$10M lottery winner squanders fortune

The source said, "He had a golden opportunity to turn his life around — and then blew it. He took some bad advice from bad people and handed his money over too readily to them.

I would be out there knockin on those leeches doors for payback of money lent. If not paid back I would be knockin on their face.

Seems like everyone comes around asking money winners for investment money. About every lottery winner who went broke has the same tale of investment deals gone sour.

"He started off pretty good"?

The first thing he did was spend more than 10% on a house that undoubtedly required substantial annual upkeep, and another 2% on cars.  Giving money to his kids may or may not have been a smart thing, depending on how much, and whether or not he set up trusts, but that further reduced his principal, and therefore his future income. That doesn't sound good to me.

The $8 million or so he might have had left is a lot of money, but in a safe investment it may mean a pre-tax income of $400k, and an after tax income of under $300k. That's very comfortable, but it's not especially rich.

Sounds like he didn't know how to either say "no" or research these "investments" or didn't seek good advice from others and with only (yeah, only) $10 million he spent over1.2M/12% of it right away as well, it's no real wonder he went broke so quickly. Maybe he didn't need a home worth over a million dollars, yeah property and well everything else is more expensive there but still he was pretty much setting himself up from the start, I wonder how much the taxes alone were for the property. Then he became a jerk though he probably was one before hand.

It may just be because I'm not in the situation (but I've love to be just as everyone else would) but I can't imagine what I'd spend even a million dollars on, aside from buying or building a home that would be excessive or certain investments that don't include "suggestions" from others. I seriously thought about my "wants" and they wouldn't even total half that, including buying a new home that would fit me and a couple vehicles, I could even include an absurdity or two (like a $33,000 70 inch HDTV that won't even be worth a quarter of that in a couple years) and still not make it to a million or even 500K. Of course I say this now and if I did win (and promptly be on the recieving end of a series of lightning strikes) that could always change and I could end up being another example of what not to do.

The Daily Mail is a crappy UK tabloid that unfortunately several media companies in the US take seriously, so maybe the story isn't entirely accurate but anyway I don't feel the least bit sorry for him if this is all true or even the comments on him.... You know what they say about a fool and his money.

If what is said about him is true, then I reserve my sympathies for his family who is going to have to watch him go under.

Really, with all of the lottery failures it is hard to imagine any excuse a person would have for this type of conduct.  Professional financial advisors would not condone this type of wasteful, exorbitant, ignorant spending of money.  This man must have known, like many of us, that a win of millions of dollars will very likely be the only time a large windfall will fall upon us and it is a GREAT responsibility.

JAP, sometimes people lose because of greed but often it's believing that someone who tries to make a living by investing other people's money knows more than you do. 

I agree,

I know that he bought cars and did a lot of building.  But I figure you can't blow THAT much money doing it.  He had to be a "victum" of the investment slugs that seem to crawl from under ever rock after someone's lotto win.  Now THAT's a quick way to lose a fortune.  "Hey I got this wonderful idea that will double your $1,000,000 investment in just a few weeks!"  The right Salesperson can talk people into or out of anything.

No investing is the policy.  Just enjoy the winnings.  Say to the salespersons to first talk to my 3 lawyers. If they say yes then we chat.   That will scary them off.

Regarding my last comment and the ones that followed, keep in mind that there are a lot of honest people in sales, even car sales!  Calling all salespeople crooked is like saying school teachers or priests are pedophiles.  There are bad people in every profession.  Finding a good financial planner isn't much different than finding a good mechanic, except that fixing a car is something tangible.  If something is broken, you fix it.  But just the like lottery, guessing what might or might not happen in the future isn't a guarantee, even with a great system.  Remember 3 years ago when people were rushing to Florida to buy property? 

People need to take responsibility for their actions and learn the risks of investing when they have a lot of money.  I hate to judge this person, because the news isn't always accurate, and I wonder if his neighbors were jealous.  However, one thing this proves is why you need to (a) move and (b) remain anonymous.  I always think it's funny when a reporter on the TV news goes around to the neighbors and interviews them after an incident.  I mean, how much do you really know about your neighbors? 

I don't know about that.  Did he need a house that large (assuming he lived alone and was divorced) and you can only drive one vehicle at a time.

Just because you can afford something doesn't mean you should buy it.

Seems to me that a "smart cookie" would first and foremost see that his/her winnings were put into as secure and low-risk investments as possible. Then start thinking about what he/she wants to purchase.  And while purchasing, keep good records of what and how much you are spending....and what the motivation is for spending it.

squander is such an unrealistic terminolgy. Taxes in England are ridiculous! Own property there and pay the queen her 40%. Own a car, pay the queen a luxury tax of 22%. (okay so it might not be those EXACT figures but they are pretty close to what a millionaire would shell out ).

So as a fair minded person, its doubtful that he wasnt taxed out the ying yang to pay for his small pleasures which anyone of us would have also delighted in.  The only thing that befuddles my mind is the remarks of his neighbors.....