Comments on: You’ve just won the lottery—now what?

By: Social Mange

Social Mange — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:50:50 +0000

I love, love, love your comment about donating thousands and that being the best part, how good it makes you feel. Thanks for putting a smile on my face and on the faces of the many who benefit from your generosity.

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By: Austin

Austin — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:24:44 +0000

It’s sad how much I think about this In any case, the very first thing I’d do is cancel my phone and my social site accounts and inform my closest friends and family that I’m going off the grid for a bit. Unfortunately you hear so many horror stories of lottery winners getting harrassed by ‘friends’ and distant relatives that they go into hiding (Exhibit A: The Portugese Butcher who won 10 mil and gave away chickens). This is the time when you get to separate your real friends from the pretenders.

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By: Steve_YYZ

Steve_YYZ — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:00:37 +0000

Everybody seems to overthink the problem. I’m really quite modest in what I’d do with a mega-lottery win. Take the cheque to a bank and lock it up in a 30-day rollover. Keep about $10,000 in cash and put most of it on my credit card as a pre-payment. Then it’s off to my favourite Caribbean city that I’ve been to many times before. Where I feel comfortable but few know me and for sure nobody would know I’m a winner. All I’m going to take besides my regular travel stuff is a notepad, pen and calculator. I’m going to sleep in and de-pressurize from the rat-race. Eat well, but healthy foods. Take some nice seaside walks and just spend a month thinking about my future, my friends and what I’m going to do with the money. No lawyers, accountants, advisors and others who will want their slice of the pie for their advice. Just some thoughtful relaxation for a month. Then I’ll come home and begin the first day of the rest of my life based on what I’ve determined I’d like to do.

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By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:41:37 +0000

OLG in Ontario will not let you claim the lottery anonymously as stated in their terms and condition. They will publish your name at a minimum as they cite this is how they are transparent to the public that there actually are winners and that the money doesn’t go in a back pocket.

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By: shmengy

shmengy — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:33:02 +0000

You are incorrect about being taxed on the money. Gifts are non-taxable. If you’re not paying someone for a service, you can give them as much money as you like, tax-free

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By: dj

dj — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:49:51 +0000

they may be salespeople however in order to do so they’ve been trained and are regulated and one would hope acting in the best interest of their clients.
An accountant or lawyer doesn’t know dick about how to invest money which is why they go to professionals for that themselves

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By: beentheredonethat

beentheredonethat — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:47:38 +0000

The lawyer is the first stop. If you haven’t got a will, you better get one now.
Pay your debts off.
Whatever you do, keep the investment options simple. I’ve seen too many winners blow it all on a) get rich quick schemes b)unscrupulous ‘financial advisors’ c) incredibly bad judgement in trusting people – you’d be amazed at how perceptions change once you’re rich.

By all means, take a chunk of your winnings and blow it on whatever you want.
But think about the rest of it and what it can do for you for the next 10-20-30 years…

oh yeah…no restaurants or bars. that’s the get poor fast program for losers.

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By: Rex

Rex — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:16:51 +0000

All good advice, except the financial advisor. Your first conversation should be with a lawyer or an accountant. You want someone in a regulated profession who is paid to give you advice, and who is bound to act in your best interest.

Financial advisors, wealth managers, etc. are salespeople. Their job is to invest your money, and in the process they earn a commission. Not saying they can’t be helpful, but recognize that they are not impartial as to how you spend or invest your money.

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By: Rex

Rex — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:54:58 +0000

I agree that I’d talk to a lawyer first (or an accountant is fine — point is not a ‘financial advisor’ or anyone who works on commission!), but you’re misinformed about tax law. A gift to your dad would never be taxed. Gifts aren’t a taxable source of income for CRA purposes. Furthermore, the OLG isn’t going to recognize whatever you happen to scribble on the winning ticket. They pay the winner, and you deal with any downstream payments.

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By: lotto player turned lotto winner

lotto player turned lotto winner — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:09:24 +0000

my workplace lotto pool won over $15,000,000, each of us got a cheque for $441,365.06.

of course we were grateful, shocked and excited, most had payed off their mortgages, their kids’ student loans/put away for their kids education fund, reno their homes, vacations esp to ‘the old country’ (oh i can hear the racist comments already). i only know of two people who actually bought a new home. .

except for those who were eligible for retirement, early or otherwise, the rest of us still work at our jobs. i,myself, work part time. in our line of work it will be years before i have enough seniority to have a chance at a full time position.

i didn’t pay off my mortgage. i actually let the bank staff talk me out of for that for that money could be invested elsewhere, plus after the increased value on my condo after the reno, i still made a profit after legal, real estate fees and mortgage costs.

for some stupid reason i’m still taking the ttc, but i’m working on that (i know,i know should have dealed with that BEFORE last winter) my budget for my car is $12,000 hopefully closer to $10,000 and used (afterall new drivers always got into a crash in the first few years, so buying brand new doesn’t any makes sense)

so what’s really changed in my life? i take vacations every year and not staycations either, maxing out both my rrsp & tfsa, and of course donating thousands every year(believe it or not thats the best part,it makes me good and this may sound weird but it makes me feel more grateful for the win). also due to the physical demands of my occupation and my bad back, i do work less shifts per pay period, and plan to start volunteering again.

and yes the green eyed monster of envy reared its ugly head in the workplace, the (small) number of congratulations is grossly outnumbered by the number of comments of how the money won’t last (duh! thats why we’re still working), or how we will waste it. a co-worker whose religion forbids gambling, instead of congratulating us, said we should give her some money. already new rumors have started that our money is gone (gone as in wasted) ironically one of the people starting the new rumor,claims to having $800,000 in home equity, thats almost twice our win,go figure. i purposely avoid talking what i did with my share of the winnings at work unless only other lotto pool members are in the vicinity, for me, it would feel cruel otherwise, can’t say the same for others

oh btw, one of the comments was right about who to tell, i didn’t tell most of my friends, for the very reasons mentioned, of course i told my family (had to tell somebody! but only after a few days, when some of the shock wore off enough to start thinking again)

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