You’ve just won $1 billion dollars in the local lottery. You do not have to pay tax on your winnings. How will you spend the money?

Well of course many of you know already, I don’t “Gamble”….
And I don’t want to be a “Debbie Downer” for all the rest of you fabulous people who enjoy spending a little for a chance at your piece of fortune. Sadly, the odds of winning a “Lottery” win- fall is so great that you would most likely have a better chance at getting hit by lighting, then you would winning a “State Lottery Draw Jackpot” . . . .

I spent many years employed in the “Banking” field, and oddly enough I had the good fortune to meet, “TWO” separate lottery winners in my home state of So. Oregon. I have to say though, both stories are true, and a bit sad. The first bank clients that won Oregon’s “Megabuck” lottery were an older couple, and good clients of mine. They had bought their winning tickets at a “Albertson’s” grocery store, where they shop at weekly.

She told me that she has a set of numbers she used for each weeks draw, and it was the winning ticket that won. They came into to the bank and asked if I could help them invest the some of the money, and set them up with our “Investment Specialist,” so I made them an appointment.A month or so went by, and I seen them in the bank again. She gave me the sad news that her husband was just diagnosed with MS.

They then came over and sat at my desk and told me the difficulties they have been having ever since winning their money. That their kids were all fighting because “They” didn’t “Share Enough” of the winnings with them. She then told me how all their friends and family were making them feel like “THEY” have changed since winning, but that it was the other way around. So they put their house up for sale, sadly they were moving to Carson City, NV  . . . .

They were having a house built there that will have special features so it would be a safe place once her husband became wheelchair bound with having MS. And, that was the last time I saw them. So it made me wonder about winning the lottery.

Then the following year, a young man also had won our Oregon lottery “Megabucks.” and had won $2.1 Million. He took his in a lump sum payout. I know this because he came to my desk with the check. The check, after tax was $885,000.00. He worked at a Hotel & Restaurant and ran the food service for the convention center of the hotel. His name was Steve, and he was only 24 years old. Of course he did what any 24-year-old would do if winning a lottery, he paid his mom’s house off, bought himself a new car, truck, jet-ski, and a boat!

I did open him a checking account, a money market account too. Just the interest alone from the money market was netting him in interest monthly, $2,800.00. That was more than he was making at his job, so he quit his job. What a mistake that was, because then came all the trips to “Reno and Las Vegas.” Then came all the relatives and friends out of the wood works that he didn’t know he had until he had “Money!” I did make him a appointment with an “Investment Broker,” and he attended the appointment, but never followed through with the plan. So sadly, in almost a little less than a year the money was GONE!! YUP! No Shit!
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So, my point is most likely obvious, be careful what you “WISH FOR!” Like the sayings go,
“Money Changes Everything” ~ “MO Money Mo Problems”  .  .  .  .
And please gamble and play responsively!
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God Bless All,
Author, Catherine Townsend-Lyon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984478485
“My True Story Of Addicted Gambling”
“It Costs More Then Money ~ It almost Cost Me My Life!”