No, not the one that just recently ballooned to well over a billion dollars. Rather, one from almost 10 years ago. Enough time has passed without being publicly identified as the winner that I feel safe(er) in sharing my story. There is no foolproof way of keeping the identity of my husband and me safe. However, after almost 10 years of nearly maniacal silence and secrecy, I’d like to explain what happened to us, in hopes that it might provide support and guidance to anyone who might find themselves in our shoes.
First, know that I created a throwaway account and am labeling this as “fiction” so you, dear reader (yes, I’m a Bridgerton fan, IYKYK), won’t truly know if my story is real or not. Also, some essential details have been changed to keep the identity of my family and myself hidden.
Here’s how it all went down…
I was a teacher, and school was out for the summer. I used the opportunity to visit my elderly mother, who was adamant that she wanted to stay in her home for as long as physically possible. None of her four kids, including me, lived in the state of Missouri where she lived. She had two grandkids (my brother’s kids) who were at the large state college nearby, but their lives were filled with classes and being with friends. Mom had been in the same home for over 50 years. She and my Dad had bought it new, and Mom said that staying in the house was one of the ways she felt close to Dad. Also, she was deeply ingrained in her community, engaging in extensive volunteer work and participating in three separate bridge groups. She still drove, prided herself on never being in an accident that was her fault, and her cognitive faculties remained sharp and on point. So, my siblings and I were all in agreement that, for now, we’d support her staying put.
I had a great visit with Mom. We went shopping, ate out, watched movies in the evening, and even did a water aerobics class together. The 5-day visit went quickly, and I needed to get back home. I didn’t mind the long drive as I enjoyed the opportunity to listen to my podcasts, audiobooks, or favorite music. Before I got on the road, I stopped three blocks from my mother’s house to fill up on gas.
At the gas station, after pumping my gas, I went inside and put my water and bag of sunflower seeds on the counter. I noticed the colorful scratch-off game tickets and signs, which indicated that I could purchase a Powerball lottery ticket there. About 4 or 5 times a year, I played the Powerball if the jackpot was extraordinarily high, or if I just found myself buying something at a gas station that sold tickets. About three months prior, I read an article about the changes that were being made to the Powerball game. The number of white balls in the hopper increased from 59 to 69, while the number of red balls in the other hopper decreased from 35 to 26. This resulted in much larger jackpots because the odds of winning the jackpot decreased significantly, reducing the chances of a winner in any given drawing and increasing the likelihood of rollovers of the jackpot money to the next drawing. While this wasn’t one of the massive record-breaking jackpots, it was a lot. As in 9 figures a lot. I asked for one ticket for the Powerball with the Powerplay. I let the machine randomly select the numbers, then bought it with cash along with my other items. I didn’t even bother to look at the numbers, I just stuck it into my wallet.
Like most lotto ticket purchasers everywhere, I imagined what it would be like to win, what I would buy, what I would change, etc. I knew the odds of winning were completely ridiculous, so I always considered the $3 to be the price of having a little imaginative fun. If I played, at least I had an infinitesimal chance. If I didn’t play, I had zero chance.
When I got home, my husband Paul helped me unload the car, then we shared stories about what each of us had been up to the last few days. A bit about Paul and me…at that time, we’d been married for almost 30 years. We had taken a *lot* of heat for getting married so young, but we’d proven all the naysayers wrong and went the distance. I adore Paul, and together we raised two children, who are now grown and have families of their own. I love them and our grandchildren with all of my heart. Paul and I enjoy each other’s company, and we have a marriage based on respect, trust, and love. We’ve had our ups and downs like any couple, but we always worked through them and came out stronger on the other side.
Paul is truly the reason that we’ve been able to cope with the Powerball win as well as we have. And yes, cope is the right word. Even positive changes can be stressful, and this was one of the most stressful things we’ve ever lived through.
He’s in the medical field and grew up in a blue-collar family. After graduating from high school, he attended a nearby community college for two years before transferring to a small regional state university to pursue a bachelor’s degree. He obtained the education, training, and skills to go into the medical field in which he was working at the time. He’s a hard worker and a likable guy, so he did well for himself.
Because Paul’s parents weren’t very good with money, they were often struggling to make ends meet. It was frustrating because when they had money, it would be spent on unnecessary things, like high-end fishing gear and bigger TVs. When it came time for college, no money had been saved for Paul or his sisters, so he had to take out student loans. His parents were kind-hearted, though, and they had always treated me like one of their own.
