With the big Mega Millions jackpot in the news I have noticed...

[tk2kewl]

a lot of articles in print and on-line about how lottery winners' lives turn out badly after winning.

What's the deal with these articles? It seems to me that it plays into this right-wing meme that rich deserve what they have because the unwashed would simply blow it all.

What say you?

[Warpy]

1. The happy ones seem to have blown it all by spreading it around

The unhappy ones trotted off to financial planners and tax attorneys, trying to find out how to keep it while their friends and families seethed.

That's the difference. Either you spread the wealth and keep your friends or you turn into a miser and get lonely fast. In the first case, you end up with a lot of happy memories even though strangers hold you in contempt for not hanging onto it. In the second, you hang onto it but have no one left to show it off to. After all, it's not like you're going to be accepted among the wealthy just because you got a windfall you didn't inherit.

[Celebration]

10. I disagree with your premise

What kind of a true friend is it that makes their friendship dependent on being given money? That is not someone I would want around me anyway. Good riddance to them!

[Speck Tater]

2. People who are dumb enough to buy lottery tickets

are too dumb to know how to manage money in the unlikely event they do win, so the outcome doesn't surprise me one bit.

I don't know about lottery winners, but I've seen with my own eyes several people I know blow through sizable inheritances in months, that could have given them a secure retirement if carefully managed. Unearned money seems to have little real psychological value to people. And the fact is that some (not all, of course, but SOME) poor people are poor because they don't know how to handle the money they do have. I've had friends working together in the same company, for the same wages, some of whom turned their income into a comfortable middle class life, and others who took the same incomes and lived in abject poverty because they had no respect for money and they blew it all away as fast as they made it, and sometimes even faster.

[lastlib]

14. They have no concept of the numbers...

...represented in that kind of wealth. It simply becomes too much for them to wrap their minds around. Hiring accountants, advisors, and attorneys doesn't help them get a handle on it; quite often, those people focus too much on how they can keep the money, not so well on how to manage their lives with it. Truly sad.

[bart95]

3. no, i dont think it's politically motivated

it's not that they are unwashed, it's that it's such a massive change all at once, a wealthy business that obtains such a massive change can have trouble, too. any change so large and so unprecidented has challanges beyond most people's understanding, especially if the change is seen only as positive (and leaves the recipient running on extasy adrenalin for months on end)

it's why Sony turned down a huge contract from emerson in the 1950s, sony's founder didnt want to be driven by such a massive change all at once

[Celebration]

4. I do think the facts actually support this

There really are a lot of lottery winners that can't handle the money at all. Good grief, look at all the sports stars that end up destitute after their careers are over.

However, CNBC interviewed a woman today that won over 100 million dollars in a lottery, and she could handle it. I don't know what she was doing before she won it, but she was enjoying her money, and before she even claimed it she had the sense to hire a lawyer and a financial advisor, and get good advice. She seemed incredibly together. They asked her what her secret was not blowing it all, and she said "I stopped buying so much Gucci and Coach."

And Forbes has an article about the ten biggest lottery winners. They don't say they blew the money or anything.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2012/03/30/ten-biggest-lottery-winners-ever-how-they-planned-to-spend-the-money/

The lottery winners that do blow the money make the news of course. I don't think it's a right wing agenda, I think it is that good news is no news.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. There is a reason for that

The first thing to do after you win and send the ticket in is contact a lawyer, the second is a good financial planner.

People who are poor and win don't usually have those already, so they are easy victims.

The second problem is that people really do not plan how to live and start spending like crazy.

I know that if we hit it, (fat chance), I have both of those in my Rolodex, due to my mom, and that those two are honest and good. But most people really do not have those two critical assets.

I posted a what I would do, including trusts for college for Nephews...chances are most folks are not knowledgable enough and it is not their fault.

So if you win, get a good lawyer and find a good financial planner before you go on a spending spree.

[ejpoeta]

27. i agree. i tell my husband i really wouldn't want to win the lottery.

i know how to struggle. have done it my whole life. pinching pennies. he buys lottery tickets and i don't tell him not to. at least for a moment you can dream about what you would do if you won that money. better to spend it on that than booze or smokes.

[DefenseLawyer]

6. That's just a chance I'm going to have to take.

Although if I do have the winning ticket it's going to take a lot to turn it in, knowing that it might ruin my life. But no, I'll just have to press on and find out!

[tk2kewl]

7. thinking like me

[lunatica]

8. You only hear about the messed up ones

when was the last time you heard a story about successful and happy lottery winners who are living well? Never. Yet we have winners all the time.

[tk2kewl]

9. I agree with you...

that is why i think there is some political motivation behind pointing out the failures.


of course it could just be that people like to here about all forms of dramatic fails

[unapatriciated]

23. Here is one, it was posted on DU awhile back.

'What you've never had, you never miss': Canadian couple who won $11.2m in the lottery give it ALL away to charity

A Canadian couple who won $11.2million (£7million) on the lottery have given it all away to friends, charities and hospitals.
Allen and Violet Large, both in their 70s, said their good fortune earlier this year had been a 'big headache' and they had decided against going on a spending spree.
'What you’ve never had, you never miss,' Violet, 78, told the Toronto Star.
She and Allen, 75, eventually decided it was better to give than receive and were totally at ease with handing over the money.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326473/Canadian-couple-Allen-Violet-Large-away-entire-11-2m-lottery-win.html

[JonLP24]

11. It would happen to me

I have an unhealthy urge to spend money.

