I won $228million Powerball lottery - decision meant I saw all the money after being threatened with
AFTER being threatened with losing half of his $228million Powerball jackpot, a man was able to make a decision that saw him taking all of his money.
Winning the lottery comes with many important decisions - each can change the course of your life.
Vinh Nguyen, a nail technician, was the sole winner of Wednesday's Powerball drawing after picking the winning numbers: 7, 14, 24, 41, 21, and the Powerball number 26.
He claimed his prize on Thursday, telling officials his first thought after realizing he won was: "I read the numbers, I didn't think I had won."
According to lottery officials, Nguyen bought the winning ticket at Key Market on South Norfolk Street in San Mateo, California.
He declined to do media interviews so details about him such as his age and where he lives, and works are not available at this time.
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While speaking to lottery officials, Nguyen said he has been playing the lottery for the last five years and how much he spends every week depends on how well he does in tips at work.
He bought 15 Powerball tickets for $30 for Wednesday's drawing.
When it came down to choosing between a lump sum or the "annuity payment option," Nguyen chose the latter to receive the full $228,467,735 jackpot paid out over 30 years.
California Lottery spokesperson Gregory Parashak said that the amount actually turns about to be about $138,000,000 spread out over three decades after taxes.
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Nguyen explained there was no deeper meaning behind the numbers he chose.
"They were all random," he said. "Whatever numbers come into my head I pick."
Along with Nguyen's jackpot, the market where he bought the ticket will receive $1million.
"We don’t have final plans yet for the money," said Chris Deoff, president of Dehoff's Key Markets in a statement.
"We have all kinds of improvements for the stores that we are always working on and we are discussing other things. This is a nice windfall since the margins in our business are so thin."
In the past, the market sold a $10,000 winning ticket but nothing compared to this.
Nguyen has no immediate plans for the money yet but said that he doesn't want the win to go to his head.
"I just want to be a normal man," he said.
LUMP VS ANNUITY
A lump sum payment means lottery winners can accept a one-time cash payout.
Although the winner would be losing a chunk of their payout to taxes, it's likely they would lose more over time with annual payouts.
"To invest better you need to not only choose a good, low-cost, diversified portfolio," the founding partner of Barrister, Charles Weeks, said via USA Today.
"You will also need to make sure you control your emotions in good markets and bad."
Douglas Boneparth of Bone Fide Wealth in New York added: "It's all about scale. If it's a smaller amount, the risk is proportionally higher.
However, when one wins the lottery and chooses an annuity, installments are paid out as one immediate payment followed by a series of annual payments.
This means that for years, even decades, money is guaranteed to come in.
However, many cons exist in this scenario. The group making the payout over the years could run out of money, for one.
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Another issue: the winner could die before collecting their total earnings.
With tax rates at an undetermined amount, they could likely increase throughout the years of the annual payouts.
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