$356 MILLION: Mega Millions lottery jackpot nears record

lol - now that sounds like an interesting plan.  and if you are going to play 100$'s worth... get the megaplyer while you are at it and then you will have 50 tix covering ALL the possible MB's w/ mp... and get a min guaranteed of 4$ back minimum!

Me?  I'm sticking with my 2$ for 2 draws.

Also, there are several small/solo practice, experienced, tax lawyers that will do the 1.5 month worth of work for $5K.  It's all negotiable.  Some of the time is spent waiting for charters/documents to arrive in the mail from the government (unless you inform the tax lawyer that you are willing to drive to the government office, submit your paperwork, wait on the bench a couple of hours, and drive to lawyer's office to deliver final paperwork).

  Anytime you come upon millions , everyone needs a solid plan. There's many positive stories when winning the lottery.

   First ...don't tell the world you won . Second ....copy the ticket .....third ....hide it or put it in a safety deposit box .

   And of course sign it the back . REad everyone comment on here , best advice .  

   Brad Dukes has a solid plan .

Don't always go for the lowest/cheapest  proposal however. Within reason, you get what you pay for. What good is saving a few thousand  $$$

if federal/state tax laws are over looked? For a win of this magnitude, don't be a chump, get the most experienced tax pro's available. This really

is just pocket change were talking about.   

Yep, mcginnin56, that is why I made sure to include the word "experienced" in my first sentence.

A thousand tickets for one drawing?? I must be a cheapskate as I probably don't even buy 100 tickets per year 

"EXPERIENCED" tax attorney's don't come that cheap HaveABall, trust me I have several attorny friends who know better!   

Brad Duke had a plan in which he would have a net worth of a billion dollars within a time frame of 10-15 years. Last I heard, he was about even with where he started.

That is what he said in his last interview. That would be fantastic if he hasn't lost a penny of his earnings thus far! Let us all be Brad Dukes!   

in this economy if hes still even after 7 yrs. hes doing OK .

I think HaveABall was just referring to cost associated with setting up different trusts and charitable foundation.

 I agree that a good tax attorney can be quite costly but are well worth it when looking for ways to minimize taxes.

And then some!!!

I can think of other couples who won the lottery , did very well .

One in Idaho , won millions , said they only spent $4 million.

 Another family in Oregon , moved and brought a  home ,

taking it easy too .  There's positive stories out of this .

Live off the interest .......

He did get hurt by the housing crisis and if it weren't for that he would have a fair amount of gains from his investments.

Even still...with the complex ever changing tax/trust/charitable laws require's seasoned experienced attorneys who know what they are doing.

Sure you can save a few bucks shopping around, and I'm all for that!

Based on my personal experience with attorney friends however, particularly with a huge lottery windfall of this magnitude, you don't want to hire

out the cheapest help. That would be akin to hiring a surgeon with minimal experience to operate on your husbands open heart surgery.