In a previous column, I said buying lottery tickets was a bad idea.

If you ignored my advice, played anyway, and won the big jackpot, this column is for you.

After overcoming trillion to one odds and winning, it seems silly to run through the money. However, a Stanford University study shows that over 90% of people do just that within five years.

I have counseled lottery winners. Here are a few tips I learned:

1. Never let anyone know you won.

Every lottery winner who goes public tells stories about people harassing them.

Powerball winner, Jack Whittaker, said, “"There should be a book to tell you how to handle it when people get thrown into the limelight.”

You are asking for trouble if you have a news conference and tell the world that you have a bunch of money that you never planned on having. The news conference is a good deal for the lottery officials promoting their product and a good story for the media. It is a lousy deal for you. Several years ago, Bowling Green attorney Steve Thornton announced that one of his clients had won the Kentucky lottery. Steve set up a corporation and protected the client’s identity. Find an attorney who can do the same thing for you. Your life will be much happier. If you decide later on that you want to be famous, you will have enough money to fund your own reality show.

2. Take the annual payments, not the lump sum.

Never take a lump sum. The annual payments are a better deal. Lottery winners are totally unprepared for their sudden wealth. If you take the money as a lump sum and become overcome by lust, drugs, sex, bad friends, bad family, bad investments, or other factors, the money will be gone and there will be no way to get it back. If you take the annual payments and run through the first payment, you have 29 more chances to get it right. It gives you time to organize a plan and take advantage of ways to save taxes and improve return. I tell everyone to take the payments. I tell people on the street to take the payments. I tell the guy holding up the gas station line buying tickets to take the payments. Even though you ignored my advice and bought a lottery ticket, listen to me on this one.

3. Spend money on some good advice

All of the candidates running against George Bush are right in noting there are a ton of tax breaks for the wealthy. When you win the lottery, you need to find people who can get those tax breaks for you. Good advice does not mean calling the bookkeeper for your bowling league. You need someone who has dealt with big money and is not trying to learn while they earn. Big time advisors don’t advertise in the phone book under “Help for Lottery Winners,” but if you ask some well respected attorneys, eventually you will get referred to the advisor you need. There are people who are good at helping rich people be richer. Get one of them working for you.

4. Use your money for a purpose

There was a great book written in the 1980’s by Ami Domini called “The Challenges of Wealth. It was a ground breaking study of sudden wealth at a time when few studied the subject. Her research showed that the rich people were happiest when they helped a cause that they really believed in. The joyful people gave money for scholarships, helped their church and formed non-profit groups. You can leave your children enough to be comfortable but not spoil them. People who leave their family too much money wind up with children like Paris Hilton. If you study history, most of the people who amassed great fortunes like Carnegie and Rockefeller, gave substantial amounts of their money to charity while they were still alive. Even more gave money to charity upon death. You have an opportunity to take care of family and have plenty left over to make an impact on society. It will make you content and the world a better place.

One last thought:

Winning the lottery is a random event. It has nothing to do with skill, hard work or talent.

If you ever start feeling cocky about your brains and good fortune, remember that I told you not to buy the ticket in the first place.

Don McNay is President of McNay Settlement Group where they still think buying lottery tickets is a lousy bet. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or www.mcnay.com