Guaranteed he'll be on the streets looking for his next crack hit in 3.5 years.

I'd take annuity and then buy a house/property in a State that has no personal income tax. This way you only pay the State (you currently live in) tax with the first years check. After fed tax that gives you about 6.5 million(?) tax free a year for 29 years with ZERO risk!

congrats to him

Congratz to the winners!

If it were me advising him I would tell him to do just the opposite and take the payments. Here is why. The way I understand it you get around 20-25K per year per million won for 30 years after taxes. It depends on where you live and the tax level. This allows you to actually get more of the money because when you take the lump sum it is only half of the total jackpot and then they tax that. So he could get 124 million, but they would tax that amount so he will actually end up with around 70-80 million. That is still a ton of money, but only about half what he would get if he takes the payments.

The other reason is that the payments last 30 years. So if he spends the first 5 years of his payments buying stupid stuff and getting suckered into bad investments and he loses it all, he still has 25 years left to get his shit together. Even if he doesn't ever get his shit together he will live a pretty good life on around 6-8 million a year for 30 years. He is 29 years old now so he would be 60 when the payments run out. Even if he just put 200K per year away in a savings account at 2% interest he would have 8.6 million waiting for him when he hits 60 years old.

If he takes the lump sum up front and blows through it all it is possible in a few years that he will be broke and have no hope of ever making that money back.

I'm not saying he won't so something stupid with the payments, but the odds are a lot less that he will screw his life up with them.

I'm not 100% sure, but it may not work that way. They may tax you in the state you won it in for each payment since you were a resident of that state when you won it. Even if they did I agree with you. I would take the payments. You get twice as much money in the long run and the odds of you fucking your life up with it are a lot slimmer.

Always take the lump sum payment, set aside 10 to 15% that will be your "fun" money, invest the rest in something secure that can generate monthly revenues that will kick in once your "fun" money is gone or once you are tired of blowing money on BS.
Also, I thought that in the case of the Powerball, you did not have the option of being anomymous, in reality they state that:

All but three states (DE, KS, ND) have laws that require the lottery to release the name and city of residence to anyone who asks. One state (SC) will keep your name secret if you request it, but if someone files a Freedom of Information Act request, you may have to file a plea with the judge to deny it. Another state (OK) now has a law that allows you to claim in a trust and to keep your name from the press (though the lottery will run checks on you). Photos and press conferences are up to you for most, but not all states. Check with your state lottery to see if photos or more are required. Most of the time, it is advisable to get it over with the press so that you don't have one or more reporters following you around to get that "exclusive" interview. A few more lotteries may work with you on setting up a trust or other partnership. You or your representative should contact the lottery for the details after you win.

typically what happens to simple minded people, they have trouble paying simple things.
also happens to iresponsible people who can't take care of their finances and buy shit they can't afford.
also happens to people who blow their money on gambling, drugs, cigs, alcohol, etc...

I could go on. There are lots of reasons why people struggle with basic bills which are not sad, it's just a fact of life and in most cases something they created on their own.

Case in point, this guy worried about paying his bills, but spent money on the lottery. Sure he won, but odds were better he would get stuck by lightening 10x. He should have been spending his money on his bills not the lotto.

What is really sad, is that in 2-3 years everyone and their grandmaw will have ripped off the simple minded guy and he will be broke. He doesn't sound like the type to go buy 10 sports cars and 20 million dollar home. Sounds more like the type that will be suckered and swindled by everyone who comes to him with ideas, help, or god knows what.

that is a logical idea, the problem is that most people who win the lottery have no idea how to invest it and they don't take the time to educate themselves and surround themselves with people that do.

There was a show I watched a little while back about people who won big lotteries and lost it all. One guy was 27 and won around 100 million. He took the lump sum and ended up with about 30 million after taxes. At first he was smart. He got married (was already engaged) and threw a nice wedding and had a nice honeymoon. Then he bought a nice house for he and bride to start a family in. His brother had a business idea and he invested heavily into that only to find out that they were beat to the market with the idea and the money basically was lost. He then invested in second business that went bankrupt and he lost that money. This happened time and again eventually he took the last of his money and invested it into a resort. The resort was then fixed up and sold and it turns out his business partner screwed him and walked away with all the money.

He was 27 when he won. By the time he was 31 he had lost every penny of it in bad investments. Sadly, stories like this are not uncommon. I think the lottery office should assign people to help advise these winners and at least give them a few counseling sessions on what type of investments to avoid, how to say no and how to save and spend wisely.

Good for the clerk. Cha-ching

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