Congratulations! You've Won a Million Dollars! Now What?

[orlando baldwin]

First of all, Congratulations. Second, I don't want your money. But
many other people will, including long lost relatives, the aging
relative, every charity you can think of (and then some) and your
friends. The purpose of this is to help you keep your money.
My research has revealed that people who suddenly come into wealth,
such as in an inheritance or a lottery winning, - like you for example
- often go through all they've received within 2 years. During these
two years they are often subjected to an unusually high amount of
stress and have friends and relatives they never knew they had come
asking them for money.
Many people often feel guilty. "Why me?" "What do I do with this?"
"Who do I turn to?" "Who do I trust?" Hopefully, you won't experience
any of these feelings and everything will go smoothly for you. But if
you find yourself feeling this way, you aren't alone.
To help, I've developed some simple rules or guidelines. Accept those
which feel right to you or which seem to make sense. If it feels wrong
or just doesn't make sense, don't do it.
1. Wait. This is already what most people do. Wait a few days until
the excitement dies down before claiming your money. This gives you
time to calm down and relax and look at the situation a little more
rationally. Winning a large jackpot is a big responsibility and you
need time to get yourself used to the idea.
2. While you're waiting those few days, find yourself a competent
attorney and a good accountant, CPA or financial advisor. How do you
find such people? Trust your friends. Yeah, the word may leak that
you've won, but it is more important to get an attorney and financial
advisor in place rather than not trust your friends and go to the
lottery office without such a team behind you. Who would your friends
recommend? Ask them, ask around. Maybe you could consult the mayor of
your town - if its small, or ask your doctor, tax preparer or someone
who owns a small business. You could also just go through the Yellow
Pages and select a few financial service firms at random and then call
them for an initial appointment. When you appear for the appointment,
be honest, tell them you won the big jackpot and ask them what
suggestions they have on how you should invest the money. Meet each of
the advisors you select and then wait at least 24 hours after meeting
with the last before deciding which one you'll be working with. Then
call that one back and give them the good news. Trust me, they'll be
very happy.
3. While you're waiting, you may want to change your phone number and/
or get yourself a new mailing address - a post office box or a mail
box at a nearby mailing service. Otherwise you'll be inundated with
phone calls and proposals in the mail to help you part with your
money.
So you go to the lottery office and collect the big check. You get
your smiling face on all the local (and maybe national) media. So
what's next?
4. Take 10% and blow it. Yeah, this may not seem like sound investment
advice, but you've just won the lottery for pete's sake! Have fun!
That's what winning is all about. Take that vacation you've always
wanted. Get that sports car you've always dreamed of. Throw yourself
the biggest party you can imagine. Rent out the nightclub or
restaurant or theater for you and some of your best friends. Have a
good time. Have fun. But don't forget:
5. Be yourself. Don't be someone you're not. Don't assume "airs" or a
persona just because you're suddenly wealthy. Your friends will resent
it and sooner or later, so will you. This really hasn't been much of a
problem for most people and shouldn't be with you, so just keep it in
mind.
6. If you don't go to church or believe in God or a Supreme Being of
some kind, now may be a good time to reconsider your position. You're
going to need all the advice, wisdom and support you can get. When
friends and family you never knew you had suddenly begin calling you
and showing up on your doorstep, you may start to wonder who you can
trust. Who will you turn to? God is infinite love and wisdom and this
may be just what you need right now.
7. Relax. Don't feel guilty. Praise God. This money is a gift.
Lightning has to strike someone sometime. This time it just happend to
be you. You may now have enough to retire. If so, go ahead and retire.
Quit your job, or at the very least stay away for a few days. You'll
probably be too excited to concentrate on your job anyway. So take a
vacation and maybe it'll become permanent.
8. Be careful who you trust. All the people you knew and were friends
with before you won are probably safe. Any "friends", "relatives" and
others you may have encountered since you won may not be.
9. Talk to your family, lawyer and financial planner and set up an
investment plan. Discuss what you would do with this money. Don't make
any rash decisions. The longer you keep this money in a safe place -
even if its just a regular bank account for now - the longer you'll be
able to consider all your options, plan for the future, and dream of
what could be. Consider capping your donations to church or charities
at a maximum of 10%. If you're receiving your money in annual
payments, keep your donations at 10% per year. After the first year
you may want to increase this percentage, but for the first year, keep
donations to a 10% maximum.
10. Don't give money away to just anyone or for any reason. People may
start coming out of the woodwork with news of relatives needing
lifesaving operations, to pay bills, to start a medical clinic, pay
for an abortion, save the whales, feed the hungry, to pay the rent so
they won't be evicted, to start a new business which is "guaranteed"
to turn their life around, etc. Don't do it. Refer them all to your
attorney. Even the United Way, Girl or Boy Scouts, your local church,
Red Cross and even your favorite Uncle Billy. Ask them all to submit a
written proposal to your attorney. And tell them he'll take it from
there.
11. Take a vacation. Get out of the country. Or just get out of the
area for a while. You may need a few days, you may need a few weeks.
But now is the time to think and relax. You've been given a great
gift. What are you going to do with it? To figure that out, take that
vacation you've always wanted. Go away. Go someplace where no one
knows you. Take your immediate family (or not) and bring along a
trusted friend or friends or relative(s) if you wish. (Or not.) Go
sailing. Go to Europe or Asia. Take that cruise. Go to Las Vegas (but
be careful if you go there)(the casinos have many years experience of
helping people part with their money), or Cancun or Fiji. Whatever
vacation or place you've always wanted, now is the time to do it.
If you take your family, they may impose too greatly upon your
conscience. You don't want that. You want to be able to rationally and
logically figure out what to do with this great gift you've been
given. Having your family around may not allow you to do this. Or it
may. Only you can make that determination.
If they are not with you, call home. Call your family, pastor or a
trusted friend. Talk. And make lists. This is number 12.
12. Make lists. What dreams did you always want to do or achieve? Who
did you always want to be? Now may be the time to do that. Or maybe
you'll too old. Or not. And don't be hasty. You've got all the time in
the world. You can live anywhere you want. Do anything you want. Buy
any car you've wanted. Get that big house in that luxury area.
Keep on making lists. Think about all the things you've written. Do
you really want this or that? Do you really want to go here or there?
Think about these things. It may take some time, or maybe it won't.
Maybe you won't need to get away, maybe you've had all this planned
out already, if not on paper then in your head. Enjoy yourself.
13. Move on. Your plans are in place. Your family has been taken care
of. Perhaps you've bought that nice house or car you've always wanted.
Now is the time to move on. Start living your life. Maybe you won't
change anything, or maybe you will. Maybe you'll change everything.
But life goes on, and so do you. You may be able to live at a higher
level of affluence, you may be able to donate to those charities, you
may be able to do some good things you never had the time or money to
do before. Now you have both. So do them. You may even want to go back
to school. You're never too old. Begin implementing the investment
plan you worked out. Begin living that life you dreamed of while on
vacation and while making lists. And that's it.
There's plenty of competent investment advice out there so I'm not
going to offer any. Except for this. If you're going to buy that new
house, pay cash. Buy it outright. Same for the car. Get out of debt.
Now is not the time to be adding new debt. You're going to need time
to learn how to invest wisely. Many people study for years and never
get it right. But with the proper team around you, the love and
support of family and friends and God on your side, you'll make the
right decisions.
One more thing.
Congratulations!
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