I rarely play the lottery, maybe once a year when the numbers get super big and I happen to remember to buy a ticket. As a fantasy it sounds great to have ALL the money one could ever want, etc but I wonder if the reality would/is very different.
But I was discussing this the other night with my wife and daughter after my daughter mentioned how cool it would be to win the lottery. So I mentioned that although it sounds great, I doubt the reality would be as cool as it sounds. I think if you could claim the prize without anyone knowing that would help. But we live in a small rural community outside Seattle where everyone knows everything about everyone.
I ‘love’ my current friends and activities, but if I won the lottery I am not sure those relationships would stand the test. Most of our friends make excellent money but lottery money is quantum leaps above that. I think just having that money would put a huge strain on those friendships. No one would say anything but my gut feeling is that I would love those friendships which sucks as we have great friends. But I think people in general have friendships with people roughly in the same income bracket. My friends make good money but they aren’t going to jetting off to Europe on a whim which I could do if I won the lottery. Sure I could pay for them but even that would harbor resentment over time I think, no one wants to feel like they are getting a handout, etc.
I go to a very good local blue collar pub every Friday with my wife for drinks and to listen to music, sort of like our Cheers. If I won the lottery I would think that there would be some expectations for me to buy drinks, etc, or loan requests, or who knows. I just think that one of the things I love to do now would never be the same–doesn’t mean I wouldn’t or couldn’t find a replacement activity (Since I have tons of money!) but it would be very different.
Plus I doubt I could ever trust any of the ‘new’ friends that came out of the woodwork. It would all become about money at some point and I like money and I need money, but I to date have never based my decisions in life on money. I would hate for that to become my new priority.
So I was just curious as to what people here would think if they honestly did win the lottery vs just fantasizing about it. Would you be okay losing your current friendship/lifestyle or do you honestly think none of that would change? For me it is a great fantasy but honestly I am not sure I would want the reality of it. I like my life pretty much as it is right now to be totally honest.
Wouldn’t change. I’d collect anonymously. My life is good, so why change it? The only thing people would notice is some home improvements, more frequent vacations, and maybe more working from home than normal.
Wouldn’t work. Most lotteries have a provision for collecting that your identity be public. Consider the reaction if the lottery commision said, “There was a winner, but we can’t tell you who it is.” You might be able to get around it by setting up a trust through a law firm, but the truth will eventually come out and that money will have just been thrown away.
You’re right about the strain on the relationship with your current friends. So you’ll move into a higher class neighborhood where they won’t accept you because you didn’t come by your riches honestly. Better to just send the winning ticket to me and avoid all the problems.
Ideally you’d claim it anonymously but really - do YOU know who won the last couple of lotteries? Unless you made it public knowledge, would people even know?
And, can you set up a legal alias before claiming the prize? In my case I might opt to use my Chinese given name rather than the “Anglicized” name on my birth certificate (I’m a secod-generation Chinese-American). Since I live in a part of NYC with a lot of Asian people this would definitely fly under radar. Only a few close friends would recognize my Chinese name, and even if they saw it associated with a lottery winner they would probably think it was a funny coincidence (until I started taking more and fancier vacations or restaurant trips than usual :)).
Me, I think I’d mostly live my life the way I do now in terms of things I enjoy spending money on; I’d just do it more frequently. And I suppose when I flew, it’d be first class instead of steerage.
I quite enjoy my life now and would view a lottery win not as a life changing event, but a stress changing event. I’d pay off my mortgage, maybe upgrade my house (and maybe not…), maybe get a vacation home somewhere. I’d quietly help out my most desperate friends, perhaps anonymously (I have one or two good friends who at age 40 are still paying off student loans). I’d set up trust funds for my kids and even for myself, so that I’m basically living off interest equal to about 150%-200% of my current income, but with no debt, and not have to worry about how to put 3 kids through college. I might not even quit my job, but all the pressure of not advancing “up the ladder” or fear of losing it would be gone - and I might ask for reduction in hours or a consultancy gig instead of a FT role so I could have more free time enjoying my freedom.
Everybody you know and everybody who knows you would know. The problem isn’t random people coming up and begging for money, it’s “friends” that do so, because that strains your relationships with them. If you pay they act like they deserve it because what the hell, you just won it anyway, it’s not like you earned it. If you don’t you’re a selfish, greedy bastard who only thinks of himself. See the problem?
If I won the lottery in one of the few states where you can collect anonymously, I would do so, and continue working. I think it would be fun to do good things anonymously with the money, like Sinatra used to.
If I had to be identified, and if it were one of those huge jackpots in the tens of millions, I would figure out how much I needed to continue living as I do, invested in something safe and diversified, plus some prepaid medical services. I would keep that amount for myself.
I would take the same amount and distribute it among family and close friends, making it understood that this was all I was giving them.
Then I’d publicly give away the remainder to something like the Red Cross or the World Health Organization. When people subsequently came to me for more money, I would remind them that I gave most of it away.
All moot, since I rarely play the lottery.
It is amazing how many lottery winners end up ruined a few years later.
It’s not a huge help, but I did see one suggestion in a previous lottery thread that I really like: friends may ask for exactly one boon and no more. Anything more is purely on your goodwill.
