View Single Post
Old 02-08-2003, 09:27 PM   #33
VulcanRider
Lord Soth
 

Join Date: July 25, 2002
Location: Melbourne FL
Age: 61
Posts: 1,971
Quote:
Originally posted by Sir Krustin:
Obviously, there are a lot more than 12 lottery winners in the world. But what I understood was these people were picked at random, and he did his research from the day they won. In other words, he didn't know what the results were going to be before he started.

This isn't new for me either, I've been hearing stuff like this for years. about 15 years ago, there was a story locally about a guy on welfare that won a million. He bought the house he was renting, and lived high on the hog for a year - paid for his friends drinks, etc, etc. Within a year, he was back on welfare and lost his home.

Nevertheless, I agree with you it doesn't have to be this way. I think the root problem is a lot of these people just don't know how to handle money. Rich people get rich by learning how to manage money, and by the time they get it they know how to hold onto it. This isn't necessarily true with poor people, the ones most likely to buy into the lottery. I like to think I could do much better with a winning ticket than these people.
Could you try & find the name of that book & the author? I'd like to read it. And I agree about learning to handle money. Most people don't think they have enough that they need to learn about it. Basic money management should be a required high school course, imho. At least incorporate that in general math classes. But with lottery winnings, I believe I read that here in Florida, when a winner picks up their 1st check, they are required to meet with a financial planner at the lottery HQ before they are handed their $$. Probably just a short meeting to give a brief explanation of some of the options available (what is a mutual fund, how do you buy stocks, etc), and most people are probably vibrating with excitement so hard they're buzzing drowns out the advisor, but the info's there for people who want to learn.
__________________

-----
Help feed animals in shelters with just a mouse click at The Animal Rescue Site !!
VulcanRider is offline