It's not just lotteries. Kids inheriting a fortune face the same trauma.
Here's the deal: money amplifies your existing habits. If you had a slight spending problem before getting the big windfall, then you will have a large spending problem after.
On the other hand, if you were living within your means based solely on your own personal fiscal discipline, then you'll probably do fine. Not every kid who inherits daddy's company blows it, after all.
The trick is always to spend *less* than your income so that you are always growing richer. Hard to go wrong that way...
“The trick is always to spend *less* than your income so that you are always growing richer. Hard to go wrong that way...”
A concept that is lost on a significant proportion of the population, I’m afraid, to judge by the poor level of savings and high levels of consumer debt that many in our society carry. And the people who typically play and win lotteries are, on average, probably even less likely to have prudent financial habits.