As most folks know by now, local couple Robert and Tayna Harris purchased the lone winning MegaMillions lottery ticket last Friday at Clyde's #70 in Portal. The ticket, worth $270 million over 26 years, has a cash value of $167 million. After taxes, they'll take home around $100 million in cash.
So, the Herald asked a few of our local financial professionals, "What would you do if a client came to you with a $100 million check?"
Sandra Rosenberg is a local registered investment advisor and certified public accountant. She said the first step is to find a trusted financial advisor.
"People are going to be coming out of the woodwork," Rosenberg said. " Find someone you can trust. People will be a lot more concerned about you money than about you."
The old adage "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail" is very applicable in situations like this, Rosenberg said.
"If you leave the principal alone, you can have income indefinitely," said Rosenberg.
Sea Island Bank President Wayne Akins said he would listen to the needs of his client before making recommendations.
"We'd ask them what they want to see happen over time," said Akins. "Are their children or grandchildren to educate? Are there family members to support? Do they want to open a business? Is there property they want to acquire? Once we've determined that information, we'd cater our services to their plans."
Akins said $100 million is an extraordinary amount of money. According to figures he quoted from the FDIC, $100 million is approximately 10 percent of all the cash deposits here in Bulloch County.
Ron Washburn is certified financial planner with AmeriPrice Financial Services in Statesboro. He said he's actually had a $7 million lottery winner come to him for planning advice.
"We tried to find out their goals, then developed a road map for where they wanted to go," said Washburn. "Once they went through the process, they were pleased."
In an interview with CNN on this very subject, Certified Financial Planner Michael Boone said it's important to let winners spend some of the moeny before starting the long term planning process.
"One of the valuable tools that we use...is to help people spend enough to get that sense of remorse that comes with maybe spending a little too much money," said Boone. "We find that's really useful to get to that stage early, where people say, 'Okay, I've really gone through more money than I could possibly imagine in a short period of time, so I need to start being responsible with the rest of the money.'"
So, the Herald asked a few of our local financial professionals, "What would you do if a client came to you with a $100 million check?"
Sandra Rosenberg is a local registered investment advisor and certified public accountant. She said the first step is to find a trusted financial advisor.
"People are going to be coming out of the woodwork," Rosenberg said. " Find someone you can trust. People will be a lot more concerned about you money than about you."
The old adage "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail" is very applicable in situations like this, Rosenberg said.
"If you leave the principal alone, you can have income indefinitely," said Rosenberg.
Sea Island Bank President Wayne Akins said he would listen to the needs of his client before making recommendations.
"We'd ask them what they want to see happen over time," said Akins. "Are their children or grandchildren to educate? Are there family members to support? Do they want to open a business? Is there property they want to acquire? Once we've determined that information, we'd cater our services to their plans."
Akins said $100 million is an extraordinary amount of money. According to figures he quoted from the FDIC, $100 million is approximately 10 percent of all the cash deposits here in Bulloch County.
Ron Washburn is certified financial planner with AmeriPrice Financial Services in Statesboro. He said he's actually had a $7 million lottery winner come to him for planning advice.
"We tried to find out their goals, then developed a road map for where they wanted to go," said Washburn. "Once they went through the process, they were pleased."
In an interview with CNN on this very subject, Certified Financial Planner Michael Boone said it's important to let winners spend some of the moeny before starting the long term planning process.
"One of the valuable tools that we use...is to help people spend enough to get that sense of remorse that comes with maybe spending a little too much money," said Boone. "We find that's really useful to get to that stage early, where people say, 'Okay, I've really gone through more money than I could possibly imagine in a short period of time, so I need to start being responsible with the rest of the money.'"