henric
04-11-2013, 09:17 PM
It seems that so many lottery winners burn through their winnings in just a few years. What are they spending it on and why does it go so fast?
Scaachi Koul, April 3, 2013 4:46:00 PM
Dear Reader,
It’s almost insulting, isn’t it? Hearing about a former millionaire who virtually walked into a windfall of cash, cash, cash, and is living paycheque to paycheque years after they win. Really makes your student debt jealous.
Hamilton lotto winner Sharon Tirabassi won $10.5 million nine years ago. The money is now gone, save for the trusts waiting for her children when they turn 26.
That is a ludicrous amount of money in the first place. It’s a preposterous amount of money to spend in less than a decade.
And yet, Tirabassi’s story is indeed supremely common—there’s a repository of countless sad, sad, sad stories about the aftermath for lottery winners.
“It’s not their money,” says Steven Danish, director of the Life Center at in the psychology department at the Virginia Commonwealth University. “The problem is, very few people have plans for their lives.” Ultimately, it’s going to be hard to deal with either radical wealth or living hand-to-mouth if you don’t have a plan for where you want your money to take you. “The money is a means to an end, and if they don’t have the end, then they’re more likely to buy a couple cars and try to get a great concert done by some Bieber.”
And lo, how many poor (now literally) saps have squandered their millions.
UK lotto winner Michael Carroll spent his £9.7 million in just eight years, spending millions on friends and thousands on drugs. By the end of 2003, he had a £2,000-a-day crack cocaine addiction, and spent his time with thousands (his figure) of prostitutes, sometimes engaging the services of four in a day. His wife eventually left him and took their daughter with her.
Then there are those with good intentions and terrible outcomes: $18-million jackpot winner Janite Lee used the money to construct a nondenominational church, a reading room at Washington University, and donated money to the Democratic National Convention. Her investments, however, never provided a good enough return and she was a big gambler. Lee filed for bankruptcy four years later.
Evelyn Adams was struck by lighting twice. She won the New Jersey lottery in both 1985 and 1986, winning some $5.4 million. She gambled her money away at slot machines in Atlantic City.
And then there’s Jack.
West Virginia’s Jack Whittaker won a $315 million Powerball in 2002, but he probably wasn’t suited for the astronomical win. He drank his money and threw much of it to strippers. Worse, perhaps, he spoiled his 17-year-old granddaughter with cars, jewels, and cash. She took over his fortune, spending thousands on shopping sprees (as any 17-year-old girl would given unlimited expenses), planes to Vegas, gifts for boyfriends, and finally, a whole lot of crack cocaine.
Her grandfather, meanwhile, was becoming a monster in his own right because of the money, once asking an area woman to dance around in her panties for $10,000. (She declined, god bless her.) And just two years after winning the Powerball, Whittaker’s granddaughter was found dead of an overdose. “I wish we had torn the [lottery] ticket up,” he said.
It’s not just lottery winners that find themselves bankrupt after years of overwhelming wealth. Sports stars face a jarring reality after they, and those million-dollar paycheques, retire from the game.
Evander Holyfield lost most of his millions (along with a piece of his ear, of course) in casinos, bad investments, expensive lawsuits, and child support to the 11 children he has by five different women.
NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is broke and sick, so say his attorneys, and can’t take care of himself never mind maintain the living expenses of his ex-wives. As of March 1, Rodman owes more than $800,000 in back child support for two of his children. He’s now branching out to make more money, like that children’s book he wrote earlier this year.
Most recently, hot-headed NBA-er Allen Iverson lost his home to foreclosure and is short on cash in spite of that $250 million he’s earned in salary and endorsements.
So what’s a poor lottery winner to do? Get someone smarter than you to plan your money. Greg Pollock, the president and CEO of Advocis, The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, says that all lottery winners should find the right financial advisor for them. “We have people who have a fair amount of resources all of a sudden and what advisors can do is assist in planning how best to use these funds over both the immediate term, the mid-term, and the long term,” he says. “Your advisor is like your personal trainer who you’re accountable to for your financial fitness.”
Even the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation thinks you should find yourself a financial advisor just in case. “Savvy financial planning, whether you’ve won $100,000 or $50 million, is really going to be the key for this chance to enhance your life,” says Sarah Kiriliuk, OLG spokesperson. “You need to get some financial education.”
