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Old 2004-11-23, 19:52   Link #1
ff7799
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It could happen to you

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...lottery_winner



U.S. National - AP $149M Lottery Winner Had 78 Cents in Bank

Tue Nov 23, 4:03 PM ET
U.S. National - AP



NEW YORK - With just 78 cents in his savings account and $44,000 owed to creditors, parking attendant Juan Rodriguez plunked down $1 on a lottery ticket. Good thing he wasn't pinching pennies: He won a $149 million lottery jackpot.


AP Photo

AP Photo Slideshow: Bankrupt Man Wins $149M Lottery Prize
Related LinksWinner News (NY Lottery)

Rodriguez, 49, of Queens, bought his Mega Millions lottery ticket about one month after filing for bankruptcy.



He stepped forward over the weekend to claim his prize, proving to be a man of many dollars but few words. At a news conference, he wore dark glasses and said he was "excited." Asked what he planned to do with his millions, he said, "I have no idea." According to court papers, Rodriguez had exactly 78 cents in his savings account and nothing in his checking account. He owed $19,486 on one credit card and $10,070 on another. And he owed the Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites) $2,279



Rodriguez bought his ticket in the middle of a double shift at his $28,000-a-year job as a parking garage attendant. He immigrated to the United States from Colombia in 1982.



There was one clue that Rodriguez wanted his cash fast: He opted for a lump-sum payment of $88.5 million instead of 26 annual installments.






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Old 2004-11-23, 20:02   Link #2
HoboGod
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There was one clue that Rodriguez wanted his cash fast: He opted for a lump-sum payment of $88.5 million instead of 26 annual installments.
that dumbass wanted 88.5 milion dollars all at once instead of 5.7 million dollars for the next 26 years? Does this asshole plan to spend more than $5.7 mil (after taxs) in one year?

People are idiots. -_-
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Old 2004-11-23, 20:17   Link #3
AnimeFangirl
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Whaaaaaaaat??? He opted for just the quick 88.5 million? No matter how I tink about it, I just don't get it. $5.7 will be enough to pay off his creditors, and then think of all the things he could do with the rest of the money for the next 26 years of his life!! With all his money in his hands at once, if something goes wrong e.g. robbery, bad investment, bad friends, he's right back to 78 cents. Well...maybe he's planning to go back home and wants nothing more to do with the US, that's the only thing I can come up with at the moment.
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Old 2004-11-23, 20:24   Link #4
ramune
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I can understand the way he thinks though. You have to know that he's 49, nowhere near what we call young. He might just want the money now and enjoy the rest of his life. You won't know what'll happen to a 49 year-old man in the next 26 years...
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Old 2004-11-23, 20:56   Link #5
HoboGod
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Originally Posted by ramune
I can understand the way he thinks though. You have to know that he's 49, nowhere near what we call young. He might just want the money now and enjoy the rest of his life. You won't know what'll happen to a 49 year-old man in the next 26 years...
well, in 16 years he would get that 88.5 and allittle more. At that time, he would be only 65. The average male life expectancy is 73...

If that is indeed his logic, he is a paranoid dumbass.
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Old 2004-11-23, 21:07   Link #6
Mr_Paper
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In Quebec Canada, a man who had just filed for bankrupcy used the last dollar to his name to buy a lotto ticket. The next day he was the single winner of a $25 million jackpot. But the story doesn't end here...

One year later he filed for bankrupcy yet again after wasting $25 million dollars. Once again using the last dollar to his his name he bought another lotto ticket and was the single winner of a $22 million dollar jackpot.

If that guy can waste money faster than the guy I mentioned above, he's good.
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Old 2004-11-23, 21:28   Link #7
kj1980
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So that's how the lottery system works in America...interesting.
So if I take it correctly, you can either choose:

A. One cash option which is roughly half the actual winnings
or
B. The whole cash winnings over the course of twenty-six years.

One question...is this before or after the government screws you with taxes? If so, I'd actually take the "A" option and invest it wisely because I don't want the government usurping my winnings every year I receive the winnings. Besides, if you invest it wisely (i.e.: mutual funds, government bonds, CDs, money-market accounts, IRAs), you might actually end up with larger money than taking the "B" option...

But then again, I hear that most Americans suck at keeping a stable savings account.
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Old 2004-11-23, 22:52   Link #8
HoboGod
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kj1980
So that's how the lottery system works in America...interesting.
So if I take it correctly, you can either choose:

A. One cash option which is roughly half the actual winnings
or
B. The whole cash winnings over the course of twenty-six years.

