I WON THE LOTTERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... What should I do with the money?

I WON THE LOTTERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What should I do with the money?
This past week my dad won the Pennsylvania Lottery! It added up to about $28 million dollars! I guess I'm never going to work one more day of my life! We all went into shock when we heard the news and still haven't gotten out of it, we have already gotten our money and we're moving to a huge ranch estate we just bought ( has been my parents dream for twelve years now and have had there eyes on this one for a while, they bought it immediatly after getting the check, more like 2 days). I'm the only child, so he says that he splitting it with me, so when I turn 18, i'm getting about 11 mil, WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH ALL THIS MONEY!!!! I've been below middle class all my 14 years of life and the most I have had is $48. I don't want to blow it, so I need GOOD advice on this one please.

don't ask for advice here. Go see a financial advisor and tax accountant you can find and trust immediately. If you actually are that lucky, don't squander it like most lottery people seem to do.

If you get the 11 million, invest it. Even if your return on the 11 million is only 3% then your annual interest is going to be around $330,000. If you can't live off of $330,000 a year something is majorly wrong. A good financial planner will get you more than 3% though.

Also look at starting a company (something you really enjoy doing, like a hobby) and creating jobs. Even if your company loses a little money you'll have helped society out by giving others work. Sitting around the house playing your PS3 and racing down the street in a Lamborghini all day will make you lazy and unsatisfied.

First stop telling folks you are rich--you won't be for long if you do. You'll meet swindlers, gold-diggers, and users of all stripes.

Next you AND your father need to locate a good financial adviser for good advice. Though that is a good sum of money, it can EASILY be lost. MANY a lottery winner goes BANKRUPT in a short space of time (see caution above, plus getting a divorce, starting up with drugs, etc.).

You need to also decide what you want your life to mean. People NEED purpose. It makes complete sense and is NOT selfish for you to make sure you will have a quality home, money enough to support yourself and prepare for reasonable contingencies (at your age, you could easily spend a MILLION over the course of your life on health care without having anything serious happen to you). You will need good insurance: homeowners (and get an umbrella in case people find you out you have money and want it--you can be sued for ANY reason and if nothing else, it's money down the drain defending yourself). You need good auto insurance WHEN you are old enough to drive (and if you have someone do it for you, he better be well-insured too). You need health insurance--an HSA with good money to set aside for when you're older and may need expensive care is good. You may not need disability or long-term care like most people do, so count yourself lucky there.

Take excellent care of your health--don't start drinking, smoking, drugging, or having casual sex (and in your case, sex can also BANKRUPT you, so definitely NO casual sex), driving crazy, etc. are all no-nos.

What are you interests? your strengths? your talents? You have been given a rare gift--you could end up becoming a great entrepreneur starting a business that would provide something useful for the public AND legitimate, gainful employment to many. You could also donate regularly to charitable causes, like medical research, Habitat for Humanity, and the like--again CHECK THOSE CHARITIES OUT.

You should find folks you CAN trust (hopefully you have them now) and a way to be comfortable by yourself. The money is basically a blessing, but it can easily be a curse if the wrong people find out about it. You MUST protect your funds AND your heart.

With that kind of money you should probably have some actual gold, some government bonds, and some high quality stocks, and solid real estate investments. Your father will need to set up an appropriate trust for you. A guardian in case he dies before you're 18 needs to be carefully selected and a way to ensure that person doesn't take you for a ride is essential.

There is a burden to having wealth, especially in a lump-sum, public kind of way.

You'll need a "go to" guy for money stuff to help make sure no one fleeces you all--and it WILL be tried. Be very careful about any personal info you give out to anyone. Don't walk around with things like personalized bike license plates, your name on your jacket, etc. Someone nasty will call your name, you'll turn, and then can grab you. I don't want to make you paranoid, but you have become a target. A good self-defense training course, I like karate, would not be bad for you at all.

Oh, and don't let any jerk convince you that rich people will be good friends you can trust because they're rich and don't need your money. This is a CHARACTER issue and a lot of rich folks have NO character whatsoever and they'll try to suck up any PENNY they can and don't give a damn about YOU.

Don't LOAN money--either just give it or say no.

Don't CO-SIGN anything (you're too young now, but just drill that in your head).

Don't let anyone be an "authorized user" on a credit card or such (again, too young now, but KNOW it now).

Don't hang with a bad crowd--YOU have the "deep pockets" and they'll be picked.

