I can hardly believe it when I heard the news today! All it takes for true is just one ticket. Just a simple “quick pick” from the agent. There was no psychic readings into the numbers, no combinations of loved ones birthdays or of dates that heralded bad tidings of great sadness. I guess when it is your time, it is your time.

So the question I have to be sober-minded about is: what am I going to do with all these hundreds of thousands of dollars? Indeed, what a lot a little lotto can do, eh?

Well, to answer that question I rushed to see what past winners of lottos had to say in terms of advice. I found Ron, a winner of over a million pounds sterling in the UK. Here is what stands out from his admonitions:

Ron is acutely aware of the problems unlimited money can bring. ‘Contrary to what you imagine, money doesn’t answer every problem. In fact, it creates a whole load of new ones. People still fall ill and relationships still break down.”

Did I hear him right? Yes! The rich faces the same delimna like the poor. Even with money, the person you are trying to date or wed will still walk out on you. And that is a hurtfully embarrassing situation for men in particular.

Having unlimited money does not make a person problemless. Those of us who are employed over the years can look back and wonder how strange that when our salary was very small we were quite satisfied–we paid the bills, made personal purchases and we saved. Now that we are earning the big bucks, it seems not a month goes by when our pockets don’t run dry before the next pay check.

The truth is, if you are not satisfied with a dollar you will not be satisfied with 1 000 dollars or with one million dollars.

Money can and does change a lot of people. Ron commented that: ‘I remember looking down at all these rings on my fingers — thousands-worth — and it was like looking at a stranger’s hands. It wasn’t natural to me. The jewellery’s now gone into storage, where it’ll stay.”

You know, the happiness in a life has to do with the simple pleasures that are really free and has no price tags attached. But there are also many jackpot winners who, after a few months, have no residual savings or better quality life.

There is a simple skill that is absolutely necessary if a person is going to achieve any lasting and meaningful change as a result of a large cash flow. That skill is money management. Often times, people who are not accustomed to have plenty money will do silly things when they suddenly have it. Like Ron, for instance. Before winning the lotto he owned a small business. As soon as he became a millionaire, he gave the business away to a friend. Was this a wise thing to do? Here is what Ron says:  ‘I’ll never regret that, because the owner is a great person. But what I do regret is not retaining some kind of interest, to give me a focus.

‘After winning the Lottery, I was so busy thinking “I’m rich!” that it didn’t occur to me that when the gloss had worn off, I’d be searching for something to actually do with myself.”

And I think those words from Ron sums it all up. He has come to realize that no matter how many assets you acquire the assets in themselves will never make you happy!

So, how am I going to spend the lotto I just won? I will tell you if that imaginary dream comes true. But, alas! It is said “you have to be int to win it.” And I am not in it.

via A timely note of caution from one jaded jackpot winner: ‘Buy as many Rollers as you want… but they won’t make you happy’ | Mail Online.