# If a couple wins a large powerball jackpot...



## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

......should you just go ahead and split it evenly two ways? Because there's no way that either person should be soley in charge of it all, or eventually there will be deep resentment and heavy arguing over what can and can't be bought with the jackpot winnings.


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## CanadianGuy (Jun 17, 2012)

And they'll need to give some of it to me.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

For example: let's say we're sitting on $200 million clear and I decide I wanna buy a $150,000 Ferrari to go joy riding on weekends but my wife says "NO", do you think for one minute that I will accept that answer sitting on that much money(hell no). Or if let's say my wife sees a beach house for sale for maybe $250,000 and she has to have it but I try and say "NO", she will first tell me to kiss her azz and then seconds later will be on the phone with the realtor setting up the purchase.

And in our state it's a law that any lottery or inheritance winnings that take place while married is a guaranteed split two ways if you choose to do so, so why not just go ahead and do that and avoid all the fighting and conflict that will probably end the marriage anyway.


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## Bellavista (May 29, 2012)

Well, even though we never play lottery, we discussed what we would do if a winning ticket ever came our way.
Some would be invested, some given to our kids & the rest divided between the 2 of us so that we could do what we wanted with it.
And we are lucky here in Oz, you don't pay tax on winnings. That is until you spend it & pay the consumption tax.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

Bellavista said:


> Well, even though we never play lottery, we discussed what we would do if a winning ticket ever came our way.
> Some would be invested, some given to our kids & the rest divided between the 2 of us so that we could do what we wanted with it.
> And we are lucky here in Oz, you don't pay tax on winnings. That is until you spend it & pay the consumption tax.


See my wife disagrees and was hypathetically talking earlier today about what "SHE" would have us do with the winnings, and that "SHE" would hire us a good lawyer and accountant to handle everything and tell us how to spend and invest it all. But I told her flat out that if "WE" won that much money that she would no longer be in charge of my finances, and that we would either split it two ways as a married couple or two ways as a......_divorced_ one.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

*bump*


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## CantePe (Oct 5, 2011)

I must be different or something. That much money would be handled how we handle finances now. Open communication, portion to savings, kids funds, investments and a few perks we both want or one or the other wants.

We'd still follow our budget too. Money makes you comfortable not happy.

Mum always said "money and material things come and go, people don't"


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## humanbecoming (Mar 14, 2012)

We have talked about it too... Hey, every one should dream a bit.... We might argue slightly over the exact style of the house, but I would give in to her on that. It being totally off grid isn't something she is excited about, but she wouldn't say no. 

The rest? We would probably get a small sports car just for her and I to drive, but we are happy with both our vehicles. There are LOTS of things in our community that we would love to do... As we started talking about it, we realized that we would need to win several times to be able to afford to do all the things we would want to do. 

I would think that if you had trouble coming to agreements in your daily life, then a big lotto would just amplify that. If you already can work together and compromise, then it shouldn't cause issues.


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## BeachGuy (Jul 6, 2011)

If it's a healthy marriage then there is no "his money/her money". It's all in a joint account and financial decisions are discussed and made together. There's really no other legitimate answer.

I've never understood couples that keep separate accounts. There's no trust right from the get-go.


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## Maricha75 (May 8, 2012)

BeachGuy said:


> If it's a healthy marriage then there is no "his money/her money". It's all in a joint account and financial decisions are discussed and made together. There's really no other legitimate answer.
> 
> I've never understood couples that keep separate accounts. There's no trust right from the get-go.


Exactly! I really don't understand this either. Large purchases, whether something he wants or something I want, we agree on it or it doesn't get done...period. It doesn't matter if we have only $500 or $500million... same principle applies... agree on the purchase together, or it doesn't get purchased. There is no "his and hers" money... it is OURS.


