WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Big money is up for grabs. Mega Millions is now more than $1 billion. And folks are scrambling to get a ticket and a chance of becoming a billionaire.
"The first thing is, I'm taking everybody that I know on a great vacation," Alexa Sardinas said.
Alex Fernandez is thinking about getting out of debt.
"Pay off all the bills," he said.
But once you have the money, you have to know how to keep it.
So, before you go all lifestyles of the rich and famous, Keith Singer of Singer Wealth Management said the first thing you need to do is get great tax advice.
"When you buy the ticket, I'm buying this on behalf of my family and put it in trust or corporation or an LLC. So, your kids, who are going to inherit that, actually will own some of it, to begin with. And they won't have to pay half the money in taxes," he said.
Singer said you want to make smart investment choices, set up a budget of what your lifestyle is going to be, and remember you can't financially support every friend and family member.
"It's probably good to get a gatekeeper, an attorney or adviser. You got to run everything by him. If you have a proposal for me, he looks at everything or she looks at everything," he said.
Singer said people need to realize there's going to be a lot of people coming out of the woodworks asking for money. Learn to say no.
