As a favorite math teacher of mine in high school once told my statistics class, “The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.” But winning the lottery is also a curse on people who are bad at personal finance.
Callie Rogers was 16 when she won a jackpot of £1.9 million in Britain’s lottery (equivalent to about $3.1 million in USD). Now she is 22 and has virtually nothing left:
Her winnings have been spent on expensive cars, gifts, loans to family members, four houses she bought and furnished for herself and family members, luxury vacations, plastic surgery, clothing, and partying, as well as a trust fund for her children. “I won’t lie, I’ve blown most of it,” she said. “But do you know what? I don’t care. Because all that money has brought me is heartache.”
Rogers said she had £20,000 in a bank account and “that’s about it.”
A child trust fund set up for her son was “raided” by [her ex-boyfriend], but around £15,000 is left.
Rogers also reports spending an estimated £250,000 ($406,000) on cocaine and says she is seeking therapy for depression.
Had Rogers known that sound planning — not wealth — is the biggest determinant of feeling financially stable, she might be in a better position today. And since we at Econ4U are fascinated by how many lottery winners end up broke, we offer these tips on how not to blow your good fortune should you ever be in such a lucky position.
3 Comments
Most lottery winners are financially illiterate, therefore they only know how to spend and not how their money can continue to work for them, either by short or long term investing.
Plastic surgery – these days plastic surgery is not expensive, that’s why more than 15 million cosmetic surgical procedures are done every year, and growing.
Being and staying wealthy is all about how hard your money can continue to work for you. If you’re money is constantly working hard for you, then splurging on lavish items is no big deal.
Miles
can I use this on my site ?
Since I want to use some of this, I wont copy it. I will just link back to the Post. Sound ok ?
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