delS...sometimes, I tend to overlook what you mention because, my attitude is, I am going to win the jackpot and I know exactly how I intend to diversify the funds. Both my short term plans as well as a long term plan to insure the well being of my family is kept nice and tidy in my mind (one of the few things in my life that's actually organized).
To illustrate what I mean is this...50% of all winnings would go into a well diversified stock holdings. These holdings would be of a type that averaged a current annual dividend of approximately 2% to 4% (paid quarterly). The holdings would have between 24 to 36 (and yes, divisible by 12 for a reason) such that adequate funds would be received monthly to insure that I would not have to access the principle to maintain my current lifestyle.
The remaining 50% would be subdivided over a broad range of gifts to all my immediate family members, charitable causes we currently care for, elimination of current debt as well as improvement of our current living areas (wife really wants a maid, I just want someone to cut the darn grass).
Anyway, you are correct about those with SWS, but those individuals need guidance from qualified financial advisors and personally, I think that a brokage house or bank would be the worse place to look for financial guidance. People mistakenly assume their money in a bank is 100% insured, when in truth, no more then $100,000 (one hundred thousand dollars) is insured per person and/or family. So, if someone was to have 5 accounts with $50,000 per account and that bank becomes insolvant, they lose $150,000 because only $100,000 is insured. And there is no legal recourse for recovery.
Anyway, this is probably far away from the original topic. Somehow, in my twisted mindset, this sorta fits within the topic of conversation. Guess the long and short of the matter is, people need to become more educated in handling money. The quantity is of less importance then knowledge of how to maintain it. At least that is what I think...for all it's worth.
Sir Metro
Opinions...$0.01 original cost....$0.05 inflation...$0.04 taxes...still not worth the paper to write it on.