I won $28 million in the Powerball when I was 21. One choice saved me from becoming a broke lottery winner.

Tim Schultz won a $28 million Powerball jackpot in February 1999.

Tim Shultz

• Wednesday's Powerball jackpot reaches $1.7 billion, the sixth-largest in history.
• Former winner Timothy Shultz credits financial advisors for preserving his lottery wealth.
• Shultz invested in stocks and bonds, but has one regret about his choice of investments.

The holiday season may have most of us ready to slow down, but the stakes for Wednesday night's Powerball are just heating up.