Dear Mega Millions Winners
I can only imagine how thrilled the 10 of you must be. Coming at a time like this, when so many people are struggling; now it looks like you’ll be able to handle whatever the bad economy might throw your way, and then some. The winnings come to over $20-million each – before taxes, of course – and that’s enough to change your life in any number of ways. You have been blessed!
Bob Space, 60, of Toms River, N.J., talks during a news conference at Chubb Insurance Company in Whitehouse Station, N.J., Wednesday, March 4, 2009, about buying the winning $216 million Mega Millions lottery ticket. Space and nine co-workers at Chubb will share the jackpot. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)
Or maybe you’ve been cursed. I don’t want to bring you down from your euphoria, but it’s a good time for a reminder that many lottery winners’ dreams of vast, instant wealth have quickly turned into nightmares. A few of the most prominent examples...
• Bud Post of Pennsylvania won $16-million in 1988. First, his landlady who helped him buy the lottery tickets sued him successfully for a third of his winnings. His wife left him, and his brother hired a hit man to kill him. He was convicted for shooting at a bill collector. Before he died of respiratory failure in 2006, he would tell people that he had won “the lottery of death.” His bankruptcy attorney said, “he was like a fish out of water once he became a millionaire.”
• Billie Bob Harrell won $31-million in the Texas lottery in 1997. 20-months later he committed suicide, his fortune almost gone, and his surviving relatives battling in court over what’s left. Shortly before his death, he confided to a financial advisor, “Winning the lottery is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
• In 2002, Jack Whitaker of West Virginia won what was then the biggest Powerball jackpot ever, $315-million. Hundreds of thousands were stolen, he was twice arrested on drunk driving charges, and was sued for groping two women. He gave his teenaged granddaughter a $2100 a week allowance; she died of a drug overdose in 2004. Before his wife divorced him, she told a reporter that if she’d known what was to happen after the lottery win, she would have “torn up the ticket.”
Okay, I was kidding. I AM trying to bring you down. I’m sure there are also stories of people who lived wonderful, happy lives after winning a big jackpot. But either way, it’s a fact your lives are going to change. Two Connecticut financial advisors wrote a book about the destruction sudden wealth can cause:
Psychologist Steve Danish has studied the impact instant wealth has on lottery winners:
"The dream you have about winning may be better than the actuality of winning. There have been families that have just been torn apart by this process.”
From the little bit I’ve read about it today, here’s what all ten of you need to be wary of:
• Everybody is going to have their hand out, from charities to family members you didn’t even know you had.
• You will be regarded differently in your community, as will your spouse and children. Some people will NOT be happy for you.
• It might seem like a bottomless amount of money, but it’s not. If you spend like crazy and don’t invest wisely, it will run out, and sometimes just create new expenses. If you buy a big house, you have to maintain a big house.
• Get a good lawyer and a team of financial advisors. Good ones. Not just some guy your cousin knows.
• Three words: preemptive marriage counseling.
• Don’t automatically decide to quit your job. According to psychologist Danish, “"I think you can probably fish for a couple days … but I'm not sure you can fish for 10 or 20 or 30 years," Danish said. "Without that goal or plan about what you expect to happen for yourself … it could be your worst nightmare."
So, once again, congratulations, and good luck navigating through what’s ahead, because like Cyndi Lauper sang, money changes everything.
P.S. Listen, one more thing; I’ve got this great idea for a business that I think would really take off. I just need a little money to get started, and I figured, you know, with all these millions you’ve got now, you might want to invest...
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Comments: 18
This, right away reminds me one thing: the love of money is the root of all evil.
And, few people know how to manage a sudden huge amount of money, and so it often goes wasted. So this "blessing" may actually be a cursing if not managed well, and most people don't.
A powerful tool, like a gun (or huge amount of money), can only reach its full potential when it is in the hand of someone who knows how this can be best used.
I honestly believe that if a homeless person were to win the lotto they would be most fit to handle the "earnings."
Think about it, they know how it is to be rock bottom and I guess you can say they really don't owe anybody anything.
Dear Jim
I seen katie talking bout the chicken nugget lady saying she did the wrong thing... I disagree with her i feel the chicken nugget lady had every right to inform the police... Why didnt the McDonald just give her, her money back?!?!... Please tell Katie to try being more open minded please... That really ticked me off cause i once had the same problem at Bob's used shoe store... and my boyfriend says to tell katie that brown eye liner is better than black eye liner on light skin... P.S Give me a shout out on the news!
Your friend
Dolphin DK (Steve)
hey, guys and girls.
i wish you all the very best with your lottery winnings.
please remember you are in for a rude awakening because you are gonna loose some good friends because they are gonna expect you to "help them out"
please spend wisely.
miche
One word: Anonymity
A few other good ones:
Keep your mouth shut.
Just say NO.
Family first.
Be charitable, not stupid.
