Posted on 02/24/2013 8:19:16 AM PST by lowbridge
Three months after winning half of the biggest Powerball lottery jackpot in U.S. history, Mark Hill still meets friends for morning coffee at a local convenience store.
And that Camaro sports car Hill considered buying with his winnings? He got a pick-up truck instead.
While some lottery winners fritter away their fortunes or meet tragic ends, not much has outwardly changed for Mark and Cindy Hill since they won half of a $587 million Powerball jackpot in November. They netted $136.5 million in a lump-sum payment after taxes.
"They are very conservative people," said Walt Stubbs, a friend and former high school classmate of the Hills. "They are doing some really nice things for the community and they've taken care of their family."
The Hills are giving money to civic projects in Mark Hill's hometown of Camden Point, Missouri, and still live in nearby Dearborn, Missouri, as they did before winning the jackpot.
The Hills will pay for a new Camden Point fire station and ball field and gave the town more than $50,000 to buy land for a new sewage treatment plant that will eventually allow residents to give up individual septic tanks, Mayor Kevin Boydston said.
"I've said all along that these lottery winnings could not have gone to a better couple," Boydston said. "They are giving back to the community, just like they said they would."
Camden Point has fewer than 500 residents and is wedged into hills in a rural area about 30 miles north of Kansas City. Its downtown has a series of mostly empty brick buildings.
Stubbs, chief of the area's volunteer fire department, said the new station is planned to connect directly to main roads, a major improvement on the current fire hall, which does not have quick access to highways.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The first thing I would do would be hit it with some hot chick.
They are just normal people, their grandfather was a farmer whose farm bordered ours where I grew up.
Basically, if they were willing to wait twenty years, that $136 million would be invested by the state, and they would recieve an annual payout that, after 20 years, would equal $340 million or whatever is owed.
It’s also the net, after tax, amount.
http://www.usamega.com/powerball-jackpot.asp?d=11/28/2012
They won half of an Annuity $587,500,000, but they opted instead for the Cash $384,700,000.
Federal withholding was 25%, leaving $288,525,000. Missouri withholding 4% leaving $273,137,000.
Half that is $136,585,500.
And they may have ended up owing more taxes than were withheld.
I’d hire a private investigator to track down all my ex girlfriends and tell that I’m fabulously wealthy.
Uncle Sham ALWAYS gets his bloated extorted cut of the winnings. Organized Crime from DC--District of Corruption.
Yeh but its the current girlfriend(s) ya gotta watch out for, ehehehe.
Government took over a hundred million and they want more.
What current girlfriend? :)
Reminds me of a joke. This woman comes running into the house and tells her husband to pack his bags. “Where we going? The Caribbean, Europe, South America?”
“I don’t care,” says the wife, “Just get out.”
Ditto on the previous posts. “Give back” is a Marxist term. They don’t owe the town squat. It sounds like they were happy as they were and are using the money to enlarge their sphere of generosity. Good for them but if they had used the money to buy a nicer house or big vacation that would have been good too.
If EVERYONE who held a ticket claimed a 587 Million buck LOSS, that would keep ‘them’ busy for awhile.
Kind of like the piece of paper that reads
“To entertain a fool - turn this page over”
with the message
“To entertain a fool - turn this page over”
As I always tell folks...I’d probably spend half of it on booze and wild chicks. Then I’d just blow the other half.
I have long thought that very same thing.
That's only because I have almost enough firearms and ammunition.
you and I could split a large winning and do well with it.:O)
I wouldn’t necessarily say that I would be a success, if I won the lottery. I’d probably fill my time with enjoyable, but non-productive activities. However, I do know that I wouldn’t be one of those people you read about, who won the lottery, and wonder how they went broke a couple of years later.
“I’ve read more than a few times that it’s very common for winners of big lottery jackpots wind up in bankruptcy court within a few years of winning.”
All because they fail to do a few simple things:
1. Pay off debts.
2. Keep a million or so in cash on hand, gold, silver.
3. Put the rest in diversified secure investments, even at today’s low rates you can safely generate at least 200K-300K annually off of 10 million in secure investments for example. That’s more than enough to cover your expenses, even if you get the desire to splurge every now and then.
Instead they choose wild spending sprees and get sucked into speculative investments like burger franchises, etc. The sad thing is they could’ve avoided financial ruin by employing some simple math/number crunching.
Also, change your phone number. You’ll be surprised how many new friends pop out of the woodwork willing to spend your money on great investment ideas.
Yup,lack of level headed planning is the first problem.And in addition to the new found friends offering great investment ideas a staggering number of relatives all of a sudden reveal that they need major heart surgery.
Brave Laz, but I thought you were on the wagon!
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