CONNECTICUT, USA — You’ve discussed the possibility with your friends, your family, you’ve may even have discussed it with co-workers. On the off chance you win millions of dollars through the lottery, how would you spend it? It’s fun to imagine until you actually win! Then what?
FOX61 spoke to Financial Planner Chris Beale from New England Capital Financial Advisors who gave us some advice.
“I’d say is you don’t have to do anything right away," said Beale. "You should probably build your team around you of a certified financial planner and certified public accountant, attorneys, estate attorney. That would be the first thing I would do.”
It’s about taking time to process what happened before jumping into action
“Your first knee-jerk reaction is well I know what I’m doing tomorrow I’m going in and quitting my job but that may be something you don’t have to do right away,” said Beale.
There is no doubt your life will change, but could it be for the better, or for worse? Beale has worked with those in the past.
"They just think of the good side it is truly a blessing and a curse I think there is about 75% of the people who win the lottery in 2 to 3 years are broke," said Beale
Beale added, “You are all of a sudden going from a very private individual to a public individual very quickly and a lot of people won’t be able to handle the attention.”
So in addition to adding attorneys, financial planners, etc to your team, another member you might want to add is a psychologist to help you figure out the new life your about to embark on.
And then of course once you get all those team members together, it’s about figuring out how you want to receive the money which is a personal choice and how to claim it.
"Then you have to take the emotional part and get that involved and say OK am I the type of person that maybe needs more discipline and maybe should be getting this series of income instead of the lump sum that’s a personal decision,” said Beale.