The US Powerball jackpot - silly, silly amount.

Droolinggimp

Droolinggimp

Droolinggimp

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BBC news article

So the US Power ball jackpot has climbed to $1.9 BILLION (£1.7 BILLION) after no one won it last week end.

$1.9 BILLION!!!!!!!

I mean, what would anyone actually do with that, minus the taxes of course. Still works out about $900 MILION.... I can imagine if there was a single winner, they would be old, be plastered all over the news and get harassed for the rest of their lives.
Before the usual stupid person tax posts appear, its a couple of dollars, what's wrong with parting with a few dollars to have that bit of excitement for a few days waiting for the draw.

Anyway.... $1.9 Billion!!!!!!
 
Article says most people take the 'give it to me now' option, forfeiting over half of their winnings. That is just baffling to me. Over 60m a year for the next 29 years, or 900m if you take it now. Americans really aren't smart are they.
 
el_dazza said:
Article says most people take the 'give it to me now' option, forfeiting over half of their winnings. That is just baffling to me. Over 60m a year for the next 29 years, or 900m if you take it now. Americans really aren't smart are they.
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What do you realistically think the people would do with the additional money? You don’t they might have thought $900m is more than enough to last a lifetime for most people and their family?
 
el_dazza said:
Article says most people take the 'give it to me now' option, forfeiting over half of their winnings. That is just baffling to me. Over 60m a year for the next 29 years, or 900m if you take it now. Americans really aren't smart are they.
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Either way, it's more than enough to be happy with. Would their be risk of losing the money if you take yearly payments? Like, if some new law comes into play, of taxes sky rocket. regardless, anyone not investing any of the millions per year are a bit dumb
 
Stu999 said:
What do you realistically think the people would do with the additional money? You don’t they might have thought $900m is more than enough to last a lifetime for most people and their family?
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Something more productive than completely forfeiting a billion dollars? Give it to charities or something? Seems utterly bewildering that someone hits a once in a lifetime jackpot only to say 'nah it's fine, keep a billion as a tip' :p
 
el_dazza said:
Something more productive than completely forfeiting a billion dollars? Give it to charities or something? Seems utterly bewildering that someone hits a once in a lifetime jackpot only to say 'nah it's fine, keep a billion as a tip' :p
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I guess its the mind set of many Americans, I want it now.
 
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nice and all as it sounds winning that amount of money, think i'd rather just have to 10k a month set for life on our own lottery. 1.9 billion is just silly and i'd be surprised if it doesn't cause the winner no end of heartache.
 
el_dazza said:
I guess if you're 60+ years old then yeah, you'd go for the lump sum, damn well enjoy it now. For someone a bit younger then the longer term is sensible..
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true but, lets say a 20 year old won it and opts for the lump sum. lives to be 80, thats 60 years having 900million. I am sure they could live off 15m a year. Plus you have the interest on top, maybe if they are savvy, they will invest. It makes no difference really whether they go for lump or yearly payments.
 
el_dazza said:
Something more productive than completely forfeiting a billion dollars? Give it to charities or something? Seems utterly bewildering that someone hits a once in a lifetime jackpot only to say 'nah it's fine, keep a billion as a tip' :p
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They're not forfeiting a billion dollars. If they take the full amount now taxes are paid up front, if they take the annuity taxes will be paid annually.

The annuity also isn't paid in equal instalments. Year one would be $28.6 million rising by approximately 5% each year to $117.7 million in the last year.
 
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Droolinggimp said:
I mean, what would anyone actually do with that, minus the taxes of course.
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Buy a superyacht for $400million and spend the rest of it cruising around for a year or two?

el_dazza said:
Article says most people take the 'give it to me now' option, forfeiting over half of their winnings. That is just baffling to me. Over 60m a year for the next 29 years, or 900m if you take it now. Americans really aren't smart are they.
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Depends what inflation does to the value of your Dollar.
I think there was a thread on here about how the lump sums usually ended up being the better option as the annual trickle wound up being worth a lot less in terms of buying power?
 
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