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The vastness of the odds for a jackpot win...Prev TopicNext Topic
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I read online that the odds on a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot win, is between 142 million and 176 million. To expect to win even ONCE in your lifetime, playing twice a week, no less, one would have to play for 435 thousand years, to hit in ONCE. Clearly, the odds of winning by buying a ticket are almost equal to the odds of winning by finding an unsigned QP ticket on the street and pocketing it from the unlucky stranger gambler that bought it and lost it, and winning with that! You simply have no realistic chance.
It is like saying "hey you, pick a number between one in 176 million, because I am thinking of one, and if you guess right, you win, one buck per play line" and forgetting that there are a whopping 175 million plus LOSING combos, thus ensuring that any given play is bound to lose, unless they get unfathomly lucky, as the odds of being hit 10 times in a week by a lightning bolt are better than winning the big one! :(
I think what makes most folks go on is this: They think a random draw event can be predicted by analyzing past draws, to see hot and cold and overdue numbers. But, since lotto is iron clad ruled by the law of independent trials, the balls, like rolling dice, have no memories, and could not unless they were being removed from the next draw, or something, which would then influence the likeihood of a particular remaining number coming up and thus changing the odds. But since they all go a-fresh into the hopper for the next draw, this should be folly. Each number has exactly the same shot of returning in the next draw, no more, no less. You simply cannot increase your odds or gain an edge, in theory, due to these laws and lotto mathmatics for the lotto size and numbers needed to be correct in order to win, no matter what "system" you use, it comes down to a shot in the dark, because expectation is clear and you simply cannot expect to win in your lifetime, given the vastness of the odds, because to expect to you would have live for thousands of years...unless you catch lightning in a bottle.
The Con Agra foods winners of Powerball last year could play new games for the rest of their lives and probably would never win again, spending all their winnings in the process, if they so tried. Such is the paradox of the odds in question. They are quite fortunate to have won even ONCE. Some of them had been playing for a long time, some not. But luck knows no such details. A semi driving guy who buys 5 bucks of QPs is as likely to win as someone using a computer program and "systems" and plays for years, while the truck driver above hardly plays and bought some on a lark. Was this not the fate of the GA trucker who used the below numbers picked for him at random?
Take the March 6 winner in MM 16, 22, 29, 39, 42 MB 20. This combo was one of 176 million possible outcomes. You could use it for future draws, but it will not likely come up again in thousands of years. Of course, individual numbers in it will, quite soon, such as the Mega Ball will likely be drawn again within a year or two, perhaps a few times-but the exact sequence will not likely be drawn again for eons-not because the odds a less, the odds are always the same, 1 in 176 million for any distinct combo being drawn, which is proven by math, but because it is, like it was on March 6, just one of the 176 million possible permutations and thus is not likely to be drawn on any given draw, so re-using the winning number set and hoping for lightning to strike again with it in this lifetime is a most unwise choice, even if choosing different ones each week is equally unlikely or unwise.
But what REALLY makes folks think they can hit at least ONCE in their short lifespans, relative to the expected odds, is that they see folks like that California couple who used a handheld toy with little balls in it to pick their numbers for 20 plus years and never won a dime, planned on dumnping it the trash, and then they won Mega Millions first prize using it on a last ditch try and got many millions, and THEN used the same device to win, a few scant months later, the California Lotto worth several million bucks. Math geeks claimed the odds were like trillions to one that the SAME couple could win not one but BOTH in such a short time, even in their lifetimes, when one cannot expect, absent a shot in the dark, to win ONCE their entire life. They did it TWICE.
Or the gal in PA who won a million dollar scratch off in a game, then months later won a second million in the same game, which had like 5 million dollar prizes, of which she won 2 out of five! :) Again, math nerds claimed the odds were like 1 in 450 million for the same woman to win like that in a short time span. IOW, it would be like her playing Mega Millions, winning the jackpot, then goiing to her adjoining state, playing powerball, and winning that, in a few months of each other! The odds were like 1 in 450 milllion, so if you take the odds of both games and added them up, you have about those odds, maybe a bit less, actually, perhaps!
Go figure...
Let it ride, the winner said, just before losing it all...
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Welcome to Lottery Post. Yes, everything you wrote is true. So why join a lottery board today just to remind everyone they are all wasting their money? Do you think we don't know that?
