Winning a lottery is not impossible to happen to you, as this good fortune will be able to change everything in your life. However, when you experience this, you will also have to respond wisely, because it may not happen to you twice. You will also have more chances to lose it and this will lead to even worse conditions. First, you have to keep the confidentiality of your winning before you completely claim the money, especially if the prize is worth a very large amount of money. Second, which is not less important is that you need to really know how to claim your winnings. For this, you can check on the ticket and the lottery ticket agency from which you have bought the ticket. To make it safer, it is also recommended that you also make the copy of your winning ticket and keep it in a deposit box in a bank. It is also a good choice to hire a lawyer to help you manage everything concerning the claim of the winnings and any legal actions you may need to take.

About the prize money, you also should consider some of these followings:

• How much money should you spend on taxes?
  As all winnings are included in taxable income, you need to think of how much you will receive. Making a trust will be a good option to minimize estate taxes. Another way of minimizing the taxes is by giving some of the money to charities or gifting some of the money to families or friends. You also have to share happiness to as many as people, don’t you?
• Which option of winning will you choose?
  Lottery games usually have two options of winnings either as a lump sum or annuity. It will depend on how you want to manage the money. If you already have plans on how to manage the money, you may as well as taking it as a lump sum or if you are not very sure of how to spend the money safely, you can take it as annual payments. Taking it as annuities will also give you more time to think of how to find the best investments with the most profits.
• How will you divide your lottery money with your spouse?
  If you have bought the lottery ticket together with someone else/your spouse, you may need to think of having a joint right. Everything may be fine if you can keep your relationship/marriage run well, but there may be some cases that you have to split and you do not want the money to be taken only by one party. Both parties should have equal right of the lottery money.
• What about for joint-purchasing of the ticket?
  This should have been agreed before you decide to purchase the ticket with another partner or some other individuals. A partnership is the best option to form, as everybody will get the money equally or depending on their contribution on the purchasing. This may also apply in the case of ‘syndicate’ offered by some lottery companies.
• Should I keep my identity?
  Definitely yes! You may want to be famous with your lottery winnings as usually winners are publicly announced by Medias. However, you may need to remain low profile because this will also help you to be secure with your windfall. To claim the money anonymously, you might as well form a blind trust with the help of an attorney.
• What should I do if I don’t know how to manage my money?
  As most people don’t have capability to manage money very well, a good accountant or any advisors on finance may worth to hire. They will give you the best options on how to spend your lottery winnings.
• Can I spend some money for fun?
  There are times to celebrate and enjoy the money. You should not too worry either although you still have to be careful in spending the money. Consider to buy only things that you really need and save the rest for later. Putting the money into longer term investment will still be the best option to take, as it will give you more interest that you can receive and spend for longer periods.
• Should I quit my job?
  Most of the times, people cannot live doing nothing. When you work, it does not always mean that you badly need the money. Keeping on doing your job is actually good as long as you don’t have to work very hard. It may also help you to avoid spending all the money you have. Taking some time off the work is also a nice thing to do instead of totally quitting your job.