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CNN Live Today

One Winner Claims Share of Big Game Jackpot

Aired April 17, 2002 - 14:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: One winner has come forward to claim her share of last night's $331 million Big Game Lottery jackpot. There are still two more winning tickets out there. CNN's Brian Cabell is live in Atlanta with more.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, here is something that drives regular Lottery players absolutely nuts. The young lady who won today here in Georgia had never played the game before. This week was the first time she ever played. Ten tickets she bought. One of them is bringing her about $59 million.

Her name, Erika Greene, 20 years old. She showed up with her family and her friends today. She said she slept for about a half- hour last night. She kept her ticket on her dresser. Now she's got plenty of money in her pockets and an awful lot on her mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIKA GREENE, LOTTERY WINNER: I studied up on the statistics and everything. And I know that I'm not going to handle the money myself. I'm going to have someone handle it for me. Do investing, to where I can actually make the money work for me instead of just blowing it all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABELL: And no surprise here, there was a representative for a major brokerage on hand today, ready with a business card for her. Tried to get in the limousine, as a matter of fact, with her. She, again, $59 million richer. But of course, that is before taxes.

As for plans, we asked her repeatedly what are you going to do with this money? Are you going to go somewhere? Are you going to buy things? She said she really hadn't thought about it.

She also has a job. She works for a shop that sells accessories for cell phones and for pay phones. We asked her this morning whether she would quit that job. She said she didn't think so, at least as of this morning. I suspect after a few hours in the limousine this afternoon and picking up that $59 million check, she might have changed her mind -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I wonder if she's being chased down by stockbrokers, Brian. Have you seen any chasers there? CABELL: As a matter of fact, one tried to hand her the business card. And I can tell you that also, we've had people from TV stations, including our very own, trying to follow her, trying to talk to her. We'd like to do the story on her. Because she's an interesting woman. She's very well-spoken.

Very -- very calm, I thought, considering what had just happened, and it's probably an interesting story. But right now I think she probably wants to be shut in with her family and friends and her $59 million.

PHILLIPS: Yes, understandably. All right, Brian Cabell, thanks so much. As we mentioned, another winning ticket was sold in Illinois. We still don't know who bought that one, but we know who sold it. And representatives from that Speedway gas statin picked up their share of the winnings this morning, $1.1 million. The station manager says she hopes one of her regular customers has the lucky ticket.

Managing an instant fortune does present some problems. Susan Bradley can tell us a little bit about that. She's a financial planner and author of the book "Sudden Money: Managing a Financial Windfall." She joins us from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Susan, good to see you.

SUSAN BRADLEY, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You do start to wonder, though, someone like this young gal, Erika, will she have a lot of investment bankers giving her a call?

BRADLEY: I think she's going to get a lot of attention -- media attention as well as attention from the investment community. There's no question about it. She's had a major life event. Her life will now be marked by what happened before the Lottery win and what happened after it.

PHILLIPS: So, from your book, tell us what usually happen with someone who wins the Lottery like this.

BRADLEY: Well, it's good and bad. Most people think that it's a wonderful thing. And then when they hit the challenges, they wonder if there's something wrong with them. Is there some reason that they're not happy with all this money, or that they start to get isolated from their friends and family.

So it's a little bit tricky, for a 20-year-old or for a 60-year- old. Most people don't have time to prepare for this kind of a sudden money event. If you've saved money all your life and it's a sudden money event of a lump sum payout, a pension, or maybe even a divorce settlement that you expected, that's one thing.

But this is completely out of the blue. It's very random. She made a financial planning decision when she bought the ticket. I'm sure she didn't think of it that way. But she chose to have a lump sum payout instead of 26-year payout. She did that for fun, I'm sure. She wasn't thinking -- not that it was right or wrong.

PHILLIPS: Well, what would you advise?

BRADLEY: Well, I would advise her to go slowly right now. There are a lot of decisions that she could make that she might end up regretting. She should be careful not to create expectations from people around her. She should go into what we talk about in the book, and at the Sudden Money Institute, the decision-free zone.