Many people here play pick-3 and pick-4 games and win once in a while. Not everyone here is just playing the big jackpot games, although I'm sure we'd all like to be millionaires. I play a game regularly that has 1:23M odds and realize I will probably be dead before my numbers come up, but it's a safer and cheaper habit than smoking.
ps: I like your signature.
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Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Mar 23, 2007
Welcome to Lottery Post. Yes, everything you wrote is true. So why join a lottery board today just to remind everyone they are all wasting their money? Do you think we don't know that?
Many people here play pick-3 and pick-4 games and win once in a while. Not everyone here is just playing the big jackpot games, although I'm sure we'd all like to be millionaires. I play a game regularly that has 1:23M odds and realize I will probably be dead before my numbers come up, but it's a safer and cheaper habit than smoking.
ps: I like your signature.
Hi, justxploring, I have read your posts for ages here, and am a big fan of yours. :)
I joined because I have read and read for eons and have not any 2 cents to show for it, and am fascinated by the whole topic. I am sure nearly everyone here realizes they are, in theory, "wasting their money" on these games, but play for diversion and a shot in the dark. I meant not to sound pessimistic per se, but honesty is a fault of mine so beware. :)
Like anyone, even die hard sceptics, I have bought a scratch off a few times and some lotto tickets. I once won 100 bucks in a scratch off, but I would not call myself a confirmed weekly bettor. I probably would not have played much at all if not for friends playing and telling me they were gonna win, so I would get back at their gloating by doing likewise and hoping the bolt of lightning would strike while telling them the odds were so long it was a sucker bet. Mega Millions is the game played where I lived. I bought, in the same excitement as everyone had over the March 6 drawing, 10 bucks (the most I have ever spent on gambling in my life) worth of selected numbers (using a computer program tracking past draws, etc.) and Quick Picks, 5 lines each. I had 100% of the numbers actually drawn in a number set of only like 35 total distinct numbers, but they were not on the same lines in that 10 bucks worth of picks! :( I mused to everyone who would listen if I had only wheeled those numbers...LOL
Although the habit is less expensive than smoking and probably safer, using T Harv Eker's Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and other such books, we learn that most folks take and use what is called "disposable" income and play lotto. This means like 10-20 bucks per week or so. If you took the same 10 bucks, weekly, used in lotto and invested it in interest bearing 5% + CD, in some years you WOULD be a millionaire! You would be building *passive income* like rich people do. People do not often realize how much dough they are blowing and what that money could be used for, even to build the wealth they hope to obtain in a big lotto win, which is not likely to occur in their lifetimes but could and would occur by FORCE in the above scenario, which has equally interesting math to back it up.
So the question arises, is it better to get rich quick on a maybe or is it better to get rich slow on a certainty?
Let it ride, the winner said, just before losing it all...
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"I think what makes most folks go on is this: They think a random draw event can be predicted by analyzing past draws, to see hot and cold and overdue numbers."
I can't speak for everyone else, but I play because 1.) I have the means, 2.) disposable income that doesn't impact my quality of life in the least; 3.) somebody always wins, and my belief is, one day it will be my turn to step up to the winners circle.
welcome to LP!
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"This means like 10-20 bucks per week or so. If you took the same 10 bucks, weekly, used in lotto and invested it in interest bearing 5% + CD, in some years you WOULD be a millionaire!"
Thanks for responding. Wow, I didn't know I had any "fans." LOL Anyway, I agree you can save a lot of money over time by taking $10 a week and putting it away ($20 is much better) but it will not turn into millions of dollars, especially at 5% interest, which is why I highlighted those 2 words in red. $20 a week x 52 is better, but you still won't be a millionaire in 20 years. So a lot depends on when you start to save your money. Remember, if you have a tax deferred investment in the stock market and you average approx 8%, you will double your money every 10 years. Of course, if you add to it, it will grow faster. It would take too much time to demonstrate, but trust me when I say that all the people who write that stuff are wrong unless someone starts at age 10 and lives to be 100. Here is an example:
You put that $20 a week you mentioned in a variable annuity or mutual fund that yields an average of 7 or 8% over 20 years. That is $1,040 every year x 20 = $20,800. With interest your account will be approximately $50,000. If you keep putting in the same amount for another 10 years and continue to earn 7 or 8%, you will end up with about $140 to $150,000.
