[FishNChips]

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People are doing the wrong thing, in thinking the amount you give away needs to be proportional to the amount you took home. I think the amount I give away should be more regulated by how much it will change my family members. If this doesn't make sense, then let me clarify. If I won $2MM dollars take home, I would still stipend $10K/year/family member. As I would had I took home $200MM. I also said I'd go as high as $20K, but likely no more than that. Giving more than $20K to a brother or sister may make them think they can quit going to school or working, which could lead to big problems down the road.

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Also, everyone who feels the need to pay their family members a proportionally in terms of how much they took home, let me pose this question:

If you WEREN"T in the media, and nobody (including your family) knew that you won the lottery or more specifically how much you won, would you be truthful and honest about how much you won? Would you still be so generous with your money? Or ONLY if you are plastered all over TV?

I'm willing to bet that 90% of you would lie through your teeth to your family. Only when plastered all over the media would you suddenly be so generous.

In other words, say your family thinks you won $13MM when you actually won $26MM or $47MM. Would you still be giving them as much money as you claim you would in this thread (thinking you won $47MM)? I would almost guarantee that none of you would. You'd lie about it, which would lead to further problems down the road.

The best method is to lay out simple guidelines from the get-go, and give everyone the same amount of $$$. Don't buy one person a set of golf clubs and another a plasma. I guarantee you'll hear from your golf buddy that you didn't get him a plasma, and vice versa. Just keep it simple, give out cash to all of them, on the same day, in equal amounts, commensurate with rising inflation.

EDIT: I'm going to bed now. I hope everyone lets this stuff seep in overnight. Tomorrow you'll all be a bit wiser about this. Jumping to conclusions as if you know what it would be like to be in this situation is just stupid. All we can do is speculate.

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These were in back to back posts and they point out very clearly why I think you're a douchey, control freaky, paranoid bitch.

Point 1 : The amount given doesn't need to be in proportion to the amount won. We actually agree here. If I win enough money that my parents (and my wife's parents) can retire then they are retired (unless they want to work - but I'm pretty sure they'd retire). I'm not sure what the cutoff is $5Mil take home? $10Mil take home? I'd buy a lesser house and I'd continue to "work" (not at my current job, but I'd find another career or go back to school and then find another career) if I had to, but my parents get "taken care of." If I've got enough to help out my brothers and brother-in-law, that's getting done as well, but they are way behind both sets of parents.

2)"I think the amount I give away should be more regulated by how much it will change my family members" and "Giving more than $20K to a brother or sister may make them think they can quit going to school or working, which could lead to big problems down the road" ... how the [censored] is this for you to say? The amount should be judged in its ability to change the LIFE of your family. Your life is changed forever. You never have to work again. $20k (I'll give you the benefit of the doubt) annualy really isn't life altering money. It makes life a bit nicer, but its not life changing. You're dead wrong here. The amount should be evaluated by "how is it going to change their lives?" Is it possible to provide financial security to my parents/siblings/extended family with this $$$? How is it going to make your folks/siblings feel if you are "retired" travelling the world, buying multiple homes, expensive cars/toys and they are still grinding their crappy ass jobs, paying off debt, driving a Toyota (because they have to). If I'm taking home $20Mil, I'm going to do my best to find a way for as much of my family to be as taken care of as I can. I start with me and my wife/kids, then parents, then brothers. Its up to them what to do with it. If they blow it on hookers and crack, thats on them. I also happen to trust my family, something that you clearly do not. Its not your job to make sure that they don't change or that they don't have problems down the road. Not giving them the money could lead to them being bankrupt eventually.

3) The whole "if you weren't in the media would your family know" thing ... OMG!!! are you kidding. If I win my family is getting phone calls / texts (and I don't ever text) / e-mails in the first hour!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I love my family, have been blessed with good parents, good in-laws, good brothers, etc. You clearly don't and for that I'm sad for you. But its not your job to control them. And using $$$ to do so sucks.

4) The only people I'd be worried about being warped by the $$$ is my kids. I grew up middle class. Not deprived by any stretch of the imagination. I always had what I NEEDED, but we never had ALL the extras. I worked through high school and bought my own car. Paid for "fun stuff" with the extra cash. It was a good thing. It taught me some responsibility, some values, hard work, money management, etc. I'd want my kids to go through that as well. I'd want my kids to find their own way and not always rely on our money. I'd want them to be fairly normal and that would be really tough to do with a $10mil bank account and me retired at 35. But its my JOB to raise my kids to be responsible. Its my job to worry about such things. Its not your job to do this for your parents or your brothers/sisters. That's the difference and that's one of the points that several posters are trying to make.
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for other things in other posts:

RE: your links to Lotto kidnappings and going busto and family problems. Yep, it happens. Yes, with $$$ comes security risk and that has to be addressed. I just think its strange that you think you can flee the country and not be found. How are you paying for everything? You don't have the cash yet, and if you do, you can only bring a limited amount of it with you. Credit card transactions and ATM withdrawals are traceable. If someone wants to find you for the $$ they will. Being in a foreign country in unfamiliar surroundings would make you an easier target because they WILL find you.
People are stupid. They go busto. They don't invest. They use a "friend" as their investor and he takes the $$$. They don't really plan. Whatever, they go busto.
Family problems : I think you're "I'm the King and I grant thee $10k annually" approach is going to cause a LOT more problems than the "hey, here's a gift, do with it what you please. It should buy you a house or help you to not work or maybe work part time, or buy that boat, or pay off those student loans, but its yours and you're free to do with it as you please"
Also... the "6th" friend scenario : guids said that he and x number of friends had a pact. Anyone not in the pact is promised nothing. I can count on one hand the # of really good friends that I'd consider really setting up. And both of them would probably be like "nah man, we don't need that much, just buy us [insert toy here] and lets have a rippin time in Vegas for 2 weeks." My wife has a friend or two that we'd probably try to do something for as well, but they'd have the same attitude. Knowing the difference between friends and aquaintances is pretty important. They guys I play poker with would probably get an all-expense paid trip to Vegas for the WSOP ME and their buy-ins paid. I dunno, maybe not, but we'd do some cool poker thing. Its like maybe 10 of us and it would be really fun. Yep, probably one of the fringe, rarely shows up guys would have his feelings hurt, but so be it.

One last thing : whoever said "I'm taking everyone on vacation for a month" ... you know that in the real world, if you're not going to set people up to quit their jobs, they might not be able to take a month off, even if you are paying them their salary during that time. And then using the end of that vacation to say "there, you're taken care of, don't ask me for another damn thing!" is pretty [censored].

I could keep going... but its not going to get through so I'll stop here.

I voted "D" in the poll.

Have a Nice Life!
FishNChips