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Just in case

So You Won the Powerball. Now What?

The first hour, the first week, and the decisions you cannot take back. Ordered by how fast they expire.

15 min read · page 9 of 11

8

Do nothing expensive for six months

The money will still be there. The decision to buy a restaurant will not improve.

The standard advice from people who work with sudden wealth is a deliberate freeze: no house, no business, no boat, no loans to anyone, for something like six months.

Two reasons. First, you are not thinking clearly, and you will not be able to tell for a while. Second, almost every business proposition that reaches a new winner is bad, and the good ones will accept a delay.

Pay off high-interest debt, set up whatever emergency money lets you sleep, and then stop. Ordinary purchases are fine. It is the irreversible ones that need the wait.

The other reason for the pause is that it gives you a line. "My adviser has me on a freeze for six months" ends a conversation about a business opportunity or a loan without requiring you to say no to a person you care about, which is a far harder sentence than it sounds.