Because of the way he’d been raised, Paul was determined that he was not going to make the mistakes his parents made when it came to money. He became a devotee of Dave Ramsey, whose books he read and radio shows and podcasts he listened to. He appreciated Ramsey's relatable advice, especially for someone like him who wasn’t a millionaire and didn’t have a finance degree. Paul soaked it all up. He immediately began to pay off his student loans (I fortunately didn’t have any) and used budget calculators to determine how much was spent on needs, wants, and savings. He paid meticulous attention to putting money away for retirement, maximizing retirement contributions as we could afford, and investing the money in solid holdings like index funds. As soon as the kids were born, we started saving for their college funds, even if it was as little as $10 per month. We always lived below our means, never bought new cars, and when we could, we’d repair our broken or worn possessions instead of buying new ones. Sometimes it was tiresome, especially when it seemed my teacher friends were enjoying material things that we could afford but chose not to buy.
I think it helped that we were young when we married, and that Paul started with this financial mindset from the beginning. It was pretty much all I knew as an adult. Between our two jobs, we made about $120k/year, pre-tax. When we hit our 30s, Paul began “estate planning,” which made me laugh because that sounded like something that only rich people in movies did. Nevertheless, we drew up wills, power of attorney documents, etc. Paul researched and worked with our estate attorney (again, it sounded crazy to me that we had an “estate attorney”) to devise plans for a trust to leave money for our children and grandchildren. We would periodically make changes to update things. For example, when our son showed daredevil tendencies in grade school, we wanted to rethink leaving him money at just age 18 years old in the event that both Paul and I died.
Thanks to my husband’s diligence with finances and our slow but steady approach to savings, we had a net worth of about $650k when we won the Powerball. Most importantly, Paul’s dedication to learning about money management helped us immensely with what happened next.
About three weeks after buying the Powerball ticket, I still didn’t know I was a winner. I would typically keep purchased lotto tickets in my wallet, only to forget about them until I switched wallets, found the ticket, and checked the winning numbers to see if I was a winner. I had won $50 once on a ticket I had bought 5 months prior! I had nearly run out of time to collect my winnings. So I tried to be better about checking any lotto tickets I had stored in my wallet.
For most of us, there will be moments in our lives when something extraordinary happens, so memorable that we recall every detail. For example, for me, two tragic examples are the Challenger space shuttle blowing up and 9/11. Two extraordinarily positive moments were when I had each of our two children. A common theme of those events is that people will say, “I remember it like it was yesterday,” then can go on to tell in minute detail what happened. What I write next was one of those life moments for me.
It was a Friday afternoon, and I was planning to go out with some teacher friends, as school was going to be starting soon, and we wanted one last hurrah before starting another year. The purse I chose to match my outfit was smaller than the purse I’d been using for the last few weeks, so I had to pare things down to make them fit. I went through my wallet to pull out the cards/cash I would need for the evening, and that's when I saw the lotto ticket. I pulled it out so I could check the numbers. I finished getting ready, then brought the ticket to the living room so I could check the numbers on my laptop while I waited for my friend to pick me up.
I went to the Powerball website and scrolled down to find the correct date. (Back then, drawings were only twice a week, not three times a week like now.) I looked at my screen, then at my ticket, then back at the screen, and then at my ticket again. My jaw literally dropped open, and blood rushed through me. I felt my heart pounding, my head felt dizzy, and my stomach clenched with nerves and nausea. At that moment, I realized I must have made a mistake.
I got up, shook both my hands like I’d touched a burning stove, and walked to the back of the house, then back to the front. I forced myself to control my breathing, the way they teach you when women give birth. I sat down and looked at the numbers on the screen again, then on the ticket. I double checked the date, and it was accurate. I checked the numbers one by one. Yes, it was accurate. I had a winning ticket. And the jackpot… $ 420 million!! My head felt like it was about to explode.
I was alone at the house, and I desperately wanted Paul there and now! I remembered past conversations with Paul when I fantasized about winning the Powerball. He wasn’t happy I spent money on gambling, but he trusted me when I told him I did it at most 5 or 6 times a year. So less than $20/year, not bad for entertainment. In any case, Paul had listened to various financial “gurus” talk show episodes about what to do if you win the Powerball. And the one thing that Paul always said was this: TELL NO ONE. It made me laugh because he was serious when he said it, as if I would ever win. But thankfully, the message stuck with me.
