Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

marketwatch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 262 posts

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

#111

Post by throwaway58483 »

vymague wrote: post #91
throwaway58483 wrote: post #29

~$11 million from a whistleblower reward. Similar in some ways to winning the lottery, but there was no way to avoid some friends and family finding out. E.g. a friend and my dad helped edit my award claim submission. I moved to a new city, kept it private, eventually told a couple new friends. Some people treat you the same, some people treat you differently (in a bad way, like another commenter mentioned). So it's…

Obvious question, the people you blew the whistle on didn't hire people to track and harass you? Or worse.

They did. I got a Belgian Malinois and a concealed carry permit.

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

#112

Post by silicon2401 »

> ‘I have not donated money to anyone or any organization. I also do not believe in loaning money to friends and relatives, no matter what’

Smart man. He did the right thing and I would gladly do the same in exchange for that kind of money any day of the week. Ironically, the idealists who don't understand the risks of letting people know how much money you have are also the ones who will suffer the most when they hear people's sob stories about why they need $X or why things are so hard from them; so they have even more reason not to publicize their wealth.

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

#113

Post by adventured »

bostonsre wrote: post #43
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).

What if they are struggling with money issues and you want to help them? Or what if they are struggling with money issues in silence and you don't know about it? Also... what if they find out about it later and you never told them? Wouldn't they think that you are a selfish doosh?

> Wouldn't they think that you are a selfish doosh

I never cease to be amazed at how terrified people commonly are of trivial confrontation and worthless opinions.

A life spent placating other people to live by their low value opinions, will be a life very poorly lived. Rather than spending the effort on fretting about their low value opinions, that effort should go into mentally reducing the incorrect value being placed on said opinions.

People twist themselves into grotesque knots living under the unreasonable expectations of others, even living under the fantay projection opinions of those people (thoughts/opinions they don't even know to be the case, just things they fear may be the case), even when they quietly don't care about the person/s.

The sister in this story for example, she can go right fuck off. This guy wins $55m and is terrified of his own shadow, can't even deal with the sister (who he doesn't like at all, has zero interest in speaking to) he's afraid will demand that he donate half his wealth to her church. It's unbelievable behavior.

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

#114

Post by version_five »

TheMerovingian wrote: post #67
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 don't think you need to win the lottery to be in this situation. Imagine having a cushy job in a FAANG company, where your base salary is probably more than what your parents make combined. It is in my case. I made the mistake of telling them (roughly) what I earn and it definitely has changed the way they interact with me. I get remarks about my 'wealth' and that I can easily drop $10K on something frivolous. I ge…

What you describe is true of many successes I find. Lots of people look at it as if you got some unfair or lucky break. Maybe that is true for the lottery, but for things like good grades, good job, wealth, or even access to leisure time (for example having time to exercise), many get defensive instead of being happy for the success. I've done it to, to some extent it's human nature, but it's something to try and avoid.

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

#116

Post by DamnYuppie »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #66
bostonsre wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if they are struggling with money issues and you want to help them? Or what if they are struggling with money issues in silence and you don't know about it? Also... what if they find out about it later and you never told them? Wouldn't they think that you are a selfish doosh?

What if their money issues are their own doing (they live way above their means)? If you give them money, you're an enabler.

Not sure why this is getting down voted. Most people who have money problems have them because of their own behaviors. I agree giving money to someone who is bad with money doesn't really help them it only wastes your money.

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

#117

Post by tehjoker »

throwaway210222 wrote: post #72
technothrasher wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> why do I want to pay off my house? Because its the poor-man's version of F-You money. It instantly and dramatically lowers the monthly takings to have to make to keep your household going, and noticeably shifts the balance of power in all financial negotiations in your favour. Try it. Trust me.

It's kinda crazy that people think you can only get this by being rich. Why don't we just eliminate the market in housing and make it super cheap to live? We have more houses than people.

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

#118

Post by ineedasername »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #66
bostonsre wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if they are struggling with money issues and you want to help them? Or what if they are struggling with money issues in silence and you don't know about it? Also... what if they find out about it later and you never told them? Wouldn't they think that you are a selfish doosh?

What if their money issues are their own doing (they live way above their means)? If you give them money, you're an enabler.

What if they're not? It seems like the type of thing that requires individual judgement instead of a flat rule.

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

#119

Post by ChefboyOG »

edgyquant wrote: post #110
mbesto wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Word of advice: don't tell your family how much you make either. YMMV. I don't have any immediate family members who are at risk for monetary issues (luckily) and I have not had any issues with them knowing how much I earn. I'm also lucky that my family has been taught the value of a dollar since I was little. Not everyone has that advantage so I can definitely see why the default advice should be "don't tell them"…

Yeah I told my parents when I started making six figures and the only thing that changed was now my dad doesn’t pay for all my food when I’m visiting.

Which, admittedly, is a real loss.

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

#120

Post by DonHopkins »

Hamuko wrote: post #56
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…

Unless his parents were about to be evicted due to payment delinquencies, why would he need to give or lend them money?

And until such a time, he can at least give his parents the gift of not asking them for money.
Post reply on HN