May God bless you and protect you and your family so the money is a blessing and not a curse.

if i were u, I would not tell anyone.. lay low and try and keep it quiet.. your money may not buy you peace and quiet and people who will come out and try to steal from you, kidnap, etc.. watch your back and be careful and be quiet about it..be safe

you lucky girl,,,don';t get scammed for one thing ,,,,I am about to be homeless with 4 kids but am used to having things ,but evil people have taken and scammed from me till i was bankrupt ,,,please please have your parents make sure your investment is right there';s a lot of bad people out there

Your set for life if this is the case. You can put it in the bank and live off the interest, but doubt you will. Just don't get so wrapped up in material possessions or it could be gone pretty fast. I saw a guy on a show about lottery winners and he spoiled himself so badly it made me sick. Even The super rich don't spoil themselves like this guy did. So this is more of a comment than advice. Get ready for people to change around you, being phony nice. Anyway, ultimately you are in control of your own destiny as far as finances go.

See a financial advisor as soon as possible. Find one who charges a fee for services rather than one that offers services free. The latter will recommend only alternatives from which he gets a commission. The former will be unbiased. The primary concern should be preservation of capital and minimization of taxes. Your father will be taxed, but the money that's left should be invested with taxes in mind. There is no reason why your $11 million should not grow to $14-15 million by the time you are 18. You should be able to get an excellent education.

As to not working the rest of your life, you will find that life without work is dull. Get a good education and you will enjoy working while also enjoying your wealth. Congratulations.

Hopefully you will understand that working is a necessity that each human being have, not managing to comprehend this will bring problems that big in your life that you wished your family never won the lottery. You need to finish school and find an occupation. Of course, you have the option to chose any type of occupation you want, be it in arts, helping people in need or anything else, provided your money work for you and each year end with a gain and not a loss on your capital.

I personally have the chance to be more then wealthy, I will be worth a billion $ in less then 3 years provided my expansions keeps its beat. I am doing a service to the community, focus to help people in third world country. I am not into charity, IÂ´m helping people through a business, that makes profits, so far around 50 thousands family got helped through what I do. Be patient, you will too find your line if you donÂ´t get influenced by all the people looking to make money out of you.

This depends on what your goals are. If you dont want to worry about your money or feel burdened down with knowing investments and how they are doing, you should buy Treasury bonds. The 10 year bonds would give you a 442,000 dollar per year income and you could set it up so you get paid monthly of 36,850$ per month. Best part about that is you dont have to pay taxes on that money. Bad part is, inflation will eat away at your money over the years. If you want to invest, i would say use maybe 8 or 9 million dollars to put a 20% down payment on a comercial property like a Mall or something. Keep 1 million set aside for emergencies and put the other 1 or 2 million into those bonds again so you would be earning 40 to 80 thosand per year just on the bonds. You would also probably be making about 500 to 600 thousand per year from income from the mall (or whatever commerical property you bought) and after 20 years, it would be all paid off and you got yourself a 40 million dollar property free and clear (actually more than 40 million because by then it would have appreciated at least 2.5 times so really you would own a 100 million dollar mall) Not to mention that the income from that mall would probably be paying you about 7 million per year by then. Here is the thing that will keep you rich though...This is the only thing you have to remember and you will never go wrong. Only buy the stuff you want (houses, cars, jewelry, clothes, ect) with the interest you earn on the capital. With the capital, only buy stuff that pays you interest. (stocks, businesses, income-producing real estate) If you just follow that, you cant go wrong. Remember that 50% of all lottery winners are broke within 5 years because they dont buy stuff that produces income.

Watch out for friends now...they will all want you to give them money and you will probably lose alot of friends. You can only have rich friends now that have the same or more money than you. Sorry, but its a fact. Also congradulations on your win and hope your dad doesnt spend all the money before you turn 18. :)

First of all ! congratulations :)

I wish I was in your shoes...;)

but hey, my advice to you: invest and save!

Buy yourself something that you always wanted and put the rest in a bank account !

Do not think once that you will never have to work again...never think that !!

My parents used to be rich (not as rich as you) and they thought they would always be !
Unfortunately, they just spent it, did bad investments and did not save enough...

Now, they are poor...I mean so poor that they cannot afford a car and have to live on their retiring pension...which is really not a lot.

So, please, do not do the same mistakes...

Think of your old days...

Good luck

P.S. if you are not sure of where to invest or what kind of bank account to save it in...do not hesitate to ask someone knowledgeable !!

P.S 2. ;) and if you want to give some away...think about me !!

The question you need to ask yourself is...do I HAVE the money? Is the money in a trust for you or in a place where the second you turn 18 you can touch it? If you can answer yes to those questions, then half of the battle is won, congratulations. If not, make sure that you CAN answer yes really, really soon.

Once you have the money, you and ONLY YOU can determine what you do with it. As it has been suggested in earlier answers, it may be wise to hire a financial planner and maybe retain an attorney. These people, however, are only guides. With this money, you may have a tremendous opportunity in your life. Make the best of it; don't hide from it or shelter yourself from it. Do what you WANT with it, but figure out your personal values; and let them be the baton that conducts the symphony of your life.

My deepest congratulations, and good luck in whatever you pursue.

I think you're parents should put the money in a trust and make you work for it.

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