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 ...
At the size of this jackpot if I had the winning ticket it’s worth it to quietly contact very wealthy individuals and offer to sell the ticket to them for 200 or 250 million. They would double or triple their money and would have the means to collect it anonymously. Meanwhile I’ve got a 1/4 billion dollars and don’t have to deal with celebrity.
Thus making an argument for the inheritance tax. Sorry good buddy, keep your communist crap on du.
Didn’t think about the crazies. Valid point. I’d take my chances though....maybe
About the same for me. I was in a discussion with some of my friends last weekend about what to do with a billion $$$.
Here is what I decided:
1. Payoff all my family’s bills/debt and setup trusts for the offspring(of course).
2. Fund a local veterans assistance center. Mostly to help dealing with the VA.
3. Give enough to the local Shriners hospital to insure no local kid EVER has to suffer because necessary medicinal services aren’t affordable.
4. Fund a legal foundation to fight the BLM/USFS.
5. Fund a foundation like the Heritage Foundation with a focus on school outreach.
I have a few more but that is my top 5.
You are correct. I read a book about millionaires some years ago. The children of millionaires who learned how to make money and were not automatically showered with loads of money from their rich parents fared better in life than the children of wealthy parents who gave their children gobs of money and gifts without teaching them how to earn their money and use money wisely.
I read a book about millionaires "The Millionaire Next Door." The book detailed how there are many people who are millionaires but who don't live ostentatious lives. In short, they look like regular people, but are loaded. That's probably the way to go.
The federal government is perhaps the largest recipient of enormous amounts of unearned wealth. And because this wealth comes from others and is not the product of anything substantive that the government does, or creates, the money ony corrupts and is used in stupid even evil ways.
The concept of “inherited wealth as a curse” is much broader then you apparently are willing to understand. And has nothing to do with the death tax.
I've been saying this for years. I'd have tons of fun giving it away to people who need a helping hand. People of my choosing.
Plus, I'd invent games. Like sitting at card table near the post office with a sign, "Win your $1000 now by answering one question correctly."
I'd ask, "What are the first seven words of the Declaration of Independence?"
What are the first three words in the preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America?"
"If it takes 7 men a total of 7 days to dig a hole, how many men and how many days does it take to dig half a hole?"
Ya know, easy ones...if you have half a brain.
Interesting example, and one that would be magnified for lottery winners who “just wanted to help” their friends and family.
Sounds like your friend was buying a share of control and her beneficiaries rebelled. Both common. No one should give what they aren’t willing to lose or leave freely in the control of the recipient. Give only what you WANT to and wash your hands of it. NEVER bring it up again. Those that constantly remind of their gifts? You wish they’d never done you good!
This puts MORE responsibility on a lottery winner in that some people in their lives must be DENIED fantasy cars, homes, etc. They are not eligible recipients, or the giver cannot freely give to them without hidden chains.
Yes, but who expects their own close family members will try to kill them even after showering them with gifts and money. I know several of my sisters are worth more than a million in total wealth, but I've never asked them for money even when I was deep in debt many years ago.
I guess money does do strange things to many normal people. Greed is bad.
Give me the $1.4 billion and I’ll take my chances.
Which half of the hole? Top or bottom?
Correct. Currently six states, Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.
AND four more, Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts, allow anonymity if the winners claim their winnings through a trust. I'd suggest a blind trust which is revocable in case you change your mind later on.
I've thought the same thing. Like with this billion dollar lottery coming up. Would anybody be upset if they and nine other people won 100 million? I don't think so.
I saw this all over FB the last couple of days. You could look at the numbers and immediately know it was incorrect math.
I was a bit disturbed by the number of people I know, who I thought were pretty sharp, but didn’t see it.
HB 4433 is now moving to the full House for consideration.
Well, there’s your answer. Ain’t no such thing as ‘half a hole’.
“Sounds like your friend was buying a share of control “
No more calls, we have a winner. That’s exactly what happened. My siblings are both destitute. One of them will kill themselves if I give them enough money to do it. I could give the other a million dollars and they would be broke by the next day.
That’s why I like the idea of a foundation. You want money? Apply for it but almost all is going to some schools and Samaritans Purse.
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