Mega Millionaire 'Bunky' Bartlett offers advice to winners

Comment #53

Stack47 — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:06:41 GMT

That's another way to look at it. The ticket cost $1 and if he still has $2, he is still ahead.

Comment #52

brees2012 — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:50:50 GMT

Take it one step farther , called a confidentiality agreement , to family , friends or whoever you

give money too . LLC another way for others, not to know who you're through your lawyer.

If you've a good lawyer who's really looking after you he will do whatever possible to protect

you .

This is why , Lottery Winners needs to take there time and make sure everything is completed.

Winning any amount of money should keep quiet . Why Illinois doesn't have it like MD , Delware,... [ More ]

Comment #51

Simba774 — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:56:38 GMT

I seen him on TLCML, but I don't remember too much about the episode. I do remember him saying he came home and there was safe on his doorstep with a letter saying, Put all your money into this safe. He said he and his family moved right away.

Take the lump sum. Don't hand out money like bottles of water! Don't make bad business decisions. We hear stories like this all the time. When will people learn? I know I probably should not compare personal items to millions, but here it goes. I d... [ More ]

Comment #50

Abdi — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:23:40 GMT

that good to note.

Comment #49

Masone — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:10:56 GMT

I remember watching this dude's video on Youtube way back when the jackpot was real big.

Comment #48

dpoly1 — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:05:16 GMT

1 ticket ...... 1 winner!

Bigger jackpots

Comment #47

mcginnin56 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:31:33 GMT

Comment #46

ttech10 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:06:38 GMT

Smaller jackpots but more winners... I'm all for that.

Comment #45

rad242 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:40:15 GMT

I concur.

Comment #44

Brcebrce — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:39:24 GMT

In 4 states you can remain anonmous. The rest your name and home town is given. You can claim as an enitity. A trust , LLC , partnership. I think this is legal for all states.

Comment #43

haymaker — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:34:19 GMT

in part i thank the gods that granted the gift, i don't know which one granted it but thanks

maybe the particular god that granted the gift is not happy w/ the fact that he does not recognize which one it it,

this is a problem when you have more than one, gods can be very jelous.

Comment #42

hearsetrax — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:21:18 GMT

well I hope he opts for a quick creamation not clog the local roads with his mourners

Comment #41

time*treat — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:59:27 GMT

He may as well spend the last dime; he can't take any of it with him, and at least half of what he leaves behind would be stolen for estate taxes .

Comment #40

Stack47 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:52:47 GMT

We had quite a few discussions about Bunky on LP when he won his jackpot. The guy was everywhere in the news promising things to lots of people. All he had to do was collect his check, answer a few dumb questions, and he would have been quickly forgotten. But he relished in the fame his jackpot brought him and many LP members predicted he'd be broke in 5 years because of it.

I'm happy to see he didn't waste it all, but he still has the time to spend the last dime.

Comment #39

mcginnin56 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:51:50 GMT

It's ripe for the picking DP, pick those PB cherries, before I do. NH is overdue, and I'm getting impatient.

Comment #38

dpoly1 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:47:41 GMT

The new Powerball was to supposed to produce the biggest jackpots, so far it has produced smaller jackpots but more winners!

The law of unintended consequences, not understood by the Government!

I only play PB and MM, they offer the most fun for me .......... moving to a red state when I win .............

Comment #37

rad242 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:22:19 GMT

Will the Powerball Lottery break trend tonight? Since the revised game begun the jackpot has not exceeded $70m! Is Florida ready to collect or will it roll into a $100m Easter Basket

Comment #36

dpoly1 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:11:03 GMT

Forget the Bunky's of the world ........... it is time win some money on Powerball tonite!

Cash ........ I can purchase an annuity if I really want one!

1 ticket ...... 1 winner

Comment #35

brees2012 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:49:38 GMT

Never go into business with others . Never give money to people . Learn from Lottery winners , the mistakes they did. Learn the Do's / Don'ts ....There's positive stories , media doesn't want to write about them .

Comment #34

Brcebrce — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:09:36 GMT

The annuity is not guaranteed. The government can default on it. I doubt it will cause people will still buy lottery tickets as longas there is one.

