Won 34 million and just couldn’t handle it. Poor thing.
Give me 34 million dollars, and I guarantee I’ll make you proud.
What the hell is wrong with people?
Sad, Sad, sad. So many people smoulder away in a lost life without the means to self destruct. this was like pourig gasoline on an ember–it just hastened the inevitable. It’s a sad fact that too many people who win the jackpots come from backgrounds that have prepared them the least for handling the cash. Money–NOTHING–could buy them happiness. My heart bleeds for them. But really, they should have given the money to me. I could handle it.
Yeah baby…poverty sucks!
I barely drink, and I don’t use drugs. I’d buy a bigger house, but not a ‘status house’. I’d probably have small places in L.A. (maybe a condo in Santa Monica) and a place in London. Just places of my own to stay in when I’m there. Yeah, I’d have a garage full of classic cars, but no exotics. I like mundane classic cars. I’d buy some helicopters. Probalby a Robinson R-44 Raven, and something jet-powered. My own Black Hawk or Sea Hawk would be fun. And a jet. I’d probably get an L-39 Albatross, though I might look at a T-38 Talon. And I’d be looking for a Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire. I’d also like to set up a foundation to provide money for teens to learn to fly.
Would getting a lot of money kill me? Maybe. Flying jets or aircraft that are in their seventh decade has its risks. But I wouldn’t fall into drug and alcohol abuse.
it’s the “too much too fast” syndrome that afflicts many of Hollywood’s young as well. They didn’t know what to do with all that money so they squandered it. But **Inigo ** is right - this couple was probably predisposed to distructive lifestyles and they suddenly had the means.
I’d be fine, were such a bounty bestowed upon me (which reminds me - i have to pick up my “Kong” tickets on the away home tonight) I’ve had plans for a fortune of that size for years now, including investing a good chunk of it, so no one need wory about me 
The first thing a poor person who wins the lottery should do, is hire a good financial counselor, and go from there. That and maybe some kind of emotional counseling so they can deal with all the “gimmie gimmies” they will be encountering. (This is not covering safety issues if they have children who can be abducted etc.)
I think that one of the biggest complications with winning a sudden windfall in a big, public way is that everyone knows about it. And if you’re a decent person, that generosity gets out of hand.
For example, Mr. Frail and I win $34 million. Well, his parents need to retire. And mine need a new house. My brother’s getting married next year and my sister’s screwing around and in and out of college. His sister owes many thousands of dollars for her education. (As do we.) That’s just our immediate families, and those are just the things we’d be practically obligated to pay for. After all, if we don’t share “what must be pennies to us,” then we’re just a couple of baby-eating monsters.
I’m not saying our families are greedy; far, far from it. But money can do strange things to people. If my brother won the money, you know I’d be reminding him that my college debt is pretty high and that his future nieces and nephews will need a decent life. I’m going to be angry if I don’t get at least a 0.1% cut! (0.1%! $340,000!)
You’re off by a decimal, Millit.
I’d almost be afraid to share out eventual lottery winnings - I know a couple people who I’d had a wad of cash to, they’d self-destruct, sue me for giving them the money to do so, and then squander whatever judgment they got.
From the linked article:
There’s your answer, levdrakon, regarding ‘what is wrong with people?’ These people could barely manage their own lives living at the subsistence level. Why anyone thinks that a lot of money would make them responsible is beyond me.
really? you wouldn’t wait a little and give him the chance to offer it before it is requested? my family already knows I will give them some if I were to win big, as do those of my friends whose friendship over the years has earned them a share. if one of my family or close friends were to win, I’d like to believe that they would offer me some of their windfall without me having to stand patiently with my hand out
If I ever won a lottery (or somehow came into a boatload of money) none of my relatives would ever know it. They might think I got a raise at work, but that’s it. None of their damned business. If I choose to help someone it’s my choice, not obligation, by blood or marriage.
Your sister sounds like fun.
Doh! OK, I meant 1%. 
And yes, I’d definitely wait for him to offer it. And he probably would offer me some. He’s a decent guy, and I’m under the impression that most nice people who win the lottery end up giving some away. If he didn’t give me any, I wouldn’t really be knocking down his door, but I’d be hurt that he could live so extravagantly (keeping it all to himself) while I’m struggling.
And yes, I’ll struggle, but not as much as my sister, who might be fun but is going to run out of money one of these days. “Screwing around” might have been a bad choice of words, sorry there. I just mean that she’s wasting her college money by taking a few classes here, a few there, changing majors, quitting this or that school, blowing tuition money on stupid shit, etc. Our parents are trying to help her pay for school but she hasn’t realized yet that they’re not a bottomles pit of money.
Lottery winners really should be offered financial counseling. That’s the first thing I’d buy with my millions…but I’ll never play the lottery so it’s kind of a moot point.
Well, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for someone who wins millions and subsequently pisses it all away. But …
It’s second-hand experience talking, so take this fwiw. I know there are those people who get addicted to drugs (legal or illegal is immaterial) who cannot stop until they hit rock bottom. That is, SOMETHING has to hit them hard psychologically, so that they sit and take a real look at their lives.
Now imagine someone who is deep in the downward slide of addiction. And someone hands them a few million bucks. You’ve made it almost impossible for them to hit rock bottom. They’ve always got the cash to keep on drinking and drinking and drinking …
Mind you, they’ve also got the cash to check into a fancy rehab clinic. But without that realization that you really do have a problem, it just won’t happen.
I don’t know; we all say we’d handle it just fine if we won, but I’m sure there are lots of lottery winners who wrecked their lives who said that. It’s always easy to say how you’d do things from the outside looking in.
The principle amount would remain untouchable. Is “not liquid” what they call it? Sorry friends & relatives, but I’m not financing your house, or cars, or niece’s college, or uncle’s heart operation.
If I have money to help you from the money I earn from interest, then ok. But I’d make clear to everyone I’m not cutting into the principle. If you think that makes me a prick because I have “big bucks,” too bad.
I’m not going to be buying myself any large items from the principle, either.
You better start being nice to me though, 'cause I ain’t living forever. Eventually, someone’s getting my inheritance. Better make yourself seem deserving. Start acting entitled, and my money’s going to be left to AIDS and/or dolphin research.
There was an interesting thread on this in GD a few weeks ago: Do 95% of all lotto winners go broke?. In that thread are several links to articles describing spectacular flameouts by lottery winners. (This one was especially sad, considering the size of the prize.)
The problem seems to be that a lot of people mentally equate a lottery jackpot with being infinitely rich. Next thing you know, they’re repossessing your solid gold car and you’ve got nothing.
I have a friend that won the lottery here. It wasn’t 34 million, but she walked away with around 1.5 million. I was so happy for her, she was on welfare with a few kids. I hoped she would use it to turn her life around.
She didn’t.
She started out by buying a $500,000 house. Then her useless family came around with hands out.
The last I heard?
She spent her daughter’s birthday money to buy smokes.
I’m embarrassed I said “principle,” instead of “principal.” This is probably why I’m not rich.
I think these people show how many people out there can’t manage their money. They never fail spectacularly, until they win, because they’re always broke. They at least experienced one thing I never will, and that’s 34 million dollars personaly spent on something.
What was the line on Desperate Housewives? “Of course money can buy happiness, lots of it. We just tell poor people it doesn’t so they don’t riot.”
I would have no probelm maintaining both my sanity and my boundaries.
And my investment accounts.
If I won I always tell my self I would give a set amount to my immediate family members but not enough to retire on, and a house and a car and spend only a certain amount or less my remaining years with the assumption I will live to 100, but then again who am I kidding I would never reach that age( or win the lotto )