If you won millions of dollars of lottery is it better to take it in payments or lump sum?

Question

I'm just curious. What benefit more?

Answer 1

You take the lump your money is losing it's value down the road. Plus on the slight chance the lotto could go broke you get nothing with future payments. Take the money and live one day at a time.

Answer 2

oh how my s.o. and i have pondered the possibilities! we decided that we would take the lump sum. the possibility of losing those annual payments because the lottery people go broke or something is just too scary! of course you would need professional help to manage all of that cash if you want it to last.

Answer 3

id say payments. idk why lmao

Answer 4

It all depends.  Are you the sort that blows all your money?  Better take payments.   Can you invest well and have discipline?  Maybe a lump sum.

Also.... are you in good health?  Likely to live to collect the entire stream?

Answer 5

lump sum..........invest it under the mattress the way things are looking at the mo!

Answer 6

Depends on your personal situation, i.e. how close you are to retirement, current income, etc. Generally speaking, with interest rates on the decline, I'd be more inclined to take a lump sum, but with that kind of $$$, I'd get a good financial planner to review my situation and offer a suggestion.

Answer 7

Get the lump sum.  If you take the payments, you might get run over next month and then your family will get nowt.  Also, the present value of money goes down all the time, so $10,000 a month today is much more than $10,000 a month will be in three years time.  In twenty years time, chances are that $10,000 will get you little more than your weeks groceries.  Get the lump sum and look after it.  (Don't buy a Ferrari)

Any Americans reading this, nowt = nothing.

Answer 8

always lump sum.  you can earn more by investing the [apparently smaller] lump sum over time than you can by taking the payments.

Answer 9

Lump sum is great for investing and helping others.

Little at a time is beneficial for those that can't control themselves.

Answer 10

Take the lump sum.  Usually you pay a penalty for that, namely half the value of the jackpot.  But if you use the "rule of 70", and assume you can invest it at 7% interest (not difficult to do) then you'll have that half back in 10 years.  And now you've avoided the penalty that comes from the future value of the money being less.  Of course, you can also claim that you've lost the value of ten years of investments from the annuity, but if you run the full numbers a decent investment will overtake the annuity around year 14.  The biggest reason you might want to take the annuity is if you're prone to blowing your money in one fell swoop.  You know, buying tons of c**p you don't need, giving presents to family, etc.  But if you've got a shred of discipline and sense the lump sum will pay off more in 20 years than the payment plan.