(Memphis) – If you have a winning Powerball ticket your life is about to change. All day people around the Mid-South lined up for a chance to win the $550 million jackpot. There’s a slim chance you will win, but if you beat the odds, financial advisers say you need to be prepared.
“Very very crazy lines all the way to the back of the store people spending beau-coups of money,” Store clerk Sharita Barber said.
People across the Mid-South lined up all day to buy their Powerball ticket that could change their lives forever.
“First I’m going to open my own business, buy a new car, a house and maybe take care of some people and some charity. And I’ll put the rest in a bank account,” Barber said.
While some say they would put the half billion dollars in the bank.
Others had less frugal plans.
“It will be blown,” Shanesha Freeman said. “By the end of it it will be blown.”
But with sudden wealth many people wonder, what should I do first if I do win?
“First call me then ditch the phone,” financial analyst Paul Shanklin said.
Shanklin jokes with good reason. Our odds are very slim of winning 1 and 175 million.
But if you do win, he says first call an financial adviser like himself. Then, he says get an team of experts to help manager your new wealth.
“You’re going to need an accountant, you’re going to need a lawyer to watch the accountant, and you’re going to need your high school annual so you can remember all those faces you see coming to the door,” he said.
Which brings up a good point. Don’t rush out telling people you won. Take some time. You 90 days to announce you have the winning ticket.
“Think about all the things you want to do today, but what about tomorrow,” he said.”Think about tomorrow think about the future.”
You will also have to figure out whether you want to take a lump sum, or annual installments over 30-years.If you choose the latter, that comes to 12-million a year before taxes and about 8-million after taxes.
If you can take a lump sum payment that’s a little more than 360-million dollars.After taxes, you’re looking at 240 million dollars in the bank.
