1.5 billion dollar lottery here in the US.

[Hardbopjazz]

 How many of us here  are playing  The Powerball lottery?    With such a large  jackpot, what would you do with all that money  if you won?  

[uli]

I bought a couple of quickpicks. as slim as they are probably my only chance ever to become a billionaire. would have to ask the kids what to do with most of the money.

[GA Russell]

I think I would start a college, and only the people who agree with me could be on the faculty.

[JSngry]

I hope the Royal Bank of Scotland wins. They seem to be a bit nervous about money things these days, sure hate to see that!

[danasgoodstuff]

If I win I'm buying Saskatoon an NHL team.  I'll never have to buy my own beer again!

[JSngry]

With a billion dollars...I think I'd buy the entire inventory of one entire Wal-Mart store, keep the receipt, load it all up into a ginormous fleet of moving vans, drive it out to the woods, set up a camp, and then return the whole thing, one item at a time, every hour on the hour, for how many ever years that took.

Of course, I'd employ undocumented aliens (mostly, but not exclusively, Canadians, so as not to arouse suspicion) every step of the way, and since this would be in Texas, arm them with guns I bought at Bass Pro Center, and have them open carry at all times. Those guns, I'm not returning them!

Failing that, I'd buy some good organic farm, move in, stay out of sight until it's time to eat, and otherwise leave them alone and ensure their continued viability.

I'd still keep the guns, though. Agribusiness beware!

[Van Basten II]

Hey I could afford the low rates of Canadian money and buy in the US again.

[clifford_thornton]

Fund artists and small labels to do whatever they want. Donate a ton of money to the IJS and other jazz collecting archives. Give the Jazz Foundation of America money. Of course I haven't bought a ticket because the concept of playing the lottery bothers me.

[sonnymax]

The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292 million. You have a better chance of:

    •    Having an IQ of 190 or greater.

    •    Giving birth to quadruplets, even without the help of fertility treatments.

    •    Being killed by an asteroid strike.

    •    Being killed by a lightning strike.

    •    Dying by drowning.

    •    Being struck by lightning, while drowning.

Now, let's say you beat the odds and win the whole enchilada. You only get the full amount if you're willing to take the winnings in 30 payments over 29 years. If you want it in one lump sum, the lottery takes 38 percent. Then there are the taxes. With that much money, you'll be taxed at the highest federal tax rate of 39.6 percent. And if you think you can avoid paying taxes with a "take the money and run" strategy, know that the federal government withholds 25 percent before you see a dime (28 percent if you're not a US citizen).

Obviously, lotteries aren't for me. I'm too busy ducking asteroids. 

Edited January 13, 2016 by sonnymax
grammar

[JSngry]

I'm thinking I'd still have enough left over of buy the Fox News network and turn it into 24/7/365 CFL Action, right? Maybe even in 3D!

[T.D.]

For an analytical / sceptical approach (none of which is new), see this LA Times article.

[gmonahan]

4 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Fund artists and small labels to do whatever they want. Donate a ton of money to the IJS and other jazz collecting archives. Give the Jazz Foundation of America money. Of course I haven't bought a ticket because the concept of playing the lottery bothers me.

I like this one, but with that money, I could buy all the vaults of all the labels, put them together, buy Mosaic, expand it, and issue cds of every type we've been lusting for on the Board for years!

 

gregmo

[Van Basten II]

7 hours ago, sonnymax said:

The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292 million. You have a better chance of:

    •    Having an IQ of 190 or greater.

    •    Giving birth to quadruplets, even without the help of fertility treatments.

    •    Being killed by an asteroid strike.

    •    Being killed by a lightning strike.

    •    Dying by drowning.

    •    Being struck by lightning, while drowning.

Now, let's say you beat the odds and win the whole enchilada. You only get the full amount if you're willing to take the winnings in 30 payments over 29 years. If you want it in one lump sum, the lottery takes 38 percent. Then there are the taxes. With that much money, you'll be taxed at the highest federal tax rate of 39.6 percent. And if you think you can avoid paying taxes with a "take the money and run" strategy, know that the federal government withholds 25 percent before you see a dime (28 percent if you're not a US citizen).

Obviously, lotteries aren't for me. I'm too busy ducking asteroids. 

Well the first two  are way out of question for physical reasons  I better practice  ducking  and avoid water at all cost

[danasgoodstuff]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

I'm thinking I'd still have enough left over of buy the Fox News network and turn it into 24/7/365 CFL Action, right? Maybe even in 3D!

with virtual cold pumped into the room for extra verisimilitude!

[Soulstation1]

I'll buy the Browns and retire the franchise from the NFL

[Dave Garrett]

10 hours ago, sonnymax said:

The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292 million. You have a better chance of:

    •    Having an IQ of 190 or greater.

    •    Giving birth to quadruplets, even without the help of fertility treatments.

