How to Proceed After Winning the Lottery (with Pictures)

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How to Proceed After Winning the Lottery (with Pictures)
How to Proceed After Winning the Lottery (with Pictures)

Video: How to Proceed After Winning the Lottery (with Pictures)

Video: How to Proceed After Winning the Lottery (with Pictures)
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You just won the lottery! All those years of bad luck in the game are gone. But what to do after the victory? Read below for some instructions on how to collect your prize and manage it wisely.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: What to do right after winning

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 1
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 1

Step 1. Try to be discreet

Don't tell anyone about the money until you have it in your hands. The higher the ticket price, the greater the changes your life will go through, and getting used to them will take some time. So relax, take a deep breath, and don't go around babbling. Preserve your privacy while you can.

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 2
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 2

Step 2. Read the instructions carefully before trying to collect the prize

Instructions can be found on the back of the ticket or on the website of the company that organizes the lottery. You wouldn't want to lose the money because you missed some detail written in fine print.

  • Write your name on the back of the ticket unless this prevents you from anonymously withdrawing the prize or is prohibited by the contest rules.
  • Make multiple copies of the front and back of the ticket; keep the original in the safe of a trusted bank.
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 3
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 3

Step 3. Call an attorney immediately.

It will give instructions on legal steps you can take before cashing out and how to split the money with other winners. Taking this precaution prevents you from losing or damaging the prize because of some legal trap.

Part 2 of 3: Dealing with the Legal and Financial Consequences

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 4
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 4

Step 1. Protect your identity and privacy.

The media often reports on lottery jackpot winners, and the local press will certainly want to interview you.

  • Try to receive the award with a degree of privacy. Or, if the contest allows, it is possible to receive it through a proxy and remain anonymous.
  • Decide whether you want press attention. It's fun to appear in the local paper and become a celebrity, but be aware that fame has its downsides. Your friends may start looking for you to ask for money. Your every step will be watched by the public. Now that you are rich, people will have certain expectations of you. If you want to avoid all of this, you might want to protect yourself from the media.
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 5
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 5

Step 2. Consider using your attorney as an attorney

Through a power of attorney, it is possible to grant the lawyer limited powers over the money. In addition to dealing more easily with bureaucratic details, which are always very present in this type of operation, he will be able to collect the money instead and preserve his identity.

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 6
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 6

Step 3. Take taxes into account

In life, only two things are certain: death and taxes. You don't have to worry about death right now (unless you've had a heart attack from the thrill of winning the lottery), but it's good to start thinking about taxes. You may be taxed twice: once when you withdraw your premium and once at the end of the fiscal year, depending on how you move.

  • Lottery prize is a taxable good, whether the winner withdraws it all at once or in annual installments.
  • Depositing the prize in an investment fund has some advantages, as it minimizes the percentage taxable by the State and the inheritance tax, in the event of the winner's death.
  • In other words: money kept in mutual funds is less taxed than money kept in a checking account!
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 7
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 7

Step 4. If the ticket was purchased together, discuss a partnership

If you purchased your ticket as a pair or as a group, you have a lot to plan and discuss.

Clarify the circumstances of ticket purchase. Is the agreement between you and your peers just verbal? If so, does your country consider such agreements to be legitimate? In such a case, it is safer to receive the money through a society than to appoint one of the members to receive the money and distribute it among the parties

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 8
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 8

Step 5. Understand how your country's community of property law relates to lottery prizes

In many countries, lottery prizes acquired during marriage are property subject to communion - especially when purchased with the couple's funds.

This means that, in case of separation, the premium will be divided between the parties. And this is also true for unofficial stable unions (whether by choice or by impossibility, as happens with homosexual couples in some countries)

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 9
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 9

Step 6. Find out about gift tax

Lottery winners can make non-taxable donations (this type of donation has a maximum value that varies from country to country) to friends and family. And donations to charitable organizations can generate tax rebates.

  • Find organizations in need or fighting for causes you consider urgent. Cancer research or aid to children in need are a good place to start.
  • Ask recipients of your donations to sign confidentiality agreements. This prevents them from revealing the source of the money for at least five years.

Part 3 of 3: Using Premium to Create Long-Term Benefits

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 10
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 10

Step 1. Hire a reputable accountant or financial advisor

It is important to follow this Step before spending any money. This way, you will have more opinions at your disposal and the management of your assets will be more efficient.

  • Your consultant will estimate how much you can spend in relation to what you should save and draw up an investment plan, in addition to providing a forecast of the profits that this plan should yield.
  • Consider depositing the prize money in a secret account or private bank, and using the regular account only to move the profits of your investments (or when necessary).
  • Make a pension plan for your children and grandchildren in a private bank.
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 11
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 11

Step 2. In the beginning, you can spend moderately

Many lottery winners go bankrupt because of an obsession with new cars and property. Instead, invest in something that allows you to live off the income.