That's a time when you decide that you're not going to make any decision that's not essential, until you get a chance to get your feet on the ground and go through the whole process. Decide who you're going to hire to manage the money. Who you're going to hire as your attorney. And you start to put your life into order.

That's a little bit counterintuitive, because most people think of money as, "I'm going to go spend it." So her first reaction would be to spend some money.

PHILLIPS: Sure. Well, $325 million, OK, she's taking the lump sum payout. So what does that actually mean to her pocket? Let's lay out all the taxes and the details here.

BRADLEY: Well, it depends upon what she does with it. On an after tax basis, she should get about $35 million. And if she were to take her time and really learn about this, sort of develop her own sense of financial literacy and own sense of purpose in life, where she wants to go, she might want to put it into very secure, tax-free municipal bonds.

There's nothing real jazzy about that. IT's not really a way that most people use their money to grow money. But it's a nice way to put the money aside, make it work for you. And that would produce only about a million dollars a year for her.

(CROSSTALK)

BRADLEY: Now, a million, that's a lot of money, for anyone.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off there. Continue your thought.

BRADLEY: So if you have a million dollars a year tax free, that in itself is a windfall. If she just let it go at that, and then she had the money in good, secure municipal bonds, the theory is, is that her money would be safe, principal safe, and she would have income and use that income to maybe make other investments.

Or actually, the way you make the most money in this country is to go into business. She might want to spend time getting educated and learning to be a good entrepreneur. And then use her money.

PHILLIPS: How about a foundation? BRADLEY: Foundations are wonderful. It's interesting. A lot of the Lottery winners never expect to win and when they do win, they don't want the topsy-turvy feeling that they have with their life. I know one woman in New Jersey hired a financial planer to meet with her once a month to give the money away. And that's what she does with it. And that's really her pleasure. So some people do that.

PHILLIPS: Well, and polls show that investing is the last thing on their minds, correct?

BRADLEY: You know, it's really funny -- yes. "USA Today" newspaper published a survey. And the survey was based on a question, "what would do you if you won the big one?" meaning the Lottery. This is classic. This is the biggest of the big, or second biggest. And what people said is the No. 1 thing on the list was, to buy a home.

And in my experience at the Sudden Money Institute and working with people from all kinds of sudden money events, regardless of what it is, the home is always there at the top of the list. Maybe top three. For the Lottery, people say that's what they're going to do.

Investing, on a list of 12 things that they would do, investing is No. 11, right between buying a boat and jewelry.

PHILLIPS: What's the first thing?

BRADLEY: The first thing is a house.

PHILLIPS: It is a house, OK.

BRADLEY: The first thing is a house. And No. 11 is investing. So, these folks are going to have -- it's a wonderful day. It's a great thing that's happened to them. I don't say that it's all negative.

Who they are before they win the Lottery will have a lot do with how they handle the money afterwards. They have challenges that they can't even begin to imagine right now. They have opportunities that they've maybe dreamt of. But whether they materialize, we don't know.

They're going to be hounded. They have to learn to manage the people that are interested in their lives. They have become a focal point for all kinds of people. And that's not good or bad, but you need to learn how to manage that.

We actually give a Lottery camp, where someone can come down and spend four or five days here in Florida. I'm in Palm Beach. And we take them through, how do people invest? What are the taxes. What can a million dollars a year buy? How could you get in trouble with that? How can you blow the money? How do you handle requests from friends? How do you decide where you want to go, in terms of philanthropy and charity? What do you want to do with your own life? How would you handle, in a 20-year-old's position, how would you handle marrying someone that doesn't have as much money as you have?

And not that you can get all of the answers in a week's time, but you can start to kind of lay the groundwork. And then go home and hire a financial adviser and an attorney. And maybe a charitable gift planner. And start to go on your journey of learning how to do this a really fulfill the highest side of your life.

PHILLIPS: And be prepared for all the emotional issues, too. Susan Bradley. "Sudden Money" is the book. Also a certified financial planner. Thanks for the advice and the tips.

BRADLEY: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: All right, Susan.

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