Big lottery winners offer advice, cautionary tales as $500M Powerball drawing approaches

Comment #25

fastball 9 — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 04:13:33 GMT

Since winning is pure luck and random, winners are of every stripe and background. There is no 'average' lottery winner, although many end up doing the same thing.

I think the guy who won after 20 years in meat packing seems pretty normal, as a person, and very grounded in life after winning. However, I would have been interested in his comments on people in is life and how the win affected his personal relationships.

I'm a big Don McNay fan, and if I ever won I'd contact him first. I woul... [ More ]

Comment #24

PrisonerSix — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:01:37 GMT

I was talking about this with a friend in my lottery pool today. We talked about whether or not we should set up a trust and get an attorney to claim for us like a previous winner in our city did. If we did it that way, we'd keep our names out of the media and not have to deal with the moochers. However, we have 13 members and they may want to do the press conference thing, something I hope doesn't happen if we do win. I'd rather keep it quiet and to myself.

Comment #23

markp1950 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:16:36 GMT

Probably preparing for the end of the world because of the election..............

Comment #22

Simba774 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:35:45 GMT

No thanks. We have seen many folks make of fool of themselves over and over again. People should already know what not to do if they have sense.

Comment #21

helpmewin — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:55:12 GMT

maybe he was the winner on the Mega Balls

Congrats! Rdg where ever you are

Comment #20

Factorem — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:45:44 GMT

Ridge, as you can see, there are questions on this forum on your whereabouts.

Whenever you are back, it will be reall....ly nice if you can get caught up with your share of missing posts. I mean the whacky posts that this forum is all too used to.

Hope all's well with thee.

Comment #19

faber98 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:39:55 GMT

he thought he was billy joe mcallister and jumped off the tallahatche bridge.

Comment #18

helpmewin — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:19:04 GMT

i Always advise people never to give advise

Comment #17

savagegoose — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:16:34 GMT

only time i get to say no is

do you like paying taxes, NO

did i win lotto ? NO

Comment #16

delS — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:07:26 GMT

To everyone. If you are the new winner, you have to know, you've never had that kind of money. Most people have not, even millionaires. not all at once.

So, if you win, take a deep breath, store the ticket in a safe place. RUN, RUN, RUN, like Bolt, the track star to get th very best wealth management help. Regardless of how smart you think you are. Lastly, take up to 3 months to get all your wealth management plans concrete before you start living life at this new level.

Comment #15

dallascowboyfan — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:55:05 GMT

He's still recovering from Thanksgiving... probably in a food coma like my hubby was.....

Comment #14

dallascowboyfan — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:53:20 GMT

NO!!!!!! is my middle name according to my two sons.....

Comment #13

mcginnin56 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:48:35 GMT

You carry his portrait with you?

Now that's loyalty

Comment #12

Win$500Quick — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:47:10 GMT

I have no problem saying NO! I am also fortunate that I have a good job and financially savvy. So bring on the win.

Comment #11

hearsetrax — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:25:53 GMT

reckon them revenuers finally caught up with him and or something

Comment #10

kyokushin187 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:08:14 GMT

I was also wondering the same thing. Hope all is well. I miss his humorous posts.

Comment #9

dpoly1 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:22:23 GMT

I already know how to say NO. I have a rough plan of what to do with a windfall jackpot win. My AR15 is locked and loaded .

I do not lead an expensive lifestyle now. I would keep driving my Hyundai Sonata. I would invest and make some prudent luxury purchases though.

There is no reason to live the same lifestyle if I win. Why play if you do not want to make some very nice changes

Comment #8

Cletu$2 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:20:06 GMT

I got a lot of practice saying NO to my kids over the years.I'll just pretend that the public are my kids.It'll be easy to say NO

Comment #7

sully16 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:14:43 GMT

no, one of my favorite words.

Comment #6

ashabug725 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:08:49 GMT

Haven't seen any posts from him n a while! Was wondering the same thing

Comment #5

golfer1960 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:50:06 GMT

Hey, where is Ridge

Comment #4

Brcebrce — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:41:59 GMT

There's a lot of paperwork and red tape for that that can he traced very easily. It would he smarter just to get a ccw permit take classes for it. Or better yet, be anaonamous if possible. It is better than a whole security company and a lot cheaper.

Comment #3

zinniagirl — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:30:45 GMT

After years of Customer service work, it would be nice to say NO once in a while

Comment #2

hearsetrax — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:19:45 GMT

that and learning how to shoot,a few class 3 belt fed guns, learn to build DIY land mines etc etc etc ......

and learn to trust no one and suspect every one

Comment #1

mcginnin56 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:14:54 GMT

Knowing how to say NO, that is perhaps the the most important skill a new jackpot winner must acquire.

Practice makes perfect. For the first year just automatically say NO to everything.

Big lottery winners offer advice, cautionary tales as $500M Powerball drawing approaches

Lottery Post — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:08:11 GMT

So you just won the $500 million Powerball jackpot, the second highest in lottery history. Now what?

Perhaps it's time for a tropical vacation or a new car. There are bills to pay, loans to settle, debts to square.

Past winners of mega-lottery drawings and financial planners have some more sound advice: Stick to a budget, invest wisely, learn to say no and be prepared to lose friends while riding an emotional roller-coaster of joy, anxiety, guilt and distrust.

I had to adapt to this ne... [ More ]