So if there’s anything you can learn from the mistakes of lotto winners past, it’s to know that your fortunes won’t last forever. You just might be better off living on a budget.
Scaachi Koul, April 3, 2013 4:46:00 PM
Dear Reader,
It’s almost insulting, isn’t it? Hearing about a former millionaire who virtually walked into a windfall of cash, cash, cash, and is living paycheque to paycheque years after they win. Really makes your student debt jealous.
Hamilton lotto winner Sharon Tirabassi won $10.5 million nine years ago. The money is now gone, save for the trusts waiting for her children when they turn 26.
That is a ludicrous amount of money in the first place. It’s a preposterous amount of money to spend in less than a decade.
And yet, Tirabassi’s story is indeed supremely common—there’s a repository of countless sad, sad, sad stories about the aftermath for lottery winners.
“It’s not their money,” says Steven Danish, director of the Life Center at in the psychology department at the Virginia Commonwealth University. “The problem is, very few people have plans for their lives.” Ultimately, it’s going to be hard to deal with either radical wealth or living hand-to-mouth if you don’t have a plan for where you want your money to take you. “The money is a means to an end, and if they don’t have the end, then they’re more likely to buy a couple cars and try to get a great concert done by some Bieber.”
And lo, how many poor (now literally) saps have squandered their millions.
UK lotto winner Michael Carroll spent his £9.7 million in just eight years, spending millions on friends and thousands on drugs. By the end of 2003, he had a £2,000-a-day crack cocaine addiction, and spent his time with thousands (his figure) of prostitutes, sometimes engaging the services of four in a day. His wife eventually left him and took their daughter with her.
Then there are those with good intentions and terrible outcomes: $18-million jackpot winner Janite Lee used the money to construct a nondenominational church, a reading room at Washington University, and donated money to the Democratic National Convention. Her investments, however, never provided a good enough return and she was a big gambler. Lee filed for bankruptcy four years later.
Evelyn Adams was struck by lighting twice. She won the New Jersey lottery in both 1985 and 1986, winning some $5.4 million. She gambled her money away at slot machines in Atlantic City.
And then there’s Jack.
West Virginia’s Jack Whittaker won a $315 million Powerball in 2002, but he probably wasn’t suited for the astronomical win. He drank his money and threw much of it to strippers. Worse, perhaps, he spoiled his 17-year-old granddaughter with cars, jewels, and cash. She took over his fortune, spending thousands on shopping sprees (as any 17-year-old girl would given unlimited expenses), planes to Vegas, gifts for boyfriends, and finally, a whole lot of crack cocaine.
Her grandfather, meanwhile, was becoming a monster in his own right because of the money, once asking an area woman to dance around in her panties for $10,000. (She declined, god bless her.) And just two years after winning the Powerball, Whittaker’s granddaughter was found dead of an overdose. “I wish we had torn the [lottery] ticket up,” he said.
It’s not just lottery winners that find themselves bankrupt after years of overwhelming wealth. Sports stars face a jarring reality after they, and those million-dollar paycheques, retire from the game.
Evander Holyfield lost most of his millions (along with a piece of his ear, of course) in casinos, bad investments, expensive lawsuits, and child support to the 11 children he has by five different women.
NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is broke and sick, so say his attorneys, and can’t take care of himself never mind maintain the living expenses of his ex-wives. As of March 1, Rodman owes more than $800,000 in back child support for two of his children. He’s now branching out to make more money, like that children’s book he wrote earlier this year.
Most recently, hot-headed NBA-er Allen Iverson lost his home to foreclosure and is short on cash in spite of that $250 million he’s earned in salary and endorsements.
So what’s a poor lottery winner to do? Get someone smarter than you to plan your money. Greg Pollock, the president and CEO of Advocis, The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, says that all lottery winners should find the right financial advisor for them. “We have people who have a fair amount of resources all of a sudden and what advisors can do is assist in planning how best to use these funds over both the immediate term, the mid-term, and the long term,” he says. “Your advisor is like your personal trainer who you’re accountable to for your financial fitness.”
Even the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation thinks you should find yourself a financial advisor just in case. “Savvy financial planning, whether you’ve won $100,000 or $50 million, is really going to be the key for this chance to enhance your life,” says Sarah Kiriliuk, OLG spokesperson. “You need to get some financial education.”
So if there’s anything you can learn from the mistakes of lotto winners past, it’s to know that your fortunes won’t last forever. You just might be better off living on a budget.