How to Lose 3 Million in 6 Years

TromboneAl said:
As you can see, the Halls didn't make the same mistakes other lottery winners have. They didn't take the much reduced "lump sum." They didn't spend themselves into bankruptcy.
They pretty much live the same life they did before, except, of course, the security and independence well-managed money can bring.
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Way at the bottom of this article, it says:
As you can see, the Halls didn't make the same mistakes other lottery winners have. They didn't take the much reduced "lump sum." ...
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I wonder how many of the posters here would agree that it's a mistake to "take the much reduced lump sum"?
 
It seems like the people who win lotteries (the ones we hear about) some how lose a screw and go nuts buying things they don't really need. Buying things they didn't get as a kid for Christmas or something. It seems to me they would try to make themselves and their families secure first Then spend a little on the "extras". That's what I would do, of course maybe that's why I'm here almost fully retired and they're still buying lottery tickets :)
 
I saw that mistake to take the lump sum, too, and it is mostly because the writer is breathtakingly ignorant of math. And the fact that the article is on a very pro-lottery website and is written to a very pro-lottery audience (ie, stupid people). :)
 
Two votes for lump sum. I was skeptical of the site's bias, too.
 
Hey- I just got 2 emails last week informing me that I've won 2 different lotteries in the UK for megamillions twice! And I didn't even buy a ticket or know of their existence!
 
The breast implants should pay dividends for many years to come.
 
Definitely set yourself up securely first, then go playing. Not that I'd ever win any appreciable amount of money, but I can still dream. I blow $40 per month in any manner I want, that is where my $8 per month for lottery comes from. If I win awesome. If I lose, that's fine too, I'll still retire when I'm 58 and I'll still be financially well off.
 
Texas Proud said:
"I honestly wish I'd never won the lottery money — and knowing what I know now I should have just given it all back to them." She's currently left with around $32,000.
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If she "honestly" feels that way, what's stopping her from returning the last $32,000?

As Bugs would say, what a maroon.
 
I am 120% sure that I wouldn't go nutty like she did, even if I won a lot of money. I might become rich, but I would always be cheap! :LOL:

Give me a few million and I will prove it to ya. :greetings10:
 
I always wonder if the vows to not change a thing you always hear in interviews of lottery winners really stick.

It seems like it's often some 63 year old school janitor or something who's saying he'll give some to his kids and the church but has no plans to quit working or move from his doublewide.

I also don't get the ones who lose so much in business ventures. Hello you have 30 million dollars you don't need to improve your financial situation, which is what owning a business is for. Are they hoping that whatever car dealership they bought will turn it into 40 million so they can buy something nicer? The ones who open a bar I'll grant an exception to, everyone has had that dream at one point. :)
 
tiuxiu said:
I always wonder if the vows to not change a thing you always hear in interviews of lottery winners really stick.

It seems like it's often some 63 year old school janitor or something who's saying he'll give some to his kids and the church but has no plans to quit working or move from his doublewide.

I also don't get the ones who lose so much in business ventures. Hello you have 30 million dollars you don't need to improve your financial situation, which is what owning a business is for. :)
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Right around the time I retired, I came across a statistics (God knows if it is true) that 75% of multi-millionaire lottery say they intended to keep work, one year latter when they did a follow up study that found that 75% had quit working.

I often quote this when people ask about early retirement.
 
I don't think taking a lump sum is necessarily a mistake, as long as you don't do it from one of those annuity companies. I'd want to run the numbers on a spreadsheet and factor in a few things, but due to inflation, it is usually the case that a dollar today is better than 10 dollars ten years from now.
 
stoutboy said:
I don't think taking a lump sum is necessarily a mistake, as long as you don't do it from one of those annuity companies. I'd want to run the numbers on a spreadsheet and factor in a few things, but due to inflation, it is usually the case that a dollar today is better than 10 dollars ten years from now.
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Not to mention dollar in my pocket is better than a promise of $20 next month.
 
I remember a few years back seeing a study that tracked lottery winners - and the vast majority had prudently managed their money. I feel sorry for the 16 year old winner that no one in her family could take her aside and show her what that money could do for her. Or maybe they did and she thought she knew better.

My wife once said if she won she'd keep working, I said you will up until the point someone is just causing you stupid problems at which you'll "why am I still here?".
 
I am sorry to report that the MegaMillion and NYS lottery tickets dh2b bought last week were not winners. :(
So I'll never have to worry about squandering it all for him. Oh well...;)
 
tiuxiu said:
The ones who open a bar I'll grant an exception to, everyone has had that dream at one point. :)
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Not quite everyone (last thing I would want is to own some booze joint).
 
rmark said:
My wife once said if she won she'd keep working, I said you will up until the point someone is just causing you stupid problems at which you'll "why am I still here?".
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Actually, we're in this situation. My DW/me were to retire on the same day, a bit over two years ago. I did - she didn't. When it came to a few weeks before she was to leave her j*b, she found she was not emotionally ready to give up the daily grind, as I was.

She is still work*ng, but has an easier time of it, because she knows she can always leave in a moment, if she wishes. It's almost like winning the lottery, but continuing to wo*k.

It certainly releaves most of the pressure of having to be at a j*b.
 
In DH's hometown there was a true story of a woman who gave her niece a handful of lottery tickets for a wedding gift (funny right there, of course--were they registerd at Powerball or Megamillions?). One of the tickets won a few million. Aunt was furious that niece would not split the proceeds with her and never spoke to them again.

We also heard the niece and her new-husband spent all the winnings in a few years.
 
Milton said:
Not quite everyone (last thing I would want is to own some booze joint).
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Whhhhhaaaaaaaaat? I suppose next you're going to claim you never wanted to be a fireman, ninja, or pirate?
 
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