I texted Paul immediately.
Me: “Are you on your way home? “
Paul: “Yes”
Me: “What’s your ETA?”
Paul: “About 30 mins. Is everything ok?”
Me: “um, yes? I mean it’s nothing bad. Just plz come home as soon as you can. ilu”
Paul: “ok, see you soon, ilu2!”
Next, I texted my teacher friend who was supposed to pick me up. I told her my stomach was upset and I thought I might be coming down with a stomach bug, only half a lie. I reread the message several times to ensure I wasn’t saying anything suspicious, then pressed send. She responded right away, saying they would miss me and to feel better soon.
What was I going to do for the 30 minutes before Paul got back home? I ran to our bedroom, peeled off my clothes, then got in the shower. I couldn’t call or text anyone if I were soaking wet in the shower. I made the water as hot as I could stand it. I washed my hair and body, then did it all over again. I kept saying, “Oh my God, oh my God, on my God” like I was in a trance. I continued to breathe deeply, and things finally began to slow down. What was this going to mean for our family? All our lives, we’d been so diligent about using money wisely; what was this going to do to that? Then I realized I had left the ticket on the table in the living room! What if the proverbial wind blew it away (as if there would be some random wind blowing through our living room)? What if someone broke in and stole it? What if all of this was just a dream? Where is Paul?!?!
With one towel wrapped around my hair and another wrapped around my body, I rushed to the living room and saw the tiny square of paper on the table next to my computer. It was such a small piece of paper, so vulnerable. I was scared that the dampness of my body would mess up the ticket. I got one of our coffee table books (one about modern art that I picked up for $6 at a garage sale), picked up the edge of the ticket as gingerly as if I was picking up an angry crab, dropped it into the middle of the book, closed it, brought it to our bedroom, and stuck it under our pillows. I then got my robe and put it on.
It was then that Paul came home. I hadn’t heard him come in, so I jumped when he called my name. “Oh, thank God you’re home!” Then I started both laughing and crying as I hugged Paul tightly with both my arms.
“Shhh, it’s okay, I’m home, it’s all going to be okay,” Paul comforted me, without knowing why he had found me in such a state. He just held me and kept comforting me.
After a few moments, I pulled away, looked at him straight in the eyes, then said, “I think we won the Powerball!” His face contorted in slight confusion as I explained that I had bought a Powerball ticket in Missouri when I was visiting my Mom. I checked the numbers just before texting him, and thought we had a winning ticket. Though he would deny it later, I think he thought I’d gone stark raving mad! Or that I was pulling a not-so-elaborate joke on him.
“Where is the ticket, sweetheart?” Paul gently asked.
I leaned over to the pillows, pushed them aside, revealing the coffee table art book. I picked it up, carefully flipped the pages until I got to the one holding the ticket. It was on a page featuring one of the swimming pool paintings by David Hockney (we would later purchase a print of that very painting for sentimental reasons). I pointed to the ticket, still scared to touch it, as if I was genuinely afraid of the power the ticket potentially possessed.
As I write about my emotions in that moment, I know some of it may sound silly. But it’s my truth and what I felt in those moments.
Paul had me follow him to his office. We sat side by side as he pulled up the Powerball site and checked the numbers. Like I had done, he checked the numbers several times, made certain about which drawing it was, and then he read the faint wording on the back. Three times. He had me go get a sandwich bag in the kitchen. While there, Paul made certain to close the blinds on the windows, which reminded me of the stories of Edward Snowden going to great lengths to conceal what he was doing on his computer. When I returned with the baggie, he carefully put the ticket inside it, then, like I had done, tucked it into a small-ish investment book. He opened his office closet door, pulled out a small portable safe (I had forgotten we had that), and put the book with the ticket inside it. The safe contained copies of all our important papers in case we had to evacuate quickly for a tornado, fire, zombie apocalypse, you get the idea. This was one of the things he had heard repeatedly in the investment advice that was essential to do. He picked up his phone, then placed a call. When I asked who he was calling, he said the bank. He wanted to find out if they were still open.
It turned out that because it was a Friday, the bank closed a little bit early. It would reopen the next day at 9 am. That bank was where we had a safety deposit box with yet another copy of our important papers, plus a few valuables.
