It's fun to fantasize about winning the lotto. And it's even more fun to dream about spending the jackpot. Some of us imagine driving that brand new Lamborghini off the lot or decorating our French villa. But if you've ever caught an episode of TLC's show The Lottery Changed My Life, you know that winning big can come with a cost. Falling into wealth can split families, destroy friendships and actually push people faster into debt. If you're hoping to strike it rich one day, take this advice from someone who has been through it.
Tom Wright won more than most of us make in a year by playing the lottery. He cashed in a $200,000 Powerball prize. But now his windfall is 
gone and he's learned financial lessons that may have been nice to know before taking his lucky prize. But the entire experience better prepared him to teach others how to be successful with money and in life, something he does at OnePennyMillionaire.com.
UC: What was your biggest financial blunder, post-Lotto winning?
Tom Wright: I didn’t really have any what you would call big “blunders” because I invested in a new home, and some investments. But the thing is, for all other expenditures, I could have done things differently, for instance, for whatever I spent money on, instead of just spending it, I could have invested, and then spent the dividends, which is how the rich stay rich. Instead, I just spent the money, because after all “that’s what it’s for.”
UC: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you first won?
Tom Wright: Spend dividends, not capital. That’s how you stay rich.
UC: What are your plans (investment strategies) for growing your money?
Tom Wright:It’s gone. And that’s fine. I am back to my old lifestyle, working to achieve more windfall but in more ways than one this time.
UC: How have they changed from before you won?
Tom Wright:Yes, as a matter of fact, my plans are larger than they were before. I have seen what a windfall can do and I like it!
UC: Has winning the Lotto changed your outlook on money and on life?
Tom Wright: Yes, in that I feel now that money is easier to come by than I ever did before. And in feeling that way, it is much more that way at times.
UC: Did you get bombarded from family/friends looking for handouts?
Tom Wright: The only person who asked for a handout was a stranger, and I didn’t even know him, so I said no.
And what about those lotto winners who strike it really big? Robert Uomini won a $22 million jackpot back in 1995 and offered this advice to future lotto winners at SFGate.com: "Change your phone number." That's what he did after receiving calls from not one, but two ex-girlfriends who were apparently hoping to cash in on his new wealth. Uomini's prize boiled down to $7 million after taxes money he spent partially on a gift to the University of California at Berkeley, a new Volvo and a pair of diamond earrings for his wife. He and his wife did end up divorcing, a split caused in part by the lottery win. But that hasn't stopped him from continuing to play the lottery because, after all, it's still fun to dream about winning big.
Feature Photo Credit, Photo 1 Credit, Photo 2 Credit
2 Responses to “Financial Lessons from Real Lotto Winners”
it seems a lot of Lotto winners that hit it big always have trouble keeping the money and don't understand the choices that you make now with the money effect your future fortunes.
I read a report that said that up to 80% of jackpot winners were believed to have lost all the money within 5 years. People think that having a pile of cash is what makes you rich, but it isn't... it is being "profitable". The lottery winners are still the same creatures of habit they were before they won, and so they continue to spend what they have until it is gone, if that was their tendency - only on a bigger scale.