Can you win too much money?

The latest Euromillions lottery has just paid out £90 million, approx $150 million, to two sets of winners, one a syndicate of 8 people and a married couple.

But can winning too much money affect your life so adversely, that you would wish you had never won at all. There are plenty of stories of people winning millions and then spending it all leaving them destitute. There are also plenty of people who are millionaires, but the difference is that they have either worked for it or grown up in a culture where that kind of money is a known quantity.

Is £45 million too much to be won in one go, especially if the person is not used to knowing what to do with that amount of money?

Does the old adage of not buying happiness but buying a better kind of misery hold true?

And what would you do if you won so much money?

I can be a problem but I think for most people it is not. I could easily handle that kind of money. It would be a fun part time job. It is enough money where if you are not dumb and extravagant means you can do a lot of good works and really enjoy life and leisure.

I would never buy the $10,000,000 house or the fleet of cars.

I would fund several environmental programs.
I would buy a 67-69 SS Camaro and maybe the Chevy Volt.
I would move but not immediately. I might even stay in the same town but get off the busy road we live on. I like where we live.
I would buy a lot of wood working equipment and enjoy my other hobby.
I would travel a lot, every summer especially. Take truly long and slow paced trips to where ever.
I would et season tickets to the Yankees and maybe the Giants.
I would see a game in the 15 or so baseball stadiums I have not been to yet.
I might build a family compound instead of just buying a house. I am not sure what the interest would be though.
I would pick some fun computer and electronics gadgets of course.
I would still shop around for bargains and discounts.
I would invest carefully in many areas. Going conservative in most cases. I would spread it out so I could not be wiped out my one economic disaster or one crooked fund manager.

Anyone who thinks that is too much money must really have a huge self-destructive streak.

I’ve given it a lot of thought over the years, we have Mega Millions jackpots that top $200 million at least once a year, and suckers bet it may be I go in on them. Why not? For a $1 I’ve increased my chances of winning 100%.

I’d hire security to watch my family while I immediately find myself a huge financial advisor firm in Chicago to help me set up annuities and other investments while working with me to set a budget of spending that insures that I’ll not only never lose it, but I’ll actually perhaps even make money. There would be the initial outlays of a set amount, determined by my accountants (of which there would be a few sets, each promised a bonus if they catch any of the others stealing from me) of what I could spend on a home and some fancy cars and the like and structuring some funds to make sure that my family is taken care of while not crushing them with an unreasonable tax burden.

After I know what my month to month income looks like, I’ll begin to make additional decisions on more interesting and exciting things, like personally destroying the classic muscle car market buy purchasing all known variants of a particularly desirable car and blowing up all but one of them so that I’ll have the only one worth millions of dollars, which I will then sell.

Here, you have the option of winning anonymously. I would go with anonymity. I'm not sure I'd even tell my family lol.

Tonight, because of a roll-over, the UK jackpot is £11 million.

Now, considering it is the 11th of the 11th and my parents live at #11 and both their years of birth are divisible by 11*, I've given them a fiver towards buying 11 lucky dips.

What's the betting we get 3 numbers on one ticket and 'win' a tenner?



* well, the last 2 digits anyway.


With regard to the OP, I can't think what universe I would have to occupy where having an excessive amount of money is more trouble than it's worth.

I've always said if I ever won the lottery (I don't actually play, but I still like to daydream) that I would only keep enough to live comfortably, and give the rest away. There are a number of causes/charities that I would rather see the money go to than spend it on crazy extravagances for myself. Of course I'd splurge a little. I'd probably follow my natural inclination to be a dedicated audiophile (can't afford to be right now).

I guess for some people there is such a thing as too much, if they blow it all. Certainly if you came into a couple million after having nothing, and then went back to having nothing that would be pretty damn depressing.

Bank interest on $50 million or so would be enough income for me. Simple. No chance of any accountants robbing me. Give some to the kinfolk, etc.

Canadians seem to do well winning lotteries, whereas Americans tend not to. Or so I've been told.

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Originally posted by An Gadaí

Anyone who thinks that is too much money must really have a huge self-destructive streak.

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This thread reminded me of two seperate UK kiddies with the same problem.

Michael Carrol:

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As a multi-millionaire, the self-proclaimed "Chavvy McChavChav," known by the press as the "Lotto Lout", immediately bought four homes, a holiday villa in Spain, two convertible BMWs along with two Mercedez-Benz cars and several quad bikes. Sources close to him claim that Carroll, who wears a large amount of gold jewellery and has been in constant trouble with the law for using drugs and committing other crimes, has spent "untold thousands" on substance abuse...

...Shortly after being released from prison at the end of June 2006, Carroll took out a loan in order to keep his houses and maintain his "party lifestyle". The BBC has reported that he is almost broke, having spent his fortune on new homes, drugs, parties, jewellery and cars.

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More recently, Callie Rogers. Only $3 million this time, but still only took a couple years to become broke from substance abuse/addiction.



Personally I like the idea of being able to win anonymously but that doesn't happen here. I'm not much of a stuff-freak, so I imagine I'll just be sure my family and I live very comfortably. I just paid the last of my school loans so I'm debt-free, and I'd definately keep working.

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Originally posted by CatInASuit

The latest Euromillions lottery has just paid out £90 million, approx $150 million, to two sets of winners, one a syndicate of 8 people and a married couple.

But can winning too much money affect your life so adversely, that you would wish you had never won at all. There are plenty of stories of people winning millions and then spending it all leaving them destitute.
...snip...
And what would you do if you won so much money?

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I'd love to have the opportunity to do some serious investigation of the problem. :lol:

I don't believe that the problem is as simple as saying someone has won too much money.

AIUI, this isn't simply a problem that many lottery winners suffer, but it's also common with professional athletes, actors/actresses, and some musicians. In many cases someone goes from living hand-to-mouth, where money is spent almost as fast as it comes in, to suddenly having more money than they could spend - or so it seems.

Mistakes that seem to be common include: buying too much, too fast - several houses, cars, and other large-ticket items; choosing money managers who are either incompetent or outright predatory; related to that is that often these people can be fertile fields for various con artists - ranging from the outfits that buy up annuities, to Orbi-types, to Maduff-types. This isn't to say that other people don't fall for these things, just that traditionally most lottery winners seem to be particularly vulnerable to such predators. ISTR reading that these days the NFL has classes for all its new athletes to try to get them to consider some of these money management pitfalls.

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Originally posted by vison

Canadians seem to do well winning lotteries, whereas Americans tend not to. Or so I've been told.

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Still, it doesn't always work all that well for Canadians either.