Advice for your Winning Power Ball

If you're planning to win the Powerball this Wednesday you may want to read this article. Chances are you could wind up just as happy as you are now. This assumes that your family members don't try to kill you, your kids don't overdose on drugs, or woman don't talk you out of it.

"For some people, winning the big jackpot can turn out to be a big mistake.

William "Bud" Post III called it the "lottery of death." The Pennsylvania man, who died in January at 66, hit a $16.2 million lottery jackpot in 1988. After that, his sixth wife left him, a woman sued for a third of the winnings, he failed at business ventures with siblings, and spent time in jail for firing a gun over a bill collector's head. His brother was arrested for hiring a hit man to kill him in the hope of getting a share of the winnings. Eventually Mr. Post declared bankruptcy. Stories like this are the exception, but the truth remains that good fortune doesn't automatically come with a pile of money. "Life is good, but it's not a constant party," said Susan Bradley, a certified financial planner who founded the Sudden Money Institute in Florida, which provides resources and training for new wealth recipients and their advisers. "It's hard," she said. "You can change your phone number. You can move out of state. You can do all those kinds of things. But maybe you don't want to. "Lottery winners are targets," she continued. "They also don't get the same kind of respect that someone who 'earned' the money gets. There's kind of this funny taint."

West Virginian Jack Whittaker, above, won a $314.9 million jackpot in 2002. He has had several brushes with the law. H. Roy Kaplan of the University of South Florida wrote a book about lottery winners and said for most it's a positive experience. ( ASSOCIATED PRESS )