(CNN) Publishers Clearing House’s bankruptcy means ‘forever’ winners will no longer get paid

[Chomsky]

(CNN) Publishers Clearing House’s bankruptcy means ‘forever’ winners will no longer get paid
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For nearly 60 years, Publishers Clearing House had been known for changing individuals’ lives, fulfilling their dreams with prize money it promised would keep coming for as long as they lived.

ARB Interactive, a mobile gaming company that bought PCH’s remaining assets, said that under the terms of the sales agreement it would not honor payouts for those who won their life-changing prizes before July 15th of this year.

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For sixty years, as long as the era of television, we've all seen the commercials, and have been waiting for the good fortune of getting that knock on our door telling us we've won "$5K a week for the rest of our lives!".

Much of this was back when $5K a week was enough to prompt many winners to retire and live "the good life".

Well, it's now official - those winners better start looking for work! They're not getting their money!

It's a little piece of Americana, that I thought might be of interest. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[Chomsky]

From the OP article:

Wyllie, 61, of Bellingham, Washington, had been promised $5,000 a week for life. Now he’s looking for a new job, but he’s not hopeful, since he hasn’t worked for more than 10 years. He is currently living on the proceeds of sales of some of his prized possessions, like a jet ski and a trailer.

But Wylie said he had no idea the company was even in trouble until his annual check for $260,000 didn’t show up, as expected, in January.

“Why didn’t somebody give me a heads up? ‘Hey, we’re going out of business.’ It’s not a good way to treat anyone,” he said. “Pretty sure I’m going to lose my home.”

 

[trixare4kids]

(CNN) Publishers Clearing House’s bankruptcy means ‘forever’ winners will no longer get paid
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For sixty years, as long as the era of television, we've all seen the commercials, and have ourselves been waiting for the good fortune of getting that knock on our door telling us we've won "$5K a week for the rest of our lives!".

Much of this was back when $5K a week was enough to prompt many winners to retire and live "the good life".

Well, it's now official - those winners better start looking for work! They're not getting their money!

It's a little piece of Americana, that I thought might be of interest. Be careful what you wish for.

Does this sound like PCH was a scam and they were skimming from the winner's prize money? That money should have been untouchable, no?

 

[Slartibartfast]

The whole thing was essentially a MLM scheme.

 

[Phys251]

(CNN) Publishers Clearing House’s bankruptcy means ‘forever’ winners will no longer get paid
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--
For sixty years, as long as the era of television, we've all seen the commercials, and have ourselves been waiting for the good fortune of getting that knock on our door telling us we've won "$5K a week for the rest of our lives!".

Much of this was back when $5K a week was enough to prompt many winners to retire and live "the good life".

Well, it's now official - those winners better start looking for work! They're not getting their money!

It's a little piece of Americana, that I thought might be of interest. Be careful what you wish for.

Ever since I was a kid, I wondered where Publishers Clearing House got its money. Looks like they don't have enough now.

 

[holbritter]

(CNN) Publishers Clearing House’s bankruptcy means ‘forever’ winners will no longer get paid
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--

--
For sixty years, as long as the era of television, we've all seen the commercials, and have been waiting for the good fortune of getting that knock on our door telling us we've won "$5K a week for the rest of our lives!".

Much of this was back when $5K a week was enough to prompt many winners to retire and live "the good life".

Well, it's now official - those winners better start looking for work! They're not getting their money!

It's a little piece of Americana, that I thought might be of interest. Be careful what you wish for.

Not for nothing, but I could live nicely on $5k a week right now.

 

[TobyOne]

Always take the money upfront. A bid in hand ...

 

[ttwtt78640]

Does this sound like PCH was a scam and they were skimming from the winner's prize money? That money should have been untouchable, no?

Only if PCH had been required to purchase annuities to ensure the (future) payments to each ‘for life’ winner.

 

[Chomsky]

Does this sound like PCH was a scam and they were skimming from the winner's prize money? That money should have been untouchable, no?

