7 Top Tips for a Lottery Winner
You’ve done it! Congratulations, you hit the jackpot (if only in your dreams). But before you go crazy and spend all the money at once, consider these handy hints for managing your cash after your big win. Make sure you look after your finances, take care not to get ripped off, and keep your feet on the ground. In this way, a big lottery win can be a dream come true, not a nightmare. 1. Keep Your Hands on Your Ticket From the moment you see your numbers come up on the TV screen to the time you get your ticket checked and verified by the officials, it is worth potentially millions. The worst thing that can happen is for the ticket to get lost or stolen. Keep it somewhere highly secure until you can claim your winnings.
2. Keep it Quiet Much as you may want to scream the good news from the rooftops, don’t share it. Tell the minimum amount of people you can, and if you can have anonymity then take it. This cuts down the amount of requests you will get from family members and strangers alike – something that can be very difficult to handle for winners. 3. Put Your Team Together It can be overwhelming to plan how you are going to spend or save or invest all that money. You need the help of professionals to handle the win. Hire professionals that have been vouched-for by other people, and use a variety of professionals such as financial planners and lawyers. 4. Learn to be Financially Savvy Even while you surround yourself with financial professionals you still need to know the basics of how to manage your money so you can tell if anyone is trying to scam you, and so you retain overall control of how you manage your win. 5. Keep the Money Safe until You Decide on Your Plan DTD European Services advises that you make sure the money is in a safe place while you work out which investments you are going to make, or how you are going to spend the cash. Your financial team will be able to advise you on this vital first step. 6. Cover the Essential Basics First Before you go crazy and splurge on four Ferraris, put money aside so you know you will be covered for the rest of your life. You need to consider debt repayments, mortgages, school fees, and your retirement. When you know you are financially secure for life, you can have fun spending some of your winnings on something fun. 7. Don’t Rush It But don’t be in too much of a hurry to change your life completely just because you won the lottery. It may be tempting to get a divorce, move across the country, or buy a different house immediately on learning about your win – but will these actions really make you happy? Give yourself time to think and for the reality to sink in before you make any truly life-changing decisions that you may live to regret in the long-run.