First world problems

[mr friendly guy]

I wish I had won £1million with my first lottery ticket at 17

http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/we ... f4dc9d31db

Lottery winner, who scooped $1.6m, says win ‘ruined my life’

A WOMAN who struck gold, winning more than $1.6 million in a major lottery, is considering suing the game’s organisers after saying the prize money “ruined her life”.
Jane Park, from Edinburgh in Scotland, scooped one million pounds in 2013 in the Euromillions draw. She was just 17 at the time.
Now 21, Ms Park, who owns two houses, said that while her friends are stressed because of being badly paid, “no one who really understands [how] I feel.”
She told Britain’s Sunday People newspaper that she was considering taking legal action against the UK’s National Lottery for negligence. Someone of her young age should never have been allowed to take out the jackpot, she said.

Ms Park was all smiles when she won the lottery. At the time she was earning $13 an hour doing admin work and living with her mum in a small housing commission unit.
She splashed out on a Range Rover, designer handbags and equally designer dogs.
But despite lottery bosses giving her the services of a financial adviser, she found the win overwhelming.
“At times it feels like winning the lottery has ruined my life. I thought it would make it 10 times better but it’s made it 10 times worse. I wish I had no money most days. I say to myself, ‘My life would be so much easier if I hadn’t won’.”
People envied her lifestyle and cash but it was nothing worth lusting after, she said.
“They don’t realise the extent of my stress. I have material things but apart from that my life is empty. What is my purpose in life?
“It’s scary how different my life is from my friends’. When they say they’re stressed about the money they mean their wages are s**t,” she said. “There’s no one in the same boat as me, no one who really understands. I feel like I’m a 40-year-old.”
She was sick of shopping she said and she couldn’t hold down a relationship despite showering her suitors with gifts.
“I think 18 should be the minimum age for winning the ¬lottery, at the least. The current age of 16 is far too young,” she said.
British lottery organisers, Camelot, told the Sunday People they provided Ms Park with financial support and would continue to do so if she requested it. The minimum legal age for lottery players was up to the UK Government, the company said.

Posted for laughs.

[Bedlam]

What is she actually suing for? The minimum age lottery tickets can be purchased is set by the government not Camelot, can she get that changed? And if she does get a financial settlement instead wouldn't that make her more miserable, would she sue her legal team for making her more upset?

[mr friendly guy]

I don't think she can sue the company.

Although I am interested in why she is so unhappy and why she attributes that to money. She gave suitors gifts and they never stuck. Maybe don't give them gifts. She has two houses, which is good as property for the most part is a good investment. Why should that cause her stress?

Maybe she should study for something that appeals to her. But this whining is really pathetic.

[Raw Shark]

If she hates having money so much, why not give it to her friends who are strapped for cash? If they won't accept it as a gift, make up lavishly-compensated jobs for them. The reason she can't hold down a relationship isn't because guys don't like expensive gifts - Only I am dumb enough to dump a girl over that. I was sleeping with a millionaire, and I told her I was interested in her great looks and fun personality, not her money, when she told me about the money on our third or fourth date. She was always getting me little things and would stealth-pay for meals while I was taking a leak and stuff like that, which I tolerated. One day she offered to buy me my own taxi and I just lost it.

To be fair to myself, she was also as crazy as a shithouse rat. Absolute mayhem behind the wheel: sped everywhere, had several DUIs, and refused to use her turn signal ever, the last of which is a major pet peeve of mine. I'm pretty sure shit like that is why Insane Redhead can't get a license anymore, but she doesn't talk about that.

[blenkins90]

Actually, many people who win big in the lottery have their lives turn to ruin afterwards. So many stories of this.

It's mind blowing to me. I know exactly what I would do with the money. And it wouldn't be buying a bunch of stuff.

[TheFeniX]

It's mind blowing to me. I know exactly what I would do with the money. And it wouldn't be buying a bunch of stuff.

From my knowledge: the poorer you are, the more likely you are to play (thus win) the lottery. A poor person might be really good at managing money, but much like a rich person who loses his/her ass might not know how to penny-pinch on a tight budget, when you're all the sudden sitting on millions, the idea of that amount of money running out is an abstract concept to you. If you made $30,000 a year, it would take you over 40 years to get $1.5 million.

When you haven't grown up fabulously wealthy and a completely ridiculous amount of money is dumped in your lap, it's actually not hard to just blow it all on stupid shit. Then you deal with your friends/family now being in a completely different economic class than you and you start to get resentful. I knew a girl who won a "measly" $30,000 and her parents tried to get. a. fucking. lawyer. to get the money for back-payment of raising her. They failed, pretty much lost a daughter, and last I heard she used the money to go to UT.

Money does stupid shit to people. I have more stories, not even of the lottery variety, but I don't want to get off an a rant here.

