Powerball: Would You Take the Annuity or the Lump Sum?

Like many of you, I'm in with a group of folks who've gone in on getting tickets for the $1.5 billion Powerball drawing. (And if no one wins I'll get back in here and change that number, because this particular point applies in perpetuity.)

So what would you do?

Are you taking the annuity--the annual payments which would begin around $22 million and end three decades later at $92 million.

Or would you take the lump sum of $930 million?

Of course, all of these amounts are pre-tax but geez, we're still talking 9 figures.

So, with the tax on big payouts being 39.6%, you'd owe Uncle Sam something like $368 million, leaving you with a measly $562 million. And then there's the state tax.

So, yeah, nobody's walking away with anything north of a billion.

Not yet, anyway. If there's no Wednesday winner, well...

If you're curious about what experts recommend, click here.