half a billion (Page 4)

Hmmm...I'd like to hear someone talk about this too!  I know FDIC is $250,000 per bank.  But there aren't that many banks in the world to cover $200M!  For sure you would at least want to get it moved around to several banks.

A quick google search indicates that there are things like CDARS.  So you get the benefit of spreading it around without having to physically go to all those banks yourself.  Handy.

I think what I would do is deposit the check into my most reliable bank (in my case my main bank is USAA and I am 99.9% positive they won't fail!).  I'd try to find a service like that CDARS thing to spread out as much as I can.  And I would dump off the largest chunk of my charitable donations as quickly as possible (so that I don't have tons of money laying around uninsured).

OK, I work for the bank and the last thing I would consider would be FDIC insurance. Most likely I would park it in a brokerage money market account invested primarily in government securities (the same government that provides the FDIC insurance) and start a search for a reputable financial planner/investment counselor/tax accountant. End game would be a diversified portfolio that balances risk, return, and tax consequences.

Oh, wait. That's what I do now with my (substantially smaller) investments.

If possible a large chunk would go to create a charitable foundation to fund causes I fell are worthy.

I'd put 95% of it in a charitable foundation. 

My wife would spend the other 5% on redecorating our house... over and over and over

Just add them on the initial ticket claim.  The winnings can be shared and the winners decide how it's divided.  So you cut them off a slice of the pie when it's paid out, taxes get paid once, and everyone gets money.

Pretty much this.

Oh, awesome!  That really makes sense! That's how groups of coworkers or families share tickets!

I can't believe I bought 4 tickets. What's even worse is my son went with me and he bought two.

Foundation for sure, non-profit doing cancer research so I could have a fully equipped lab and not be at the mercy of external funding, but still do what I enjoy most. Or a bike shop, it's kind of a toss-up

dang, we didn't win.  I bought $25 worth and my wife bought $10.

I was really looking forward to building my 30,000 sq. ft. underground prepper bunker.  

Well, I only won $7 off my $20 worth of tickets.

Guess I can't pi$$  away $275 mil after taxes and end up  on the show "how the lottery ruined my life"

I was only 5 numbers away from having 128,000,000 feet of Subway sandwiches.

I still feel good about my effort...

I didn't win either. I got one ticket with a matching number and the mega ball so that's about $3.

I guess I'll just have to work for a living so I can spend a lot of money!