If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you play the lottery and have high hopes of winning. I want you all to win, and I sincerely mean that. I also want to win my jackpot first, and I want my jackpot to be much higher than yours. I sincerely mean that too.
But now that we got the positive encouragement portion out of the way, I would be remiss if I didn’t get into the “Dark Side” of winning the lottery. Consider this a cautionary tale. When you do hit the big money can maybe you avoid some of these mistakes, as well as be prepared for some of these surprises?
First and foremost we’ve all heard about “Curse of the Lottery.“ There are different variations and extremes of the curse, but the most common one is that people who win are destined to lose everything.
A common and well-known statistic states that about 70% of the people who win the lottery go broke within five years. There a several reasons for this, but obviously it’s a function of grossly irresponsible money management and overspending.
Quick riches can be dangerous for people who didn’t accumulate them over time through any effort other than luck. And if one plays the lottery in hopes of answering a question about his or her financial future, this could be a signal that this person is more susceptible to becoming a statistic.
An interesting suggestion that I want to pass along is this: if you are honest with yourself and see that you could possibly lose millions of dollars, maybe you should consider getting annual payments rather than the lump sum. At least you know that more is coming and that you can hopefully learn from financial mistakes.
Next, it’s probably very obvious, but your family and friends are going to try to take advantage of your earning a fortune. A lottery winner told a story about how after she won the lottery, her best friend came to her asking for a large amount of money.
The friend said that she was in serious tax trouble with the local government and that all of these negative consequences awaited her if she couldn’t come up with the money owed.
After the friend left, the lottery winner searched the tax records of her friend online, printed out the findings, and mailed them to the friend. After discovering that the entire story was bogus, needless to say, the two women are no longer friends.
It’s reasons like this that most people who play the lottery say that they wouldn’t tell anybody at all that they won, including friends and family. Per a poll, 83% of people asked said that they wouldn’t tell anyone. Unfortunately, most states require that lottery winners identify themselves, so I’m not sure how well this tactic will work.
Another aspect of suddenly becoming rich is that while you are rolling in the dough, your pool of friends remains at their current income levels. So, if you had a 9-to-5 that you quit to travel the world, most of your friends won’t have the time or the spending power to travel the world with you.
You’ll have to make a choice:
A. You pay your friends’ ways, which gets old quickly according to lottery winners who have attempted it.
B. Get new friends.
It’s a sad thought, but if your current friends are on a highly disparate income level from you, you’ll likely end up making new friends who have the same time and financial freedoms.
Next, is that when you win really big money and you move to a big house in a ritz neighborhood, your new neighbors likely aren’t going to be impressed. Rather, the opposite could be true. One lottery winner reported that their new well-to-do neighbors actually looked down on them.
This winner believed that the neighbors felt that the money was not earned. You got lucky. Everyone else in this neighborhood earned the lifestyle that they enjoy. You can amplify that feeling when your neighbors have to be thinking that (and possibly routing on) you to become a statistic that loses all of the money within a few years of getting it. Possibly proof that you didn’t belong there in the first place?
Personally, the last issue wouldn’t be a problem for me because I don’t want neighbors. I want as secluded a piece of property as possible. Screw you judgmental SOBs.
As far as family is concerned, I am good at saying “no.” I don’t see myself going broke because my entrepreneurial spirit is just so strong. If anything, I want to turn my winnings into more money.
The friends part is probably not going to be too difficult because I don’t have any friends (that’s not true. I have friends). If anything I do expect relationships with them to change. We’ll see to what extent when I win.
But I say this because there are some less-than-glamourous realities that we will have to deal with when we win. Hopefully, if you have some of these ugly realities in mind, you’ll be better prepared for them on that day you have to face them.