The American Dream has changed over the years. It used to be a life of hard work and saving your way to wealth. The American Dream of today seems to be winning the lottery. After all, the media keeps telling you that making money the old-fashioned way, with hard work, some good luck and a life of being responsible, just feels too difficult for most people to accomplish. But the notion of paying a few bucks and becoming instantly rich is very alluring. After all, becoming filthy rich overnight sure sounds better than a life of hard work.

The Powerball for Wednesday, February 22, 2017, has reached an estimated annuity value of $403 million, or an estimated cash value of $243.9 million. Whether the winner chooses the annuity or lump sum, the truth is that this will generate multi-generational empire money.

The unfortunate reality is that most people never get a dime out of the lottery versus a lifetime of hard work and responsibility. Many lottery winners and people who come into unexpected instant wealth end up broke and in the poorhouse.

What anyone with ambitions of playing and winning the lottery must understand is that there is a much more serious side to the lottery. It’s easy to think about how to use that fortune and all it can buy, but instant extreme wealth of this nature comes with the price of needing extreme responsibility.

24/7 Wall St. has tracked many lottery drawings over the years, and we have created a self-help guide of 12 Things Not to Do If You Win the Lottery. Again, it is just too easy in these times to go broke. One key life lesson for the newly rich needs to be shared by those who have had wealth for years or generations: You should only have to become rich once!

Multi-millionaires and billionaires know that even they have to live within some means. This may seem hard to fathom, but blowing through $100 million, $200 million or even $400 million is much easier than you would probably think. In some cases, those newly rich lottery winners end up broke in a very short time.

Many pitfalls await lottery winners and they threaten instant losses — or worse. Those pitfalls are above and beyond deciding whether to take the lump-sum cash payment or take a payout over 20 years. Most lottery winners choose the lump-sum payment and that means all of their winnings can be lost in short order rather than as the money comes in over time.

Lottery winners and anyone else who comes into sudden wealth must consider how a boatload of money can affect their family and relationships. Will they work or just live the easy life of luxury for the rest of their days?

Several things have to take place in a very short period for lottery winners. They need to sign the winning lottery ticket and report it to the state, and they better rethink running out and bragging to everyone. Here is a fact that all lottery winners need to pay attention to: winning the lottery could put your life in jeopardy!

Lining up a solid financial advisor and getting ongoing tax and structure advice are of the utmost importance. Before dismissing the notion of outside help and guidance, ask yourself if you know about alternative investment vehicles outside of stocks and bonds. Have you ever heard of kidnap and ransom insurance? Do you understand family trusts?

After winning the lottery, life changes drastically, but knowing the limitations has to be part of a daily routine. Thinking that you can live without a budget is a major pitfall. After all, how do so many people go broke after winning the lottery, even with all the warnings signs?

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The 1980s film “Brewster’s Millions” may have made it seem impossible to blow $30 million in 30 days. That was then — now that can be blown in days or hours without even being that creative. The ongoing costs of private jets, mega-yachts, private islands, mega-mansions, luxury cars, extravagant parties, private concerts, buying luxury goods or art and collectibles, and having an entourage add up quickly. These may sound great at the time, but only until you honestly factor in the ongoing costs for a lifetime of that. Any combination of those could go over $100 million, or even $500 million, again without even being that creative.

24/7 Wall St. does not want to see any lottery winner go broke. Here are the 12 things not to do for any lucky lottery winner. Again, you should only need to get rich once!

1. Do not forget to sign the winning ticket, and be sure to report it immediately.

This may seem almost impossible to imagine, but some people forget to sign a winning lottery ticket. It has to seem even crazier to think that you could forget to report the winning ticket to the state. Imagine if you have the winning lottery ticket and it gets lost or stolen. Or imagine if it burns up in a house fire. Endless millions of lottery dollars have gone unclaimed. Some people, somehow, actually manage to not report to the state that they won.

Now imagine how you would feel if you lost a winning lottery ticket. Or what about if someone else steals your winning ticket and then shows up to collect the prize? Fighting over a winning lottery ticket is no simple task and disputes have arisen over who owns what ticket.

In more ways than not, a winning lottery ticket is like the last modern form of bearer bonds. Whoever shows up with the right piece of paper gets paid. You have to sign and secure that ticket, and you then have to report to the state.

