I Won The Lottery

[Bartmanhomer]

Hey everybody. I got wonderful news. Yesterday I won the New York State Lottery. I got fifty million dollars now. My lotto numbers we're 23, 17, 8, 29, 2 and 11. I'm so glad that TV chooses the right number. I'm very happy now.

[denthor]

Get an accountant, lawyer at the minimum. I wish you the best. Your troubles have just begun.

Remember money does not solve your problems it just gives you better view.

Oh and really listen to Bob Dillon "Like a rolling stone " Remember not everyone is your friend.

[enderlord99]

Cool! How many celebrity-signatures is that worth?

[Douglas]

April Fools, right?

[Arutema]

April Fools, right?

It does appear to have been posted just past midnight, April 1, in New York's time zone.

[Razade]

It's better than his forged autographs of famous people. He's trying new things at least.

[Lemmy]

No celebrity autograph this year?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I was there, I took his picture!

[Willie the Duck]

It's better than his forged autographs of famous people. He's trying new things at least.

It is too bad, though. I went in (foolishly not expecting an April Fools gag) hoping for a 'I won the lottery, 800 bucks, let's discuss!' kind of thread.

[Tvtyrant]

Take the lump sum, the reduction in prize money is less then you would earn in interest if invested.

[The Fury]

I was there, I took his picture!

I don't know what I was expecting Bartmanhomer to look like. That ain't it though.

[The Glyphstone]

I don't know what I was expecting Bartmanhomer to look like. That ain't it though.

That's what I said when he posted a self-portrait a few months back.

[Peelee]

I was there, I took his picture!

The signature was a delightful touch!

[ZamielVanWeber]

Take the lump sum, the reduction in prize money is less then you would earn in interest if invested.

The over time one scales to inflation though, so it is essentially a safe investment. Before accepting either talk to a professional investment consultant/tax attorney/etc, not an H&R Block type. And remember, if you don't handle the cash perfectly your life is ruined.

[Asmotherion]

I was kinda hopping every regular member would get a free gamer pc to prove it :p

[Tvtyrant]

The over time one scales to inflation though, so it is essentially a safe investment. Before accepting either talk to a professional investment consultant/tax attorney/etc, not an H&R Block type. And remember, if you don't handle the cash perfectly your life is ruined.

The interest rate on prudent investments tends to (is nearly always) higher then inflation. The reason companies offer that option is it is better for them.

Winning the lottery often ruins lives, its not exactly to be taken lightly. People draw hanger-ons who offer them whatever they want in return for their money, family and friends find their relationships eroded, coming into large amounts of money is good but also dangerous. A professional is a very good idea.

[lio45]

I was there, I took his picture!

This wins the thread.

(I was going to suggest "Take the lump sum and use it to buy celebrity autographs as investments. Incidentally, I have a few to sell. PM me.")

[137beth]

Cool! How many celebrity-signatures is that worth?

I'm out of the loop: why do people keep mentioning celebrity signatures in this thread?

EDIT: Is it a reference to this thread or threads like it?

EDIT 2: Oh, there are several of these threads.

[PopeLinus1]

Guys, I finally found an image of Bartmanhomer!

[el minster]

more money more troubles

[Mavezius]

I never had any luck in the lottery.

[Klorox]

Assuming this is real, that’s awesome dude! Congratulations!

If it’s not real, I don’t get the joke. 🤷*♂️

[JadedDM]

If it’s not real, I don’t get the joke. 🤷*♂️

Look at the date when it was first posted.

[el minster]

Look at the date when it was first posted.

April first.

[Rogar Demonblud]

I.E. April Fool's Day.

[clingydreamers]

I'm happy for you, but also very jealous. >_<

[Xyril]

The over time one scales to inflation though, so it is essentially a safe investment. Before accepting either talk to a professional investment consultant/tax attorney/etc, not an H&R Block type. And remember, if you don't handle the cash perfectly your life is ruined.

While this might be strictly true, under most circumstances where inflation starts getting much higher than expected, many of the financial instruments that make up a diversified portfolio will also increase in value. For example, (expected) high inflation tends to push more people and institutions into putting more of their investments into things like stocks rather than currency reserves as a way to help protect their wealth against inflation--this among other things increases the value of stocks, all else equal. This won't be true of everything, of course, but overall inflation pressures will end up helping the lump-sum winner more than it hurts him.

There are conceivable circumstances where increasing inflation coincides with a drastic and prolonged crash in stocks, in which the lump-sum guy might fall behind the person who took the "safe" lifetime payment. However, at that point I'd have serious concerns about how the lottery commission is backing those annuities. I've never really looked into it--if it turns out that they're directly backed by the government, for example, then maybe I'm worried about nothing. In general though, private entities who routinely agree to pay people over period of decades (such as pension funds) have to fund those future payments through some sort investments. Theoretically, they're want to pick investments that give enough of a return to beat putting the money into a bank and collecting interest, but are generally on the safer side. However, my first instinct is that the sort of situation where your inflation-pegged lottery payout starts substantially outperforming the lump-sum investor is the scenario where even fairly conservative investments aren't safe.

Remember, short of a few very high value private (hedge funds, for examples) or legislatively controlled (direct government backing of debt) options, the people administering the lottery largely have access to the same set of investments that the winners do. If something happened that seriously hurts the lump-sum winner's investments, chance are it also seriously undermined the ability of the lottery to pay inflation-pegged annuities.

The real advantage of the long-term payout is if you have serious concerns about your own, or your beneficiary's, self-control, and you want to make sure that there's always a bit more money coming no matter what impulsive choices you made. However, there are a ton of ways to put the same safeguards into place using a trust.

[Rogar Demonblud]

I don't know the whole picture, but I know part of the lottery revenue from the sale of tickets goes into the payout fund. So to a certain extent, the lottery is a Ponzi scheme.

[Peelee]

I don't know the whole picture, but I know part of the lottery revenue from the sale of tickets goes into the payout fund. So to a certain extent, the lottery is a Ponzi scheme.

Lotteries are very up-front about the remarkably low odds of any person getting any ROI, which is the opposite of how a ponzi scheme works.

[Rogar Demonblud]

True. The local one gives you a 1 in three hundred-something chance of getting your dollar back. Next level up is like 1 in 5000 to get $3. And people still play.