If you were to win the lottery...

[iroast]

Well?

 

[goatjc]

Smart way would be the cash.

 

[amish]

time value of money says cash.

 

[FoBoT]

it would depend

if it was a smaller amount, a few million, then i would go annuity. it would just be a nice bonus and i would keep my current job/lifestyle

if it was a mega lotto, like $50 or $200 million, then i would take the cash so i could start a business

 

[slsmnaz]

cash. no question

 

[K1052]

Lump sum and then find a financial planner I trust.

 

[thirdeye]

Cash. Reinvest.

 

[DAGTA]

Cash

Pay off my debts, help some people, invest, and have a little fun.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Who's the idiot who voted for the annuity?

Edit - And who's his friend?

- M4H

 

[JujuFish]

Take the cash. It's the better deal.

 

[imported_inspire]

Could you dodge some taxes if you spread it out in an annuity?

 

[ForumMaster]

depends on the amount as FoBoT pointed out. if it was a mere half a million, i'd want it as a nice bonus. but if it was several million, then i'd probablly change my whole life style and take it as cash and do something with it.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Cash

 

[vi edit]

Straight cash homey.

 

[amish]

Originally posted by: inspire
Could you dodge some taxes if you spread it out in an annuity?

no, instead of paying one lump sum up front you now pay taxes on it for the life of the 30 year annuity. the anuity amount will pretty much always have you taxed in the highest bracket.

 

[funboy6942]

I dont understand those that take the cash. When I was down with the lottery I got a kick out of the ones that took a one lump of $4 mil then taking the $25 mil over 20 years. How can you not live on over $1 mil a year for 20 years?? Just the interest alone should be plenty enough to live on. $4 mil will not last long at all. Sure after taxes you walk away with 700K but what you think your going to walk away with after taxes on the 4 million?? Hell I got 120K on my settlement and in less then a year after paying off debt and buying a house its gone, 4 million after taxes and buying stuff, paying off debt, wont be long till its gone, Atleast for $20 years you got the same checks coming in which should be more then enough to live on just the interest alone, when the checks are done your sitting pretty, and so will your family when your dead and gone, and their family when your dead and gone.

Im sorry but give me the $$ over time fvck the short term small chump change quickly, I rather take the larger sum over the longer period. Comes out to more in my pocket in the long run. Just live within your means and dont go nuts That one time take lesser amount lump sum was put in place IMO for idiots, sure you can invest it but what happens if that fails or the market bottoms out?

 

[Conky]

Cash option. I just need to win it already.

 

[dullard]

Financially speaking only, take the cash.

For virtually all other reasons, you are a moron to take the cash. You are already set for life, so you don't have to worry that you MIGHT make better investments by taking the cash. Look at all those people who did take the cash and how a huge chunk of them had miserable lives and many are now bankrupt. Money corrupts. The only way to avoid it in this situation is to NOT take the cash. Take the annuity if you are smart.

 

[iroast]

That's what I thought. Lump sum + Savings Acct + Investing (Stocks/Bonds/Mutual funds). Diversify, right?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: funboy42
I dont understand those that take the cash. When I was down with the lottery I got a kick out of the ones that took a one lump of $4 mil then taking the $25 mil over 20 years. How can you not live on over $1 mil a year for 20 years?? Just the interest alone should be plenty enough to live on. $4 mil will not last long at all. Sure after taxes you walk away with 700K but what you think your going to walk away with after taxes on the 4 million?? Hell I got 120K on my settlement and in less then a year after paying off debt and buying a house its gone, 4 million after taxes and buying stuff, paying off debt, wont be long till its gone, Atleast for $20 years you got the same checks coming in which should be more then enough to live on just the interest alone, when the checks are done your sitting pretty, and so will your family when your dead and gone, and their family when your dead and gone.

Im sorry but give me the $$ over time fvck the short term small chump change quickly, I rather take the larger sum over the longer period. Comes out to more in my pocket in the long run. Just live within your means and dont go nuts That one time take lesser amount lump sum was put in place IMO for idiots, sure you can invest it but what happens if that fails or the market bottoms out?

Apples != Oranges

- M4H

 

[Linflas]

Cash and invest and make sure I don't do all the stupid stuff like buying houses or cars for everyone that I have remotely been friendly with over my lifetime.

 

[mrrman]

cash

 

[SonnyDaze]

Show me the money (NOW).

 

[chrisms]

I might just take the annuity. I can live off of about $10,000 per year and I imagine the winnings would be more than that, so I'd just travel for 20 years while putting any extra in invenstments and travel another 20 years after that until I croak in some gutter in Islamabad.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: dullard
Financially speaking only, take the cash.

For virtually all other reasons, you are a moron to take the cash. You are already set for life, so you don't have to worry that you MIGHT make better investments by taking the cash. Look at all those people who did take the cash and how a huge chunk of them had miserable lives and many are now bankrupt. Money corrupts. The only way to avoid it in this situation is to NOT take the cash. Take the annuity if you are smart.

Anyone dumb/undisciplined enough to be better off taking the annuity will almost always go for the cash anyway.

The lump sum will sooner or later surpass the value of the annuity depending on your rate of return.