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## Almostrecovered (Jul 14, 2011)

things I'll never have to worry about- number 3,452


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## SimplyAmorous (Nov 25, 2009)

CantePe said:


> I must be different or something. That much money would be handled how we handle finances now. Open communication, portion to savings, kids funds, investments and a few perks we both want or one or the other wants.
> 
> We'd still follow our budget too. Money makes you comfortable not happy.
> 
> Mum always said "money and material things come and go, people don't"





> *Beach Guy said: *If it's a healthy marriage then there is no "his money/her money". It's all in a joint account and financial decisions are discussed and made together. There's really no other legitimate answer.
> 
> I've never understood couples that keep separate accounts. There's no trust right from the get-go.


This is how we look at it ...both of these fine posts. 

The only time we even played in the past was when the guys at his workplace went in together ~ cause we'd look pretty stupid & it would royally suck if all the employees won & he was the only one left out.


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## sweaty teddy (Nov 13, 2012)

split it in half and then only manage half together.let the other half be divided when you get divorced! lol


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## steinjeremo (Nov 29, 2012)

That is until you spend it & pay the consumption tax.


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## gbrad (Jul 20, 2010)

Pay off all debt and then split the rest in the divorce. That is what would happen.


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## Phenix70 (May 6, 2012)

We've this same discussion & decided that we would pay off all debt, give some to our family & then we would live off the interest, while socking the rest away.
The set up would be that each year, we each would be given a set amount of money, what we did with the money would be up to us, if he wanted to buy a sports car, he would, as I would too, if I wanted to fund animal rescues, I would, just as he could do whatever he wanted to do with his share of his yearly funds.
Neither of us wants to buy a big fancy house, just a nice place, with land, where we could get away from all the people looking for handouts.


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## Runs like Dog (Feb 25, 2011)

Buy a surplus USN destroyer, cruise the seven seas fighting all the pirates. Our anthem will be "Borneo" by Firewater.

Firewater - Borneo

May, 2008


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## Gaia (Apr 27, 2012)

CantePe said:


> I must be different or something. That much money would be handled how we handle finances now. Open communication, portion to savings, kids funds, investments and a few perks we both want or one or the other wants.
> 
> We'd still follow our budget too. Money makes you comfortable not happy.
> 
> Mum always said "money and material things come and go, people don't"


This exactly. There would be no mine or yours... It would be "ours" in my relationship. We would discuss how much to put away for the kids, then most likely pay off all our bills and start up some businesses. Hell if gate wanted a ferrarie and we had that much money... I would tell him to go for it. I know if I seen a house that I wanted he would support me in getting it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

To put it in a different way; right now my wife is the boss of our finances simply because she makes more than twice than I do and always has, and I like buying cool stuff but it always has to be cleared through her and a lot of times I am told "no" for various reasons. But if we were to win that ridiculous amount money I'll be damned if her or anyone is going to tell me what I can and can't buy, and if she didn't like it then she is free to split it in half with me or..........take her half and leave.


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## TrustInUs (Sep 9, 2012)

Cee Paul said:


> To put it in a different way; right now my wife is the boss of our finances simply because she makes more than twice than I do and always has, and I like buying cool stuff but it always has to be cleared through her and a lot of times I am told "no" for various reasons. But if we were to win that ridiculous amount money I'll be damned if her or anyone is going to tell me what I can and can't buy, and if she didn't like it then she is free to split it in half with me or..........take her half and leave.


Does she have to run things by you when purchases things?

I manage our money, not because I'm the boss, but because I'm a little better with keeping up with the day to day needs money wise.
He makes almost 3x what I bring in, as I only work part time, but all of our money is ours. We each get the equal amounts of spending money after bills and savings etc. but we also discuss big purchases over a certain dollar amount that we agreed upon.

I'd like to hope that if we ever came into a large sum like that, we'd continue to manage our finances the same way.

*ETA: corrected-sorry I had way to many errors in this post.*


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## Almostrecovered (Jul 14, 2011)

I'd buy TAM and make Amp my b!tch


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## bbrad (May 30, 2012)

me: "Honey, I just won the lotto, pack your bags."

her: "Awesome, do I pack for mountains and snow, do i pack for a tropical beach?"

me: "I doesn't matter, just get the f out."


