I'm surprised the government didn't steal more of her winnings.

They will take more of her winnings. Lump sum is just the total amount if you take it early. She'll still have to face Uncle Sam.

She could have the full million in a gradual payout or 700,000 in a lump sum, each before taxes. She'll be paying about a third of the winnings in taxes.

Good for her! Stay in school!

She should have used some of the money to dress a little better for her picture-flip flops? Really?

Thats what she is doing? I thought she was just embarassed about having to get her picture taken and was trying to hide her face

I don't care what the taxes are - I'd trade a dollar for 700,000 any day!

Go Tebow!!!

Go Pats!!

Now that she's got good looks, luck, AND a bunch of money; I hope she doesn't start stalking me!

I am a liar.

oh fack!! it says "Monopoly" at the top....

ONE million over 20 years is 50 grand per year. She would likely pay far less in taxes if she would have taken the amount over 20 years.

At her age, she can certainly not afford to stop work with a 700 grand nest egg.

She looks pretty, seems kind of smart. Maybe Tebow should check her out!

@Gary 420

Actually the lump sum is better. 700k minus taxes invested will yield MORE revenue over time than a mere 50k a year for 20 years. This is especially true when you add in inflation to the equation. It is always better to go for the lump sum.

I'm surprised the government didn't steal more of her winnings.

No kidding. She doesn't deserve the mini-tax rate reserved for real multi-millionaires.

But don't worry about it. Vote Republican so that they can increases taxes on the middle class in order to be able to afford tax breaks for the mega-rich.

Actually the lump sum is better. 700k minus taxes invested will yield MORE revenue over time than a mere 50k a year for 20 years. This is especially true when you add in inflation to the equation. It is always better to go for the lump sum.

It depends on the return rate. She's getting an automatic return rate of about 1.43 simply by deferring payments. You amortize that over 20 years and you would need to have to grow your original sum at an extra 3% to make up for it. 3% is a big deal - it can make the difference between a reasonably and a risky investment.

Has she seen one thin dime of it yet? If not... what else is her to dooo to dooo????? Work for a living.

I hope they don't actually pay her in monopoly money.....

Hey, giveitarest

Give it a rest!

Sheesh! If all you want to do is bitch, move to Greece. You'll be in good company!

@Lizon,

All depends on your assumptions. At today's rates, she would not have much of an income tax hit at 50 grand per year.

CDs are earning .35% today, so that's a whopping $2450 per year. I know the stock market historically yields much more than CDs, but it has basically gone sideways for the past decade. She should probably go buy a bunch of Florida real estate for pennies on the dollar, but that takes work and knowledge.

Anyway, best of luck to her. Hopefully she will invest in her education and wisely invest the rest for her future.

Absolutely right: $700K doesn't last very long, but an education can feed you forever!

No, you cant retire with those winnings. First Uncle Same is going to take a third, so you end up with around 467K. Now if she uses 30K a year.... that means all her money is gone in less than 16 years. (That also does not account for inflation, but also not interest). So if she decided to retire and ran out of money in 16 years, that would make her 37 years old without a degree or experience. She would also have no retirement fund. She would be trying to find a job and it would be difficult.

FYI: Many people have a million dollars in their life, they just have spent it. If someone spends 30K a year.. $1,000,000 divided by $30,000/yr = approx 33 years ..... so unless you are 60 years old and dont think you will live past 93, a million dollars alone is not enough to retire on if spending 30K/yr

@Bela Ghostly

you should take some advice from this girl... you're struggling on that little money probably because you ether dumped college education, or you got a liberal arts degree

besides that the point is with all these taxes now-a-days there's no point for her in quitting her day job.

@Ambrosia ... If you are 51 and no one in your family has ever lived past 75 (cancer on one side/Alzheimers on the other), everything (house/car/truck/toys) is paid for, you grow your food and do your own maintenance/car repairs, a half of a million dollars would cover "retirement" nicely. Since the economy nose-dived, I've been living off $20,000/yr (3 years now) and managing just fine. It can be done. (And yes I have a college degree - AS in Civil & Environmental Engineering - there's just nothing going on in that line of work where I live.)

On the other hand ... congrats to the young lady. It sounds like she has her head on straight and that's nice to see these days.

@moman3917 Lol - Just an FYI - I have a liberal arts degree in Computer Science and Computer Information Systems. I graduated this last may and the first job I landed after I graduated is paying me 73,000 a year. I wouldn't be so quick to knock down a Liberal Arts degree! :)

Benji, congrats on your degree and your job. Welcome to the world of taxpayers!

Most of us would consider computer science and computer information systems more of a technical degree, even if you graduated from your college of liberal arts. Graduates with Computers, engineering, accounting, nursing degrees, and others have jobs waiting for them. Some of us have an issue with students majoring in communications, gender studies, journalism, and other goofy majors and then complaining that they can't find work other than at Target or Starbucks.

Again, Good Job.

Yeah, but those of us in the humanities and social sciences can think for ourselves. We don't vote for Republicans!

