No, I didn't win the lottery. I can't because I don't play the lottery. However, I did watch a show called "Lottery changed my life" on TLC about lottery winners.
The episode I watched showed a variety of winners. Some went hog wild, while others only upgraded their life somewhat. Some sped up their lives with business investments, while others slowed down and traveled. Some lost it all, ending only with misery and memories, while others continued on with happier lives and some even with a greater sense of purpose.
Between the shows were a bunch of factoids. The one that really stuck out to me was that only 33% lost all of their winnings after five years! I thought it was much, much higher than that. But the factoid was in a vaccuum though. Perhaps more lost earlier? Or perhaps these were all post-recession winners, and were less willing to squander it? I don't know.
Another thing that stuck out in my mind was how they only talked about how they spent the winnings, and how the money has impacted their lives. I was hoping they would also talk about how they MANAGED that money. 
Surely, they didn't all just stick it in their local checking account.
Oh well, I guess that's not something every viewer is interested in knowing? So, does anybody know? I have to get going right now, but I'd love to look more into this later. Not that this is anything I'll have to worry about anytime soon, but it's still morbid curiosity.
So, fellow readers. Let's say you just won the lottery. Say, $20 million dollar jackpot (after taxes). Whatever. What would you spend it on? More importantly, how would you manage that amount?
Lottery changed my life
April 18th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
April 19th, 2010 at 12:07 am 1271635636
My sister has a good friend whose uncle won a very large jackpot. I think he has been VERY conservative with his winnings from the little I have heard.
April 19th, 2010 at 01:07 am 1271639240
April 19th, 2010 at 01:54 pm 1271685263
April 19th, 2010 at 02:55 pm 1271688924
April 19th, 2010 at 06:35 pm 1271702154
And I would be very secretive about the whole deal. I wouldn't want anyone to know that I had money. That way i could do sneaky good deeds the way the bible tells you to. Gosh that would be fun.
I guess I would also immediately pay the ex-hubby (Thank you God, Thank you!!!!).
I sure would hope that I wouldn't be a complete idiot with it.
April 19th, 2010 at 07:14 pm 1271704466
I assume somewhere near 50% would go to taxes anyway....
so over 10 years you get what 8K a month? Quite a bit higher than our current living expenses anyway.
We would prolly 'live' on 4K (well more than currently needed) wasting a portion of that to our hearts content, and buying all the organic local produce we like. (including donation to church)
Then be nice/smart with the other 4K, Fill EF fund, fill house fund, retirement. Maybe some combination of all three. (as to where to put it, I am not that smart, I assume 401K, and IRA, and some simple easy access savings things, CDs?)
Once the EF is nice, we would start traveling to more interesting places with some of the 'smart money', maybe support the scouts more with money than with just time.
Since no one here has a job, I guess we would already be off work
April 19th, 2010 at 09:51 pm 1271713865
I'd probably invest a good portion of it (like, $15m) in term deposits (boring and conservative - but that's me), and with the other $5m:
buy a couple of rental properties
pay off all of our parents mortgages
build our 'dream home' somewhere away from suburbia, with a fair bit of land, and probably mostly self-sufficient.
A guy that DF's friend knows won a large sum of money, and he took his large group of friends on a holiday, and told them 'I'm paying for everything - but I never want to be asked for money ever'. Which is an interesting idea, because no doubt I have a few people that would have their hands out too.
So in saying that, we'd probably hold a lavish destination wedding/holiday with friends and family and say the same thing. People like to feel included, especially when it comes from lottery winnings
I think we'd make the money work for us, so that we didn't have to work again, or atleast only in something we enjoy. And I think we'd immediately start a family