Won the Powerball, now what?

[canadianoutlaw]

I've never won the lottery before. What steps should I take when tonight's numbers reveal my ticket is the winner? Would like to most efficiently protect this windfall accordingly. Any advice would be most appreciated.

[ACN]

Do This

 

Can fast forward to around 25secs

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

Give the ticket to your favorite charitable organization.  Lottery wins have ruined lives.

[BCBiker]

Can I tax loss harvest my losing ticket? :P

[asmallchild]

PhysicianOnFIRE wrote:

Give the ticket to your favorite charitable organization.  Lottery wins have ruined lives.

Click to expand...

I've semi-seriously thought about this

I actually enjoy my day to day work. I wonder if it would be possible to resume a career in medicine after such a large and public win.

[The White Coat Investor]

I think eventually I'd be giving away 95%+ of the net earnings, a massive chunk of it the first year, at least to a charitable trust of some kind that I would control. How do you spend a billion bucks? Just managing that charity would be a full time job.

[scbunker]

Send me a PM. I can help.

[ginmqi]

Well it was a fun $2 day dream while it lasted.

Would need tax lawyer and fee-only advisors to properly handle the windfall. But I doubt you'll need to with 1 in 290milion odds.