The headlines about the Powerball jackpot drawing for Wednesday night will tell you that you can win $1 billion.
Reality check: if you’re the lone winner, you’re actually taking home about a quarter of that, after taxes.
I base that on the one-time cash payout, which would come to $433.1 million.
You could always opt for the annual payments, but you wouldn’t, because nobody does that.
OK, so, $433.1 million.
That’s before taxes.
After taxes, you take home $272.9 million.
Which is still f— you money for regular folks.
The Census Bureau tells us that there are 74,000 households with a net worth of $100 million-plus.
The mere centimillionaires are already in the top 5 percent of the top 1 percent.
You’d be 2.7 times filthy richer than those poor saps.
Just don’t blow the grocery money on tickets, because you’re not going to win.
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Chris Graham