I am not arguing with you, so please don't take it that way. It's just that I hear this so much and I know it isn't true. I work with numbers all the time. Someone would have to be spending a heck of a lot more on lottery tickets than a lousy $10 or $20 a week to reach over a million in savings in his lifetime. Also, you mentioned a CD as an investment tool. There's nothing wrong with putting your money in a bank account, especially now that rates have gone up, but you didn't consider the interest, which changes the actual amount you save. Sure, the account will grow at 5%, but you still have to pay the IRS every year 20% (depending on your tax bracket) Someone in a high tax bracket is, in reality, only earning 2 or 3% on that money. Even if you begin at 35 years old saving money for retirement, to reach approximately $1 million you would need to put away about $675 every month until age 65. Again, that's based on an average of 7 to 8% interest. That's why age is so important. Even 5 years makes a dramatic difference, so the earlier you start saving, the better. However, what most people spend playing the lottery isn't going to put much of a dent in it.
One thing that bugs me is that the people who always tell players to save their weekly lottery money automatically assume lottery players ARE NOT putting money away in a savings account. I'm guessing a heck of a lot of people here contribute to a 401K or Individual Retirement Account, so playing the lottery has nothing to do with it.
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Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Mar 23, 2007
"This means like 10-20 bucks per week or so. If you took the same 10 bucks, weekly, used in lotto and invested it in interest bearing 5% + CD, in some years you WOULD be a millionaire!"
Thanks for responding. Wow, I didn't know I had any "fans." LOL Anyway, I agree you can save a lot of money over time by taking $10 a week and putting it away ($20 is much better) but it will not turn into millions of dollars, especially at 5% interest, which is why I highlighted those 2 words in red. $20 a week x 52 is better, but you still won't be a millionaire in 20 years. So a lot depends on when you start to save your money. Remember, if you have a tax deferred investment in the stock market and you average approx 8%, you will double your money every 10 years. Of course, if you add to it, it will grow faster. It would take too much time to demonstrate, but trust me when I say that all the people who write that stuff are wrong unless someone starts at age 10 and lives to be 100. Here is an example:
You put that $20 a week you mentioned in a variable annuity or mutual fund that yields an average of 7 or 8% over 20 years. That is $1,040 every year x 20 = $20,800. With interest your account will be approximately $50,000. If you keep putting in the same amount for another 10 years and continue to earn 7 or 8%, you will end up with about $140 to $150,000.
I am not arguing with you, so please don't take it that way. It's just that I hear this so much and I know it isn't true. I work with numbers all the time. Someone would have to be spending a heck of a lot more on lottery tickets than a lousy $10 or $20 a week to reach over a million in savings in his lifetime. Also, you mentioned a CD as an investment tool. There's nothing wrong with putting your money in a bank account, especially now that rates have gone up, but you didn't consider the interest, which changes the actual amount you save. Sure, the account will grow at 5%, but you still have to pay the IRS every year 20% (depending on your tax bracket) Someone in a high tax bracket is, in reality, only earning 2 or 3% on that money. Even if you begin at 35 years old saving money for retirement, to reach approximately $1 million you would need to put away about $675 every month until age 65. Again, that's based on an average of 7 to 8% interest. That's why age is so important. Even 5 years makes a dramatic difference, so the earlier you start saving, the better. However, what most people spend playing the lottery isn't going to put much of a dent in it.
One thing that bugs me is that the people who always tell players to save their weekly lottery money automatically assume lottery players ARE NOT putting money away in a savings account. I'm guessing a heck of a lot of people here contribute to a 401K or Individual Retirement Account, so playing the lottery has nothing to do with it.
Woah, peace justxploring, I was not attacking you or anyone over lotto but I am a naysaying realist. :) Yes, I am a fan of yours, I really like reading your witty posts, they are among my favorites here on the site. :)
In truth, it IS possible to become a millionaire over a reasonable time with investing as I said, AND you do not have to start at age 10 as you say, you are overstating your otherwise reasoned and reasonable points! This fact is what shocks people, who always say they are broke, whether they play lotto or not. Read Automatic Millionaire by David Bach and others, and it is immediately apparent that one can become a millionaire by virtual force within 30 years or less, by the methods I have just touched on, even despite taxes.