One question...is this before or after the government screws you with taxes? If so, I'd actually take the "A" option and invest it wisely because I don't want the government usurping my winnings every year I receive the winnings. Besides, if you invest it wisely (i.e.: mutual funds, government bonds, CDs, money-market accounts, IRAs), you might actually end up with larger money than taking the "B" option...

But then again, I hear that most Americans suck at keeping a stable savings account.
indeed, and it is expecially easy to figure out which ones understand next to nothing about turning a profit when they have ridiculous credit card debt.

Too many Americans have all these ideals of the American life that push them to do stupid things. Own a car, buy a house, get new furniture, raise a family, get a dog... expensive bullshit for an overhyped dream that everyone thinks they can obtain no matter how little they make. All these Americans are so gung ho about spending money that they forget to make money or they just don't plan ahead in case they lose their job or get injured.
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Old 2004-11-23, 23:17   Link #9
AnimeFangirl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kj1980
One question...is this before or after the government screws you with taxes? If so, I'd actually take the "A" option and invest it wisely because I don't want the government usurping my winnings every year I receive the winnings. Besides, if you invest it wisely (i.e.: mutual funds, government bonds, CDs, money-market accounts, IRAs), you might actually end up with larger money than taking the "B" option...
Invest it wisely? Hellooooo, this is someone who had over $20000 credit card debt and owes the IRS money. That's the last thing you ever want to do in your life, owing the IRS money. Let's just say his chances of hanging on to that money are not too bright right now. It would be much better to blow a steady, comfy, guaranteed 5.7 mil a year till you're 73 than blow 88 million in 3 or 4 years from bad decisions. Well, that's just my opinion anyway, heaven knows I'm not a lottery winner...yet.
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Old 2004-11-23, 23:28   Link #10
Kimura-sensei
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If you won the lottery, it makes more sense to take it as a lump sum. Not sure if you guys are aware of this, but if you (the ticket winner) die, whatever payment is left over is void. Your heirs (including your spouse) will receive no further payments.

Besides, I rather invest that money and live off the interest rates alone.
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Old 2004-11-23, 23:31   Link #11
tanuki
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kj1980
So that's how the lottery system works in America...interesting.
So if I take it correctly, you can either choose:

A. One cash option which is roughly half the actual winnings
or
B. The whole cash winnings over the course of twenty-six years.

One question...is this before or after the government screws you with taxes? If so, I'd actually take the "A" option and invest it wisely because I don't want the government usurping my winnings every year I receive the winnings. Besides, if you invest it wisely (i.e.: mutual funds, government bonds, CDs, money-market accounts, IRAs), you might actually end up with larger money than taking the "B" option...

But then again, I hear that most Americans suck at keeping a stable savings account.
Regardless of whether the winner goes for the $149 million or instead takes the lump sum $88.5 million, we're talking about gross winnings before federal and state taxes and fees are applied. If he went with the $88.5 million, all the taxes and fees on that could apply would be taken out before he received the lump sum payout. If he decided to go with the twenty-six year plan, the yearly payouts would again be likely to have the taxes and fees deducted before he received his yearly check. Either way the government will cut in line ahead of the winner to collect their share.

Only thing I'm not sure of is if he went with the 26 payments, would the taxes on each of the payments be static from year to year and based on the tax codes in effect at the time he won the money, or would the taxes be variable over the 26 years based on whatever revisions are made to the federal and state tax codes?
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Old 2004-11-23, 23:35   Link #12
Kamui4356
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kj1980
So that's how the lottery system works in America...interesting.
So if I take it correctly, you can either choose:

A. One cash option which is roughly half the actual winnings
or
B. The whole cash winnings over the course of twenty-six years.

One question...is this before or after the government screws you with taxes? If so, I'd actually take the "A" option and invest it wisely because I don't want the government usurping my winnings every year I receive the winnings. Besides, if you invest it wisely (i.e.: mutual funds, government bonds, CDs, money-market accounts, IRAs), you might actually end up with larger money than taking the "B" option...