At this point, I could begin to see Paul getting nervous. He alternated between running his hands through his hair and putting one hand on the safe’s handle.
The details of that evening are etched on my brain as if they were engraved with a diamond. We spent most of that evening in his office. Paul had the locked safe next to him, researching on the internet, and I was doing the same on my laptop. He made certain we were both using VPNs. We both were a bit paranoid, but then how often does a person hold a golden ticket worth $420 million? Later, we shared a glass of wine and tried to eat some leftover pizza we had in the fridge. But neither of us could eat much. We discussed what each of us had read, the next steps we should take, and how this could change our lives. And we both knew that what was most critical…TELL NO ONE!
That night, before finally trying to go to bed around 2 am, Paul went outside, walked around the perimeter of our property, and then checked the house to ensure everything looked secure and locked. (We live in a safe neighborhood, and he rarely did this.) He checked and rechecked all the locks on our doors, and he even locked the door to our bedroom, something we never did. He kept the portable safe next to him, on the side of our bed. I wouldn’t know until much later that he had retrieved his handgun, loaded it, and placed it inside his bedside table drawer. (He normally kept it in a gun safe, but there was nothing about this night that was normal.) Also unbeknownst to me at the time, he had the gun in an ankle holster when we went to the bank the next day. He has a concealed carry permit, but guns make me nervous, so he did indeed keep the gun concealed from me!
Thank you, dear reader, for hanging in there for so long. I will try and condense what happened in the following days.
First, we stayed true to our promise to tell no one. But we knew we needed help, a team, to assist us in managing this situation. There are all sorts of people who advertise online as being professionals who help lottery winners. Some are authentic, many are scammers. Who could we trust? Luckily, we had just the person.
Once the ticket was in the safety deposit box at the bank, Paul called our estate attorney (let’s call him Will, no pun intended), who had drawn up our wills, trust documents, etc. We had become close over the years as our kids had gone to school together. Paul called him and explained that an important situation had arisen, and asked when we could make an appointment to see him at the office.
We met with him that Tuesday and swore him to secrecy. He was a little taken aback as confidentiality was a cornerstone of his business and personal ethos, and he was a consummate professional. We asked if he could not share with his staff the nature of what we were about to share with him. He said he honestly didn’t know unless he knew what the situation was that we were dealing with, but that he would do everything possible to follow our wishes.
We told him we had a winning Powerball ticket, purchased in Missouri, worth $240 million. Will listened intently and reassured us that he could take steps to keep his staff from being made aware of this. Thank God the ticket had been purchased in Missouri. That was good for two reasons. First, Missouri was one of the states where a Powerball winner could remain anonymous. Second, no one would think that the winner would likely be in our state. The gas station where I bought the tickets was in the middle of a town in Missouri, and not along an Interstate. Thus, most would assume the winner lived in Missouri.
It turned out that Will had attended a highly regarded law school in a major city that was a financial center with a high cost of living. In other words, it was an area with a *lot* of condensed wealth. One of his professors who taught about wills and trusts had given a lecture about lottery winners. It was a fun end-of-the-week lecture topic, but it also served as an excellent thought experiment about the realities and legalities that lottery winners face, and how to help them. Will planned to contact that professor and see if he could make recommendations to put together a team to assist us.
We ended up with another attorney who specialized in trusts, an accountant, and a wealth manager, all of whom did not live in our state and who specialized in working with high-net-worth individuals. All three had experience working with lottery winners who received high payouts, and they had also worked together as a team for others in similar circumstances. We made several trips to that city to collaborate with our team on a plan that included structuring a new trust. The trust had a generic, non-identifying name, and the new attorney contacted the lottery commission. Four months after the drawing, the attorney presented the commission with the winning ticket and trust documents. (He traveled with a discreet security team the entire time he traveled with the ticket.)
Paul and I were so relieved when the ticket made it to the lottery commission and was verified as a winning ticket. We opted for the lump sum payment, so our winnings went from $420 million to $231 million. Then, the IRS automatically withholds 25% of that, bringing the sum down to $173 million. Then, depending on how much money we chose to have distributed to us in any given year, we would potentially have to pay an additional 14% in tax. As a public school teacher who lived in an area with nice roads, I understood the importance of taxes. But still, that was a lot of money. But then again, I never imagined that we’d ever have so much money.
