What would you do if you won the lottery? Would you prefer that your winnings are given to you as a yearly installment or would you prefer to receive a lump-sum of cash? There is however a catch with this, and that is, when you choose to receive your winnings as a yearly installment you receive more money than when you want to have it all at once. This is because of the taxes that are applied, and when you choose to receive it yearly you get a retribution for the interests earned which translates into more money in your pockets. So in other words the decision to be made must be between choosing the option of receiving less money but having it all at once or more money but actually having to wait for over a period of time wherein you get a piece of it every year. Tough decision.

Missouri Lottery has a scratch-off game called $200,000 A Year For Life. The game costs $20 to play and the top prize is as advertised, $200, 000 a year for life. That is practically like winning a yearly lottery. State lottery

Spencer Coffman recently, he bought a $200,000 A Year For Life ticket, hoping to win the top prize. Unfortnately, he was only able to win the second prize. Luckily, though, he won the second prize which is actually pretty good. Spencer won $50,000 a year for life.

“I had to check the number several times to make sure I had won. I wanted the big prize of $200,000 a year but this also is big — very big,” he said. Lotteries

Mr. Coffman enjoys playing the lottery, specifically the scratch-off games. He has devised a sort of a routine when playing them. This is what he does, when he buys a ticket, he takes it back to his car and scratches it there. If it’s a winning ticket, he’ll normally go back in the store, cash it in, and buy another ticket. It is actually a very intelligent way of doing it. First he gets some privacy in his car, second he is near the retailer so he can cash as soon as he discovers that he won. Of course, with his big win, the store couldn’t cash it in for him; he had to go to Missouri Lottery’s prize claim office and if that is what he wants, he can actually buy many more tickets with all of that money. Just imagine him in his car full of scratch-offs.

With the win, Spencer Coffman, 63 had two options: He had the option of taking $50,000 a year for life, or a $750,000 lump sum payment. Spencer chose the $750,000 lump sum payment. Do you think he made a wise decision?