"Life’s a dance you learn as you go.
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow."
-John Michael Montgomery

For years, I’ve been giving advice to lottery winners. Usually, it is ignored and people learn from as they go.

Now I think someone is following my lead.

Someone  purchased a lottery ticket near Cincinnati  and won  a $148.1 million jackpot.   They did not  claim the money themselves.  

Instead, they set up a trust at a large bank and had a trust officer cash the winning ticket. 

The trust officer was prohibited from giving out the name of the winner, as was the lottery commission.   No one knows who or where the winner is.

The winner eliminated many problems with one smart decision.  

Almost all lottery winners rush to the lottery office the second they figure out that they have won.  They often have a news conference where they jump up and down like participants on a television  game show.

Not Jeopardy, but a show where you don’t need to be smart. 

These new millionaires get their “professional” financial advice from newfound family and friends.  These new advisors often have other careers as strippers and bartenders.

Which explains why an estimated  90% of  lottery winners run through the money in less than five years. 

I tell winners  not to have a news conference, but they have it anyway.  They can’t resist the chance to be on television and impress people with their intelligence and good intentions.

Although it does not take a rocket scientist to randomly pick numbers, winners seemed compelled to show off their special prowess.   

Since flashing money in public  is a sure sign that you are an idiot, one can see why con artists go after lottery winners. 

The winners universally say that they are going help their families and give money to charities. 

Winners must have family members and charities related to booze, sex and narcotics industries, as that is where a lot of lottery money seems to go. My bet is that only about 10% of the winners actually give money to benefit society.

The rest blow their money being stupid. 

I tell people not to have news conferences and to get a professional financial advisor. I also tell people not to play the lottery at all.

Millions of people ignore my advice. 

The winner in Cincinnati acted like they listened to me. Scott Sloan at WLW radio in Cincinnati  has had me on several times to discuss lotteries, and maybe someone heard me.

Since we don’t know who the winners are, they are not going to come forward and give me credit. So I will take credit for it anyway.  If they did not listen to me, they listened to someone who knew what they were doing. 

My one argument would have been their decision to take payments from the lottery in a lump sum, instead payments over 30 years. Payments are  a better tax and financial planning strategy.

About 98% of lottery winners ignore me, but it is good advice anyway. 

I really shouldn’t knock the strategy of the unknown winner. The trust is a great tool.

Restrictions can be set up, and with good management, the money could be in their family for generations to come.

The winner has a shot at maintaining wealth, since no one will know that they have it.   They miss the thrill of acting stupid in public, but it is a great trade off.   They won’t have charities and leeches harassing them. They  won’t have the opportunity to establish “deep” bonding  experiences with long lost friends and relatives.

Instead, they will enjoy the money in privacy.  If they feel compelled to go to a strip bar and flash a few hundred thousand, like West Virginia Powerball winner Jack Whitaker likes to do, they can pretend that they actually earned the money.

Keeping quiet is the first advice I give anyone getting a large amount of money, be it from the lottery, an injury settlement, or inheritance.  

A large lump sum is a one-time experience, and most people either learn or don’t learn as they go.

Their lives should be a dance, not a fire walk.