True, winning a Mega Millions Jackpot at 390 million in one shot does not compare poorly, but the event is very unlikely to happen even given *500* years, much less being a lower tier millionaire with 3 million or less, which is in reach of average folks who start reasonably early and who know about how compound that to reach that goal. It is not how much you make but how much you save and invest that determines how wealthy you are, unless you have leverage and passive income or both going for you like Bill Gates. Of course, with enough savings, passive income streams become more feasible, and this more money and more for savings. So, the rich really do get richer as the saying goes. So, it is "in some years" but you are taking even MORE years to occasionally win a 100 bucks by matching some numbers or five and the MB or PB to win a hypothetical large Jackpot that statistics show *almost surely* will not come in your lifetime, even if you lived to be 1,000 years old.
If you invested 20 bucks a day or 600 clams a month, in a CD with a 10% annual rate of return, you have 1,356,293 in 30 years. It is 2007. I remember 1977 like it was yesterday, though I was a young thing then kinda. It is possible to turn an ongoing fund with a lower return than 10% into that 10%, financial gurus insist, and it would not surpise me a bit if they were right, much as we all would not like to admit it. Just 14 bucks a day in a retirement account for 35 years @10% interest becomes 1,678, 293.78 Do you have 14 bucks a day to devote to such? That is discretionary to most people, I wager. Also, about Uncle Sam, there are methods and loopholes such as tax deferred retirement plans that let you pay yourself first, not Sam. You can keep adding to it and money tends to snowball, handled properly, and can be used to generate still more money, if you can avoid making the mistake of spending it prematurely and not for investment purposes, which is the main use of money until you have alot of it, which most of us do not! :)
I do not suggest everyone or even most playing do NOT invest or know anything about it. I do suggest alot of folks who say they are broke are alot more free with their discretionary income than they imagine. I am a good saver, and tend to have alot more dough than my buddies, who even earn more, because it is what you keep and invest, not how much you make, in many cases, for example. I have played lotto and other scratch off games from time to time so please do not take my comments as picking on lotto players from a non-player, etc. :)
Food for thought...
Let it ride, the winner said, just before losing it all...
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$20 a day is much, much different from $20 a week, which is what I thought you were saying. Sorry, I guess I wasted my time then, because we are saying the same thing. Yes, it is true that taking $20 every day and investing it at a young age like 25 or 30 will yield over a million dollars. I honestly don't know anyone who spends over $600 a month playing the lottery, which was my point.
Wait a minute! Why am I apologizing? This is EXACTLY what you wrote:
"This means like 10-20 bucks per week or so. If you took the same 10 bucks, weekly, used in lotto and invested it in interest bearing 5% + CD, in some years you WOULD be a millionaire!"
You said nothing about every day until after I wrote the above post.
BTW, I never thought you were attacking me at all! No offense at all taken. I was only responding to what you wrote and explaining that a person who invests $10 or $20 a week in a savings account will never have over a million dollars.
I want to add: no CD pays 10%. Even with $100,000 you might get 5.5%. You can't use rates from 30 years ago. Also, by pointing that out, you are showing that CDs vary from year to year, so that rate is not guaranteed. We have NEVER had an average CD rate of 10% over a long period of time. Just a couple of years ago, most people were earning 2 or 3% on a CD.
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The odds against being born, ignoring the odds against your parents becoming lovers, are something like one in 70 trillion. The odds of your parents both existing is that number squared.
So what?
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My statement was offhand and probably in error regarding PER WEEK 10-20. *Daily*, yes. However I stand by the basic premise. of investing your money. It does *not* have to start at age 10 (if per day, not per week as a toss in of funds). Even in the 30s you can literally become a millionaire (not a mega millionaire of course) over time before you are so old you could not possibly enjoy it. I am already doing it, and while not a millionaire, will probably be one within 35 years, which will make me one under 80 years old, mimimum, when the time comes.
No CD currently pays a full 10%, most are best 5.5, but you can get to that using other additional techniques, and to say that the rate is not guaranteed, given the odds in any significant pot, is hardly convincing. CDs vary, but that is not an obstacle to the smart investor. And, as I said, there are ways of legally avoiding the IRS's excessive hand, legally, with smart investment vehicles.
I do not think people on the whole realize just how much money can be made passively, and how this is a big secret to wealth that is within every normal person's grasp in many respects! Saving and CDs and 401ks and such are typical examples, that are more worthwile than imagined. One could only beat it with Poweball with a real win, and that is not likely to occur, but the other IS within your control alot MORE.
