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Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

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Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#51

Post by ReggieCommaRose »

BurningFrog wrote: post #39
ReggieCommaRose wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine a big part of lottery winners going bankrupt are due to lack of education and/or comfort in having that much money at once (after all, the vast vast vast majority of lottery players are lower middle class to poor). It sounds like the writer (somewhat ironically) came from money so she'll probably be aight.

Smart people don't play the lottery.

The state lottery specifically? Maybe? Though it could just be a case of the state lotteries not being targeted at the better off and better educated demographic. The lottery is also just so transparent. But I see very smart people gamble in games they don't understand well all the time. It's just fun sometimes.

The writer played a lottery, just a different kind.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#52

Post by bengale »

BurningFrog wrote: post #39
ReggieCommaRose wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine a big part of lottery winners going bankrupt are due to lack of education and/or comfort in having that much money at once (after all, the vast vast vast majority of lottery players are lower middle class to poor). It sounds like the writer (somewhat ironically) came from money so she'll probably be aight.

Smart people don't play the lottery.

This always feels like a laboured point. I play a line a week, I don't notice the £2, the lottery pays out a lot to different charities and one day if I'm very lucky I might get an email telling me I won some money. I'm sure there's worse places to lose a couple of quid.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#53

Post by tonyedgecombe »

blackoil wrote: post #34
Pelic4n wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worldwide median anual household income per capita is about $3000: https://news.gallup.com/poll/166211/worldwide-median-househo... Which means most humans won't make $200K in their entire lives. Considering that it's not a life changing amount of money just shows how the 1% has lost touch with reality.

Looking at everything as a global stat, also doesn't make any sense. If I spend a 100 USD on dinner, that is all earned/spent by me on my experience in my time-space bubble. Farmer in Africa on an orphan in Gaza wouldn't be directly impacted by that.

>Farmer in Africa on an orphan in Gaza wouldn't be directly impacted by that.

I think they probably would albeit in a small way. No doubt your dinner will include ingredients that are traded globally, cooked using energy and fuels bought in international markets, served by an immigrant from a poorer country, eaten using cutlery made in another. Driving your car to the restaurant will emit CO2 that is going to impact the poorest countries first.

For better or worse we live in a globalised world where commodities are freely traded and some people are inevitably outbid.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#54

Post by jsjsbdkj »

BurningFrog wrote: post #39
ReggieCommaRose wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine a big part of lottery winners going bankrupt are due to lack of education and/or comfort in having that much money at once (after all, the vast vast vast majority of lottery players are lower middle class to poor). It sounds like the writer (somewhat ironically) came from money so she'll probably be aight.

Smart people don't play the lottery.

This is extremely condescending. For someone with assets (retirement savings, a house, etc.) playing the lottery doesn't make sense - you could save that money and have a marginally better life just by investing it. For people on the other side of the financial divide, life is basically framed in terms of debt. They will never get on top of the student loans, medical debt, credit card debt, car payments, payday loans, etc. that are constantly draining any excess cash they have.

The lottery is one of the few ways they could escape this debt spiral - if they could get a positive bank balance, they could begin to accumulate assets. That's not to say most people are able to do it, because suddenly having a lot of cash without financial literacy is dangerous. There's also a strong impulse to help out the people around you, which is tough because if the money is spread too thin none of the beneficiaries escape the debt cycle, they just reduce their balances slightly and then continue sliding downwards.

All that to say, playing the lottery is not stupid, it's a rational response to a society that's designed to drain the wallets of the most vulnerable for the benefit of the wealthy.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#55

Post by arbol »

lnsru wrote: post #25

My dad came to 7 digit figures in his account twice. It wasn’t really easy money, he worked both times decade long for it to happen. Both times he wasted it. I guess, one needs a decent financial literacy to be able to control such amount of money. Both times he listened to some charlatans and invested into some weird shit. I don’t think he will make it for the 3rd time, but let’s see. On the other hand I could retir…

Retiring is not a thing you "do"really. You need to have other interests to keep yourself occupied and a good network of friends.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#56

Post by HappySweeney »

BurningFrog wrote: post #39
ReggieCommaRose wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine a big part of lottery winners going bankrupt are due to lack of education and/or comfort in having that much money at once (after all, the vast vast vast majority of lottery players are lower middle class to poor). It sounds like the writer (somewhat ironically) came from money so she'll probably be aight.

Smart people don't play the lottery.

I used to have a similar outlook (stating that lotteries are a tax on the mathematically illiterate), but now $3 for that small rush when I check the numbers is for sure worth it.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#58

Post by proto-n »

bengale wrote: post #52
BurningFrog wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smart people don't play the lottery.

This always feels like a laboured point. I play a line a week, I don't notice the £2, the lottery pays out a lot to different charities and one day if I'm very lucky I might get an email telling me I won some money. I'm sure there's worse places to lose a couple of quid.

Also, it's fun! I don't play often, but when I do, it's for the daydreaming and "what if"-s that comes with the experience.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#59

Post by no-s »

HappySweeney wrote: post #56
BurningFrog wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smart people don't play the lottery.

I used to have a similar outlook (stating that lotteries are a tax on the mathematically illiterate), but now $3 for that small rush when I check the numbers is for sure worth it.

> $3 for that small rush when I check the numbers is for sure worth it.

I used to enjoy drinking wine, a glass of red wine every day, but I had to cut way back to "occasional" due to health concerns. Lottery's way cheaper than wine, and I still get to enjoy a little creative musing when I imagine how I would spend my time after winning. I could imagine I bought the lottery ticket, but that would be like imagining I drank the wine, heheh.

When planning disaster recovery scenarios it's much friendlier to start with "$KeyEmployee has just won the lottery and gone full F*kTheWorld" instead of morbidly assigning HitByBus.

Re: Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire

#60

Post by listless »

jxidjhdhdhdhfhf wrote: post #14

This person sounds like she should take some of that money and spend it on therapy. Talking to someone would probably be better than this navel gazing and thought-spiraling.

The article struck me the same way. Instead of being thankful and thinking of all the ways that money could benefit herself, her family and they myriad of ways that she could alter the future in a positive way, she bemoans her situation. It certainly has whiffs of "I'm the victim here". I know culture encourages this, but I hope she's able to overcome it so she can find some peace and do some real good with what she's been given.
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