnings secret

I think you'd have to try to go broke to lose $826,000,000. There's no way you could do that on accident no matter how careless you are.

I wouldn't buy expensive things just for the sake of having expensive things. I probably wouldn't even go through $10 million within the next 20 years.

I'd like to say no, but the stats on lottery winners don't look great.

I think I have a better chance than most, I have simple tastes. I think the only issue might be my family.

I cant win it because I cant play it.

But if I did suddenly have that kind of money, the only real difference it would make to me personally is bringing my retirement forward by a few years. Most of it would go towards helping other people because I dont need that kind of money.

I only really see myself getting a better (not extravagant) house in a better neighborhood and a better car. Nothing else really interests me that I would consider frivolous.

I don't see how I could possibly spend that much money

I highly doubt it. I would try to invest a good chunk of it in a way that would ensure a decent annual return before spending any. I think that's what you're supposed to do if you win big

I feel like Id still live basically the same honestly

I dont really have any desire for uber expensive cars or big houses. If I had multi millions the biggest purchases Id make would probably be a high end Acura or equivalent and a nice apartment

To me money is freedom. If I no longer have to worry about paying bills, keeping food on the table, a roof over my head and can live comfortably Im pretty much content. Im single and I make $70k a year in Arizona and Im honestly pretty content already, though I definitely dont make enough to not have to worry about emergencies

Nope

There is actually an interesting reddit post giving what seems like good advice for lottery winners. It includes some stories of people whose lives were ruined when they won. Not just by losing the money, just in other ways.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/comment/chba4bf/

You see, it's something of an open secret that winners of obnoxiously large jackpots tend to end up badly with alarming regularity. Not the $1 million dollar winners. But anyone in the nine-figure range is at high risk. Eight-figures? Pretty likely to be screwed. Seven-figures? Yep. Painful. Perhaps this is a consequence of the sample. The demographics of lottery players might be exactly the wrong people to win large sums of money. Or perhaps money is the root of all evil. Either way, you are going to have to be careful. Don't believe me? Consider this:
Large jackpot winners face double digit multiples of probability versus the general population to be the victim of:
Homicide (something like 20x more likely)
Drug overdose
Bankruptcy (how's that for irony?)
Kidnapping
And triple digit multiples of probability versus the general population rate to be:
Convicted of drunk driving
The victim of Homicide (at the hands of a family member) 120x more likely in this case, ain't love grand?
A defendant in a civil lawsuit
A defendant in felony criminal proceedings

Nah. I dont even know what i would do with that much money, I have no desire to live it up. A nicer house and more shelf space for books is most of what I can think of.

Well, that and starting a small publishing company.

Absolutely not. I wouldn't do anything extreme beyond maybe buying a house, a car, and getting lots of goodies like a big TV, some new consoles, and stuff.

Which really wouldn't put much if a dent in it.

if i won i would mostly live a down to earth life style as i have no interest in living in a mansion or the like

Nope, I'd invest the principal and live off a sliver of the dividends, reinvest the remainder. I'd keep a few million liquid/cash at any given time.

Probably.

Kisai posted...

I think you'd have to try to go broke to lose $826,000,000. There's no way you could do that on accident no matter how careless you are.

With that kind of money I would definitely spend a ridiculous amount of money on old comics, but even with that it would be such a minor amount of it.

If I could hide my identity no. But I cant so my familys going to be hounding me for money for the rest of my life until either its gone, or I am.

No. I'd set aside $50 million in various investment accounts and let it accumulate for a few decades. After that an annual distribution would be enough to live quite comfortably.

Nah.

I largely keep to myself. I could win that money and live out the rest of my life.

I'd just buy non-essentials slightly more often and always make sure there is enough set aside for emergencies, and otherwise live pretty much the same

If I did win, the first thing I would do after investing some would be to go on a world tour and visit every country I've wanted to go to but never had the time/money to.

Im woke, so probably

No way in hell. I could buy a house, buy a couple vehicles, buy some of my dream barbecue grills and smokers, buy a new phone, new laptop, put in wired networking and a rack full of networking equipment and servers, and other stuff, without even making a dent.

Unlikely because I'd put some in savings and some in stocks.

I'd have a house built on property I bought, I don't drive (can't due to medical issues) so I wouldn't need a vehicle but I'd still buy something for my parents and buy a DeLorean I can have to look at.

^Id do that too except with a Batmobile

No.

Hundreds of millions of dollars? No.

I wouldn't go broke with 1 million yet alone all that. I've always lived way below my means.

Im not stupid enough to go bankrupt.

Im not street smart enough to keep myself safe from murderers though

I can't imagine that I would go broke...there just aren't a lot of things that I would want right now that I don't buy.

Well, I suppose I could get a nicer car, but even then that's 20-30k max (not a big fan of luxury cars).

Then I would buy some properties in various cities that I like visiting so I'd have somewhere to stay, set up some low-risk investments so that I can live off of stock dividends and savings account interest, and then I'd probably donate the rest to various charitable organizations.

Now I do wish I could stay anonymous...but you know.

No. I think I would literally buy myself a PS5 and just put the rest in one of my brokerage accounts lol.

I wouldn't tell anyone. But there would be signs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_ZfTJRhM0

Rika_Furude posted...

Im not stupid enough to go bankrupt.

Im not street smart enough to keep myself safe from murderers though

That's my problem. I'm not worried about me. I'm not worried about my family either, we're misers.

But it's all of the rest of the things that come with winning that can happen to you, that I'm more worried about.

I could buy everything i actually want and still have tons left over. I could give everyone i know money and still not be broke. Idk how people blow all their winnings like some have. Yes, I know just frivolous nonsensical spending and no investing; but still.

Kaiser1one posted...

I could buy everything i actually want and still have tons left over. I could give everyone i know money and still not be broke. Idk how people blow all their winnings like some have. Yes, I know just frivolous nonsensical spending and no investing; but still.

What I seem to notice is that a lot of issues come from gambling problems, drug issues, legal issues, or divorces

PiOverlord posted...

Annuity is looked down on, but there's some benefit to gentler streams that aren't 1-time. Lump sum is objectively better, but to avoid going broke, I might take the annuity tbh.

The current jackpot is so high you can deposit everything and live off only the interest. Why would you take an annuity?

i would like to say i wouldn't but at the same time i don't know how i would handle having an extremely large amount of money.

I don't understand how people who win the lottery go broke. Even with reckless spending, how hard is it to hold onto 1 million? Or heck, even 100K for an emergency?

While I may play fast and loose with most of it (a lot would probably go to charity, friends, and family), I'd immediately stop and think about my spending habits when I got down to my last 10 million.