How to make money profitable if you win a prize in the Christmas Lottery

It is essential to analyze the financial situation of the lucky person and calmly consider what they want to invest the money in.

MADRID, 12 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The investment firm Abante advises those who win a Lottery prize to do a financial and personal planning exercise in order to have the opportunity to think about the vital objectives they are pursuing and how the prize money can help them achieve them. .

Next Friday, December 22, State Lotteries and Betting will celebrate the Christmas Lottery draw, with 2,590 million euros at stake, putting a total of 185 million tenths on sale.

In 2023, the average expenditure per Spaniard is expected to exceed last year's amount, which was 71.67 euros, according to the State Lottery and Betting Society (Selae).

If you are one of the lucky ones, different questions arise: how to get the most out of the prize money? What taxes do you have to pay? Is it more advisable to invest, pay off the mortgage or help a family member?

Receiving a large amount of money unexpectedly produces euphoria and, sometimes, this can lead to poorly considered and emotional decisions. And money is not valued the same if it is the result of effort or one's own work as if it comes from having won a prize or received through an inheritance.

In fact, the figures reflect that the joy of being awarded can turn against you if the money is not managed well. A study by the European Financial Planning Association (EFPA) shows that 70% of Christmas Lottery winners have much less money five years after winning the prize.

With the aim of avoiding making bad financial and investment decisions, and ensuring that the lucky ones get the most out of the prize, Abante has prepared a series of recommendations with the most relevant aspects that must be taken into account.

The first tip, as well as the most important, is to stay calm, that is, do nothing with the prize money for a period of several months to get used to living with that extra amount.

The main reason for letting time pass is to avoid making hasty decisions, since in these cases it is common to get carried away by emotions, want to indulge and end up making a bad investment.

It is common to hear the winners say that the first thing they want to do is pay off the mortgage - especially this year with the rise in the Euribor -, give part of the prize to a family member or even retire from the workplace early.

Therefore, it is advisable to take those months before starting to spend or invest that money so that the person lucky with the lottery can ensure that they are making the best decision and that during that period they can reflect on what they really want to achieve with it. that extra money that has arrived in your account.

"In short, it is about doing a financial and personal planning exercise to have the opportunity to think about what vital objectives are being pursued and how the prize money can help achieve them," says the firm.

Likewise, this process will allow the winner to think in the long term, project what goals, needs or concerns he or she has or will have over time and contextualize the lottery money in those plans, whether personal, professional or family, always taking into account Keep in mind that the law gives a maximum period of three months to collect the tenth.

One of the most recurring doubts is usually the taxation of the prize. The Treasury always keeps a part of it, but only if it exceeds 40,000 euros.

The percentage that must be taxed is 20%. Therefore, if you touch one tenth of 'El Gordo', 400,000 euros, you will be taxed on 360,000 euros at a rate of 20%.

With this, the Treasury will keep 72,000 euros and the winner, 328,000 euros. The second prize is 125,000 euros per tenth, of which the Treasury will keep 17,000.

And, the third, of 50,000 euros to the tenth winner, will have to pay 2,000 euros. The fourth and fifth prizes, which distribute 20,000 and 6,000 euros to the tenth prize respectively, are exempt.

It is important to highlight that, when filing the income tax return, the winner does not have to do any paperwork. Thus, it will not be included in the personal income tax tax base, although it will be included in the section of capital gains and losses not derived from the transfer of assets.

Nor will having won the prize have an impact when applying for public aid, scholarships or Social Security benefits. However, there are other aspects that must be taken into account when thinking about the fiscal repercussions of the lottery, because they will be one more expense that will reduce the net amount to be paid.

This occurs with the Inheritance and Donation Tax. If you want to donate part of the prize to a family member, you must keep in mind that, if you cannot prove that the ticket is shared, you must pay taxes in some autonomous communities.

On the other hand, in those cases in which the winner is a company, company or other legal form of society, the tax conditions vary. Given these circumstances, the money that would have been earned would be integrated into the corporate tax base, and that same amount would be deducted from what would have to be paid to the Tax Agency.

Once the vital objectives have been established and the taxation of the prize is understood, the next step is to crunch the numbers. And in this exercise it is advisable to keep in mind not only your current personal financial situation, savings capacity, future income or debts, but also when you plan to retire and how, your family situation, increased hope of life and risk aversion.

With this exercise it will be possible to see if the winner needs to go to the financial markets and at what rate of return they should invest to meet their objectives. In addition, you have to take inflation into account and think about whether the profitability offered by the product you have in mind exceeds it or not.

Likewise, it is very important to know that, if you decide not to invest the money, within a few years you will lose purchasing power, as prices increase, by not covering inflation.

That is, if you have 328,000 euros and do not invest them, after 20 years and assuming an average annual inflation of 2% (ECB objective), that money would be equivalent to about 220,734 euros (current).

Taking into account that inflation data in the euro zone is currently close to 3%, it is now more important than ever to make the prize money profitable so that it does not lose value over the years. If you want to beat inflation by 2 points (that is, achieve an average annual return of 4%) you would have to invest in a portfolio with 50% of the investment in variable income.

Thus, to maximize the prize money it is important to have diversified portfolios, both by geographical distribution, as well as by sectors and type of assets.

The decision to amortize does not have to be the most appropriate one. It is advisable to carry out an analysis of the particular situation to see if the profitability of the money invested is greater than the cost of financing because, in that case, it would not be interesting to amortize and it would be better to invest that money.

Likewise, it must be taken into account that, if the habitual residence was purchased before 2013, there is a tax advantage in personal income tax (the law allows 15% of a maximum payment of 9,040 euros to be deducted each year) that you may not be interested in losing. .

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