@Ann in Albuquerque,

"Yeah, but those of us in the humanities and social sciences can think for ourselves"

Republicans don't have a problem with you thinking for yourself, it's when you start trying to think for everybody else that we have problem.

that is mighty ironic since the gop believes that what THEY believe should be the law of the land, ie. gay marriage, abortion, etc.!

700K would last for approximately 8 years in California. then you are broke. Hell that is a 3 bd condo... that's it.

If you think that will take care of your retirement, I suggest you look at inflation...

Chances are that since she's 21... it will be all spent by 40... and much to taxes...

Congrats to her anyway..

Even if she spends $200K on school and a couple shopping sprees and leaves the other $500K alone, she'd have almost $4 million after 35 years - without adding another penny to principle. That's at a measly annual rate of 6% - small in long term market growth terms. Somebody as young as her can afford to be a bit more aggressive than that for awhile and still have room for recovery. If she averages 8% over that same time period, she'd have over $7 million. Even with inflation she should be able to retire on that.

21 year old waiters... I would bet that the money is gone by the time she is 23. But congrats! That is awesome!

21 year old waiters... I would bet that the money is gone by the time she is 23.

She is currently living on waitress money, why do you think she would blow it all in a couple years? She is going to college while working as a waitress. There is nothing there to indicate that she is irresponsible or suddenly thinks she can live the high life. The fact that she plans on continuing to work shows that she is intelligent enough to know that she can not retire on her winnings. Your assumption based only on her being a waitress indicates that you think that someone works a low paying job because there is something wrong with them. Not all of us are born into money and even if you get a full ride scholarship, you there is a need for car insurance, gas, or pocket money... so you end up working a low paying job

A young couple that lives a block from my mom won a million $ scratch off. It was gone in less than 2 years. They bought a new car, truck & a big plot of land they were going to build a new house. They still live in a ratty single wide trailer. I don't know what else they blew it on.

Whether or not the story is public is not up to the winner. States require winners to do press conferences. However, usually no one cares, but since she's good looking and she has an interesting story, this story went national.

I think in future Fla Lotos, good looking 21 year old female winners should be forced to do their press conferences in bikinis.......just looking to promote the state, understand......heheh

I thought the same thing! I know that's popular and all but I still don't see the sense in having big holes in my clothes unless I want people staring...

She is 21. Of course she wants people staring. Hey, look, it's two old men discussing the clothes of a 21 year old and not liking them. Color me shocked.

I'm sure she's jumping at the opportunity to take your advice on which chest-high slacks she should buy.

Hey John- if your REAL nice maybe she'll take you shopping!!!

She probably paid good money for them holey jeans.

Exactly. Especially for a 21 year old with her whole life ahead of her.

Maxwell SD

Why don't people ever take the annuity? $300,000 ain't chump change. Since she plans to keep working, the annuity in addition to her paycheck would make for a pretty nice annual income.

Because you make more in the long run by taking the up-front payout.

The lump-sum vs. annuity choice is simply a choice between letting the government invest your $700,000 or investing it yourself. You'll get a much better return by handling it yourself.

why would anyone settle for a crappy annuity. besides what if you get hit by a bus before the 20 years is up? at least with the lump sum you could will the money to your family.

You must not have read the article. She already chose the lump sum, and will be receiving $700,000 before taxes.

Actually, she'll keep around 450K (look at the tax tables for those earning 700k) since it was her choice and it appears she chose the lump sum and got 700 thousand. Read the whole article. Also figure that she has around 100K in college debt - at least that's what a four-year grad has here in lowly old North Dakota. See, we got to the same number but different ways. Anyway, if this young woman has half the brains I think she does, she'll finish her degree, keep the money on ice until she's ready to retire and young enough to enjoy it, then use the couple -three million it will have grown into by then and buy a nice house on the beach someplace that doesn't tax you to death.

Florida doesn't have an income tax. They make their money off tourist & the extra 15 cent a gallon gasoline tax.

Veeery nice!

What in the world is tebowing?

Yep, and then the sky will fall and we'll all die. Why should we even get out of bed in the morning?

Morlack

Hmm well she will probably exhaust her winnings paying taxes and paying for college only to NOT get a good paying job because our companies are no longer interested in hiring americans due to the fact that americans have magically become lazy and want to get paid well for doing nothing.

She's already done pretty well at getting paid well for doing nothing. Why stop now? :)

And I doubt she'll "exhaust her winnings paying taxes and paying for college". Figure that after tax she still has $450K in her pocket. She ain't spending no $450K on schoolin'.

LOL. I hope you're trolling. Either way, I laughed - thank you.

And a nice bottom in her middle.

Ha, it's $350,000 more than she had.

Why would she need to fire her boss, she said in the article she loves where she works. As to buying the restaurant, not likely she'd be able to for the $500-$600,000 she'll have left after taxes.

As a straight A student, she's smart enough to know that a million bucks won't last very long, even if she is frugal. Given that her before lottery earnings were probably well shy of $50,000 a year, taking the lump sum was smart since she's in the lower tax brackets. If she took it over time, her tax rate will probably be higher and (if they are at all intelligent) the Congress WILL have to raise tax rates to pay off the deficit at some point.