Business
Business

Win the lottery? Great! Now, for the hard part …

By Matt Kempner
Jan 12, 2016

Snagging the Powerball jackpot might seem like the closest thing to winning a huge free lunch. It’s not.

Winning could be wonderful. But unless you immediately give away the winning ticket (which, would be a very cool thing), expect the jackpot also to come with baggage: con artists, lawsuit filers trying to scam the money, big taxes on the payout, more big taxes on what you give away.

If you win, bulk up on liability insurance and talk to a security advisor about how to protect yourself, advises Barry Berlin, a managing director of wealth management firm Atlantic Trust in Atlanta.

Check out other tips and more on winning (including what the attorney for a metro Atlanta lottery winner witnessed), in my latest Unofficial Business column on myAJC.com.

About the Author

Matt Kempner is an award-winning journalist who seeks out intriguing twists about people and subjects beyond what the AJC might typically cover. A former columnist and editor, his past assignments have included business investigations, energy, the economy, entrepreneurs, big business, consumer spending, politics, government and the environment.

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