$315M Powerball Winner is now broke

[wstu32]

I won...........

oops! wrong data, i got confused with the combination lock at the beach club.

nothing beats hard work and savings ....

"no such thing as short cuts "

FCS
1936-2002

 

[NinjaPigeon]

Okay, I didn't win last time. But I just bought $4 more in tickets for the drawing on Tuesday. After I win you guys can help me invest it 8)

 

[spideyrdpd]

The guy got beat up.
His grandaughter and her friend overdosed on drugs.
Just goes to prove that money does not provide for happy endings.

 

[Corporateburnout]

He was featured on a TV show "curse of the Lottery" with numerous other jackpot winners who failed to manage their winnings wisely. This other guy from Texas shot himself dead and a few others blew all their winnings while ruining their lives.

This Whittaker guy was robed twice when he left a suitcase with a half a million dollars in cash in his parked SUV........ Talk about stupid. The lottery commission should have assigned him a guardian before they gave him the money........

 

[scrinch]

I think they do a NPV calculation or something...

You compare the cost of the ticket to:

the present value of the after-tax discounted cash flow, multiplied by your chance of winning, and discounted by the chance that you may have to share the winnings with a second or even third winning ticket. If the value of all this discounted stuff is still greater than the cost of the ticket, then the expected present value of the investment is positive and it could be looked upon as a good investment even by those who aren't math-challenged. You will probably find plenty of other investments that look better from a financial point of view, but perhaps not from a daydream point of view! And in fact, the daydream ads are probably the most effective ones in selling lottery tickets!

 

[Zoocat]

He was featured on a TV show "curse of the Lottery" with numerous other jackpot winners who failed to manage their winnings wisely. This other guy from Texas shot himself dead and a few others blew all their winnings while ruining their lives.

This Whittaker guy was robed twice when he left a suitcase with a half a million dollars in cash in his parked SUV........ Talk about stupid. The lottery commission should have assigned him a guardian before they gave him the money........

There's interesting theories about this. One is that unless people change their self-image they will always revert to the mean, i.e. how much money do I deserve to have? If they feel that they deserve to live a wealthy lifestyle, and believe they are meant to be wealthy but are temporarily poor then winning the lottery will give them a chance to do the things they were meant to do, whatever that is. But if they are living hand-to-mouth and have a scarcity mindset, then winning the lottery will become an uncomfortable experience and they will subconsciously do things to go back to a lifestyle that they are more in sync with, i.e hand-to-mouth.

I doubt it has much to do with being educated in personal finance or how to handle money. That would be the easy part. The psychological part is the deep, twisty area.

 

[Khan]

There's interesting theories about this. One is that unless people change their self-image they will always revert to the mean, i.e. how much money do I deserve to have? If they feel that they deserve to live a wealthy lifestyle, and believe they are meant to be wealthy but are temporarily poor then winning the lottery will give them a chance to do the things they were meant to do, whatever that is. But if they are living hand-to-mouth and have a scarcity mindset, then winning the lottery will become an uncomfortable experience and they will subconsciously do things to go back to a lifestyle that they are more in sync with, i.e hand-to-mouth.

I doubt it has much to do with being educated in personal finance or how to handle money. That would be the easy part. The psychological part is the deep, twisty area.

A few know what they want to do:

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/26/State/_88_Lotto_winner_was_.shtml

Sheelah Ryan, who won a then-record $55.1-million in 1988.
...
Ryan, of Seminole County, died in 1994 at age 69 after spending a generous portion of her winnings on setting up a charitable foundation that helps abused woman, gives scholarships to young adults, pays for job training programs and provides Meals on Wheels for the elderly.

 

[Nords]

There's interesting theories about this. One is that unless people change their self-image they will always revert to the mean, i.e. how much money do I deserve to have? If they feel that they deserve to live a wealthy lifestyle, and believe they are meant to be wealthy but are temporarily poor then winning the lottery will give them a chance to do the things they were meant to do, whatever that is.
I doubt it has much to do with being educated in personal finance or how to handle money. That would be the easy part. The psychological part is the deep, twisty area.

By that logic I'm still about nine figures short of achieving my potential.

Maybe 10 figures!