With the big lottery drawing over, and the winners slowly being announced, there’s some talk about some of the winners remaining anonymous. Apparently, it’s only an option in certain states, so some have no choice. But, if you won a major lottery, would you remain anonymous if you had the option?
In some ways, at least locally, I would think it would be nearly impossible to truly remain anonymous. There are certain services, like financial planners, investment advisers, and even bank tellers that you’d need the use of. And, despite the fact that most of them have some ethical requirement to keep your information confidential, it seems like word always leaks out in some way. Eventually, anyways. On a more national and global level, it might be a bit easier to maintain your anonymity.
I think I’d like to attempt to remain anonymous should I win a lottery. Publicly announcing it is sure to bring an onslaught of people, businesses, and organizations to your door (figuratively and literally) looking for funds. There’s even a chance, albeit small, that you could end up with threats of injury should you say no to a handout. Obviously, friends and family are going to find out, and some will likely ask for money, but I’d rather deal with just a few people asking rather than half the country.
Of course, making the announcement that you’ve hit it big has it’s upsides too. You’d be an instant celebrity of sorts. Depending on the size of the winnings, locally for sure. If you’d have won the Mega Millions lottery and not had to share it, you’d have likely made it onto several lists of the richest people. Done properly, the money could be used for lots of good, and that usually draws publicity too.
What would you do? Anonymous or not?
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This is a really good question because I think it has deeper implications. Personally I would want to be anonymous. Why? Because I never, ever want people to know how much money I have and it’s not because I am currently building my wealth, it’s because I think it’s irrelevant. Why should we care how much money person a, b, or c has? Does that mean they are more valuable? Monetarily, yes, but intrinsically? Absolutely not. In fact, some of the most amazing people I’ve been blessed to know spend their lives “making it work,” not sipping mojitos in the sunshine!!
If I won the lottery (I cant, because my state does not allow lottery tickets to be sold) I would surely stay anonomous. I’d possibly even considering getting a special financial planner for high net worth individuals (after paying off all my debt) out of state just to keep it low key.
Of course, I’d also probably buy a large amount of land, so it may get out that way.
@Alysa I agree, to a degree. I’d rather people not know exactly how much I have. There’s a reason that I don’t post income figures here. But, there will always be those curious folks that need to know. That’s the biggest reason I’d want to stay anonymous.
@Jeff Yeah, I think the purchase of a large tract of land would pique the interest of a few people. Especially since most of the people who have the money to do so know of each other, and a new name would get the gossip mill running.
I would definitely remain as anonymous as possible. I’d share the wealth with the people closest to me and donate to worthy charities, but I wouldn’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry hitting me up for money.
While I am an attention whore, I like your approach. No need to advertise that I am rich. People would probably figure it out when I became a full time traveler, but I wouldn’t brag.
I would 100% stay anonymous given the chance, if I won the lottery. I’d tell my family and friends – privately – that I won a small sum because otherwise they’d wonder why I was all of a sudden giving them a bunch of money. Other than that I’d keep it hush.
If i win the big one,i would not go public.I don’t know why many people
go public with it.. Keep it hush hush,that’s what i say
I would way prefer to stay anonymous, but reading some articles online there’re a lot of reasons why people end up having to reveal their identities. I think the most difficult part would be lying to friends and family. If you only won a few thousand you could easily cover that up but if you suddenly rocked up in a 50k car how are you going to explain that?!