Reply #193: Anyone who comes into "sudden money" should contact SMI.

[BlueIris]

The Sudden Money Institute. They've got great strategies for how to manage "sudden money." Especially when it's "only" a few hundred thousand. If you Google around, you should be able to figure out the gist of what they want to communicate to people about what happens to folks who win the lottery or get handed semi-substantial inheritances, settlements, etc. The main thrust of it is: Be careful, or you won't keep a dime.

1) Just say no: to all the requests for money you will receive from everyone you know.

2) Your life hasn't completely changed. You're a few thousand dollars richer and that's it.

3) Enjoy tangling with the lottery and then the IRS. These folks will try to take as much of your prize money as they are legally allowed to take--then will try to take some more. (Seriously; the IRS likes to take lottery winners out for a walk.)

4) Just say no some more.

5) Make a plan and stick to it. The SMI recommends waiting a while, then spending 10% off the top, as frivolously as possible, then paying off all fixed expenses, then banking it. Save it for a rainy day--or, you know, save it for paying off the medical bills you'll owe after insurance pays if you sprain your ankle in the year 2012. Don't blow it like you just got a ticket into the high life. You didn't.

ETA: Oh, and you might wanna get prepared to lose your job, or all of your employees if you are a business owner yourself. As soon as people find out you're "rich," they will probably believe that a) you don't "need" to work anymore, or b) you don't "deserve" to have anyone work for you.

And good luck. This lottery winning business ain't easy.