He was soon left with nothing after dishing out cash on parties, cocaine, hookers and cars."
Reminds me of a line from the WC Fields movie The Bank Dick when Fields asks the bartender (played by Shemp Howard):
Fields: "Was I in here last night, and did I spend a $20 bill?"
Shemp: "Yeah."
Fields: "Oh boy, what a load that is off my mind... I thought I'd lost it!"
I’ll still give it a shot.........
These people don’t look at money properly. Money is merely a tool and how it is used is how effective that tool is. Unless you win the powerball, most lottery wins just allow a step up from your current situation. Almost no amount of money will last forever.
I suspect many winners had lives that were train-wrecks in the first place.
Inherited wealth comes in many forms. Almost all are corrupting and disabling.
Perhaps the only inheritance that is truly beneficent is “divine grace.”
Except for divine grace, we generally cherish only gifts that we earn
People that are bad at handling money don’t suddenly become good at it just because they come into bunch of it. The same idiotic habits continue, just on a larger scale.
Money, like guns, lays in wait for the opportunity to kill you. Evil money...
After reading the stories...it wasn’t the lottery’s fault. Handing millions to people of low character has a very predictable result.
People who don’t know how to handle money before they win the lottery don’t know how to handle money after they win the lottery. Duh.
I can’t spend a Billion dollars. But I certainly would enjoy giving most of it away. And yes, I am serious.
The money would not relieve life’s stress and anxiety, it would only change it. But I would embrace the change for sure. I could get a window fixed on my house. I have some plumbing work that is over due and my truck has over 221K miles on it. Part of my front walk and driveway needs to be replaced. I could afford to get that done. The spring on my garage door broke yesterday. I need to get some drywall repaired in my garage too. This pesky job thing every day creates scheduling challenges for my charity work and child involvement. That would change. I’d like to buy my elderly neighbor (WWII Vet) a new handicap van for him and his wife. I’d get the damn street light fixed at the corner of our neighborhood. There is some landscaping in my yard and a couple of neighbors that needs to be done.
I’d also upgrade the stone in my wife’s wedding ring. I’d set my family up and do a plan for future stipen to my children. I’d set up some endowments. I’d tip no less than $100 when dining out. We’d give the rest away (discreetly). There are a couple of people that I would love to just pay off their house anonomously (good people).
Fantasy over.... back to work.
Not so much a curse but an inability to deal with it. I’ve always said there are 4 people I will consult with before I pick up my winnings: my parents, my pastor, my attorney, and a trusted financial advisor.
No extravagant lifestyle and no one in my circle who wasn’t there before
“The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill” by Robert Service lists a variety of ways a man can die. Among those are “...battle, murder, or sudden wealth, by pestilence, hooch or lead-”.
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.
Now what do you do if a terror group wins the jackpot?
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.
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.
Give me the $1.4 billion and I’ll take my chances.
Reminds me of the man who retired and took his pension in a cash settlement. After hitting the Indian Casinos he was back at the plant begging for a job again.