Comment #33

rad242 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:05:07 GMT

I was sitting here feeling silly as I licked the envelope to mail him the check, but now that I know that someone of your caliber is on board----lol

Comment #32

gogidolim — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:00:17 GMT

I read comments on him on somethingawful forums (yes, I am a goon) and there were so many hurtful comment on bunky, mostly about his physical looks.

Comment #31

larry3100 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:44:27 GMT

Ellwood Bunky Bartlett, Another NUT CASE .

Comment #30

sirbrad — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:02:37 GMT

LOL nice pic. This idiot wants people to send him more money for his own personal business ventures so that he doesn't go broke? Yeah Ok...I will get right on that. No wonder he lost so much money, that is what he gets for jumping right into the limelight, which has zero benefits. I do agree with the annuity though, especially for large jackpots, way less to worry about and less that you can lose all at once.

Comment #29

hearsetrax — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:59:10 GMT

hence the reason to invest in a good wood burning stove in which you cook your meals and heat yer home

Comment #28

Lucky SOB — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:48:54 GMT

At least with all that mail you wont ever have to worry about fire wood for all those cold winter nights

Comment #27

golfer1960 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:33:07 GMT

Hey Time, you're right on time.

Comment #26

Seattlejohn — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:23:41 GMT

Bunky needs to shut the hell up. He's advising people to not take the lump sum, just because he's incapable of controlling his impulses spends money like a drunken sailor? Obviously, ol' Bunky knows nothing about the estate tax trap he's advising people to potentially fall into (where, if the lottery winner dies after a few years, his/her will beneficiaries will have to sell of the majority of the annuity future payments just to pay the estate taxes on the present value of future earnings of the... [ More ]

Comment #25

time*treat — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:23:05 GMT

Every winner also has stories of strangers sending them request for money with hard luck stories. That would cause me to want to set up a foundation account

... invest in a heater that burns envelopes paper.

Comment #24

C0w Pi3 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:21:21 GMT

So playing video games makes him an expert? um.. yeah he'll be broke in a few years.

Comment #23

RedStang — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:14:09 GMT

Some of the stuff he did was stupid, but he tried. Its tough to get something going in this economy. I've seen successful peeps fail in business. Just to piss everyone off i would'nt spend a dime. I would wait for the zombies to stop begging then go on a spending spree.

Comment #22

golfer1960 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:40:00 GMT

I agree with Bunky that taking the annuity would have been better for him because it doesn't seem like he is living off the interest that the money could produce. He seems to be spending the capital.

I predict in 5 years he will be be broke. He's willing to put in $5M of his own money to develop this video game? That would leave him $10M in the bank.

If he just lived off the interest of the $16M it could produce about $480K/yr. Isn't that good enough for him? It would be good enough for me... [ More ]

Comment #21

ttech10 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:37:59 GMT

Like Max said in The Producers, Never put your own money in the show

Comment #20

time*treat — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:16:13 GMT

Detractors, meanwhile, are wondering loudly why a multimillionaire is asking them for money.

... while crawling over each other trying to get in on the latest Wall Street IPO.

Comment #19

hearsetrax — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:46:31 GMT

actually when I first heard about his win this is how I pictured him turning out...after blowing it all

but well let him have whats left of his windfall and be able to enjoy it

Comment #18

VenomV12 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:41:48 GMT

I always liked this guy, he seemed very nice even though he had some crazy ideas. The good part is he learned his lesson and still has more than enough money left to live a great life so it all worked out in the end and he got to have a little crazy fun and live out some dreams in the meantime.

Comment #17

Jill34786 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:29:03 GMT

Actually his cut of the $330 million jackpot that he split 4-ways was almost $83 million. He took the cash option and after State and Federal taxes he took home $32 million. He may have been an accountant but I highly doubt he had any business sense.

I don't think the annuity would have curbed his spending as he most likely would have borrowed against it or even cashed it in so he could fulfill his dreams.

Comment #16

ttech10 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:27:12 GMT

Anyone else think of this when they see the picture?

