Financial advisor offers tips for lottery winners as Mega Millions jackpot grows

FRIDAY’S MEGA MILLIONS WINNING NUMBERS: 67-45-57-36-13 (Gold Ball: 14)

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - The Mega Millions jackpot rose to $1.28 billion ahead of Friday night’s drawing, the second highest prize in 20 years.

People rushed to gas stations to buy a $2 ticket with dreams of how many houses they would buy and where they would go first on vacation.

Which leads to an age-old question: What would you do if you won the lottery?

“What you want to do is you want to start off by developing a team,” said Joe Taylor, the founder of Oak Street Advisors in Myrtle Beach. “You want a CPA. You need an attorney that’s good with taxes and estates and of course a certified financial planner.”

Taylor has been in the financial advisory business for over 30 years. He also says that people need to consider how they’re going to claim the money and where the money will go.

“You want to consider charities,” he said. “I’s probably more money than you’re going to be able to spend in your lifetime. So think about others that are in need and if you have charitable desires, then you can use a donor-advised fund or a charitable trust to not pay taxes on some of the money.”

He also says you need to consider your safety and hiring security.

“You might want to get a new cell phone. Get a new number,” said Taylor. “You’re probably going to have everybody in the world text you now and you probably don’t want to deal with that. You might also want to schedule a trip for an extended period of time. Get out of town. There’s going to be a lot of people that have sad stories or need help and it’s hard. It’s hard to say no to people. So maybe take a break Give yourself some time to get your feet under you.”

Lottery winners can elect to either take the whole jackpot paid out in an annuity over 29 years or choose a one-time cash payout.

“If you’re young, you could consider that - but the problem with annuity is that’s a lot of income every year that you’re going to have to have a tax problem verses the one-time tax problem and being able to control your taxes work on your taxes with the lump sum,” said Taylor.

If no one wins the Mega Millions jackpot Friday night, lottery officials will hold the next drawing on Tuesday.

If that were to happen, the prize will grow to the nation’s largest lottery prize of $1.7 billion.

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