019: Estate Planning During the Pandemic and Playing the Lottery Without a Trip to the Store with Louis Pierro and Richard Wheeler

In this episode of Saving With Steve, host Steve Sexton is joined by Louis Pierro, the founder and principal of Pierro, Connor & Strauss, LLC, who concentrates his law practice in the areas of Estate Planning, Estate and Trust Administration, Business Succession Planning, Elder Law, and Special Needs Planning, and Richard Wheeler, the President of Mido Lotto, who has 20+ years of lottery, BD, and operating experience with multi-national companies and government agencies.

My first guest today, Louis Pierro, is the Founder and principal of Pierro, Connor & Strauss, LLC, a Law firm with a mission to empower their clients to achieve their goals, protect their families, and navigate through the complex problems encountered by each generation. He joins us today to discuss estate planning during the pandemic, what estate planning documents the average person needs, and the biggest estate planning mistakes.

Did you know one billion dollars in lottery winnings go unclaimed each year in the U.S.? Mega Millions is over $125MM, and Powerball is up over $220 MM. The lottery business is changing, especially the way you go about getting buying your lottery tickets. 

My second guest, Richard Wheeler, is a lottery expert and the President of Mido Lotto, a company with a mission to increase good cause contributions by bringing lottery into the mobile, social, and physical distancing age. He joins us today to discuss the upcoming historic jackpot and his company’s new smartphone app that allows players to safely order lottery tickets from the comfort of their own home.

Louis W. Pierro is the founder and principal of Pierro, Connor & Strauss, LLC, and concentrates his law practice in the areas of Estate Planning, Estate and Trust Administration, Business Succession Planning, Elder Law and Special Needs Planning.

Mr. Pierro has been selected to the Best Lawyers in America, The Best Lawyers in New York, Super Lawyers of the Hudson Valley, Top 25 Lawyers in Upstate New York, NY Times Top Attorneys in NY, and he has maintained an AV preeminent rating from the Martindale-Hubbell since 2001. In addition, Mr. Pierro was selected by his peers as “2018 Lawyer of the Year” for Elder Law in New York’s Capital Region.

Mr. Pierro is currently a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; the American Bar Association, Probate and Trust Section; the NYS Bar Association Trusts and Estates and Elder Law Sections; and the Albany County Bar Association.

A graduate of Lehigh University and Albany Law School, Mr. Pierro was admitted to the New York State Bar in January of 1984, and is licensed to practice in all New York State Courts, the US Supreme Court and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Richard Wheeler is the President of Mido Lotto and has 20+ years of lottery, BD, and operating experience with multi-national companies and government agencies.

Most recently as an RVP at IGT, Rich was responsible for IGT's lottery operations across 9 states including CA, NJ, IL & NY, where he managed a $400m P&L and a team of over 250 responsible for lottery systems.

Prior to IGT, Rich was responsible for Camelot’s entry into North America and was responsible for strategy, BD and securing 7 contracts with U.S. and Canadian lotteries.

Rich began his career at Accenture and has a BEng in Civil Engineering from the University of Nottingham.

With over 20 years of leadership experience in high-impact global business, he leads strategy, sales, operations, and business development for technological enterprises in the public and private sectors.