Lottery Lump Sum Payment – Are Lottery Lump Sums The Best?

When a person wins the lottery one of the questions that they often ask themselves is should I take a lottery lump sum payment or should I take installments?  The answer to that question would depend all on what you want to accomplish with that money you just won.

So what do you want to accomplish with that money?  Do you want to do home repairs or maybe some home remodeling?  Maybe you just want to purchase a home outright and not have to worry about a mortgage.  If the home repairs and remodeling projects are within reason, perhaps you could manage that on the installments that you would receive from winning the lottery.

However, if you want to purchase a home outright, more than likely the lottery lump sum would be your best bet.  Let us face the fact that not too many of us have the kind of money that it would take to purchase a home outright so that we do not have payments to worry about in the future.  In today’s economy and the way that the housing industry is so unstable having a home that you do not have to worry about making the mortgage payment is truly a blessing.

Maybe you have one, two or maybe even three children who are going to college or who will be going to college.  Your decision choice on whether to take the installments or the lottery lump sum could depend on how many children are of college age or coming to that age and where they want to go to college.

Let us face the fact that most college tuitions are not cheap by any means.  Then if the child moves away from home there is the issue of housing to consider as well as food and clothing expenses.  With one child in college you might be able to afford that on the installments received from your lottery winnings, and may I stress Might.  Much of that would depend highly on the college that they choose to go to. 

However, if you have two children in college and maybe a third coming up within a year, the lottery installment plan would be eaten up with installments made to the college’s tuition of your children’s choice.  Perhaps you would not miss that money as it has not been money you are used to having.  So what you will make in the installment payment would automatically go out to pay for the tuitions.  Yet if you already have children in college and are paying the tuition out of pocket you could free up cash that you have on hand by taking the lottery lump sum and paying out right for the tuition.

In today’s economy nobody likes to have a bill or make payments of any kind.  Maybe you want or need a new vehicle.  You could purchase that vehicle outright and not have to worry about making the payment every month.  You could do this on the lottery installment plan.  However, it would be pushing it depending on how much the installment plan.  The lottery lump sum would afford you the added benefit of purchasing that vehicle without the added stress of another payment.

There are many reasons to consider the lottery lump sum payment.  Ultimately the choice is always yours.  However you would need to weigh the pros and cons of those choices carefully.