$540 MILLION: Mega Millions buying frenzy sparks another jackpot increase

Well just like anyone else i would hope he/she get all the finicial advice they can. I'm 21 and if I win that's EXACTLY what I am doing. although I am really considering the annuity if I win too.

Not sure when the lump sum was implemented but I would guess it's been available for probably the past 20 years of so. Jackpot winners with no guidance or game plan as well as self control will always find a way to go broke. It doesn't matter if they get the cash option or annuity.

With the annuity, they simply borrow against it or cash it in for a lump sum payout with those sharks you see on TV. Many of them like the gentlemen who moved to Florida and collected medieval replicas while fueling a drug habit and out of control spending are destined to lose it all. Him and his girlfriend ended up living in a storage locker.

one winner

Could be a smart move C0w.....thats not a bad yearly thing for your age...if you made mistakes your first 10 years, the remaining 15 would make the pain go away.........Course, us older folks have made most of our mistakes and we realize the tax issues and give aways and have the ability to say "no". It won't bother us a bit to tell someone where the bear goes to the bathroom in the woods  when it comes to money!!!...well, I won't mind  anyways 

I'm thinking of that guy on the TLC show where he won in high school and lost it all in bad business ventures. But... I also think of how terrible some older people have thrown away their money (or could throw it away), so a young winner may not be too bad.

I actually know a few younger people who would spend it wisely and some older people who would simply get high on whatever drug there is.

Anyways, I still have my dreaming on, though I actually went out today and picked up my PB ticket for Saturday... clerk was telling me I should play tomorrow. When I walked in there was a long line, apparently the people at the counter were buying a good amount of tickets for tomorrow.

They have 2 machines at one of the places I go... I was amused to see that they had dedicated one machine to ONLY MM and the other machine was everything else (including scratch ticket purchases)

Yes a young person could handle it the right way... i was just thinking of the fun life they could live, and be so young.... it is a blessing how in America anyone can become rich...

I just returned home from the store buying my lottery tickets for MM, while there I won 3 scratch  off tickets in a row!!!!  the clerk said LUCKY!!!! and with the winnings I bought my 15 more QP.... I have never won like that in my life... I really think I will be the lucky guy to win Friday's Drawing. as i was leaving home,  in walking to my car I was thinking these are the last steps I'm taking that will change my life forever..... throughout my life I have dreamed so much, and I think my life now is in order to receive this Jackpot... Every desire I have ever had in life I have recieved.... Winning the lottery is another desire that I have, and will receive.... 

*Note this posting... I am the winner of this drawing.. If not you can all call me crazy, when I do win you can all call me  CRAZY RICH!!!

Even if one includes one's parents in the trust/LLC, though, the IRS will likely claim that, unless there was written evidence that the parents shared in the ownership of the ticket, the purchaser of the ticket would have to pay gift taxes on the portion that was transferred to others through the LLC.  Depending upon the evidence in the case, one may or may not win.  Unfortunately, I recently deleted from my files the link to a court case regarding such a situation in Washington state and haven't been able to locate it on the web again. (The IRS won.)  I did, however, find another article that made interesting reading. However, this case was in a state where a lottery was not legal at the time, so that fact was a major part of the decision, as well.

http://www.spencerlawfirm.com/Publications/Winning-a-lottery-can-be-tricky-in-a-taxing-way.shtml

"6,300 acres ought to keep the  beggars away"

Maybe they'll just be that much hungrier when they make it to your front door.

I bought 2 tickets from a girl at a gas station who keeps winning everytime she buys a scratch-off. I hope her luck rubs off on non-scratch-offs!

I, too, am going to a few places to buy tickets. At Kroger, I bought one with my last $1, then bought some groceries, got some cash and bought another $1 ticket. 

Hey - all you need is one ticket!

I bought 8 tickets at a convenience store.

Later I went by the grocery store where I bought my last tickets, and asked if I had any winners. I'd won 2 dollars, which I spent on 2 more tickets.

I just can't help it but I like this 2010 car! I'm buying it!  Can you dig it?

2010 Lincoln MKX - $32,995

I pulled a boner today.  I filled out new MM cards on a wheeled system and presented them to the cashier at a convenience store.  Unfortunately, I hadn't checked them carefully enough and I missed one number on one line.  As I tried to figure out what number should have been there and the clerk waited, someone got in line behind me so I just guessed what number it should have been.  At home I checked and see that with my wrong guess, I now have two lines identical.

It would really be bad luck if the number that should have been there would make the difference between a $10,000 win and this huge jackpot!

Of course, my mistake could be a positive one, too - if there were three or four "winners" and I had two of them!

Don't worry. I'm going to give a shout out to my home state when I claim my 540 million.

how would you react if Mark zuckerberg won the millions