Present me has a lot of what I want. So, money just means "pay off the debt I have." But 17-year-old me? Even with all my parents taught me about financial responsibility? I mean, I had a credit card for gas and emergencies at age 16 and I abused it exactly once: I turned 18 and bought a pack of smokes because I was out of cash. I'm that fucking boring.

But dump a cool million bucks in my lap at that age and see what happens. I honestly couldn't tell you what would. Thankfully, my mom would bitch-slap me upside the head before anything really stupid got going.

[General Zod]

I think a lot of it involves having no plan with what to do with yourself after you win. If you don't know what you'll do when you suddenly strike it rich you're going to have an existential crisis.

[madd0ct0r]

I think a lot of it involves having no plan with what to do with yourself after you win. If you don't know what you'll do when you suddenly strike it rich you're going to have an existential crisis.

Or have one anyway once you complete the plan and still feel hollow.

[General Zod]

I think a lot of it involves having no plan with what to do with yourself after you win. If you don't know what you'll do when you suddenly strike it rich you're going to have an existential crisis.

Or have one anyway once you complete the plan and still feel hollow.

Ideally it should be something sustainable. It's probably why so many rich people end up getting heavily involved in charities.

[Adam Reynolds]

The lottery effect is a well documented problem, as those who gain a sudden windfall don't actually realize how much money they have. Someone who wins $50 million acts as if they had $1 billion and spends it accordingly.

This is interestingly also a problem for nations with extensive reserves of natural resources, in which they sell them rather than developing in general. It is also why Appalachia is the poorest part of the United States.

[Patroklos]

Actually, many people who win big in the lottery have their lives turn to ruin afterwards. So many stories of this.

It's mind blowing to me. I know exactly what I would do with the money. And it wouldn't be buying a bunch of stuff.

Rich or poor, the anchors with which you moor your life or derive your self worth are highly dependent on your circumstances. People with sudden money will instinctually quite their job or move out of their neighborhood or do other things that perhaps unwittingly cut the ties they rely on. Or do so purposefully without realizing it took years to build the life they are leaving behind and you can't recreate that instantly in your new environment.

You just have to be smart and deliberate. I am getting close to retiring from the Navy and I often wonder if I am ready for it. I often talk about how it will be nice to not have to put up with the BS but the reality is my identity is very much linked to my current life, hassles and all.

And yes, this was something I linked into a recent SW thread :p

[Khaat]

My father heard the same thing when he retired from the Air Force, 20-odd years ago, how many retirees don't survive the change. But he's still going!

My conclusion from reading these "Lotto changed my life!" stories is that most people just keep their heads down and try to keep moving everyday. A big windfall allows them to for the first time look up and see they have no idea who they are or what they want. And like a kid in a candy store, they want one of everything and end up sick from it all.

[His Divine Shadow]

I have planned for what I should do if I win the lottery (I buy a ticket a few times a year on the logic that a slim chance is infinitely greater than no chance), usually it's something like

-Buy land (I want to own forest and lots of it, this is an inter-generational source of income too. I know people who have never worked a day in their lives but live on their dads investment into forestry, they just log it from time to time).

-Start a dozen different funds to manage my money.

-Pay off my house loan.

Then I'd try and live as normally as I could, probably I would quit my job, perhaps go back to school.

[Patroklos]

My plan has always been take half whatever land/house plus a perpetuity to cover taxes on set house that amount will allow. Put the rest into medium risk investments and live off a 100 year annuity plus returns until I die. I figure that is conservative enough.

[Eternal_Freedom]

For me it'd be:

Buy myself a house.
Pay back all the money my parent's paid for me while at uni.
Pay off my brother's mortgage.
Set up an educational fund for my nephew (and future nephews/nieces)
Buy my friend a new car.
Set up a bunch of funds to manage the money, take half the profits myself and use the rest for various philanthropic purposes.
Go on a round the world cruise, because awesome.
When commercial spaceflight becomes a thing, buy myself an orbital flight. Because awesome.

[blenkins90]

Actually, many people who win big in the lottery have their lives turn to ruin afterwards. So many stories of this.

It's mind blowing to me. I know exactly what I would do with the money. And it wouldn't be buying a bunch of stuff.

Rich or poor, the anchors with which you moor your life or derive your self worth are highly dependent on your circumstances. People with sudden money will instinctually quite their job or move out of their neighborhood or do other things that perhaps unwittingly cut the ties they rely on. Or do so purposefully without realizing it took years to build the life they are leaving behind and you can't recreate that instantly in your new environment.

You just have to be smart and deliberate. I am getting close to retiring from the Navy and I often wonder if I am ready for it. I often talk about how it will be nice to not have to put up with the BS but the reality is my identity is very much linked to my current life, hassles and all.

And yes, this was something I linked into a recent SW thread :p

Good point. Education definitely plays a big role, and being smart and deliberate is something that comes from practice and discipline in other areas of your life.