2. Do not run out and tell everyone (or anyone) about winning the lottery.

If you just won tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, it seems obvious that you would want to tell everyone you know. After all, how could you not share that with friends and family? Reality check: Do not dare do this! try to keep your lottery winning quiet for as you can. Sadly, your friends or family members cannot be trusted to keep your secret a secret.

Telling everyone you know before you collect your winnings can put you in danger. That is danger in more ways than just one. Everyone who has ever done anything for you now may come with their hands out asking for something. You may even become a target by rather unfriendly people. You may have heard of kidnap and ransom insurance before.

It is sad to report that some lottery winners became murder victims. Some lottery winners have even died over far less money than what would be considered empire-building jackpots. If you can manage it, and if your state allows it, try to remain anonymous for as long as possible. How you became vastly wealthy will be found out in time anyway. Just do not rush out and hurry that process along and jeopardize yourself.

3. Do not decide to take the lump sum cash option without at least considering your full range of options.

Again, whether it is $50 million or $500 million, most people elect to receive a lump sum today rather than getting money sent out over a lifetime. A figure that has been cited in the media is that around 70% of lottery winners end up broke again. Some manage to go broke within a couple or a few years. Let’s say that you can choose to get $202 million in a lump sum payment, do you know for sure without consideration that is a better choice than receiving a payout of $320 million slowly over the course of a lifetime.

Again most people choose the lump sum rather than the annuity payment. After all, it is instant empire-making money.

Go see a reputable and visible tax professional and a reputable investment advisor at a top money management firm with a widely recognized company name and a long corporate history. This theme of “reputable and visible” will echo throughout. Do this before you automatically make the decision about a lump-sum or annuity option.

4. Do not think that you are now the smartest person about high finance.

Lottery winners, and anyone else who comes into unexpected vast sums of cash, need to immediately get outside financial advice. If they were living paycheck to paycheck before the lottery, does it seem that logical that they suddenly know the best things to invest in and how to plan finances for years or decades out? How likely is it that you will immediately know the best tax, trust and asset protection strategies?

There are many ways to invest and to protect that new fortune. Strategies of the extremely wealthy often go way beyond just buying stocks and bonds and letting those investments ride. As far as who to use, or who not to use, chances are very high (say 99.9%) that your drinking buddy might not be the best choice as an advisor and expert.

Having a solid and respectable team of financial advisors and managers from reputable firms is a must. This will act as your buffer to protect your assets now and in the future. Do you know how to protect your assets against all threats and know exactly how to protect your estate in case you die or become incapacitated? Here is a very serious hint – If you answered yes, you probably did not bother playing the lottery.

5. Do not let your debts and obligations of yesteryear remain in place.

If you suddenly become filthy rich, be sure to get rid of your old financial obligations and debts immediately. Having the “I’m rich and don’t have to pay anymore” attitude will put you rapidly on the path of self-destruction.

Whether you take the lump-sum all at once or the annuity option over the course of years, something is seriously wrong if you have a single penny of debt from your past. For that matter, you should not have a single debt ever again. One lottery winner in California was reportedly strapped with debt from property purchases, losing millions of dollars in a short time.

If you manage to go broke down the road and still have a mortgage, car payments, student loans, credit card debt and personal bills, you better expect that all of your friends and family members will taunt and ridicule you every day for the rest of your life.

6. Do not go live the big life, at least not way too big and not too fast.

Living the big life sounds alluring to many people. Sadly, that temptation to keep buying or accumulating can wipe you out. If you go from living a simple life to instantly being able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) per week, just think about what that may do to your expectations in life ahead. Chances are high that you will want more of the same.

If you start gambling in Las Vegas and are not happy until you are gambling with hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) per play, you are dooming yourself. Now just wait until the real con men find you.

Taking you and your favorite 500 people on a luxury cruise around the world can become very expensive, very fast. Having an entourage generally only works for people who keep making more and more money — and they usually end up broke for that cost.

7. Do not run out and buy everything for everyone, nor for yourself!

Everyone probably has a list of things they would love to own. Buying nice things is fun. It can even create a rush for some people. Now imagine getting to buy whatever your imagination can think of. Now take a breath for a second.