Either that or set yourself up like a godfather. Grant requests on your birthday.
I sometimes play when the state’s jackpot is over $26 million. I figure by the time they take the taxes out, what I have left will let me live comfortably without the worries that plague the uber-wealthy. That said, I would consult a financial adviser before I collected my winnings. FWIW, I don’t kid myself when I buy a ticket. I know I’m not buying a chance to be wealthy, I’m just buying the right to fantasize about having a chance to be wealthy.
Sure, everybody thinks they’d just keep their old life but it’s not that easy.
Having lots of money would change your motivation, I think. Yeah, you like your job, but if you didn’t need the paycheque you wouldn’t be as motivated, as you believe, to haul your ass out of bed and clear snow from the drive to go to work, even if you bought yourself a snowblower.
And once you’re not motivated by the same things that motivate your friends life is going to change. Who are you going to hang with, all day, after you get fed up taking shit from your boss one day?
I certainly don’t see winning the lottery as all sunshine and roses, but there are worse things, in my opinion.
I buy lottery tickets every once in awhile, realizing it’s just a fantasy.
To answer the OP’s question, I think it would depend on the jackpot amount. Two or three million is not enough to quit work and think I’m going to live the good life, because I’d take the installment payments. I’ve heard all the arguments for taking lump sum, but honestly, I’m more comfortable with the idea that I’d have 60 or 90 grand coming to me every year, in addition to my work income.
If I could, I’d keep it quiet. I’d use the money to help pay my kids’ college bills, pay my bills off, maybe take an extra vacation or two. It wouldn’t be life-changing, but would offset a great deal of stress regarding bills.
My closest friends are quite financially comfortable, in fact one is really, really, really comfortable, and none would come to me for help. I’d offer it, it was truly needed.
Now, if we’re talking 10s or 100s of millions, things would be different. I’d set up a corporation with myself, husband, kids, sisters, mothers (bio, MiL, step-mom) and Dad, along with four very special friends. That way, there’s no hassles, no expectations, and everyone is responsible for taxes and managing their own money.
I knew a couple who won. You’d think $10 million spread out over 20 years would set you for life, but a combination of high-living and poor investments has put them pretty much back where they started.
They pretty much lost all their old friends. How much of it was jealousy on the part of the friends, and how much of it was jerkish behavior by the couple, I can’t say, but the bridges have been burned.
Think about it: the kind of people who regularly invest in lottery tickets are not the kind of people who understand how to make wise investments. It’s really quite common for winners to squander everything.
Oh, they could certainly publish that the QWERTY Trust won the lottery. There’s no reason in any state that I’d have to collect the winnings in person.
Plus, lots of people have won the lottery. I don’t know the names of any of them. If my neighbors or family won the lottery, I’d have no friggin’ idea. Unless I observed a radical change in their behavior and asked, I’d have no clue that they won the lottery. I’d have to say that this is true of most people. Poll coming!
To be completely honest, I don’t know how I would handle winning the lottery. I don’t play, so it’s not going to happen to me, but I’ve always thought that think kind of massive cash influx (if we’re talking a serious jackpot, like in the $20M+ range) would unhinge me psychologically for awhile. I know that sounds weird, but I’m not sure I could handle that kind of upheaval gracefully. Yeah, I’m sure I’d get used to it after a little while, but it would be surreal and weird for a good long bit, and I don’t really like feeling that way.
I think it’s funny when people say stuff like, “When it gets up to around 40 million, then, yea, I’ll play. I’ll buy a few tickets.”
So, what, like 20 million is chump change? You either think the lottery is a good idea or you don’t. How can one’s decision to play hinge on whether the jackpot is many millions or many, many millions?
“Oh, honey, do you want to stop and buy some lottery tickets?”
“Nah. The jackpot’s only 20 million dollars. So not worth it”
I play a couple of dollars every week, specifically two dollars. As said above, I realize the chance of winning is almost zero, but those two bucks provide enough of entertainment through fantasy to be worth it.
On the off chance I would win I can without a doubt say my life would change dramatically. But I think that the real joy of winning would be the ability to help friends and family. It would be difficult however, because you would be walking a fine line between helping and being expected to help. Also, I wonder what the tax impications are when it comes to helping? Say if I won and I wanted to pay off my sisters home. Let’s for argument sake say she owes $150k on it. If I pay it off will the government want her to pay taxes on that winfall? If they count it as income she could owe $40k in taxes due that year, not much of a help to her I would say. In that case would it be better to just buy her home in my name and let her live in it as long as she wants with no mortgage/rent?
A great fantasy, but sadly I don’t think it will ever happen. Would be nice to experience life without the worries of having enough money. And nice to live life knowing you could help people. And of course a little “bling” wouldn’t hurt either!
If a ticket costs a buck, and 30 million are sold, and the jackpot is $20 million (after taxes/expenses/&c) then the expected return on a ticket is less than $1, and it would be silly to pay $1 for it.
If the after-expense jackpot rises $40 million, and the same number of tickets are sold, the expected return on a ticket is more than $1, so buying one becomes more rational.