No, I think i would take the annuity for a piece of mind for long term security after I quit my job.  I have a congenital heart defect, something called Tetrology of Fallot, and I don't think anyone would ever sell me medical coverage here in these United States where we are sooo lucky to not have universal medical care.  I would need to ensure that I have money coming in for a long time in case i ever needed a heart valve or other major heart surgery.

Would you pick the lump sum and why? I'm always curious to hear another's POV on the subject :)

Well, if you're disturbed by taxes, you are perfectly free to move to the Congo, or Dafur, or Bosnia or Iraq.

I assure yoiu that evil "liberals" will not be able to collect taxes in those places.

Speaking of fools, suppose you were to win the lottery in your smug way, and then find that you are living in a country with no infrastructure. 

It would seem to me given that conservative rule just piles up debt and debt and debt, causing the value of the dollar to fall by half, that conservatives are pretty good at squandering fortunes.    They have taken the richest country in the world and made it into the world's most incredible debtor.   In fact, if you won the lottery - which you won't - you would find that the value of your winnings would be reduced by half simply because of the dopey policies of a very, very, very, very, very short sighted credit card fixated President of the United States.

But it's not all a loss.   Look what we got for it:  Iraq.

I don't think they pay taxes there either.   You are invited to go at any time.

Oh, sorry to hear about the heart problems GamerMom.  My sister is a heart nurse in Dallas, or was - she's out of patient care and works in quality control.  The heart is not something to take lightly.  Good plan on your part.

For me, I don't have any such long term problems that would weigh one way or the other for my decision.  I've kind of looked at both options, and I find that my investment guru could probably make as much annually on average with the lump sum as the annuity payments - even after you take the discounted jackpot and hand over gobs of it to both the state and the feds.   All this is based upon what he has done for me so far - 1st quarter of 08 excluded although I fared better than others I know.

Oh dear - it's all Bush's fault.  Yep - he made all those people buy too much house at subprime rates and forced them to take out multiple credit cards and charge them all up.   But the Democrats will come to the rescue, increasing taxes for the evil rich families who make more than $250k.  The Democrats will tax them until they have to lay off the families they employ in order to pay their taxes so that the government can take care of all of us.  That'll work.

....Cuz the Obama Man can....oops, I mean the Candy Man can, cuz he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good....

Evil liberals, evil conservatives, evil rich white man, etc.  Let's just keep dividing this great country until we all forget the truths behind the phrase "united we stand, divided we fall".

Enough politics.

Somtimes, I wonder. Is it because somebody out there that desperately need win lottery more than do? I that's why they win. Keep thinking of this idea makes me happy.

God is the Champion of using JIT System (just in time).

I'm so happy for these people.

I dunno about that considering how things turn out for a lot of winners such as David Edwards for an extreme example. Then there's always our good friend Jack Whitaker who was already a millionaire when he won the biggest US lottery (at the time) in history and recently nearly won again but "only" got the $10,000 prize. The thing that kind of bugs me about that is his story on how the lottery "ruined his life" or however it went, yet he still plays and nearly won another jackpot. I wonder if he donated it though he probably actually needs the money these days. It's just luck and some people just have it not matter what kind of person they are and some have their lucky moment and then follow through total ignorance (maybe arrogance too) and flat out stupidity.

It seems like for every one Brad Duke (is there even more than one? Though time will tell how much of a success he really is.) There's probably five David Edwards, Peter Kyles, William Post, Suzanne Mullins, Willie Hurts, Charles Riddle, Janite Lees or Evelyn Adams, who actually won twice.

He only spent 5 bucks and won $14 million ( Net $5 Million ) Goes to show you don't need to spend lots of money to win the lottery.  Amazing story.  Good luck to all Millionaire wannabees.

Wish I could be so lucky. I would love to finally retire for real.