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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

#171

Post by csa »

shellfishgene wrote: post #132
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…

I’ve heard lots of stories like this from folks who married into Filipino families.

The general idea I get is that the money of the extended family is considered accessible (at least to some extent) by the entire pool. This seems especially true for medical expenses, but also seems true for “investments”.

The boundaries seem really unhealthy to me, but I’m not part of that culture, so I don’t know how it really works (esp. for families with wealth disparities).

One “feel good” story I have heard was when a friend of mine flew from the US to the Philippines with a large sum of cash that paid for a life-saving surgery for grandmother (had to pay in advance).

I’d love to hear other stories.

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

#172

Post by brokeAF »

I made 25m with crypto over the last 10 years. Never told anyone, not my friends, not my gf, not my family. Half a year ago I quit my job and now everyone thinks I am unemployed. How to stop my friends sending me job offers for full-time php developement?

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

#173

Post by alecst »

andi999 wrote: post #149
alecst wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Therefore he should not donate any? I don't see where to go from this position.

Everybody can choose to donate, nobody should donate (otherwise it is also not really a donation if you should). Singling out rich guys to donate who do not donate could actually be counterproductive (since people just feel the responsibility lies with the rich guys). Encouraging everybody to donate small amounts of money might lead to a better outcome.

I don't really see how that adds up. In order to collect $50B, everyone in the US would need to donate about $150. Or, Jeff Bezos could liquidate a 1/3 of his net worth. A bit exaggerated, and a bit of a cartoon, but you get the point.

Plus, the utility of an extra billion dollars to a billionaire is basically zero. Fight me if you disagree.

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

#174

Post by tasty_freeze »

silicon2401 wrote: post #87
jnwatson wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Po…

Funny how Peter Singer condemns comfort while living comfortably enough to have the time to write and publish a dozen books [1]. That time could've really helped a lot of people. Wonder what his thoughts on hypocrisy are. For me, other people's problems aren't my problem. If I won a billion dollars I'd probably donate to things generously out of mild interest in trying to make the world more to my liking, but that's…

He donates about 30% of his income. He freely admits he still lives comfortably. Would you have a higher opinion of him if he didn't donate any money instead of "only" 30%?

Peter Singer doesn't claim to be a martyr. I'm not sure where you get that. He is a philosopher/ethicist -- it is his job to think about moral issues and present his conclusions, right or wrong.

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

#175

Post by WalterBright »

ghaff wrote: post #166
WalterBright wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The S&P 500 is certainly more diversified than individual stocks. But it's still only the largest US companies. By itself, it's only a somewhat diversified portfolio.

There are plenty of other index funds for whatever floats your boat. Even real estate funds. There's no problem being diversified.

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

#176

Post by ibaikov »

adventured wrote: post #53
ibaikov wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> funding startups that are not attractive to traditional investors It's a great way to lose a lot of money. It's why venture capitalists prefer to play with other people's money. You better absolutely love playing god with start-ups, because there is a hellish nightmare that can go with allocating capital to high-risk new businesses, tracking everything, being responsible for it, enforcing legal agreements, dealing…

Exactly, so if people don't really care about being rich - they might do this like some sort of charity. I understand there are lots of charlatans and con artists, but I think basically giving away money this way is a good way to make progress in research etc as a civilization. We need to fund boring stuff and randomly give money to people who can't raise from VCs.

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

#177

Post by stickfigure »

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."

> Or donating a penny of it?

He's 67. If he's incredibly lucky, he'll have another 30 years to enjoy it. He has no kids.

I don't see anything wrong with donating it at/near death rather than now. We are not morally obliged to live the life of an ascetic.

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

#178

Post by yupper32 »

allsmjio wrote: post #168
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They’re just nitpicking the unimportant bits while unwittingly(?) agreeing with the important bits (and adding some silliness of his own). But somehow that sort of smug contrarianism attracts this sort of self-congratulatory back rub about how “we” on hackernews are so much more enlightened than the blue forum’s masses…thus fulfilling the “normal level of dumbness” for an Orange Subreddit thread.

I'm not nitpicking the unimportant bits. Half the thread is telling people why they're fucked (No really. You are. You're fucked.), and then using incorrect statistics and a long anecdote to back up their claim.

I am not making any claims on the dumbness on either platform, though.

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

#179

Post by zsmi »

WalterBright wrote: post #139
zsmi wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Unless of course you invested in 2016 and it's Mar 2020 and it turns out you need the money now. You'll have no gain and fours years lost.

Diversification: It's All About (Asset) Class

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/08/as...

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

#180

Post by throwaway0a5e »

allsmjio wrote: post #168
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They’re just nitpicking the unimportant bits while unwittingly(?) agreeing with the important bits (and adding some silliness of his own). But somehow that sort of smug contrarianism attracts this sort of self-congratulatory back rub about how “we” on hackernews are so much more enlightened than the blue forum’s masses…thus fulfilling the “normal level of dumbness” for an Orange Subreddit thread.

I never said it's any better here. All these "cram a bunch of disparate interest in one place" platforms are crap when it comes to discussion quality as far as I'm concerned. You want good discussion on a topic you gotta go where only the people who do that topic are and everyone else isn't.
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