This sounds like a fascinating book.

I don't know whether this late night ad appears other places but in the Northern OH television markets an ad appears with a man urging anyone with a "structured settlement or annuity" to contact them for cash.  The company is JD W*ntw*rth and they have already converted one winner's lottery annuity (with 8 or 9M left on it) to a settlement of  not quite 2M.  Somehow there are lottery winners out there (thank gooodness in the minority) who either haven't received good advice (most state's lottery commissions have information that is available to any large winners who accepts it) or have received good advice and chosen not to follow it. 

These financial services are sharks that prey on those lottery winners like David Edwards who allowed their winnings control them and get in over their head.  Thanks, Todd, for bringing this book to our attention--I, for one, intend to read it ASAP.

One of the invaluable services that this site performs is by challenging people to THINK about what would happen if one of us would catch lightning in a bottle and win a large jackpot.  With all the "What would you do if. . ." scenarios that are discussed and commented upon in the forums, I feel pretty confident that any contributor to this site would be pretty wary about moving too fast and without some wise financial advice were they to win a lottery jackpot.

I think this book is going to be a best seller.

Sorry, I got stuck on the word "doughnut".

That's the correct spelling, is that what you meant?  ("Donut" is also correct, but a bit more slang.)

I know what you mean. I have lost 110 pounds and havent seen a donut in a year. It sounded yummy. Don't touch the principle. That's how money gets old.

These same ads play all over the country. That grandfather looking spokesman reminds me of the accident lawyers you see advertizing on tv. To me, they rank lower then the lawyers on the snake scale.

I've seen those ads off an on for years ........ my impression ..... bottom feeding sleeeeeeeeze.

Wonder how these "structured settlements" effect a person's taxable amount owed when they're "discounted" and sold?

Its not just lottery winners they hit..it is ANYONE WITH AN ANNUITY!  The VA sent us a warning letter about these crooks when it surfaced that one vet who got $600.00 p/m disability went to these folks or some like them and got $30,000.00 from them.  All the vet had to do was sign over his monthly $600.00 to them for 10  or 15 years.  whatever..it was totally scary.

Let's do the math here. That company settled an $8M or $9M annuity for slightly less than $2M. If the winners had taken the lump sum to begin with, they would have gotten about $4M-$4.5M before taxes, about $3M after. The winners just got legally scammed for about a mil.

Lttleoldlady

True, but don't forget the subrtitle of the book:

One Man's Journey Through the Darkside of Lottery Millions 

I'm guessing that's the main theme of the book, offering people who did not choose a cash option lump sum payments "after the fact, greatly reduced lump sum payments. 

It would really be interesting if someone read this book and then hit a jackpot to see which payment they'd take. Or to have jackpot winners read this before they got any payment at all.

The business term for this is "Factoring" where accounts recievable are sold at a discount.  As with all things associated with a large amount of money you should get expert advise.

Hi folks.  I'm Ed Ugel, author of Money for Nothing.  I'm happy to see that the book has caught the attention of so many lotterypost members.  A few thoughts:

• You're correct, it's a tough, competitive business.  However, it's totally legitimate. 
• A winner would be well served have expert advice when they enter into a lump sum transaction.
• Remember, a million dollar jackpot is really only worth around 50% of the advertised win amount.
• Still, it's not as black and white as some making comments here think.  There are a lot of variables that enter into how much money a winner will get from the secondary market in a lump sum transaction.
• The industry does provide a genuine service to those in need of cash.  You've just got to know how to play the game in order to insure that you get to dollar for your annuity.
• Too many winners get themselves into financial hot water, thus putting themselves in a poor position to properly shop and negotiate their lump sum deals.

I hope some of you decide to read the book.  While it's obviously about the lump sum industry, it's also about my life over the past decade working with gamblers while, at the same time, being a gambler myself.  I wrote the book to tell MY story--one I think is interesting, cautionary, and (more than anything else) a lot of fun to read.  The world of lottery winners is just plain old interesting, riddled with contradictions and unique characters.  I hope the book shows what this little slice of life is really like.

I've been fortunate as the book was well reviewed in the USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.  Folks seem to be responding to the humor in the book, which, to me, is the biggest complement I could receive.

 I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially once you've read it.  Please let me know.  I'm always around to answer any questions etc.

Cheers,

Ed Ugel

Hello Ed, welcome to LP.  Nice to get some additional input from the author.