Powerball jackpot: Five things to know if you win

Experts always say that playing the lottery is not a sound long-term financial plan, but when the jackpot is nearly $2 billion, it's hard to pass up a putting a few dollars behind a monumental long-shot and mind-boggling payoff. 

The odds are 1 in 292 million of holding a winning Powerball jackpot ticket. 

"From a purely logical sense, it's not a good financial decision," said Jacob Robbins, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "But humans are not logical. We don't think in terms of probabilities and returns. We think in terms of ideas, and dreams, and thoughts about what we would like to do with the money."  

Eventually, somebody wins. If that happens to you, here are five things you should do:

1) Secure the ticket: Make several copies of the front and back and put the original in a secure place, like a home safe or bank deposit box. You'll want to show these to your attorney for review before you sign the ticket.  In some states, signing it right away may prevent you from creating a blind trust to protect your privacy.  

2) Keep a low profile:  Don't tell the world that you just won hundreds of millions of dollars--or even much less, for that matter.  Keep that news as private as possible. 

3) Hire a team:  You will need to hire an attorney and financial adviser. You'll probably want a few attorneys that specialize in tax law and estate planning. 

4) Don't rush: Complete steps 1 to 3 before going to the lottery officials. 

5) Lump sum or annuity: You can take a lower, one-time payment, or spread out the money over several years.  With good advisers and a plan, people can often make more money investing the lump sum.  However, taking the money over time, will prevent reckless overspending. You will need to talk to your team and private bankers about spreading the money around in various accounts.