Keep up your excellent posts, justxploring, I really enjoy reading them, you are quite sharp. :) :)
Let it ride, the winner said, just before losing it all...
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Quote: Originally posted by Prob988 on Mar 23, 2007
The odds against being born, ignoring the odds against your parents becoming lovers, are something like one in 70 trillion. The odds of your parents both existing is that number squared.
So what?
Grreat point, and is why so many play lotto. Your odds of existing are at least 1 in 200 million or so, because in the average, er, uh, you know sperm deposit during the reproductive act there are like 200 million, with ONE succeeding, which became you in the given gestation, so you already beat near impossible odds rivaling Mega Millions or Powerball! LOL
Let it ride, the winner said, just before losing it all...
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i agree with most of what you say here, unfortunately the odds are stacked against you., thats obvious, and i also agree with the fact that most systems, even the best, are a waste of time, and a shot in the dark.
but you fail to bring up the points about when some actually do win. your life is not just changed, its dramatically changed....especially if you hit hundreds of millions, not only is your life completely changed, your kids, and your grandkids lives are completely changed. you cannot win if you dont play, simple as that. for the people that live in fantasy land, this next is for you. those of you that are realists already kknow this........i dont care what kind of highly successful job you get, or how many asses you kiss....in the real world....those who believe you can get ahead by being honest, playing by the rules, and kissing a%#$#, well i got news for you keep trying...and good luck....you'll need it....
if you expect your company is going to reward you with some great bonus/pay raise, and make you all set, so you needn't worry about money again.....KEEP DREAMING! or for those who think the gov't is going to help out and help take care of them when they get old, or get into trouble...uh, huh. lol.
for those of us realists, who understand the odds, and who know, and dont actually expect it to be that easy....let us keep dreaming...because i hate to break it to you folks, but unless you win something like the mega millions. or powerball, unless your fathers last name is hilton, or unless your the next computer geeks like gates or the nerds who invented google, forget it. your life is always going to have problems related around money, theres no escaping it.
in summary, i feel that anyone with a system, be it the best or the worst, has a better chance than most in winning. you could argue that most people without a system win, (ie. quickpicks), and that most people playing sytems never win....OF COURSE THATS TRUE YOU MORON... MOST PEOPLE DONT PLAY SYSTEMS. obviously if more people playing are using no systems, and using quick picks, or just random personal picks, they are going to win more often than anyone using the best systems on the face of the earth...statistically speaking, that only makes sense...that is not comparing apples to apples! for those who use their systems and believe, keep on believing, and playing and ignore articles like this....
i did just exactly that 7 years ago....ignored the pessimists, cause i believed and knew it could and would happen....and i beat odds of 1 in 5.5milllion, on a scratch off ticket nonetheless., but the odds speak for themselves.
my only question i would ask you to honestly ask yourself, and really put some thought into, though i know hypotheticals, especcially such as what im about to ask...that being....do you really think money is the answer, that is, is that what is going to make you finally happy?.....you know the old saying....be careful for what you wish for...? if you would like to know how things turned out drop me a reply thru the post....but be warned, it did not turn out like it would in the movies, or how you think it would if you won....ya...i'm one of those lottery winner horror stories....anyway, good luck
ps...with a little luck, and a good system, i am the first to say that even odds of mega or powerball can be win, i am positive of that.
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I read all the millionaire books, however being a millionaire 30 years from now does me no good. It is really simple actually, if you play you have a CHANCE at becoming a millionaire...if you don't play and hang on to your dollars, you will be hanging on to poverty for 30 years and have NO chance. That is my philosophy. If you don't win, well you would have been broke anyway.
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Quote: Originally posted by sirbrad on Mar 24, 2007
I read all the millionaire books, however being a millionaire 30 years from now does me no good. It is really simple actually, if you play you have a CHANCE at becoming a millionaire...if you don't play and hang on to your dollars, you will be hanging on to poverty for 30 years and have NO chance. That is my philosophy. If you don't win, well you would have been broke anyway.
