Lottery winners' good luck can go bad fast

[Ouchyfish]

By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY

Eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant who won the $365 million Powerball jackpot last week may want to take heed of the downside of such good fortune.

Not that anyone would turn down such a windfall, but other heavenly jackpots did not lead to paradise. Some big winners have filed for bankruptcy within a few years, been attacked by family members and been besieged by requests from people they didn't know.

Steve Granger, 53, of Henderson, N.C., won $900,000 in the West Virginia Lottery in September. He received about $600,000 after taxes and put most of it away for his and his wife's retirement. But he says there have been unpleasant moments.

"All of a sudden everybody knows your business, everybody knows what you have," Granger says.

At a party recently, Granger heard someone say in an ugly tone, "There go those lottery people," as he and his wife passed by. A man he hardly knew asked him to invest in a gold mine. "I went through a phase where everybody was grabbing me thinking I was going to give them luck," he says.

Within days of winning a $41 million share of a Powerball jackpot in 2001, Patricia and Erwin Wales of Buxton, Maine, were sued by co-workers who claimed to be co-winners. The lawsuit was dropped, but lawyer Terrance Garney said a new beginning for the clerk and the lawn-maintenance man was "not an easy transition." The Waleses were beset with requests by friends they didn't know they had and by investment companies who wanted to handle their money.

They hired a team of lawyers to help them, and set aside $5 million for a non-profit charitable foundation that contributed $263,000 in 2005 to community and religious causes in and near Buxton.

Others have had difficulty with easy money:

• William "Bud" Post, who won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery in 1988, had a brother who tried to have him killed for the inheritance. Post lost and spent all his winnings. He was living off Social Security when he died in January.

• Two years after winning a $31 million Texas Lottery in 1997, Billie Bob Harrell Jr. committed suicide. He had bought cars, real estate, gave money to his family, church and friends. After his death it was not clear whether there was money left for estate taxes.

• Victoria Zell, who shared an $11 million Powerball jackpot with her husband in 2001, is serving time in a Minnesota prison, her money gone. Zell was convicted in March 2005 in a drug- and alcohol-induced collision that killed one person and paralyzed another.

• Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey Lottery twice, in 1985 and 1986, for a total $5.4 million, gambled and gave away all of her money. She was poor by 2001, and living in a trailer.

Gerry Beyer, who teaches estate law at Texas Tech University, has written about people who come into sudden wealth - such as lottery winners, sports figures, actors and actresses - and how they end up losing it. Many don't realize that if they spend their money, rather than investing and living off the earnings, "there's nothing to replace it," Beyer says.

Under an investment plan, the Nebraska Powerball winners' $15.5 million, after accepting the lump sum and paying taxes, could produce a yearly income of about $500,000 a year.

[Maeya]

Under an investment plan, the Nebraska Powerball winners' $15.5 million, after accepting the lump sum and paying taxes, could produce a yearly income of about $500,000 a year.

Holy shit - the $365 Million was reduced to 15.5 after taxes and a lump sum? What the fuck..

[Zanchief]

It was split by a bunch of people.

[Martrae]

Winning the lottery does you no good if you don't know how to manage your money.

[Tacks]

Thanks captain obvious.

[Martrae]

Apparently, a lot of previous winners didn't know that, so it's not so obvious.

[Tikker]

There's a guy who won one of the early lotteries here (back when winning $1 million+ was AMAZING) and had blown all the money within 4 months, and lost everything by 8 months

it was kind of hilarious

the 1st week he got his check he'd bought a Viper, a Corvette, and was building a new house (which he never got to move into, jeje)

[Lyion]

Sadly, the lotteries seem to be mostly won by elderly people, who take the lump sum, pay half to Uncle Sam, die, then pay another huge lump of inheritance tax to the U.S. Gubbermint before the remainder goes to televangelist Dave and his secret girlsgonewild website endeavor or to the National Chihuahau rescue society, which amazingly is also run by Pastor Dave who again funnels it to his secret internet pr0n endeavor.

p.s. If you win millions, you don't have to manage your money. Just not be a complete retard in regards to understanding the value of a dollar.

[Tikker]

the temptation to blow it is what undoes most people I think


the way I look at it, for every Million bucks, you can stick it in the bank, and earn $50k interest per year

10 million bucks would make me a happy camper

250-500k per year, and never touch the principal~

[Jay]

People who are rich incur upkeep costs and if it's not managed properly it eats away at their total worth. MC Hammer, prime example. His expenditures were estimated to be like 80k a week, not to mention the big stuff he bought. This man made over 100 million net and went bankrupt.

