I like to think that I am "planning to win"....In my postings, I am taking into account other people's situations....in case they are the fortunate ones to win. If it is a huge jackpot, it may be easy to uproot and move away but here are situations that some may encounter
Some people have young children that need care. Uprooting them from their homes, no matter how fortunate, can be devastating. I know that there are alot of loose screws out there and even though you can say no, move away, the kids are in a vulnerable situation. You may not necessarily mention that you have kids,but there are alot of shrewd people who can connect the dots (they know someone that knows someone that goes to the same school as your kids). The last thing one would want is to pay for a shrink because your kids grow up with a sense of isolation because of the money or a sense of entitlement because they feel that money can buy them anything or sense of anger because their lives were uprooted through no fault of their own. It's kind of like kids with parents going through a divorce...only (instead of winning the lottery) they are given a real crappy hand of cards to deal with and each kid plays their hand differently....some kids feel that they are owed something because they did not want to be a part of the divorce, others will be angry and lash out and others will feel isolated because they had to move away. Since I brought up divorce, family obligations my play a big part in staying nearby as you may share joint custody. Suppose you are divorced, you won and share jt custody. While the ex may not be entitled to squat, would you really want to move away from the kids?
If someone lives near elderly parents, the elderly parents may not be able to move (maybe they are in assisted lvg etc.) Moving away from them would not necessarily be a good thing for you or them. With the Pball jackpot right now ($252 ml annuity) you have alot of money, you could possibly move them, would they be happy? Suppose the jackpot were a modest one..... say $12mil annuity/ $6 mill cash.... you are going to burn through money quickly moving into a million dollar neighborhood after moving away from a job, family and old home. I am posing these as rhetorical questions and not trying to start a fight.
The other question is while you move to a multi million dollar neighborhood, will you fit in? will you be happy in new surroundings away from old friends and close family? I know that you can't buy happiness, at least in the long run, you can't.
Suppose you bought a McMansion in another state, would you be able to afford the upkeep, the taxes? What about work? if you have a job and skills that put you solidly in the middle class, you are not ncessarily going to become CEO that would enable you to keep up with the bills on the house. You will burn through the jp quick just to keep up. I know that I would want the money to last for a long time. I think that might be why people burn through the money....they are trying replace something that they don't have anymore or they bit off more than they can chew.
And you can't put a price on the safety of our families.
I guess there has to be some happy medium between playing it safe and enjoying the money without blowing it. These are just some things to think about. On one hand, you have the means to better your life. On the other hand, you have costs that you need to take into account for your own well being and your family's as well as protecting the money.
I hope that if someone on this forum wins that they take the necessary precautions.