Remember the lottery winner on welfare?

[Chucktshoes]

Totally unsurprising outcome.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/09/29/lottery-winner-dies/1603257/

[xRUSTYx]

I remember watching a documentary on lottery winners. Most (90%+) end up going bankrupt within a matter of years.

When someone is given million(s) of dollars, most don't know what to do. They spend it, give it away, and within a matter of years, are right back where they started or worse off. It really is sad

Do this news story suprise me? Nope ...

[Steelharp]

I remember watching a documentary on lottery winners. Most (90%+) end up going bankrupt within a matter of years.

When someone is given million(s) of dollars, most don't know what to do. They spend it, give it away, and within a matter of years, are right back where they started or worse off. It really is sad

Which is how the libs justify the "cradle to grave" concept...

[RED333]

Darwin is alive and working.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Yeah .. read that yesterday.. I remember her winning that money and still wanting to keep her foodstamps.. I was thinkking that she needed to either pay back the money she originaly got off the food stamp program or donate some of the winnings to a good cause..

Well.. there is something called Karma..

Dumbass.....

[Caster]

I don't get it. Why is it so hard? DO NOT make major lifestyle changes. Don't hobknob with rich folk. Pay off debts and set money aside for things like property taxes. I told my wife it'd be very easy to handle. If you only win a million, well that's not as much money as it sounds. Pay off everything, then sell off the house, buy an affordable secluded parcel and stay there.

What really confuses me is people who are dead or destitute after winning 100 million. Call it 66 million after taxes. SO for a married couple, you split that 3 ways. HIs, Hers and theirs. That's 22 million each to blow, and 22 million to support them for life. How is this a bad plan?

People are idiots and a fool and his money are soon parted.

[Jonnin]

Seems simple to me. Pay off the house and any other debt, invest the rest (probably not much for most people). After taxes, you are probably looking at 200-300k in hand after all paid up, for play money or the future.

[Sam1]

Like Dave Ramsey says to people that come into a lot of money... Don't invest in anything you don't understand, make your people explain it to you and if you still don't understand teach yourself about it and don't invest a penny until you have a full understanding. Also says that you don't owe anybody anything, don't let someone guilt you into sharing a penny of your money.

[TMF]

An overdose was too nice a way to go to call this kharma. The only appropriate way for this low life POS to expire would have been being gang-raped to death by a herd of rhinos.

[TrickyNicky]

An overdose was too nice a way to go to call this kharma. The only appropriate way for this low life POS to expire would have been being gang-raped to death by a herd of rhinos.

Don't hold back now, tell us how you really feel. LOL!

[BLACKVANDRIVER]

Preach on brother TMF! Amen and pass the ammunition!

[peejman]

I don't get it. Why is it so hard? DO NOT make major lifestyle changes. Don't hobknob with rich folk. Pay off debts and set money aside for things like property taxes. I told my wife it'd be very easy to handle. If you only win a million, well that's not as much money as it sounds. Pay off everything, then sell off the house, buy an affordable secluded parcel and stay there.

What really confuses me is people who are dead or destitute after winning 100 million. Call it 66 million after taxes. SO for a married couple, you split that 3 ways. HIs, Hers and theirs. That's 22 million each to blow, and 22 million to support them for life. How is this a bad plan?

People are idiots and a fool and his money are soon parted.

Agreed, but I think your numbers are a bit optimistic. $100M lottery... Lump sum payment is about half.. ~ $50M less 40% income taxes = ~ $30M in your pocket. Which is still a huge amount of money.

There are some people who will spend every penny they've got regardless of how much that is. I recall reading somewhere that people's spending habits are pretty well fixed by 18 yrs of age. Savers will be savers and spenders will be spenders regardless of how much (or little) either one has.

[Caster]

Agreed, but I think your numbers are a bit optimistic. $100M lottery... Lump sum payment is about half.. ~ $50M less 40% income taxes = ~ $30M in your pocket. Which is still a huge amount of money.

There are some people who will spend every penny they've got regardless of how much that is. I recall reading somewhere that people's spending habits are pretty well fixed by 18 yrs of age. Savers will be savers and spenders will be spenders regardless of how much (or little) either one has.

