Okay, this just happened. I went to the gas station to fill up. Because I am currently recovering from three viral respiratory agents...at the same time. What my wife calls: "The trifecta." And that makes me laugh, which then makes me cough, which then make me wheeze, which then makes me laugh all the harder at the silliness of the cycle...and it starts again. LOL
So I am mostly staying away from people. I don't want to make anyone sick, and I think my immune system itself is on the blink...so I don't want to catch anything new. So imagine my surprise when the entire Gas Station was packed. I had to wait in line for six cars before I could get to a pump. But strangely enough, I was the only one getting gas. WTF?!
But this gas station does have fresh donuts. So I slipped my mask on and went to get a donut (Okay, two, lighten up!).
Again, there was a line thru the store, with maybe 20 or so folks in it. But nobody was buying anything. This gas station has those "self checkout smart tablets" so I went to use one. I asked the folks if they were in line for the smart checkout...nope. Everyone was here for the Lottery.
And for the Lottery, you can only pay cash. And there was only one Clerk.
So found out that the Powerball is almost up to 2 Billion dollars!
I don't buy lottery tickets, because I took Statistics in College, and you have a slightly better chance of winning, if you don't have a ticket. (that's a joke, but it isn't far off-to win a lottery this big, you would have to be hit by lightning with double digit blasts AND get smacked by a meteorite too)
So I chatted with a few of the folks in line. Other than buying their Mom a new house, setting the kids up for life, and getting their first Ferrari...most had no clue what they would do with that kind of money. All of them mentioned that almost half of big winners end up broke or in bankruptcy within five years of the Big win. So that dimmed their hopes a bit
I met several big lottery winners (not surprisingly almost all of them either on a Ship, or over in Europe.) I did meet a guy from Chicago that won the first $100 million dollar jackpot, if I remember correctly. He liked my show and we had several nice talks.
But he told me some stories. Sheesh. When he was an Altar Boy, he told the Bishop if he won the lottery he would give half to the Church. Well, 20 years later he won...and doggone if that guy didn't come asking for half. I guess it made the news and the negative publicity stopped that nonsense. His fiancé took a loan out against his winnings, and then took her Mom to Europe for a summer long shopping spree. Only to come home and find out that he was not her fiancé anymore...and the bank should have never loaned her the money.
Eventually, all he ever wanted to do was teach folks how to paint cars...and over time, that's what he did. Built his own Trade school.
And that's just one story. He learned to deal with it. And he told me once:
"I love the freedom form ordinary bills. If I want something, I can afford it. I don't like that now I don't trust anyone. I never know what they are after...but I know they are after something. "
Those stories are legion.
One of the other guys I met, down in the Caribbean, lives like a castaway with comforts. A tiny cottage on a beach. No car. Small sailboat. No TV, Computer, and just one cell phone. He told me lives like a "Surfer Kid with an allowance."
He took the annuity and not the cash payout. Because , as he told me:
"I was 20 when I won. Just a set of glands with a beer in my hand." Which still makes me laugh. So he told me he made all the mistakes you read about in the paper. He actually went bankrupt with the first payment. Mostly over not understanding taxes and Wealth protection stuff. When he got the second payment - everyone already thought he was broke again..so most of the scammers went away. And he changed his name, moved to Europe and ended up in the Caribbean. He made me laugh when he said:
"I could have lived this same lifestyle with a girlfriend with a steady job, and me selling weed as a side hustle. It took millions of dollars to learn I was happiest with just no debt, no bills, and a burger. "
So yeah, I hope those folks win, but in Todays world...I bet they need a big batch of lawyers and security just to try and move around.