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I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

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Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#31

Post by Jxl180 »

post_break wrote: post #7

This is the right thing to do if you want to keep it and stay sane. If I won I'd delete all social networking, change my phone number, set up an LLC and make purchases through that. The quote of "I know that my parents would not have asked for a thing, but my sister would have told me to donate half to her church" makes my stomach turn.

Setting up an LLC to be used as your personal incognito identity is definitely illegal. LLCs are meant to be for operating a legitimate business, not a second personal identity.

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#32

Post by hanniabu »

jkereako wrote: post #26
thepasswordis wrote: post #9

Not that much, but I did make a ton of money in crypto. Similar thing: bought a house, also bought myself a nice car. I didn't tell any of my friends, but did mistakenly tell one of my parents, who then felt it necessary to share this information with the rest of my family. If you make a bunch of money: I would highly recommend not telling people. The will treat you differently (not in a good way).

I’ve wondered about this: when someone comes into a windfall and their loved ones see them differently, are they really different or is the person seeing them exactly as they are?

Best to not tell them and let them decide.

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#33

Post by jnwatson »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #6
jnwatson wrote: post #3

Other than not donating any of it, he made the right call. The fact that the winner still has the money after 10 years is evidence he took the correct course.

I would not consider not donating to be wrong, or donating to necessarily be right.

Bioethicist/philosopher Peter Singer disagrees.

"if you are living comfortably while others are hungry or dying from easily preventable diseases, and you are doing nothing about it, there is something wrong with your behavior." [1]

I'm inclined to agree with him. This is my current moral quandry, since my income is about to dramatically increase.

I'm looking for a new car. I can pay in cash. I could pay $90K for a Porsche, or $20K for a used Honda and donate $70K to Doctors without Borders. (I don't drive much, so the difference in environmental impact is negligible.)

This is not theoretical. People in Haiti are dying just 1400 miles away, and $70K could really help.

1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/charity/duty_1.shtml

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#35

Post by dougmwne »

jnwatson wrote: post #3

Other than not donating any of it, he made the right call. The fact that the winner still has the money after 10 years is evidence he took the correct course.

I have worked in the nonprofit industry for 10 years. People with money have no moral obligation to give me money. The way the organizations I work with spend the money is about what you would expect for a business with no real economic incentive to be efficient or solve the advertised problem. Lots of politics, lots of waste, lots of egos.

I will never steward your life savings to improve the world as well as you would have stewarded it yourself. If you have resources and want to "give back" find ways to give back to the people and community around you. You can't outsource your goodness to some else.

There are good organizations out there of course. If you are in a position to give a large gift to a nonprofit, please do your research and use the principals of effective philanthropy.

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#36

Post by hurricanesugar »

Disclosing these details to a popular blog seems to go against principles that keep him anonymous. My curiosity wonders which of the details ($55M, California, “sister”) are actually true or skewed to sustain his anonymity.

Tip of the hat to him for going 10 years(!!!) without telling anyone he won the lottery.

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#37

Post by thrill »

donmcronald wrote: post #16

> I also do not believe in loaning money to friends and relatives, no matter what. This guy sounds like a special kind of asshole. Who wins $55 million dollars and thinks about “loaning” money to their parents? Lol. I get why you wouldn’t want to tell anyone you won the lotto, but you can tell a little white lie and claim to be doing well career wise so you have an excuse to give your parents some money. This guy wan…

Low-Key's sister, is this you?

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#38

Post by jessaustin »

ibaikov wrote: post #11
42069 wrote: post #5

I made ~50 million in crypto. By far the most satisfying part was buying a house each for my friends and family. Having a paid off house is really a massive stress reducer for most people which imho gives you the 90% of the financial freedom of being super wealthy.

Wonder if people like you think about funding startups that are not attractive to traditional investors. I'm talking about funding outsiders with something that doesn't sound very exciting, but might work out

If this person wanted to hear about that sort of opportunity, they probably wouldn't have been so careful about secrecy.

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#39

Post by technothrasher »

42069 wrote: post #5

I made ~50 million in crypto. By far the most satisfying part was buying a house each for my friends and family. Having a paid off house is really a massive stress reducer for most people which imho gives you the 90% of the financial freedom of being super wealthy.

At my current ~2% mortgage interest rate, why do I want to pay off my house? I make more putting that money into investments returning me much better than that. I don't think the super wealthy keep their money needlessly tied up in real estate like that.

Re: I won over $55M in the lottery, but didn’t tell my friends or family

#40

Post by liquidise »

The friend/family perception is real and one thing, but really i think this silence creates yet more separation creating ever more loneliness.

Ultimately, my fear for lottery winners is akin to discovering cheat codes in early video games. Turning on "Infinite Money" in $GAME was great... until it quickly sucked all of the joy out of the game. The limited resource challenge disappeared. I don't know anyone who has won the lottery, but i'd be worried you risk creating that very same sentiment, except about life itself. Scary, should you not have another well-established and faithfully-held purpose.

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