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

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

#131

Post by barnesto » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

alecst wrote: post #14

philwelch wrote: post #2

Classic Reddit thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_... > Congratulations! You just won millions of dollars in the lottery! That's great. > Now you're fucked. > No really. > You are. > You're fucked. This guy did exactly the right thing.

It's such a low bar to pass. The guy in the article is 67, makes 1MM+ in interest a year, and won't even consider telling his friends or family? Or donating a penny of it? Is there not room for a middle ground here? What about: "Hey, I made a million bucks in the lottery/stocks/crypto. I heard you're having a tough time, take this -- you don't owe me anything. Wishing you well, -Dave."

What Dave does with his money is none of your concern. But since he put it out in the public, you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

You see, that's the point of not telling anyone. Everyone has an opinion and once they know a little something about anything they want to share it. Most of those opinions are how to separate Dave from his money. Nobody needs that in their lives. Not Dave. Not anyone. He was right to keep quite and it looks like he had good reason to keep it quite in the first place. How you feel about finding a middle ground is the problem Dave was looking to avoid. See my first sentence.

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

#132

Post by shellfishgene » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

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).

Reminds me of the Filipino maid friends living in the middle east had working for them. The pay included airfare for going home for a few weeks once a year, but somehow she always declined and rather wanted to go on holiday with her employers (and the kids, so not really a holiday for her). After 3 years they finally found out she actually really wanted to go home and see friends and family again. However she was so scared her family would guilt her into giving them all the money she had earned abroad, and making her dreams of what she would do with it impossible, she could never bring herself to book the ticket.

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

#133

Post by ghaff » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

MattGaiser wrote: post #45

ghaff wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably depends where you are in life, how much money, your relationship to family, how comfortable they are, etc. Certainly seemed like the right call in this case. On the other hand, if your family is comfortable, this happens to you when you're 35 and want to retire and travel the world at least for a while, it's probably hard to deny that you had some sort of real financial windfall.

Say you became a consultant.

In technology or really professional fields more broadly, saying you're a consultant is probably the best way to obfuscate a lot of travel, sort of vague job duties, etc. especially with friends and family who never really understood what you were paid for anyway.

Now, it will presumably be obvious that you now are comfortably well off but, so long as you don't buy that penthouse suite in Manhattan, they don't need to know how well off you are.

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

#134

Post by bittercynic » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

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.

Not only that, but it is an unusually safe place to put money. If you have to go bankrupt, most other assets can be taken away from you, but the house you live in is usually safe.

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

#135

Post by bellyfullofbac » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

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?

Man, if I won that kind of money I'd treat my parents to crazy stuff like a nice classic car or a trip around the world... and I'm not even that close to them.

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

#136

Post by throwaway0a5e » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

yupper32 wrote: post #94

philwelch wrote: post #2

Classic Reddit thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_... > Congratulations! You just won millions of dollars in the lottery! That's great. > Now you're fucked. > No really. > You are. > You're fucked. This guy did exactly the right thing.

That thread is really dumb. You can't just throw stuff out there like "You're 20x more likely to die of homicide!" and expect to be taken seriously. 1. The demographic that is likely to win lotteries might already be more likely to die of homicide (or become bankrupt, etc) than the general population. 2. Throwing large multiples out sounds flashy, but it doesn't mean much if the probability was already extremely low.…

That thread isn't particularly dumb. It's a completely normal level of dumbness for a reddit thread. You just happened to be able to smell the bullshit because you approached the topic in question with a critical eye.

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

#137

Post by cymon » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

I would prefer a normal family and friends plus a comfortable $1m networth (am working towards it) over $55m plus not liking everyone in my circles. Money can only go so far, with $1m I can travel the world with my family or friend and share stories and experiences with them, and that is good enough for me..

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

#138

Post by m3kw9 » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:57 PM UTC

Usually this would happen with lottery winners because ppl know it was made from stoke of pure luck so they feel giving them a little is fair. He’s right in not telling anyone. Most people know rich people but they don’t go up to them easily asking for hand outs because they know they don’t deserve their hard work.

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

#139

Post by WalterBright » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:57 PM UTC

zsmi wrote: post #58

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.

The super wealthy keep their money tied up in lots of things, including real estate. It's called diversity and investing in lots of things is significantly easier when you're... super wealthy.

If you invest in an S&P 500 index fund, you're diversified into 500 companies. Very easy to do.

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

#140

Post by ascar » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 5:57 PM UTC

lucasmullens wrote: post #49

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.

> By far the most satisfying part was buying a house each for my friends and family. How did you decide who made the cut-off of being a "friend"? Seems like every acquaintance you ever had would suddenly become a fake friend if you were giving away free houses, no? Genuinely curious what that was like.

Isn't that easily solved by only including the friends you had before the windfall? I certainly know who I would pick for my best men and that's the same people that I would consider in a situation like that.