$550 Million Powerball By The Numbers: How Much Are You Getting After Taxes?

How much will you take home if you win tonight's $550 million Powerball? That depends on a few factors, such as where you live and the tax reductions you might have, but it's safe to say you'll have over $200,000,000 in cash, if you're the sole Powerball winner.

If you're crazy enough to take the 30-year payment plan, USMega.com has a payment schedule guide that will help you based on your state of residence. As an Ohio resident, in year one, I would receive $4,854,140 in cash (after all taxes are paid). The yearly payouts grow over the life of the payments all the way to a cash payment of $19,868,345 in year 30, for a grand cash total of $321,194,331. It's like a Bobby Bonilla contract.

But we know you maniacs want that full load of Benjamins sitting in your hands so you can go nuts. You want to buy the cars, the houses, the islands, the boats, the planes, the helicopters, the Instagram models.

The basic numbers for tonight's $550 million Powerball drawing:

$550 million jackpot

$411.4 million cash option

$259,217,928 left after you pay the IRS (based on 37% tax rate & no reductions)

State taxes -- percentages vary from 8.95% to no lottery taxes in certain states

What's the first thing you should do after winning the Powerball?

State Farm suggests putting together a team of advisers like you're about to become president. "You're going to need a lawyer, accountant, and financial advisor who have experience with large financial windfalls—finding them should be one of your first steps before you claim your money," the insurance company suggests.

What should you do about family members that are leeches and think they're getting paid?

Let's say you win it and you don't want to get into an Evander Kane bankruptcy situation where you're supporting uncles, mom, dad, grandma, and a sister with your bank account, but you want them to have a comfortable life. Kane is $26,000,000 in debt. He's 29 and has made approximately $55,093,193 over his NHL career.

I'm not an accountant, so don't hold me to it, but why not start a fund for each of them? You pour $4 million that they can't touch into a fund getting, say, 8% returns for approximately $331,998 per year, according to the Dave Ramsey Investment Calculator.

That's their money each year to live on. Sure, you're going to pick up vacations here and there, but they need to get their act together and learn to survive off $331,000 each year. Your uncles can laugh all they want over their stipend. You can always cut their asses off and disappear to a Caribbean island.

Don't think you can spend $220,000,000 in cash during your lifetime? You could always end up like Jack Whittaker, the West Virginia man who won a massive $315 million Powerball jackpot in 2002. He took home $113.4 million after taxes and had trouble the rest of his life before dying in 2020. He famously said he wished he'd torn up the ticket.

That said, good luck tonight. Buy me a beer if you win it all.