Thank God Paul and I had each other. We were also grateful for the team we had that we could ask questions of. It was hard keeping everything secret from our family and friends. But the secrecy was made easier when our team framed it in terms of maintaining our family’s security and maintaining some normalcy in our friendships. The investment strategy for the trust’s winnings went far beyond Paul’s basic investment strategies made for middle-class folks. He enjoyed learning about the advanced investment strategies being used by our wealth manager. And I was grateful that Paul paid close attention to those details.
So how did this change things? To this day, none of our family knows. Both Paul and I continued working at our jobs, he for 1 year and I for 3. Paul was glad to leave his job behind. He wanted to spend more time learning about new things, including investments. But he didn’t want to make any sudden moves that could arouse suspicion. So he waited a year before leaving. But winning the money had an unexpected effect on me: I loved my job more! The innocence of my little elementary students was made even more dear by knowing I was there because I wanted to be, not that I had to be. After three years of working, Paul became eager for us to travel more, so I decided to retire.
Also, we stayed in our home. We didn’t buy new cars, jewelry, designer clothes, or anything that would have hinted at newfound wealth. Instead, we spent money on experiences. We took a trip to Paris, flying first-class and staying at a luxury hotel. We learned about Michelin-starred restaurants and ate at a couple. But honestly, we found it hard to pay over $150 for a side dish of asparagus. And don’t even get me started on these multi-course meals that had miniature servings on the plates! Instead, we enjoyed eating at bistros with heartier fare. Our families knew we went to Paris, but they didn’t know about the extravagance of our trip.
We made generous deposits in our grandchildren’s college funds. We helped pay off our children’s student loan debts. If a family member was in need, we found a way to anonymously provide for them until they could get back on their feet. Sometimes we made anonymous donations to various charitable causes.
Our family knew that Paul was active in investing. We used that to our advantage. We led them to believe that Paul had invested in Bitcoin and used those winnings to take our parents, children, and grandchildren on an unforgettable safari in Africa. It’s funny because Paul would have never invested in Bitcoin. He preferred boring index funds. But he went along with the farce as a means of explaining how we came up with the funds for an African safari. More recently, he engaged in further subterfuge involving Nvidia stock.
Paul's managed to craft a believable backstory that we earned enough to fund a family trip, but not so much that people started begging us for money. He’s conveyed to our family that while we have made money with careful saving and investing, we’ve decided that we want to enjoy the fruits of our labor, which is why we are spending more freely than we had previously. The kids think that because we’re spending a bit more, there won’t be as much left for them when we die. But they are okay with that as they want us to be happy and, frankly, they are benefiting from our spending on them now.
One thing Paul and I have struggled with is how to structure things after we are both gone. We don’t want the children and grandchildren to inherit so much money that it ruins them. We’ve read many stories about how people who inherit a lot of money sometimes lose the will to work or find themselves feeling empty. We’ve read about how great wealth is typically gone within three generations. We are trying to find the right balance of giving to charitable causes vs. giving to our family.
Perhaps you, dear readers, have some insight or ideas about how to direct our wealth after we’re gone. Sometimes you find wisdom in the most unlikely of places, even Reddit.
The last 10 years have taught me a few things that I will share with you:
1. Having a loving and supportive partner in life is one of the most fulfilling and valuable
building blocks to a life well lived.
2. The most important things money cannot buy. I know it sounds trite, but it’s true. Once you have your basic needs met, the most valuable things are family, friends, laughter, and making positive memories.
3. Start building your wealth the right way. If Paul hadn’t learned the basics of investing, we wouldn’t have fared as well as we have since winning the Powerball.
4. If you gamble, be prepared to lose. Don’t plan on making money by gambling. Instead, think of it as the price of entertainment, like buying movie tickets.
5. If you choose to play the Powerball, try to play in states where winners can stay anonymous, if possible. A quick Google search will tell you which states those are.
6. Take care of your health. When you’re younger, you don’t realize how important it is to take care of yourself so that you can enjoy your later years.
7. Treat everyone with respect, whether it’s the tired barista at the coffee shop, the man picking up your trash, or the wealth manager investing your millions. Everyone deserves to feel valued for who they are, not how much money they make.
I’m sure there are other lessons, but this is what comes to mind now. Thank you, dear readers, for listening to my tale.
