Mega Millions: Advice on what you should do if you win the $1 billion jackpot

So you’re the incredibly lucky winner of the Mega Millions’ mind-boggling $1 billion jackpot on Friday. What should you do next?

The Herald spoke to a financial advisor who has experience helping lottery winners and people who come into money very quickly. Here’s the lottery-winning advice from Robert Pagliarini of Pacifica Wealth Advisors:

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• Make sure you breathe: Make sure you relax. The last thing you want is your judgment clouded. You’ll need to make some very important decisions pretty quickly, and you don’t want emotions to get the best of you.
• Document the winning ticket: Take a photo of the ticket. Take a selfie with the ticket. Sign it personally, and keep it safe. Those are the things you got to do in the first 10 minutes after winning.
• Get an attorney: You’ll need an attorney to help you navigate these important decisions.
• Don’t tell the world: Only tell one family member that you won. I wouldn’t spread the news on social media, and even within your family and friend network. So many emotions and anxiety will happen, and you just want to keep it as simple as possible. Telling more people will only increase the anxiety, so you want to keep things very, very secretive, and keep things calm and simple.
• Stay anonymous if you can: Lottery winners can remain anonymous in certain states. Definitely take advantage of that if you can.
• Decide whether you want the lump sum or annuity: This is the most critical decision in this entire process. You want a lawyer, tax advisor and financial advisor helping you determine what would be the better option for you. I would say 99% of lottery winners take the lump sum, but for some people the annuity is a much better idea. It can be better for some people to spread out the dollars over 30 years because with the lump sum, people can run out. There’s no do-over with the lump sum. With the annuity, you can get a new chance every year.
• Don’t wait too long to cash in the ticket: Some people wait until the last day, but I’d be too nervous to wait that long. Do it as soon as possible after you get your team together, and have figured out if you will do the lump sum or annuity. I would definitely err on doing it sooner rather than later.
• Now you can relax: Everything is stress up to that point. Now that you’ve actually collected the proceeds and it’s in a bank or investment firm, now you can relax. You can now really figure out how you want this money to improve your life.
• Figure out your annual budget: The biggest fear almost everyone has is they’re going to blow it. They’re going to run through the money and lose it all. Your advisor should help you figure out how much you can withdraw each year without burning through the principal.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/GqX7pBU