    •    Being killed by an asteroid strike.

    •    Being killed by a lightning strike.

    •    Dying by drowning.

    •    Being struck by lightning, while drowning.

Now, let's say you beat the odds and win the whole enchilada. You only get the full amount if you're willing to take the winnings in 30 payments over 29 years. If you want it in one lump sum, the lottery takes 38 percent. Then there are the taxes. With that much money, you'll be taxed at the highest federal tax rate of 39.6 percent. And if you think you can avoid paying taxes with a "take the money and run" strategy, know that the federal government withholds 25 percent before you see a dime (28 percent if you're not a US citizen).

Obviously, lotteries aren't for me. I'm too busy ducking asteroids. 

Most people have a very limited and inaccurate understanding of probability. There's a reason that the lottery is referred to as the "math tax". 

The NYT had a piece within the past day or so on why a lottery winner should opt for the annual payments instead of the lump sum. As the vast majority of commenters pointed out, they are simply wrong. Among other things, the advantage you'd have when it comes to investing the winnings by having the lump sum easily trumps getting a larger payout spread out over 30 years. 

The best thing I've ever read regarding lottery winnings is this thread on Reddit:

What to do if you win the lottery

[peterintoronto]

The idea of playing and winning the lottery terrifies me. Playing the lottery goes against sound mathematical logic, and winning it would be a nightmare because greedy people would never leave you alone. It would change everything, and probably not for the better. 

 

[niels]

18 hours ago, sonnymax said:

you'll be taxed at the highest federal tax rate of 39.6 percent. 

Obviously, lotteries aren't for me. I'm too busy ducking asteroids. 

That's just 3% above our LOWEST tax rate  . Highest tax rate here (above €66.000,- gross income a year) is 52%

[ejp626]

20 hours ago, Dave Garrett said:

Most people have a very limited and inaccurate understanding of probability. There's a reason that the lottery is referred to as the "math tax". 

The NYT had a piece within the past day or so on why a lottery winner should opt for the annual payments instead of the lump sum. As the vast majority of commenters pointed out, they are simply wrong. Among other things, the advantage you'd have when it comes to investing the winnings by having the lump sum easily trumps getting a larger payout spread out over 30 years. 

The best thing I've ever read regarding lottery winnings is this thread on Reddit:

What to do if you win the lottery

That assumes the winners actually do invest it all -- highly doubtful -- and they have a surefire strategy that will consistently beat inflation.  For most periods, that's probably true, but this has been a period of extremely low inflation combined with volatile market activity.  I'd probably go with the annual payments under that scenario.  On the other hand, it depends how big the payoff actually is, since it might be better to be in the top tax bracket in one year and then return to a slightly lower bracket later on (depending of course how the investments are structured and/or sheltered, how much goes into a trust, how much to charity, etc.).  I think it is not totally straight-forward until you consider all the variables.

[Jazzmoose]

On 1/13/2016 at 6:39 AM, sonnymax said:

The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292 million. You have a better chance of:

     •    Giving birth to quadruplets, even without the help of fertility treatments.

 

I'm having trouble buying this one...

 

[JSngry]

Well, for you, the odds would be much higher.

[Dave Garrett]

On 1/14/2016 at 3:50 PM, ejp626 said:

That assumes the winners actually do invest it all -- highly doubtful -- and they have a surefire strategy that will consistently beat inflation.  For most periods, that's probably true, but this has been a period of extremely low inflation combined with volatile market activity.  I'd probably go with the annual payments under that scenario.  On the other hand, it depends how big the payoff actually is, since it might be better to be in the top tax bracket in one year and then return to a slightly lower bracket later on (depending of course how the investments are structured and/or sheltered, how much goes into a trust, how much to charity, etc.).  I think it is not totally straight-forward until you consider all the variables.

Well yeah, there's a much longer list of lottery winners who've either gone bankrupt or died a premature death than those who've actually invested their winnings successfully. I was looking at it from the standpoint of what I'd do, not so much what others have done. I agree there are a lot of variables to consider, but I don't think it would be that difficult to beat inflation. I also think one has to consider the risk of the lottery (or the state) becoming insolvent or otherwise curtailing payments at some point during a 30-year timeframe, as recently happened in Illinois. 

Edited January 16, 2016 by Dave Garrett

[ejp626]

21 minutes ago, Dave Garrett said:

Well yeah, there's a much longer list of lottery winners who've either gone bankrupt or died a premature death than those who've actually invested their winnings successfully. I was looking at it from the standpoint of what I'd do, not so much what others have done. I agree there are a lot of variables to consider, but I don't think it would be that difficult to beat inflation. I also think one has to consider the risk of the lottery (or the state) becoming insolvent or otherwise curtailing payments at some point during a 30-year timeframe, as recently happened in Illinois. 

Good point about Illinois!  I wouldn't be as worried about a multi-state lottery.