-please remember you are in for a rude awakening because you are gonna loose some good friends because they are gonna expect you to "help them out"-
Why this sounds like what those big corporations expect from the gov now?
"Keep your mouth shut."
This is often what people in the eastern culture do. And by the way, if you can't do this, you can forget about the rest below. Once the word got out, it will be like bees surrounding honey.
I'm glad a group won. It wasn't a big group, but 10 winning is better than 1 person winning the entire amount.
CONGRATULATIONS Bob Space, and co-workers!
They all seem that they were making a good living...in the IT Department & all (career jobs), but due to the economy they were probably holding back on home repairs, trading in/buying a new car, or taking a family vacation.
Spend it wisely.
Two families in my town won the lottery. The woman who won 5 million spent all her money. I met her when I looked at her house *I was going to buy it, but didn't. She was going to write a "tell-all" book about the experience. Eventually she moved to another state.
She had 2 sons, spent a great deal of money on her family, and finally lost most of her fortune.
I'm not sure what happpened to the other family, but I know they won about 10 million.
I think, maybe we are just a jealous society and want these people to mess up their lives, when they win BIG. Honestly, I don't understand how they screw up so badly, when they come into so much money. It just must be very bad financial planning.
I had it all figured out if I won. I would buy a family compound and put my favorite relatives in it.
And then I would travel to ALL the exotic places our beautiful earth has to offer.
Ah, if only it would happen to me!
Lee *WOULD I BE SPOILED - NAH
I like it when very poor people win the lottery.
It makes me feel good. Only I really think, when you are born into money, you can handle it better.
Lee
Hi jim,
Hey who dosen't want to have 100% financial security for the rest of my life, I would be lying if i say i didn't want to collect millions. There are a number of things i would do!! First and foremost i would make sure my daughter gets everything her heart desires!! And more...... YOU GET THE PICTURE RIGHT ????????
EMERALD..
im, listening to you and kaity talk after a story, I just have one thing to say. Keep your opinions to yourself.
When you and your co-workers, especially from other new york stations, say something after a story its pathetic. You get paid reporting on other peoples problems and get very over paid for it. Like six, seven and in some cases eight figure salaries
.
Then you all complain about making it to the weekend, oh gee
is the gigantic paycheck not insentive enough to go to work, which for you is 1 hour of reading a script off of a prompter
Jim, listening to you and kaity talk after a story, I just have one thing to say. Keep your opinions to yourself.
When you and your co-workers, especially from other new york stations, say something after a story its pathetic. You get paid reporting on other peoples problems and get very over paid for it. Like six, seven and in some cases eight figure salaries
.
Then you all complain about making it to the weekend, oh gee
is the gigantic paycheck not insentive enough to go to work, which for you is 1 hour of reading a script off of a prompter
Jim, you and Kaity should keep your mouth's shut after "so-called"
stories. Anonymous, above, is right. You two always make bs comments after "stories" which in reality is other people's problems and miseries. I wish I could be EXTREMELY GROSSLY OVERPAID like you for reading scripts off of a prompter. How in the world could they pay any of you, including ALL the other NY stations, six, seven, and eight figure salaries. NONE OF YOU DESERVE IT.
Good advice Jim. And pay no mind to the people telling you and Kaity to "keep your mouths shut" or "keep your opinions to yourself". I actually like a little commentary after you report the story; it's indicative that you do have a connection, however brief, with the news you are reporting.
Some more advice for the lotto winners:
Go off the grid for a while. Retreat to a secret location. Cut off any landline and cell phone service. I'm serious.
Gather only your IMMEDIATE family members whom you are close to.
Distance yourselves from anyone whom you have a beef/dispute with.
Keep your feet on the ground, and everything in perspective.
When in doubt, trust your instinct.
JIM I MUST SAY YOU ARE THE MAN. TELL IT LIKE IT IS. KEEP UP THE BLOG.
Jim, when will the staff at PIX 10 o'clock news recognize the many times each night that the signal freezes up for 30 to 60 seconds and then whatever was going on or being discussed was gone and no one even seemed to notice. This has happened every night this week. It only seems to occur on the 10 o'clock news and on no other channel.
Barbara
Jim, when will the staff at PIX 10 o'clock news recognize the many times each night that the signal freezes up for 30 to 60 seconds and then whatever was going on or being discussed was gone and no one even seemed to notice. This has happened every night this week. It only seems to occur on the 10 o'clock news and on no other channel.
Barbara
By the "law" of averages, surely someone in one of the five boroughs is due to win the MegaMillions jackpot? I'm sick about hearing that the winning ticket was bought in some hideaway in New Jersey (Toms River? C'mon, man!) or Oklahoma somewhere. Whenever the jackpot hits $50 million or more, I always buy just one ticket and that either in Manhattan or Newark. C'mon, MegaMillions, spread the wealth a little! :)
Congratulations to the newest millionaires in America, and I hope that they heed the warnings about the dangers that sudden wealth can bring.