I dunno'.

It reminds me of employee pensions from that era. When the employers started folding and declaring bankruptcy, those pensions vaporized.

$5K a week was big money back in the sixties & seventies. $1 USD in 1970 is worth $8.33, today. $5K then is the equivalent of $42K a week today, or $2.2M annually.

I can see individuals retiring back then, after seeing that amount.

 

[Demon]

From the OP article:

I don't know what the taxes are on that kind of money, or how much the guys house cost, but it seems like 2/3 years of working and using those checks to pay off the house would have been the way to go...

 

[Chomsky]

Ever since I was a kid, I wondered where Publishers Clearing House got its money. Looks like they don't have enough now.

They may have had enough cash in the early days, I don't know. Magazines were a big business then.

In my city there were corner magazine shops that sold nothing but magazines. Every drug-store & grocery store had a rack.

 

[ttwtt78640]

I don't know what the taxes are on that kind of money, or how much the guys house cost, but it seems like 2/3 years of working and using those checks to pay off the house would have been the way to go...

Yep, but folks financially plan based on reasonable expectations. My girlfriend and I reasonably expect our Social Security benefits (with normal COLA increases) to allow us to live comfortably (but frugally), but their are few guarantees in life.

 

[Chomsky]

Not for nothing, but I could live nicely on $5k a week right now.

Depending where one's at in life and their obligation, yeah maybe.

But if in the throes of a new family, mortgage, educations, etc., I don't think I'd quit my job.

This is becoming the norm for $1M+ State lottery winners. They pay-off their debts/mortgage, maybe do a splurge or two, or update their diggs, but don't retire.

 

[Kelby]

They may have had enough cash in the early days, I don't know. Magazines were a big business then.

In my city there were corner magazine shops that sold nothing but magazines. Every drug-store & grocery store had a rack.

This.

Also, I believed they were sued (more than once?) for misleading advertising, "You're already a Winner!" as well as convincing magazine customers that they had to purchase something in order to be entered into the contests.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Not for nothing, but I could live nicely on $5k a week right now.

Yep, making $260K/year gross seems be enough to put someone in the top 5%. Of course, how well off that is depends significantly on the local cost of living.

 

[Rexedgar]

I dunno'.

It reminds me of employee pensions from that era. When the employers started folding and declaring bankruptcy, those pensions vaporized.

$5K a week was big money back in the sixties & seventies. $1 USD in 1970 is worth $8.33, today. $5K then is the equivalent of $42K a week today, or $2.2M annually.

$240K isn’t a bad income today!

I can see individuals retiring back then, after seeing that amount.

 

[Demon]

Yep, but folks financially plan based on reasonable expectations. My girlfriend and I reasonably expect our Social Security benefits (with normal COLA increases) to allow us to live comfortably (but frugally), but their are few guarantees in life.

True. If I were getting that kind of money every year though, the first thing I would do would be to splurge a little and then pay off everything I owed, but we are not all the same.

 

[Peacenik]

Free money!

When something sounds too good to be true it usually is.

Kinda like what maga fell for.

 

[Chomsky]

I don't know what the taxes are on that kind of money, or how much the guys house cost, but it seems like 2/3 years of working and using those checks to pay off the house would have been the way to go...

I would assume the award would be taxed at normal rates. And back then $260K a year was surely the highest rate, so today that's 37%. Add-in a coupla' points for State taxes, and call it 40%.

So that 5K is now down to 3K. That's 150K a year, not so big at all.

But even worse, we've got to count for inflation. As I showed in a post above, a 1970 dollar is equivalent to $8.33 today. So that means the remaining 5K would be worth only 1/8th of that fifty years later.

So if you won 5K a week at twenty years old, you might receive the equivalent of 375 a week retired at seventy.

 

[dobieg]

I would assume the award would be taxed at normal rates. And back then $260K a year was surely the highest rate, so today that's 37%. Add-in a coupla' points for State taxes, and call it 40%.