[RC]

12. Most people really do not know how to handle sudden wealth.

The think the can buy the world. Houses, sometimes several. Expensive vehicles. World cruses. Give money away. Become alcoholics or drug users because of the stress.

Me? I'd custom build a house. Set up Trusts for my kids. And revisit Hawaii. That's about it.
Oh, buy a couple of new high end computers and drop AT&T DSL for something better.
I don't feel the need to impress anyone except my one special woman.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Trusts for all nephews and nieces

Pay for their college mostly

Perhaps a home, hoa is a pain and all that...yes, I'd love solar on my roof by the way.

Change the 21 year old truck for something new...am afraid the truck is reaching that point anyway.

Get a top of the line camera...

Visit family more often. Hawaian trips are not cheap, trust me.

But the first step is calling lawyer, second financial adviser.

[get the red out]

17. I agree with the above

My $1 I spent would translate into what you said above, as well as a nice donation to the local animal shelter, an agility area for my dog, and me quitting work and volunteering at the shelter.

Everyone has a fantasy life, why not spend a buck once in a while and add to it?

[RebelOne]

21. I think I would do the same as far as donating to an animal shelter.

In fact, I would donate to many animal shelters. I am already retired, so won't be quitting any job. But I did not buy a ticket, so I don't have be disappointed that I didn't win.

[RC]

32. I know how expensive Hawaii trips are.

I have friend out there and I once spend a month there for $2200 total.
The cost of living was and probably still is 25% more than where I lived.

[BlueIris]

25. The Sudden Money Institute and other groups

actually specialize in helping people deal with this unusual phenomenon. They go into a lot of the reasons it's tough to handle sudden money, and yes, most of it has to do with seeking a massive lifestyle upgrade which most lottery funds just won't be enough to achieve.

Other big drains on sudden money resources include stock/and or invention schemes, opportunistic relatives, other opportunists, not being able to say no to people and (surprise) medical bills.

Finally, it's hard to stay gainfully employed (unless you were self employed before) after receiving sudden money. Many times, your job will be taken away and given to someone perceived to be more deserving of it. There are other factors beyond just "I am riches now, must spenz it all!!!"

[anti-alec]

13. I have spent exactly $1 for tonight's drawing.

I have plans with the money, all of them will be funding liberal causes and setting up several cooperatives including a MMC bank exchange.

[rfranklin]

18. You could have flushed it down the toilet...

because I bought the winning ticket yesterday!

[drm604]

22. Nope

I'm in an office pool with 100 tickets so you both are gonna lose!

[rfranklin]

28. I just sold my house for cash and bought 200,000 tickets...

I'm back in the winner's circle!

[drm604]

36. We won!

$5 between 21 people. So I'll get like 24 cents, which will probably end up lost in my sofa.

[rfranklin]

38. I'm out on the street...

didn't win a penny!

[drm604]

40. To be honest

since I spent $5 on the pool, I'm actually $4.76 in the hole.

[get the red out]

16. I hadn't thought of that!

That's definitely an interesting thought. I think there's a good chance there's truth in it.

[guitar man]

19. Yeah, well

Life ain't been so great for my working poor ass up to this point anyway, I think I'd be inclined to take my chances at letting it be ruined by hundreds of millions of dollars

[tk2kewl]

35. That'sdefinitely how I look at it

[Codeine]

20. Because a person who wins the money and spends it wisely

wouldn't be much of a subject for a news story, now would he? We sold a customer a $2 million scratcher; he retired a decade early and is enjoying all his extra time with family.

[BlueIris]

24. I've been following the stories of lottery winners' outcomes

since 2004. Most wind up miserable and saying they wish they'd never won. So I don't think MSM actually reporting reality for once is part of a larger message here.

[CanSocDem]

34. Ouch...Debbie Downer!!

http://www.tvrage.com/Lottery_Changed_My_Life

You're just looking for excuses....

.

[Fozzledick]

26. My guess is that the population that buys the most lottery tickets

contains a much higher percentage of compulsive gamblers than the general population, and those who blow it all in a couple of years are much more "news-worthy" (man bites dog) than those who retire in quiet comfort.

[onethatcares]

29. well, if I win and I'm the only winner

I'm gonna try to spend it or give it all away after my family is taken care of for life.

I want it all, I want it all in small bills in aluminum suitcases.

The name change will be easy.

[scheming daemons]

30. I'll buy clearchannel and fire Limbaugh

...

[Hawkowl]

31. The premise is wealth preservation

It is evil to spend the money (blow it) but virtuous to hoard it (Scrooge). That is the message being subliminally sent. To go even further, money is to be worshipped not spent or used.

How could these lottery winners be happy having spent all their money--destroyed god? Sick isn't it?

[drm604]

37. Free time has value.

I would want to be able survive comfortably (not 10 houses comfortably, just reasonably comfortably) without working. Beyond preparing for that I'd help immediate family and give to some things I believe in. Then I could spend my time on family, hobbies, activism and volunteerism.

[customerserviceguy]

33. It takes more than mere money to make a person rich

How you acquire it has a lot to do with how you manage it, apparently. If you're born into it, your parents raise you to deal with it. If you earn it, you might be more likely to value it. If it's handed to you by sheer dumb-ass luck, you might not figure out the skills to keep it, or use it to make your life a better place.

[MrScorpio]

39. My family would see a huge windfall if I ever won that kind of money

But I would admit that I would be on the road a lot and wouldn't be around to hear them complaining, if they ever started up.

But, I'm sure that their bills, house notes, car notes and kid's educations getting paid off might quiet them down a BIT.