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Radical Personal Finance

198-What Would I Do If I Won the Lottery?

Radical Personal Finance

Joshua J. Sheats, MSFS, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CASL, RHU, REBC, CAP

Self-improvement, Business, Education, Investing

4.2 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2015

⏱️ 149 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I received a question from a listner which I decided to answer for you on today's show:

  • Joshua: So, this is a "fun question" that everyone loves to fantasize about. I hope it will be fun for you to answer, but it could have a really boring answer, but I'm sure you'll surprise me somehow! 
  • What would you do if you won the lottery?
  • As a financial planner, what advice would you give to a client who had won the lottery? What would the most optimal tax strategy be? Do you take the payments or the lump sum? Would the up-front tax hit be worth it for the long term capital gains? -Micah

So, today I tackled the question! Be prepared...my answer is a bit different from many people's answers to this question.

I do share very specifically with you what I would do. I share what I would buy and what I would invest in. But, I felt it was important to go ahead and address a few of the reasons why I feel the way I do.

This show is very personal to me and it involves a lot of how I see the world. I hope you enjoy it!

The show is divided into three parts. Feel free to pick and choose if you want to, but give it a shot listening straight through:

  1. The first 47 minutes of the show are about lotteries in general and why I'm not a fan.
  2. Starting at 47:00, I share the underpinnings of my worldview and the framework for how and why I handle money.
  3. At 1:41:00 I share specifically what I would buy and what I would invest in.

Enjoy!

Joshua

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

On today's show, what would Joshua Sheets do if he won the lottery? Welcome to the Radical Personal Finance Podcast. My name is Joshua Sheets. This is

0:27.7

episode 198. I'm your host. Thank you for being here. On today's show

0:32.1

I'm going to share with you my thoughts on winning

0:36.1

the lottery. Hopefully it will inspire you to think about your own thoughts. I think this is a

0:40.4

useful thought experiment and the fun thing about being a

0:44.2

podcast host is you get to hear my thought experiment. The inspiration for today's show comes from a listener named Micah who sent me this email

1:00.9

and he said, so here's some fun questions for you.

1:03.1

This is a fun question that everyone loves to fantasize about and I hope it'll be

1:07.2

fun for you to answer but it could have a really boring answer but I'm sure

1:10.5

you'll surprise me somehow.

1:16.0

Question, what would you do if he won the lottery? And then part B, as a financial planner,

1:19.0

what advice would you give to a client who had won the lottery?

1:23.0

What would be the most optimal tax strategy?

1:25.2

Would you take the payments or the lump sum?

1:27.2

Would the upfront tax hit, would be worth it for the long-term capital gains, etc?

1:32.0

So Mike, it's a fun question, and I'm going to answer it in the same spirit that it was asked in a fun way.

1:37.0

But I'm also going to use it just to share about some things that I believe are important.

1:42.0

As I thought through and prepared things that I believe are important.

1:43.2

As I thought through and prepared my notes in preparation for this show, it brought out some very

1:48.7

important ideas that I think will benefit you at least to think about which is why I'm sharing it and

1:56.7

I'll be doing it in detail but I want to start with just an observation that as far

2:00.7

as I'm concerned I've already won the lottery.

...

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