Mega Millions winning ticket sold in Illinois in $1.28B jackpot

[Ray From Cleveland]

Just checked my 5 lines. I got the Mega Ball once. That's it. Is that 2 bucks?

The odds of hitting the grand prize alone is 303 million to 1. Save your two bucks.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

This is the peculiar drawback of winning such amounts of money.

For me, I'd lay low with how I express my money publcily, but, I wouldn't hide. You can't hide anywhere on earth with a billion dollars (or even half after taxes). You will always be found, be it by criminals, former and even foreign spies, who knows? I have a responsible disposition as it refers money so I would probably put it to use in a business but definitely not splash it around.

Bottom line "don't hide from life, just be prepared to deal with the onslaught". I'd do it with a smile.

With that kinda cash you can leave the frozen gulag behind

 

[JohnDB]

I know that it sounds strange....
But I enjoy my life exactly as it currently is.

I enjoy my friends and the distance of my family. That volume of money would change all of that....not because I would change but because they would.
Sure, I'd get some toys....probably take a family vacation or two. But I have other things I want to do. And I have my doubts about getting to do them with all that money.
It's a full time job to manage that kind of money. Keeping on top of what goes where, when, and why. Then there's all kinds of con artists in business suits and $5,000 t-shirts looking for you.

There's nowhere to hide when you have that kind of money either. Your life is now public domain. Not my idea of a good time. I'm a dork who prefers the life and friends I have.
And if I have to hide behind a security team, lawyers, and layers of personal assistants....that ain't living to me.

They can't make you win if you refuse to play.

 

[initforme]

Winning the Powerball beats the heck out of waking up every day and going to work. That turns people sour.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I know that it sounds strange....
But I enjoy my life exactly as it currently is.

I enjoy my friends and the distance of my family. That volume of money would change all of that....not because I would change but because they would.
Sure, I'd get some toys....probably take a family vacation or two. But I have other things I want to do. And I have my doubts about getting to do them with all that money.
It's a full time job to manage that kind of money. Keeping on top of what goes where, when, and why. Then there's all kinds of con artists in business suits and $5,000 t-shirts looking for you.

There's nowhere to hide when you have that kind of money either. Your life is now public domain. Not my idea of a good time. I'm a dork who prefers the life and friends I have.
And if I have to hide behind a security team, lawyers, and layers of personal assistants....that ain't living to me.

They can't make you win if you refuse to play.

A friend of mine hit the lottery years ago. Cash option was about 4 million minus tax deductions. He followed my advice and hired a reputable investment company. After he bought his house, cars, other toys, that was the end of his spending. His investment company set it up so he got a thousand dollars a week just like a paycheck. He didn't have to manage anything.

 

[Indeependent]

It actually amounts to less than 400 million lump sum.

A quite livable amount; I agree that the taxation on it is obnoxious.

 

[JohnDB]

A friend of mine hit the lottery years ago. Cash option was about 4 million minus tax deductions. He followed my advice and hired a reputable investment company. After he bought his house, cars, other toys, that was the end of his spending. His investment company set it up so he got a thousand dollars a week just like a paycheck. He didn't have to manage anything.

That's a rather small amount by comparison.
400-600 million is a different number altogether.

And that check of $1,000 every week would be over a hundred times that. Yeah....a year's salary to some people every week to just blow on crap and have nothing to show for it at the end....because another check is coming next week.

That's all kinds of "stupid" money.
It's alienating money. How do you relate to your old friends? I know that I have something of a chance to do so because I'm friends with several millionaires....but I will lose a bunch of them in the process.

Totally not the kind of circus I want to have any part of.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

That's a rather small amount by comparison.
400-600 million is a different number altogether.

And that check of $1,000 every week would be over a hundred times that. Yeah....a year's salary to some people every week to just blow on crap and have nothing to show for it at the end....because another check is coming next week.

That's all kinds of "stupid" money.
It's alienating money. How do you relate to your old friends? I know that I have something of a chance to do so because I'm friends with several millionaires....but I will lose a bunch of them in the process.

Totally not the kind of circus I want to have any part of.

Lol, I'd love to be part of that circus, but the odds are so ridiculous you're almost better off throwing your cash in the garbage can.

I play the lottery almost every day but games with realistic odds. No, the grand prize doesn't pay millions or billions, but all I need is a nice lump of cash to payoff some bills and make some investments. As for my friend, several million bucks was worth more then as compared to today. He had a hard time with a family member and a few friends at first, but for the most part everybody respected his privacy and didn't bug him for ten bucks. People who are half way intelligent realize you can't just give away money without it becoming an IRS issue.

A lot of people don't realize that large sums of money isn't for everybody. There have been books written about lottery winners where the money destroyed their lives because they had no idea what to do with it.