What you should never do if you win the lottery? 10 things to remember.
Source: TopLists – YouTube
Most of us would love to win the lottery. The odds are stacked hopelessly against us, to the point that it’s hardly worth buying a ticket, unless it’s simply considered entertainment. Still, some people have beaten the odds and won massive jackpots. But many of these winners have ended up looking more cursed than blessed. 4 out of every 10 lottery winners aren’t any happier than they were before they won the lottery. Lottery winners are actually more likely to file for bankruptcy than the average person, and are more likely to develop a drug addiction. If you win the lottery, you’re more likely to end up divorced, and even more likely to end up dead. To help you succeed where others have failed, we’ve compiled a list of 10 things you should never do under any circumstances if you win the lottery.
Number 10. You should never keep any illegal substances inside your home.
Or, you could end up like a North Carolina woman who won a staggering $188 million Powerball jackpot. When local police showed up to arrest her roommate for violating the terms of his parole, the officers believed they smelled pot. They obtained a search warrant and found marijuana and paraphernalia in the house. The 26-year-old mother of four was cited and arrested for possession. It proves that even if you’re lucky, you’re not above the law.
Number 9. When you win the lottery you should never throw your lottery ticket into the trash.
Or, you could end up like one Massachusetts couple who threw away a million dollar winning lottery ticket. While the two realized their mistake and dug their ticket out of the garbage, you may not be so lucky. So it goes without saying, keep track of your winning lottery ticket.
Number 8. What you should never do after you win the lottery? Never tell to everyone you know that you have won big in lottery!
If you win millions of dollars, most people immediately feel the urge to brag to every last person they know. The trouble is that telling everyone you know before you collect your winnings puts you in danger, and in more ways than just one. Lottery winners have ended up kidnapped, flooded with emails and phone calls, begging for cash, scammed, and even murdered.
Number 7. You should never give your winning lottery ticket to someone else to redeem for you.
Sometimes people can be too trusting, even if the stakes involved hundreds of millions of dollars. So this is when an undocumented immigrant in Georgia gave his winning lottery ticket to his boss with the promise that they would split the cash. Instead though, his employer took the money and ran.
Number 6. Never bring your lottery winnings to a strip club.
If you try this, you could end up just like Jack Whitaker. He brought a half a million dollars to a strip club and was robbed of $545,000 the same strip club.
Number 5. After you win the lottery, you should never believing that you are the best person to manage assets worth millions of dollars.
If you go from living a paycheck to paycheck to a multimillionaire, does it seem likely that you will know the best things to invest in, and the best financial planning strategies? Some lottery winners have taken investment advice from naive relatives and their friends, who are both unlikely financial experts. Many lottery winners who took their financial matters into their own hands ended up in bankruptcy as a reward for their initiative.
Number 4. You should never assume that you’re a genius at business. Especially after winning the lottery.
Chances are, that if you hadn’t started any businesses before you bought a winning lottery ticket, it probably hadn’t already started one for good reasons. For instance, Ken Proxmire, a tool grinder from Michigan, won $1 million in the 1977 Michigan lottery. He used his winnings to indulge his inner entrepreneur. He opened up a chain of stores with his winnings. Several years later, his business failed, and Proxmire was left with $100,000 in debt.
Number 3. You should never forget to pay your taxes on your lottery winnings.
In the United States, your lottery winnings are taxable, but for some lottery winners, taxes are just too much of a bother. For instance, one man in Pennsylvania ended up in prison after trying to avoid paying taxes on his lottery winnings. This probably doesn’t need to be said, but pay your taxes.
Number 2. If you win the lottery, you should never give all of your winnings away.
The worst example of this is probably the wig maker, Janet Lee, who blew her fortune on charity and political donations. Her lottery winnings bought her a reading room named after her at Washington University’s law school, and millions of dollars in contributions to the Democratic Party. Eventually, after a decade long generosity spree, she filed for bankruptcy.
What is the number one thing, which you should never do after you win the lottery?
You should never spend all of your lottery winnings!
By far, the biggest downfall of lottery winners comes from simply spending. They often quit their jobs, and don’t use their money to bring any meaningful investment income. Instead, they go on spending sprees, which will inevitably drain every last penny of their winnings, and put them back to square one.
