As the Powerball jackpot tops the $1 billion mark once again, keep in mind that winning the lottery comes with a lot of questions. Will it change how my friends treat me? How much will the government take? Should I take the one-time payout? And, perhaps most important, how the heck do I spend this newfound wealth?
As for your friends, that really comes down to how wise you’ve been in choosing them. The government? The Feds will yoink 24% away from you before you can blink—and state rates will depend on where you live.
Lump sum or annuity? Most financial advisors suggest the annuity, since few people are ready to handle that sum of money without warning.
Ah, but spending… That’s where it gets fun.
Of course, we’ve all heard the advice: Hold off on major purchases and be smart with your money. Then we see people like Edwin Castro, who won the $2 billion pick in 2022 and quickly began buying up luxury real estate, purchasing a $25.5 million home in California’s Hollywood Hills; a $4 million place near the gas station where he bought the winning ticket; and a $47 million house in another part of Los Angeles (along with a vintage Porsche 911).
That’s small potatoes, though.
Let’s assume you ignore the finance wonks and opt for the payout of $595 million. That leaves $452 million after Uncle Sam takes his first bite. We will, for purposes of this experiment, assume you live somewhere that doesn’t have state taxes.
Here’s what you can add to your portfolio:
A private island or two: Rangyai Island, near Phuket, Thailand, has been on the market for a while. This a 110-acre landmass with fresh water, an electric generator, and, most important, mobile service has an asking price of $160 million. If you’d like something closer to home, Pumpkin Key, a 26-acre island off the Miami coast, is just $75 million (a $20 million price cut from a few years ago). It comes with a three-bedroom house, two caretakers’ cottages, and a dockmaster’s apartment.
Take your own crew to space: A trip to Vegas or Paris? That’s common-man stuff. Tickets on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin go for about $1.25 million apiece (at least, that’s what MoonDAO paid to ride the suborbital rocket). You could even all become frequent flyers.
Some really nice beachfront property: Sorry… “The One,” the 21-bedroom, 49-bath Bel Air megamansion, sold in 2022 for $141 million. But fortunately, on the other side of the country, a nine-acre compound in Naples, Fla., is available for $295 million. It’s located on the tip of Gordon Pointe in the Port Royal neighborhood of Naples.
A personal concert by your favorite band(s): Bypass Ticketmaster and get your own personalized front-row concert seat. Reportedly, $6 million will get you The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, or Bruno Mars. Coldplay charges about $1.5 million, as does Post Malone. No word on what Taylor Swift would demand, but…hey, you’ve got a few hundred million.
A pro sports team: Oakland A’s fans hoping to keep the team in California, I’m afraid even winning this lottery wouldn’t help. And forget about buying an NFL team. But you might be able to invest in a minor-league baseball team. Step one is to find a team affiliated with an MLB team you love; then make an offer. Last year, sports and media giant Endeavor sold nine teams to private equity firm Silver Lake for $280 million.
Pizza for the rest of your life (and several lives after that): Your millions haven’t changed you! You still love a good Pizza Hut pizza! You can skip the coupons, so a large Meat Lover’s pizza could cost you about $23 each. You can now afford 19.6 million, enough to devour a full one every day for 53,841 years. (Not factored into those costs? Your cardiologist bills.)