Society and the endless commercials trick the public into thinking they need to own endless amounts of things. It’s just stuff! Do not go out and buy dozens of cars. Do not go buy multiple houses. Do not run out and buy things endlessly for friends and family members (nor for yourself). This will put you on a bad path if you do not avoid the impulse buying. Do you really want to be your friends and family personal welfare department?

If you start buying everything for everyone, chances are high that they might expect that to last forever. The other end of the story is that you do not have to be a cheapskate either. Still, after hearing a real life personal story of one lucky winner buying more than 30 cars and multiple houses in three months it is just crazy.

8. Do not think that budgets are just for the poor and middle class.

This may seem silly on the surface that you might need a budget and might need to consider limitations. The harsh reality is that creating a budget and actually living on a budget are not just tasks for the poor and the middle class. The very wealthy, at least those who stay that way, know that even a vast sum of money can vaporize.

Major lottery winners generally become wealthier in an instant than everyone they know combined. This also goes back to having advisors and being prudent, but at the end of the day you do still have a finite sum of money. Chances are very high that you will make some serious purchases and your lifestyle will be changed forever.

Without setting limits for yourself and for what you do with others is a recipe for disaster. Again, many lottery winners go broke. If they went broke in a very short time, what do you think the reflection about wishing for a proper budget would be? In short – Do not think you don’t need a budget!

9. Do not become a business backer for all of your friends and family.

If you knew little about money or finance yesterday, what makes you think you will understand venture capital or merchant banking now? It may sound powerful and enticing. Do not fall into this trap.

One common theme that has come up with lottery winners who suddenly get vast sums of cash is that their friends and family start pitching them on endless business ideas. Sure, some will sound great and some will sound crazy. This could expose you to more than just a loss. You could end up with endless liabilities in some cases.

If someone has no knowledge of a particular business and does not know what it takes to actually run a business, will they do better because a lottery winner who lucked into vast wealth gave them money to start it? If your answer is yes, you seriously need to protect yourself (from yourself).

10. Do not dare give your fortune away shortly after winning.

Many lottery winners and many who become filthy rich fall into a trap thinking that they need to immediately share their newfound wealth with society. It may seem nice to give away vast amounts of cash to charity or to religious institutions. This might not be the case for everyone, but giving away an entire fortune or a large part of it to a charity or to religious institutions needs to be given great consideration.

You can be generous without doing the unthinkable. Rather than giving everything away now, the current charitable trend of the extremely wealthy billionaires is to plan for how to give the money away upon their death, while still often leaving some wealth for their heirs.

Imagine what you will feel like down the road when a serious crisis arises in your life or your family’s life, knowing that you no longer had the means to change it. Should you be charitable? Absolutely! Should you give it all away? Absolutely not!

11. Do not develop athlete envy or celebrity envy.

Many movie stars, entertainers, and some athletes live a life of extreme luxury. Winning the lottery comes with pitfalls that can make them go broke. Keeping up with the Joneses is bad enough. Trying to keep up with the Kardashians or other celebrities is a recipe for disaster. It has to seem cool to own a 200-foot yacht. It may seem practical that certain celebrities have an entourage, or to have a film crew following you around.

It may seem cool owning castles in Europe. Owning an original Picasso painting sure sounds impressive. Having a big new private jet makes sense for a lot of people. Trying to dodge taxes might even sound appealing to some misguided people who think they are now above pesky limitations and duties in life.

Now go add up the price tags of these things, plus the cool cars and houses and the rest of it. You can go broke really quickly. Just ask the endless number of actors and athletes who did this how they feel now.

12. Do not think the laws or decency standards are no longer applicable.

Some people think the rich can do whatever they want without consequences. It is true that the wealthier you get, the more high-class trouble you can find. It is also true that the rich can afford better attorneys and legal defense then the rest of us. Still, living a reckless life without concerns about the law will not keep you from going to prison, or worse.

A good sports coach will tell any star athlete upfront that chances are high they will have to be human for far longer than they are going to stars.

It is quite frequent that movies and television shows glamorize scoundrels. The reality in life is that fictional scoundrels would be scoundrels in real life. What good would it do you if you are incredibly wealthy and such a pariah that no one will associate with you? Remember, you don’t get to take any of your wealth with you.

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