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

Cee Paul said:


> To put it in a different way; right now my wife is the boss of our finances simply because she makes more than twice than I do and always has, and I like buying cool stuff but it always has to be cleared through her and a lot of times I am told "no" for various reasons. But if we were to win that ridiculous amount money I'll be damned if her or anyone is going to tell me what I can and can't buy, and if she didn't like it then she is free to split it in half with me or..........take her half and leave.


It's easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

TrustInUs said:


> Does she have to run things by you when purchases things?
> 
> I manage our money, not because I'm the boss, but because I'm a little better with keeping up with the day to day needs money wise.
> He awakes almost 3x what I bring in, as O only work part time, but all of our money is ours. We each get the equal amounts of spending money after bills and savings etc. but we also discuss big purchases over a certain dollar amount that we agreed upon.
> ...


This is one area she still struggles with in that she feels since she busted her azz getting a masters degree and put in a lot of time and hard work to get where she's at, and that I only went and got an AA degree from a community college when I was 39 and partied for most of my younger years prior to that, then why should I get to just waltz in and reap all the benefits of her labor. And another huge factor is that when she met me almost 8 years ago I was nearly bankrupt and living paycheck to paycheck, and she had to rescue me from all of my debt.

And just for the record my wife is on the board at one of our large local hospitals and her title is "Co-Head of Compliance", so that is what we're talking about in regards to all the work she's had to put in to get that status and positioning.


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## TrustInUs (Sep 9, 2012)

Understood....have you been able to do anything to show you are better at managing money now?


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

TrustInUs said:


> Understood....have you been able to do anything to show you are better at managing money now?


Well my credit is completely fixed now and my score is pretty high, and as far as spending goes she controls anything major that her and I buy and she allows me spending on anything I want that is $50 or less no questions asked(anything higher than that amount has to be discussed & approved).


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## Gaia (Apr 27, 2012)

Cee paul... Have you sat down and expressed how you feel this is unfair? Did you tell her you felt like leaving?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

Gaia said:


> Cee paul... Have you sat down and expressed how you feel this is unfair? Did you tell her you felt like leaving?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Of course we've discussed this Gaia many many times and it always turns into an arguement, but her fear is that I would bankrupt us like I did to myself and ruin everything she has worked so hard to build up. But my point is if you are sitting on let's say $200 million that's not going to happen, because I do know how to invest and save and have a lot of fun with that money all at the same time. And again if there was that much money in the acoount that we're both legally entitled to half of, she would no longer be allowed to boss me around financially and if she insisted on it I would just simply take my half and leave.


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## Runs like Dog (Feb 25, 2011)

Of course it would get divided 4 ways - 3 children and us. And anything we felt we needed to give to anyone else would come out of our piece. 

And adopt Luxembourg citizenship that goes w/o saying.


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## jaquen (Mar 1, 2012)

How you handle money in your marriage should be just that, what works for YOUR marriage.

I do get so sick of people giving financial advice that might work perfectly fine for their marriage, or even most, but doesn't apply to us all.

My wife and I don't have a joint account. We never have. We have separate accounts, and that has never been a problem for us even once. And we have never had a single major disagreement about money in our entire 12 years and going relationship, pre or post marriage. To suggest that people are unhealthy, or wrong, because they don't follow the crowd is ludicrous. 

As far as the OP, with a sum that large we'd likely put a portion of it in my account, a portion in hers, and decide how much of the rest we'd like to invest, and how much we'd like to save, at which point we'd open a higher yield, joint savings account that's designed to give a nice, slow burning interest on a sum that large.

How we would handle major purchases are how we'd handle them now; if I wanted a nice car, I wouldn't ask for permission, I'd just inform her that I'm about to buy it. She sure doesn't need to ask me for permission either. The only purchase decisions we need to make mutually are those that affect our mutual lives directly, like buying a house.


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