Original Blog Entry: Things game shows won't tell you - Yahoo finance

Coin Toss — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:13:16 GMT

Lottery winners are mentioned here, too:

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111940/things-game-shows-wont-tell-you

From the article:

3. Winning could ruin you.

Like lottery winners, game show contestants who come home with a cash or prize windfall can end up worse off than before, says Susan Bradley, a certified financial planner and the founder of the Sudden Money Institute. Problems start with a winner's pie-in-the-sky idea that the $100,000 he won is really exactly that amount in his pocket (taxes: see above).

The next domino: spending more than he can afford on a big ticket purchase such as a vehicle, home or home renovation. You're mentally spending $100,000, but you don't have $100,000, says Bradley. You have maybe $70,000. What's more, winners don't always ask the important questions on a big purchase -- even if their winnings can cover it. Can you afford the taxes, the insurance, the upkeep, asks Bradley. Smart winners limit celebration spending to 10% of the winnings, she says, and make a plan about how best to use the total amount.

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