And I really don't think you need to take the annuity... just be smart and think about every major purchase for a few days.

Comment #15

hearsetrax — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:13:52 GMT

well am happy hes still alive and doing fairly well inspite of initial mistakes ......

I wish him continued luck

Comment #14

zinniagirl — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:10:32 GMT

There are very few states that do not require that your name be release. MD, Kansas, and that new england state that takes their photo with a smiley face over their face do not. Always loved the smiley face over the face of the winner

Comment #13

rexbell — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:06:06 GMT

People should be looking at the positives here, he bought his mother her dream home before she passed away. He opened a successful business, he still has 16 million left and he is happy - which is priceless!!

Lottery winners should read stories of these past winners who threw it all away and learn what not to do.

The name Bunky is funny to say and hard to take advice from BUT at least he is doing okay with his riches. I thought this was going to be another one of those tragic stories.

Comment #12

rad242 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:45:31 GMT

In Florida, if the media requests your information, lottery officials are required to provide it and we all know the media WILL request it.

Comment #11

Ahkenaten — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:43:13 GMT

Remain anonymous

Many states don't allow this do they

Comment #10

mcginnin56 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:26:33 GMT

Agreed, he'd probably be a real hoot posting with us here on LP forums! Of course even with all the good advice being thrown around on this

site, we truly will never know precisely how we would react, until that one fine day when our ship finally comes in.

Comment #9

dk1421 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:22:11 GMT

I agree - probably a great friend and neighbor, but a horrible financial advisor . Instead of playing with his money, he should have talked to the professionals and gotten their advice.

I actually read a fiction book once where the woman won the lottery. She did get a financial advisor, accountant, and a lawyer to form her board . It was great because when her family started asking for money to start businesses, she had to say My board has to look over the business plan. You do have a busines... [ More ]

Comment #8

CDanaT — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:15:02 GMT

Probably a great friend and neighbor. I won't criticize him for chasing his dream, however, he could/might consult with experts in the endeavors, he chooses, ahead of time......Common sense is not part of the lottery jackpot that you win

Stay Focused My Friends

Comment #7

maximumfun — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:14:38 GMT

Excellent point. and if he had 32+M$ to start with, that is before his additional fed tax burden, so he went through 7 mill or so in 3 years (is my math close to right

Comment #6

THRIFTY — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:13:40 GMT

A FOOL AND HIS MONEY.This man should be more THRIFTY with his money, but it is his choice to do as he pleases.

Comment #5

mcginnin56 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:11:01 GMT

Excellent point DP, those future annuities are not guaranteed to you with outstanding liens or lawsuits.

Comment #4

dpoly1 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:06:58 GMT

Just because the guy is a moron, is no reason to take the annuity ............ you can overspend on a yearly basis and have liens placed onto you annuity!

It is all in what you make of the good fortune that comes your way .......

Bunky is the last person on earth that I would listen to for financial advice

Comment #3

savagegoose — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:06:05 GMT

isnt there LLC for crazy idea companies? well he still has 15 mill, nothing to be too sad with, he blew half, its time to smaerten up.

Comment #2

rad242 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:54 GMT

Spread his resources too thin too fast but thankfully he hasn't exhausted all of his resources and a few investments are starting to pan out as well as the fact that he has real estate holdings. With 15m in the bank, if he cointues to sober up and tread cautiously, he should do fine

Comment #1

Win$500Quick — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:50:14 GMT

I saw him on the lottery changed my life and he was trying to sign a female artist from a short lived reality show. He was investing in so many things like a seafood restaurant.

Mega Millionaire 'Bunky' Bartlett offers advice to winners

Lottery Post — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:41:37 GMT

Bunky reflects on mistakes (and successes) since winning $32.6 million

A Tarot card might have foretold that Ellwood Bunky Bartlett would win $32.6 million in the 2007 lottery.

Unfortunately, the spirit world provided no omens that might have helped the 45-year-old practicing Wiccan better manage his good fortune.

This week, as much of the East Coast is waiting for the winners of the record $656 million jackpot to step forward, Bartlett of Westminster agreed to talk about the things tha... [ More ]