ralper

One of my clients, a self made millionaire, once said this, "You want to give your kids enough so that they will do something, but not so much that they will do nothing."

I think he was right. Be very careful when you win the lottery.

Ulrich

All you need to do is look at that guy in Virginia (?) who won the jackpot a few years ago. Sure, he got a little over $100 million, but since then he was arrested for DUI, one of his grand kids died (drugs, if I remember correctly?) and a few months ago they found a body in his house (I think a friend of his druggie grand kid).

Money doesn't buy happiness...

ralper

The real problem is that all of a sudden a great deal of money is put into the hands of people who never had any experience with large amounts of money. Unfortunately, they don't know how to handle it.

The best thing any lottery winner can do is to get the help of a professional. A CPA or an Attorney that the lottery winner is comfortable with and can trust is worth everything. (I think it should be a CPA but I'm sure the attorneys will argue that point with me.)

We have a client who won a $30 million lottery about 5 years ago. He immediately came to one of my collegues. Until he died (of cancer) about 1 1/2 years ago, we managed his affairs. The principal actually grew, and at the time of death, trusts were in place for his kids and widow, there was a will, and his affairs were in order. Had he not come to us I would dare to say his estate would have been in disarray, and worth considerably less.

tritium_pie

I think I've been a little too careful and have postponed winning the lotto for years. I've really procrastinated on this whole millionare deal.

dlq04

Money is certainly a mixed blessing. If you find yourself with too much too quickly it could ruin your life. That's why I took the safer road. But if 50 large ones did fall from the sky I'd call Rob, sounds like he's thought about this a lot. My pappy always said that if you are going to be miserable, it's a lot easier to be miserable rich, than miserable poor. But he also said you have to work for it.

tritium_pie

"I've been rich and I've been poor... Believe me, rich is better."
-- Mae West


side-note: has anybody ever read some of Mae West's famous quotes?! that was one witty lady! click here

some other gems:
"Too much of a good thing... can be wonderful."
"I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it."

Warren J. Dew

I'm a software engineer. I would quit programming for money, and instead work solely on projects that I enjoyed and that I thought would contribute the most to the world. I might put a few million into hiring people if I had a project that was too much for one person.

I would try to find the most run down house in this neighborhood, buy it, tear it down, and build the house I really wanted. Pretty much like my current house, plus a ballroom, and built of stone instead of wood.

I would keep coaching the MIT ballroom team on a volunteer basis, but contribute more money than I do now.

I would invest the rest, conservatively.

And I would keep my S2000.

problem_child

I would take all my close friends to the nearest Honda Dealer and buy them S2000...
AND THEN GOING TO VEGAS!!!

03 9g

i would have 50mill .