I agree. That's an interesting way of looking at it, Sirbrad. If someone earns a good living, however, I believe there can be a balance. Spend some - save some. Most working people today will not have over a million in the bank when they retire, although it's quite possible, depending on one's income, lifestyle and family situation. Anything can happen that will necessitate using those savings (losing a job, illness, college tuition, wedding, divorce, new baby) One thing that affects us all is inflation. Someone 25 might not realize how much less everything cost 30 years ago. Also, there are a lot of extra bills we have. (internet, cable, cell phone) I am laughing because I sound like my parents. When my parents were in their 20s, making $30 a week was considered good money. The average income in the '40s was about $1,200 a year.
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Quote: Originally posted by letitride$ on Mar 23, 2007
My statement was offhand and probably in error regarding PER WEEK 10-20. *Daily*, yes. However I stand by the basic premise. of investing your money. It does *not* have to start at age 10 (if per day, not per week as a toss in of funds). Even in the 30s you can literally become a millionaire (not a mega millionaire of course) over time before you are so old you could not possibly enjoy it. I am already doing it, and while not a millionaire, will probably be one within 35 years, which will make me one under 80 years old, mimimum, when the time comes.
No CD currently pays a full 10%, most are best 5.5, but you can get to that using other additional techniques, and to say that the rate is not guaranteed, given the odds in any significant pot, is hardly convincing. CDs vary, but that is not an obstacle to the smart investor. And, as I said, there are ways of legally avoiding the IRS's excessive hand, legally, with smart investment vehicles.
I do not think people on the whole realize just how much money can be made passively, and how this is a big secret to wealth that is within every normal person's grasp in many respects! Saving and CDs and 401ks and such are typical examples, that are more worthwile than imagined. One could only beat it with Poweball with a real win, and that is not likely to occur, but the other IS within your control alot MORE.
Keep up your excellent posts, justxploring, I really enjoy reading them, you are quite sharp. :) :)
"My statement was offhand and probably in error regarding PER WEEK 10-20. *Daily*, yes. However I stand by the basic premise. of investing your money."
I thought your basic premise was comparing the huge odds against winning a lottery jackpot to investing the money you spent chasing it. I suppose it depends on how you define "huge jackpot", but it in the last Mega Million run, it took 5 weeks before people began noticing there was a huge jackpot ($130 million). The jackpot tripled in size ($390 million) in the next 5 draws so it's obvious that not everybody spent $10 - $20 a week until the jackpot was huge. However we can still assume some people do spend $10 - $20 a week chasing a jackpot.
"This means like 10-20 bucks per week or so. If you took the same 10 bucks, weekly, used in lotto and invested it in interest bearing 5% + CD, in some years you WOULD be a millionaire!"
At $20 a week or about $1000 per year compounded at an annual interest rate of 5%, you will have a little over $100,000 after 35 years. If "some years" means over 80 years of saving, then yes you would be a millionaire. Investing $4000 a year at 9%, you would be a millionaire in 35 years.
"I am already doing it, and while not a millionaire, will probably be one within 35 years, which will make me one under 80 years old, mimimum, when the time comes."
If a 18 year-old saves $20 per week (every week), they will eventually become a 100 year-old millionaire. I wonder how many 100 year-olds have pondered "gee if I had only saved $20 a week, I would now be a millionaire"?
And by the way, lottery players haven't thought of $1 million as huge jackpot in years and the Mega Millions jackpot starts at $12 million, if you want to accurately compare apples to oranges.
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Quote: Originally posted by letitride$ on Mar 23, 2007
Grreat point, and is why so many play lotto. Your odds of existing are at least 1 in 200 million or so, because in the average, er, uh, you know sperm deposit during the reproductive act there are like 200 million, with ONE succeeding, which became you in the given gestation, so you already beat near impossible odds rivaling Mega Millions or Powerball! LOL
Yeah, but just like sex: it's fun TRYING (to win the lottery).
You also need to understand most of us know the odds, and SOME of us are not playing to win the jackpot, ie; I myself am aiming directly for a PB Pick 5 and $200K.
Yeah, I know, the odds there are not so hot, but as a lot of us have said AD NAUSEUM: some folks bowl, golf, hunt, fish, go to movies, plays, broadway shows, car races, you name it, and those folks have no problem blowing THOUSANDS of dollars a year doing what they like doing. Some like going to bars, some like to drink, some stay home and read or play chess.
We like playing numbers, it's what we do, it relaxes me, anyway.
But thanks for being yet another person to come on and think they are the first person on earth to tell us the odds, gee, I never knew....(sic)