I know as a fact that winners of the state lottery, here in Washington, have kept their information out of the media. But haven’t heard of it in Powerball or MegaMillions.

But personal information of all types is often withheld from the public, doesn’t mean the public can’t have access to it, or “Pay” to obtain access to it, it only means that the information isn’t released to the media.

It would be informative if a former winner, who kept their information out of the media, would explain the process they took to secure their information.

If it ends in “millions”, I’d keep it to myself. I haven’t quite figured out how to justify some of my future purchases to the nosier friends; then again… so I bought that Dodge Ram 3500 and the nice horse trailer and someone close to me wants to know how I could afford that, well… isn’t everyone supposed to be up to their eyeballs in ridiculous debt because they are living beyond their means? Let them think I maxed out the MasterCard. Nobody needs to know it’s already paid for. That’s my business.

The only people who need to know are: me, my accountant, my lawyer, my bank, and my financial planner.

For really large prizes, I would not tell anyone but my to-be-carefully-chosen financial manager, and I actually do have that choice. In Michigan, a law was passed in 1988 that gives winners of more than $10,000 the ability to remain anonymous if they choose. This only applies to the in-state games, so those are the only ones I buy tickets for.

As I buy tickets on an average of less than 1 a week, I treat it as an entertainment expense (insert grand dreams here).

*No* amount of windfall would dramatically change my life substantially in the immediate future. No $-amount would cause me to leave my job tomorrow, or this year, or next for that matter. No $-amount would cause me to up and move to the Cayman Islands.

With a tidy sum of $500,000 I wouldn’t even bother paying off my house–I can handle the low-interest debt, and would prefer to be heavily invested in the market or my own business than my primary residence. After giving away $100,000, I would invest $300,000 into stock market index funds, keep $50,000 in cash, upgrade to a mini-van ($25,000) and go somewhere special on vacation with my wife ($25,000).

I wouldn’t be telling anyone if I could help it. But I am rubbish at keeping a secret.

I don’t have any outstanding debt other than our mortgage, otherwise I would pay off all of debt first. We don’t have kids yet, but if we did, I would set up a 529 for them also.

Yes, I sometimes play the lottery, but only when I have pot odds. A dollar here or there never hurt anyone, and it makes for fun discussions like this!