nation

Heh. There's a good reason for such "cautionary" tales. Ever wonder why rich people are rich and the rest of us aren't? Simple. Rich people not only are able to make money, they have the brains to hang onto it. Donald Trump can make multimillions, go broke and in a few years is back making even more multimillions. Rudy Nurlman or Irma Frump on the other hand might hit the Powerball big, and immediately their lifestyle changes. They move out of the trailer park to a $3 million dollar mansion replete with cleaning and maintenance staff, buy L'il Jennifer a new Lamborghini Gallardo to replace that bent Focus she's been tooling around town in, invest heavily with some Albanian who promises them double their return on their investment in his diamond business in just the space of a month or two, and throw parties for relatives they didn't even know they had. Before long--Presto! They're back in the trailer park certainly poorer but no wiser. There's a reason that poor people, for the most part, are poor. They're too dumb to be rich. Law of the jungle, folks.

This story and the one that CNN ran are meant to be cautionary tales, but they seem to imply that the lottery caused their misfortune. Overdosing on drugs, getting DUIs, and spending irresponsibly can all happen to poor people too. In would venture that say that those things happen to far more people that are poor or have never won the lottery than those that do win the lottery.

I agree owatonnabill. You can give some people enough money for 10 lifetimes over and over again, and they will always squander it. Same is true that people think they will be instantly happy with a lottery win. Money can certainly help with un-wanted burdens, but what makes people happy or un-happy is not related to having more money than they will ever need.

Forget the $550 million, I would be happy with $1 million. Enough to take care of some debts and put some money away in savings/investments. $1 million is a lot of money, but by the time the government takes their share, you will be lucky if you have $650,000. It's too bad that lotto winners cannot remain anonymous in Minnesota.

Colderness says, "Money can certainly help with un-wanted burdens, but what makes people happy or un-happy is not related to having more money than they will ever need." The more you see the priorities of people you realize the country now revolves around the dollar bill. Personal or business, money trumps ALL and I believe most think money does buy happiness. These stories prove how greed never works. And if heavy greed enables a person to acheive incredible wealth, chances are they are at least somewhat morally bankrupt. But it seems moral bankruptcy is an accepted loss for monetary success. It doesn't seem enough to be happy and humble. The need for more green is ever present by more than ever before.

You can buy happiness. To quote Daniel Tosh, money buys you a jet ski. You ever seen anyone unhappy on a jet ski?

And some people think being rich is easy. There are a lot of worse stories out there than this. Check into the young woman that won years back up by Brainered sometime.

This article mentioned the guy from West Virginia who won $350mill or so. That guy called his lottery winnings a huge curse, and was quoted several times saying that he wished he'd never won the money. Especially after his granddaughter OD'd and died. I think he gave her some ridiculously big 'allowance' of $10k/month and all she did was party and spend it on drugs. I can't imagine that any lottery win is big enough to compensate you for something so terrible...

The lottery would be more useful, beneficial and winnable if 350 people got $1 million instead of one (or a very few) getting all $350 million. After taxes, that $500,000 is enough to pay off a house and outstanding debts, leaving enough to safely invest and not giving anyone reason to quit work and re-invent their lives.

Zoltan is correct. Always follow the advise of Zoltan. That is all.