But then again, I hear that most Americans suck at keeping a stable savings account.
Usually, they're both after taxes. Really, you pay the same amount in tax either way, but you get some interest with the annuity payments which offsets a lot of the tax. At least I think that's how it works...
Personally, I'd take option a, put 10 million aside for me to blow, and invest the rest, living off the interest from it for the rest of my life. let's see, import a skyline r-34 gt-r, buy evo, wrx sti, rx-7( sa, fc, fd), rx-8, porsche 911, first gen corvette, might as well get a bmw m5 too, build garage to hold them, buy house... That should work Of course I don't even play the lottery, so there's no chance I could actually win, which is about the same chance if I did play...
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Old 2004-11-23, 23:48   Link #13
ramune
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Originally Posted by HoboGod
well, in 16 years he would get that 88.5 and allittle more. At that time, he would be only 65. The average male life expectancy is 73...
Well by the age of 65 he might be too old to fully enjoy that 88.5 million dollars.

Also you'll have to think about how much US dollars will be worth after 26 years. I think it's kind of a security issue that makes people want to take the lump sum instead of over 26 years.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamui4356
let's see, import a skyline r-34 gt-r, buy evo, wrx sti, rx-7( sa, fc, fd), rx-8, porsche 911, first gen corvette, might as well get a bmw m5 too
Kinda interesting that you choose Japanese cars instead of Ferraris or Lambos like lots of rich people do.

Last edited by ramune; 2004-11-24 at 00:15. Reason: typo
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Old 2004-11-23, 23:55   Link #14
kj1980
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamui4356
Usually, they're both after taxes. Really, you pay the same amount in tax either way, but you get some interest with the annuity payments which offsets a lot of the tax. At least I think that's how it works...
Personally, I'd take option a, put 10 million aside for me to blow, and invest the rest, living off the interest from it for the rest of my life. let's see, import a skyline r-34 gt-r, buy evo, wrx sti, rx-7( sa, fc, fd), rx-8, porsche 911, first gen corvette, might as well get a bmw m5 too, build garage to hold them, buy house... That should work Of course I don't even play the lottery, so there's no chance I could actually win, which is about the same chance if I did play...
Why the heck do you want to blow ten million US dollars in importing our cars when they aren't even worth that much? Is the Nissan Skyline that big of a deal for people outside of Japan? I'd rather buy one Enzo Ferrari and one Maybach 62 than buy several domestic cars that I can pick out at a used car dealership.
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Old 2004-11-24, 00:11   Link #15
Mr_Paper
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Man, am I glad I live in Canada. ^^:

You recieve 100% of your lottery winnings here, the government only gains access to the money if you decide to give some of it away without adding the recipient to your lottery winnings forms. If you add the person to the forms at the time of collection, whatever sum of money you give them is completely tax free for both parties.

After that, assuming you have no ambitions of living large, you place $2.2 million into a bank account and have the monthly interest transfered to your everyday account. With current interest rates, that sum of money would generate $150,000 per year. With the government's new 'charitable donation' laws which register the value of a donation over $10,000 at roughly four times it's value, you only need to make one donation a year. Add to this a little intelligent investing in tax deductable funds and you can live comfortably without ever having to pay taxes for the rest of your life.

What you do with the rest of the money, who cares. ^^

Personally, assuming I won a $20 million dollar jackpot (jackpots are smaller in Canada than the US, rarely does a jackpot exceed $30 million), I'd give $5 million to my parents (they're, honestly, far too thrifty to know what to do with it), invest $7.5 million into a fund where yearly profits are divided amoung three charities of my choosing, buy a nice old apartment buiding and fix it up then rent out all the apartments, saving the nicest one for me, and use the rent collected to pay for maintance and upkeep (a self sustaining investment and a legal place of residence - needed to maintain citizenship), I'd then invest the rest of it into an investment/mutual fund and live off the interest as I travel the world or do whatever else I want for the rest of my life.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kj1980
Why the heck do you want to blow ten million US dollars in importing our cars when they aren't even worth that much? Is the Nissan Skyline thatbig of a deal for people outside of Japan? I'd rather buy one Enzo Ferrari and one Maybach 62 than buy several domestic cars that I can pick out at a used car dealership.
Getting that Enzo would prove a challenge in and of itself. Those cares are only up for sale to people who have owned alteast 7-10 previous Ferraris and technically, they've all been sold already. ^^:
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Old 2004-11-24, 00:15   Link #16
Lord Raiden
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Actually, taking the yearly payments is best. Why? Simple.

