Death and taxes rule

There's a guide out there about what to do if you win.

Basically, tell nobody before you talk to a senior partner in a big law firm, get trusts set up for yourself and the people in your life so everybody is looked after and you can't fall below a decent living wage even if you fuck the rest up. This also stops people hounding you for a slice and destroying your relationships.

Then there was stuff about setting up investments, and setting aside some spending cash.

Personally I'd want to put most of the "investments" into various mutual aid projects to build lasting social stability rather than using it to further the stock market, but other than that it's pretty good advice.

Half? So they could get 850 over 25 years? That's 34 million/year... Or 2.8mil/month... In what world is that not enough? Unless you're afraid they're gonna stop paying you after like a year or two, which is fair, especially in this day and age.. yeah, okay, I've changed my mind, I'd take the lump sum too.. not risking it.

Nah. There's a reason the parasites insist on getting most of their pay in stock and benefits.

The listed amount is actually an annuity that pays out over like 25 years. The base lump-sum amount is usually only around half of the listed amount. So a $2b win would only pay out about $1b in cash. And then that cash amount is heavily taxed.

You should almost always choose the cash option even if the annuity is a “larger” total, because the annuity’s rates very rarely beat inflation rates over the 25 year time period… So you’re better off just taking the cash as a lump sum and investing it in index funds and bonds, which will virtually always beat inflation rates over time.

But all of this is to say, it’s not quite an 80% tax rate. It’s more like 55%, once you consider the fact that the cash option is already only about half of the listed winnings.

it was a $2.04b jackpot. would have paid out that much as an annuity over like 25 years or something. taxes would have been withheld from those payments.

the 'lump sum' option was $997.6m, which is what the winner opted for. after taxes the amount received was actually $628.5m.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/2-04-billion-powerball-winner-200153929.html

whoever pulled the $424m out of their backside took another dose of taxes out of the payment that already had taxes deducted.

Lottery winners usually have a choice of getting their winnings paid out over the course of twenty or thirty years, or as one lump sum. If they take the lump sum the winner only gets about half of what they would with the annual payments. So assuming this guy took the lump sum and got $1B the tax would be closer to 60%. Still a lot, but $450M is nothing to sneeze at.

The way it works in America is that the amount they tell you is after a 30 year annuity, so you obviously get a lot of interest there. It also lets them bump their numbers up which makes it more attractive I guess. Currently Powerball is at 320 million with a cash value (or lump sum) of 150 million. After that you get taxed and knocked down more so you might end out taking home around 100 million. As someone who has not won, I can say that sounds like bullshit, but if I did win, well I wouldn't be complaining. What would I use the extra money on anyhow? Get some dude who wears orange facepaint the presidency? Hard pass. I'd have to be a gigantic friendless turbo nerd to do some shit like that.