This advice sounds disheartening to someone who has just won the lottery, but try to compare the short-term advantages of a new purchase to the long-term advantages of an investment of the same value

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 12
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 12

Step 3. Consider the option of receiving the prize in annual installments, if offered by the contest

This allows you to learn from your mistakes during the first few years without putting everything you've gained at risk.

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 13
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 13

Step 4. Don't leave your job in a hurry

You are a very rich person, but you need to spend your time with something that doesn't involve spending your entire fortune. Try taking a vacation or getting a part-time job.

  • Now is the perfect time to pursue the career you've always dreamed of. If you've never had the opportunity to enter the stock market, practice skydiving or become a high school teacher, you can dedicate yourself to it now.
  • You can also enroll in a course or enter university. If you like to learn and gain knowledge, try to study something that piques your interest. You don't have to go to Harvard - a college in your area will do as long as you continue to stimulate your brain.
  • An important course for lottery winners is financial management. With it, you will better understand your consultants' suggestions and reports.
  • Be sure to pay the loans you take out.
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 14
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 14

Step 5. Invest, invest, invest

Remember the old saying, "money makes money"? Now that you've provided the money, all you need to worry about is how to invest it! And that can pay off a considerable amount. The return is not always guaranteed, but providing a good investment portfolio is always better than leaving the money standing.

  • Remember that a lower rate of return than inflation means, in effect, a decrease in your purchasing power.
  • Build a diversified portfolio, but take risky investments with caution. Safer investments, such as retirement plans, direct treasury, public debt bonds, among others, are the most recommendable. Try to join a local credit bureau. Find out what investment options you have available.
  • Know what the law provides in the event of a bank failure. In Brazil, the law requires that bankrupt banks refund BRL 70,000.00 to each consumer - this means that a citizen is subject to losing money whenever he leaves more than this amount in the same bank. Apply in debt securities or in stock market the money you don't need to keep in a checking account.
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 15
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 15

Step 6. Use a credit card with a loyalty plan to make your purchases and pay the bill monthly

As long as you pay your bills on time, you won't have any extra expenses, and you can still convert your points into rewards.

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 16
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 16

Step 7. Be discreet

Keep old friends around, people you know well and who know would be on your side in any situation. Don't show too much and try not to attract attention.

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 17
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 17

Step 8. Shop smart

You may even have enough money to buy an island and found your own country, but remember that an island has upkeep costs. Before buying anything, always consider the additional cost.

  • Think carefully before buying a new home. What will the property tax be? How much will it take to furnish it? Also, keep in mind that the value of a home varies with fluctuations in the housing market.
  • Think twice before building your Porsche fleet. Cars lose half their value once they cross the dealership gate. And expensive cars require expensive maintenance - even more so on imported cars, whose parts are priced by the government.
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 18
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 18

Step 9. Treat your family well

They were on your side before you won the lottery. Of course, you can give them a gift, but don't feel obligated to support or assume any relative's debts. Remember, your family will never abandon you.

Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 19
Deal With Winning the Lottery Step 19

Step 10. Buy Certificates of Deposit (CDBs) and withdraw the proceeds

Look for the best return certificates; at the end of the term, you can either reinvest the money if the rate of return has increased, or sell the bonds to buy others at better rates. Your bank manager will help you with this.

Tips

  • Make a list of the dreams you have and decide which ones are worth it. It's better to have unfulfilled dreams than high debt!
  • After the initial spend, don't waste your money on unnecessary things.
  • Before withdrawing the prize, write down or record everything you want to achieve, everything you want to avoid, how you feel about the situation you are going through, and what you expect for the future. Consult what you recorded when you need to remember your life before being a millionaire. Whenever you feel that money has only made things worse, these notes can provide the comfort you need.
  • If you're going to invest in small banks, try talking directly to the vice president or someone at the top. If you are going to invest in a large, national bank, look for services aimed at clients with a large volume of capital. Thus, you will have more investment options and the certainty that your money will be safer.
  • Don't spend thoughtlessly. Set a maximum amount you can spend each week and promise yourself you won't exceed it.
  • Use the money to pay off your debts first. Having the name clean will give you much greater purchasing freedom.
  • Control yourself. Being extravagant, you run the risk of getting lost and losing dear friends.
  • Try to maintain the healthy financial habits you had before winning the prize. That way, there will always be money in emergencies. When you win the prize, fulfill some of your biggest drinking dreams, but get your life back to normal later.
  • Donate your vintage car to the Salvation Army or other charitable organization.
  • Don't brag about your money; it just pisses people off.
  • Remember to manage your assets wisely. Do not get carried away by impulses or make unnecessary purchases. Your family may expect large donations, but they are not entitled to your fortune, nor are you obligated to share it with them.

Notices

  • Don't make money the only thing that binds you to your friends, family, or love partners.
  • Many lotteries publish the names of winners, but you can remain anonymous through legal resources. In any case, you can change your style and wear sunglasses whenever you leave the house, and disguise yourself whenever you make public appearances.
  • Remember: money doesn't buy happiness. Some of the richest people in the world are also the most miserable.

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