So that 5K is now down to 3K. That's 150K a year, not so big at all.

But even worse, we've got to count for inflation. As I showed in a post above, a 1970 dollar is equivalent to $8.33 today. So that means the remaining 5K would be worth only 1/8th of that fifty years later.

So if you won 5K a week at twenty years old, you might receive the equivalent of 375 a week retired at seventy.

Your marginal federal tax rate on $260,000 is 24%. Your effective federal tax rate would be around 16%. On $260,000 you would net about $218,000. You're correct about inflaton.

Here's a handy calculator to figure out your rough taxes if anyone's interested.

Federal Income Tax Calculator (2024-2025)

Calculate your federal, state and local taxes for the current filing year with our free income tax calculator. Enter your income and location to estimate your tax burden.

smartasset.com

 

[Demon]

I would assume the award would be taxed at normal rates. And back then $260K a year was surely the highest rate, so today that's 37%. Add-in a coupla' points for State taxes, and call it 40%.

So that 5K is now down to 3K. That's 150K a year, not so big at all.

But even worse, we've got to count for inflation. As I showed in a post above, a 1970 dollar is equivalent to $8.33 today. So that means the remaining 5K would be worth only 1/8th of that fifty years later.

So if you won 5K a week at twenty years old, you might receive the equivalent of 375 a week retired at seventy.

Pretty decent money when you're young, and if you kept working for a while, it would add about $1500 a month along with SS when you retire. Not bad really. And even at $150,000 a year, 2-3 checks could still likely pay off your house if you were still working and used the full $150,000 for your mortgage. I know I wouldn't have turned it down, lol.

 

[Integrityrespec]

(CNN) Publishers Clearing House’s bankruptcy means ‘forever’ winners will no longer get paid
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--

--
For sixty years, as long as the era of television, we've all seen the commercials, and have been waiting for the good fortune of getting that knock on our door telling us we've won "$5K a week for the rest of our lives!".

Much of this was back when $5K a week was enough to prompt many winners to retire and live "the good life".

Well, it's now official - those winners better start looking for work! They're not getting their money!

It's a little piece of Americana, that I thought might be of interest. Be careful what you wish for.

$260,000 a year is nothing for the average person to sneer at. Millions are living off 1/5th of that. Then it's not the 1.8 billion that Powerball just paid.

 

[Grand Mal]

Not for nothing, but I could live nicely on $5k a week right now.

Hell, we live nicely on under $1,000 a week.

 

[Taylor]

Makes me wonder when we'll ever get around to addressing social security.

 

[Ƶ∅𝒹i͎αꞓ]

(CNN) Publishers Clearing House’s bankruptcy means ‘forever’ winners will no longer get paid
--


--

--
For sixty years, as long as the era of television, we've all seen the commercials, and have been waiting for the good fortune of getting that knock on our door telling us we've won "$5K a week for the rest of our lives!".

Much of this was back when $5K a week was enough to prompt many winners to retire and live "the good life".

Well, it's now official - those winners better start looking for work! They're not getting their money!

It's a little piece of Americana, that I thought might be of interest. Be careful what you wish for.

Always had weird vibes. Where does the money come from? Are these people really winning when the website was cooked to be on par with pop up ads "spin the wheel" and micro transaction bait? Always felt like the site was pushing a lot of those submissions into the shredder back when I shot my shot. So many people probably lost so much time on there just hitting F5 and thinking that wheel actually was coded fairly, every day, hopeless.

It is rather sad to see them go, but if I had won and got 5K a week for life some years ago, or effectively a quart mil a year, I would have invested it and bought enough by now that I wouldn't be a little greedy piece of shit to complain the gravy train isn't built on magic and fantasy but brass tacks business. I would have felt lucky enough at all to get a $100 coupon at the time, let alone passive income that set me up for the least stressful years of my life. Some times, you just have to let things go.