[Ouchyfish]

That's what you get for requiring a "yes man" posse following you 24/7.

[DangerPaul]

Articles like this annoy me, what about the 100+ other lottery winners for the last 15+ years. Oh noes!!!!! we the media have to focus on all the negative, why don't they go cover a child raping pit bull eating incident and stfu.

[Eldred]

Paying others to wipe your ass for you isn't a sound investment choice.

[Ouchyfish]

Articles like this annoy me, what about the 100+ other lottery winners for the last 15+ years. Oh noes!!!!! we the media have to focus on all the negative, why don't they go cover a child raping pit bull eating incident and stfu.

Because 100 successful lottery winners isn't half as newsworthy as the 10 shleps that fucked up. It brings comfort to a lot of sadistic folks to see them fall. America eats it up.

That's why COPS was such a successful show.

[araby]

I hate how people talk of managing money like it's some really well-kept secret. At least it seems that way..especially growing up. My parents and grandparents would talk about money but never really taught me very much about it and my habits are horrible. I've never gotten a great lesson on how to manage money-and I would have liked to

[Ouchyfish]

What's so complicated about setting a budget, setting priorities and sticking to them like a responsible adult?


It boils down to maturity and common sense.



I think our biggest problem is that our government sets a terrible example of money management..lol

[araby]

Listen, think about all the people sorina says works for Walmart. These people and others make up for the low-income communities, schools and do not go to college. when I went to high school, noone taught me about credit, and niether did my family...for some reason I was never taught how to manage money or understand the importance. I've been learning the hard way =\

You think I'm joking, or perhaps poor/uneducated/slut, but I'm only a slut I honestly had no idea what credit was, or how I could ruin it, or how long that would matter, and what money/credit means to you as an adult...you get it. My family was very middle-class, I'm not rich but I'm not poor. I'm not well-educated, heh, but I'm smart. My family values are strong, yet I missed the lesson on money.

I imagine many of the folks at walmart probaby did too...just saying that it should be taught. early. and yah, the government. All things always seem to lead to education. except abortion. even that...haha!

[dammuzis]

they are too busy teaching how to feel good about yourself in school instead of teaching important things like managing your finances

its turns out pretty easy
get your money after taxes
sub your reoccuring bills (rent etc)
sub your credit (pay off the highest interest first)
sub 20-30% for investing
party with rest

[Ouchyfish]

Listen, think about all the people sorina says works for Walmart. These people and others make up for the low-income communities, schools and do not go to college. when I went to high school, noone taught me about credit, and niether did my family...for some reason I was never taught how to manage money or understand the importance. I've been learning the hard way =\

You think I'm joking, or perhaps poor/uneducated/slut, but I'm only a slut I honestly had no idea what credit was, or how I could ruin it, or how long that would matter, and what money/credit means to you as an adult...you get it. My family was very middle-class, I'm not rich but I'm not poor. I'm not well-educated, heh, but I'm smart. My family values are strong, yet I missed the lesson on money.

I imagine many of the folks at walmart probaby did too...just saying that it should be taught. early. and yah, the government. All things always seem to lead to education. except abortion. even that...haha!

Sorry-didn't mean it directed at you personally, just everyone in general..=)

[Gaazy]

that Whittaker guy from here in WV won the biggest powerball jackpot (i THINK it was th ebiggest, it was at least a few hundred mil) a while back, i guess it has been a few years ago. Now he has almost spent it all, has nothing to show for it, and his daughter OD'd on oxy (aka hillbilly heroin) all within a few years. What a piece of shit.

Lol right after he won he was at some titty bar I used to go too right beside the dogtrack and oen night I left the track and was on my way home an dsaw a bunch of lights and shit, but had no clue what was goin on. Turns out, some stripper has conned him into going out to his car to give him head or somethin, where there was some guys waitin that tried to kill him and took all the money he had on him. He had a fucking briefcase with millions in it. What a fucking genius

[Diekan]

Well there's an old saying that goes something like "Take away a millionare's money, take a poor person - give them both a million dollars and in ten years the millionare will still be rich while the poor person will be poor again."

[Ouchyfish]

but it has to be your cow