Right, last time I bought a lottery ticket it was $200 Million. For a 200 mil jackpot, I figure half for lump sum and Uncle Sam sticks you for 33 and a 1/3. That was my math. Hot damn, I'd be happy with a roll of quarters this morning.

[atlas3025]

I don't get it. Why is it so hard? DO NOT make major lifestyle changes.

Well, I think in this case what did her in is that she DIDN'T made a lifestyle change.

[glowdotGlock]

I always thought if I ever won tons of money I'd be good at managing it. I'd build a nice cabin and set aside about 20 grand for guns and be set lol

[10-Ring]

I know there are some decent folks who play the lottery. Most all of us waste money on trivial things that we don't need. It seems like the people that win though are the ones that constantly make bad life choices, most likely because they play the most. I'd just like to know why the hell someone on foodstamps has enough disposable income to play the lottery? I'm really sick of "the system."

[Caster]

I'm inclined to believe that lotteries are rigged in order to get the money to people who will squander it fastest. That way it can be absorbed back into the collective faster.

[atlas3025]

It is a tax on those who suck at math. Having said that, I spend $2 a week on it, just so I can gripe about not winning.

[10-Ring]

It is a tax on those who suck at math. Having said that, I spend $2 a week on it, just so I can gripe about not winning.

I see nothing wrong with playing the lottery responsibly. We all squander money on eating out, going to movies, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, the list goes on. As long as you aren't selling food stamps to buy tickets I see no issue with it.

[jtmaze]

I actually saw a TV show a few years ago that tracked 10 lottery winners from rags to riches and back to rags in just a few years. It was pitiful. $1 million=600k get a low stress low pay job and relax. Enjoy life.

JTM

Sent from my iPhone

[RobertNashville]

Lotteries and other forms of government gambling truly are just a tax on the segment of our society who can least afford to pay it...while not 100% true of course, most of the people who play the lottery are looking for the quick big score with no mental or physical effort to get it. They already suck at live and/or at earning a living (assuming they work at all) and generally have zero skills at handling money in the first place. Given that group of potential winners, when one of them wins a big pot of money they have generally lost it and/or spent and are dead broke in a very short time.

In other words, you can't fix stupid; even with a lottery payoff.

[xRUSTYx]

Well said Robert, well said.

With that said -- When the pot gets up over $200-300+ Million, I've been known to spend $5 bucks LOL

[Dennis1209]

Here's my only experience with a lottery winner.

I was First Sergeant of a U.S.A.R. company in Illinois and a young woman in my company (E-4 / SP/4) hit the Illinois lottery for about 3 million dollars, if memory serves. The lottery was started only a couple of years prior if I remember right.

Shortly after her win she naturally stopped coming to the monthly drills, being rich and all I assume? One of my duties was to separate members from service when they didn't meet attendance standards. It takes some time to separate members from the U.S.A.R. due to the lengthly process and slow snail mail paper work.

Anyway, about six months into the separation process I get a call from this individual stating she wants to come back. The process has gone beyond my ability or the commanders to stop it, so basically she's out of the reserves.

She confided to me she won just shy of three million dollars ($3,000.000.00) and was broke, and owed about one million in credit card and other debts.

Go figure?

Youth, I'll tell ya...

If today I hit the lottery, first thing I'd do is hire an attorney. Tell the attorney to get rid of the wife for 50% or less and live happily ever after. Never answer the phone, I'm an orphan with no living relatives, have no friends, I don't talk to the liberal media and I never invest in anything.

Thirty days after the check clears: My own personal cook. My own personal house cleaner. And my own personal 44 triple "D" live in assistant

[gregintenn]

Consider this for a moment: We all know wealthy people. How many of them do you see standing in line to buy a lottery ticket? As already stated, a lottery is a tax on people who can't do basic math. If you aren't where you want to be, or at least on the path to where you want to be, it is likely due in part to poor money management skills, or perhaps a poor work ethic....or both. If you can't manage money, winning a lottery will be a curse to you; not a blessing.