Posted on 01/12/2016 5:28:04 AM PST by lowbridge
Nearly 70% of lottery winners end up broke within seven years. Even worse, several winners have died tragically or witnessed those close to them suffer.
Edward Ugel, author of the book "Money for Nothing: One Man's Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions," told the Daily Beast of the thousands of lottery winners he's known, few were happy and only a small number lived happily ever after.
"You would be blown away to see how many winners wish they'd never won," Ugel said.
One of those unlucky winners was Abraham Shakespeare. Just weeks before Shakespeare was killed, he told his mother he wished he never won.
Shakespeare hit big for $30 million in 2006, causing friends and family to hound him for money.
He befriended Dorice (Dee Dee) Moore who tricked Shakespeare into believing she was trying to protect him from the greedy people around him.
Moore convinced the lottery winner to transfer his assets to her before he went missing in 2009. In 2012, she was sentenced to mandatory life without parole for his murder by a judge who called her "cold, calculating and cruel."
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
I think part of the problem is that a lot of these lotteries make you lose your anonymity. This leads to leaches, whether friends or family or strangers intruding on your life. I’ve often thought if I came into money, I would keep the news to myself as much as possible.
I completely agree with you. All I really want in life is to buy an acreage, of about 5 acres in size, and have a garden that is big enough that I have to work for about 4 hours on it every day, probably a half acre in size or so.
Just like my grandfather.
A new dimension to “when your number comes up”.
As you say, most are not prepared to deal with the intense pressure of wealth that they did not acquire over time. They never created the habits that created or stored wealth. So it is no surprise when the train comes off the tracks.
The one thing I have learned in life is that free money makes things worse. Giving money to people changes the relationship if you expect anything in return. Suddenly, they are in debt to you.
One of my friends paid off her son and DIL’s house for them, leaving them debt-free. A few years later, they sold it and bought a bigger house, borrowing money in the process. My friend was furious because she had to also pay the gift tax. It wrecked their relationship because the gift was actually a debt.
That would be 300 million million.
$3,000,000,000,000
One piece of advice I heard in regard to anonymity, is to change your name just before you claim. Don’t sign your ticket until you are ready to claim your prize. My lottery corporation allows you to wear a disguise, once your identity is confirmed. So you could change your name and wear something simple like a hair colour change and a hat and false glasses.
1. Collect winnings anonymously.
2. Move to where I will never, ever see snow again except on TV.
3. Live in a nice, but not extravagant home, in such a fashion that the guy next door has no idea that I have this kind of money.
4. Very quietly start giving and blessing worthy organizations and people.
I believe you are correct in public disclosure in certain instances. I do find that a bit worrisome. I want to be the major winner who chooses to remain anonymous.
Nothing says “come find me” like winning multi-millions and having your face splashed all over TV.
—them damn pesky zeros!!!!!!!-
>Would poverty disappear???<
Of course not. The economy would most likely adjust, with the dollar inflating to balance the resulting decline in buying power. And, like always, some would spend every penny within the shortest possible time, while others would become even richer.
Ah, human nature!
“Come find me” is multifaceted as well.
Anyone who wins this lottery (or any big lottery) is going to be SWAMPED by relatives, charities, neighbors and brand new BFFs.
But they’ll also have to worry about the crazies who have sunk part if not all of their money into the gamble that they’ll win. And will be furious about losing and pathologically envious of whoever did. It wouldn’t surprise me if whoever does win will need private security for the next 20 years, if not the rest of their lives.
Yes, giving most of it away would be fun and the right thing to do.
If you’re sitting on 500 Million and give away 400 Million, that still leaves a paltry 100 Million to get by on.
Have you done the math on this? My wife mentioned something about seeing this on facebook. You are talking about money amounts for distribution in the hundreds of trillions.
There are ONLY 3 Laws in Thermodynamics..
You could accomplish those realistic goals with a lot less money than one billion. $100,000 or so, maybe.
I’ve always thought the lottery could actually benefit society if there were multiple winners of smaller jackpots.
Instead of one person winning $100,000,000, what if a thousand bettors each won $100,000? That’s an amount with which most people could realistically improve their lives.
But....lottery bettors aren’t realists, are they? My bad.
Now what do you do if a terror group wins the jackpot?
Gubs lay in lay in wait to kill you.
“If all the money and property in the world were divided up equally at, say, three o’clock in the afternoon, by 3:30 there would be notable differences in the financial condition of the recipients. Within that first thirty minutes, some adults would have lost their share, some would have gambled theirs away, and some would have been swindled out of their portion . . . After ninety days the difference would be staggering. And I’m willing to wager that, within a year or two at the most, the distribution of wealth would conform to patterns almost identical with those that had previously prevailed.”
J Paul Getty
Thank God when you lose. I thank God when a slow driver is ahead of me.
Thirty percent know what to do with extra money. I wonder if the rates are the same for high paid entertainers and sports stars? Even if I won I wouldn’t stop working. Those 10 talents are a big responsibility. I also wouldn’t tell anyone.
She suddenly found herself hounded by almost her entire Polish/Italian group of relatives; including an uncle she'd never even met who was demanding she pay for his looming heart transplant.
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