1. You get more.
2. You can't spend it all at once. If you happen to spend all of this years allotment, you just wait till the end of the year and you get another lump sum payment.
3. You're a bloody idiot to go and take it all at once because if someone hacks into your bank account, you're out all that cash in one click of a mouse.

The other huge mistake he made is accepting the check in person. IF you win the lottery what you do is you wait 3 months. Most lottery drawings have a 1 year time period in which you can claim your money. If you wait 3 months the press gets tired of waiting for you and figures that the ticket is lost and the money will never be collected. During that time you hire and retain a lawyer under contract. You write the contract to allow him to collect the check for you and deposit it into your bank account or a special one you have setup to recieve the check. This has actually been done before very successfully, but to keep the lawyer from stealing all your money you need to wrote a REALLY good contract, and make sure that you pay him REALLY good or he'll just take your ticket and leave you high and dry.

By having him collect the ticket and be your proxy it hides your identity and you're welcome to spend it in obscurity from public screwtiny, because once the public finds out you've got all that cash, dude, kiss your money goodbye because every scam artist and cheat in the world will hunt you down till there's not a bloody dime left. If you win the lottery, for gauds sakes, apply the 3 golden rules.

1. Be patient. Wait them out. Usually 3 months.
2. Hire a proxy under contract to collect the money.
3. Keep your bloody mouth shut. Don't tell a d**n soul you got a single dime of it.

You do that, and don't spend like an idiot and you'll be set. At that point you can easily enjoy your money all you want.
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Old 2004-11-24, 00:28   Link #17
Tzurial
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Lotteries always remind me of those "If you had a million dollars..." essays assigned in grade school. I haven't thought about being rich in a long time though.. Ahh, to have the time and resources to train carrier pigeons would be fun...

wow, If I won the lottery Id buy a hot air balloon or an amiable mule and just...travel slowly
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Old 2004-11-24, 00:35   Link #18
Dhomochevsky
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Why shouldnt you tell anyone you won the money?
There are lots of millionaires that dont hide their money, now theres another one, so what?
That proxy thing is bullshit.
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Old 2004-11-24, 00:36   Link #19
Mr_Paper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tzurial
wow, If I won the lottery Id buy a hot air balloon or an amiable mule and just...travel slowly
That sounds like fun, would you like some company?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky
Why shouldnt you tell anyone you won the money?
There are lots of millionaires that dont hide their money, now theres another one, so what?
That proxy thing is bullshit.
I wouldn't say that.

A lady in the maritime provinces won one of the largest jackpots in my lifetime, a total of $38 million dollars. She was forced to move three times due to constant harrassment by beggers, solicitors and other such people. Earlier this year she suffered a triple heartattack brought on by the stress of the whole ordeal. Arranging it so that no one knows you have the money is most often the best way to go about his sort of thing.

Lord knows I'd go that route. I'd also have my phone number changed and delisted, my official address made a rented postal box and go so far as to do everything in my power to remain out of the public eye.

Last edited by Mr_Paper; 2004-11-24 at 09:28. Reason: I seem to have forgotten how to spell yesterday...
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Old 2004-11-24, 00:59   Link #20
tanuki
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kimura-sensei
If you won the lottery, it makes more sense to take it as a lump sum. Not sure if you guys are aware of this, but if you (the ticket winner) die, whatever payment is left over is void. Your heirs (including your spouse) will receive no further payments.
One way to workaround this is might be to use some of the yearly lottery money to pay the premiums on a high payout life insurance policy. That way even if the winner dies prematurely and the lottery money stops, the lottery winners family can expect to receive one last large sum of money from the insurance company to help them out.

I don't know, if I won I would probably be concerned more about the possibility of being kidnapped and held for ransom. Even if the winner is only getting 5 million or so per year, that's still a lot of money and people are killed every day for far less. If the winner opted for a 26 year payout this might serve to perhaps limit how much ransom a kidnapper might ask for at a given time, but it would put the family of the winner between a rock and a hard place where not meeting the ransom demands could mean risking the loss a loved one and saying goodbye to all those millions the family stands to gain in future years. So I guess an expense for the lottery winner to list, along with hiring a good accountant and tax lawyer, is contracting a security firm to provide home and personal protection services. That or move to the middle of nowhere in another state or country where nobody would recognize that you were a lottery winner and you were careful to maintain a public appearance that wouldn't lead other to believe you were extremely rich.
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