.Why Lottery Winners Crash After A Big Win
Why Lottery Winners Crash After A Big Win
5 Rules If You Play An Office Lottery Pool
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 28: A Powerball lotter...What happens when your “dreams” come true? We’re always told to be careful what we wish for, and for Powerball lottery winner “Wild” Willie Seeley and his wife Nancy, this advice couldn’t be more appropriate.
The Seeleys are calling their $3.8 million win a “curse.” Their complaints? They have been bombarded by the media for interviews, and family members – many they’ve never heard of — have hit them up for loans and financial favors. “There are days I wish we were back to just getting paid every two weeks,” Willie Seeley confessed in an NBC News interview.
There is nothing unusual about their complaints. This is what commonly happens with lottery winners, and often, with other recipients of sudden wealth from lawsuits, sports contracts or even inheritances.
But don’t count out the Seeleys just yet. There is hope they won’t face the same fate as $315 million Powerball winner Andrew “Jack” Whittaker who said “I wish I’d torn that ticket up,” after being robbed, losing his granddaughter to a drug overdose, being sued, and finding respite from the pressure by drinking, attending strip clubs and gambling.
As a sudden wealth financial advisor for over 15 years, I’ve had the chance to work with many clients who have received a windfall, and I’ve noticed there are predictable patterns – patterns of thinking and behaving that can explain how a multimillion dollar lottery winner can call her money a curse just a month after winning.
Immediately before or right after a sudden wealth event such as winning the lottery, many clients experience an almost out-of-body feeling. I refer to this as the honeymoon stage of sudden wealth.
They are exuberant. It’s an exciting time and they feel like they are on top of the world. Anything and everything is possible. They celebrate with family and friends.
They may buy new cars and larger houses, jet skis and motorcycles. It’s Christmas morning every day, but the thing that makes Christmas so special is that it comes just once a year. The honeymoon phase is an artificial reality that is not sustainable.
Their emotions are high, and they are enjoying the charge of the novelty of their new life. But this “high” cannot last forever – most often as little as a few days to over six months — and then reality hits them.
Did Willie Seeley experience the honeymoon stage? I think he did and I think it lasted about a month. Seeley and 15 of his co-workers recently won last month’s $450 million Powerball jackpot and he was all smiles as he celebrated his win by holding a large check over his head at a press conference in August.
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Powerball Winner Wished He 'Tore Up Ticket' After $315m Jackpot Destroyed Him
Story by Liam McInerney
The world's largest lottery is launching in the UK this week - offering a fortunate British player the chance to become more than £300million ($400m) wealthier. Powerball, an American lottery game, awards massive jackpots that are distributed over a 30-year period.
Today (July 23) marks the inaugural UK draw with an estimated top prize exceeding £300m - the biggest jackpot ever made available in Britain. Allwyn, which operates the National Lottery, has opened the game to UK participants, who will be entering alongside American players.
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How much money is enough?
It’s a philosophical money question that often arises out of discontent. We see someone of substantial means, like a celebrity, live a troubled life. Or, we ourselves experience great fortune yet feel unhappy.
It makes us wonder where the finish line is, the point when you can stop striving for more and settle into a life of satisfaction.
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I love scotch; she hates it.
There are many things my wife and I don't agree on, but money isn't one of them. We are intentional spenders, buying only what mutually aligns with our needs or values. For instance, disinterested in paying for the trappings of an ostentatious wedding, we tied the knot at New York's City Hall; our reception was watching our first son play at a public playground in the East Village on a warm fall afternoon.
We've been happily together for 16 years, which makes me wonder: Does love make the financial side of marriage work, or is it the other way around?
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When the euro launched on January 1, 1999, it was sold as the future. It would be a single currency to knit Europe together — to wipe out the exchange-rate friction between member states, complete the continent's single market, and bind a dozen squabbling nations into one economic bloc with one money.
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The Trump administration’s discussions about tariffs and inflation have led many consumers to question how well they’re prepared for the future regarding their finances. After all, some experts have raised concerns that tariffs could lead to higher prices on products and services people use each day.
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Rudro Chakrabarti Mon, April 20, 2026
Money Can Now Be Turned Over To State. Secure your money ASAP
Katelyn Fugate thought she was doing something nice for her young son. A few years back, she opened a savings account for him — a small starter fund he could build on one day. Recently, she decided to check in on it.
The balance was zero. Fugate told Scripps News she went to check the balance hoping to start adding to it again. Instead, she found the account empty. (1) The bank had declared it dormant after five years of inactivity, closed it and shipped the money off to the state's unclaimed funds department. Worse, when Fugate went looking for it, she couldn't find the money at the bank or the state.
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In April 1971, Keith Richards loaded his family and his Bentley onto a cross-Channel ferry and drove south until he hit the Mediterranean. He rented a 19th-century villa called Nellcôte on a hillside above Villefranche-sur-Mer, and converted the basement into a recording studio.
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On May 20, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law, and it essentially said: here's 160 acres of land. It's yours. For free. All you have to do is live on it and improve it. And between 1862 and 1934, the federal government distributed 270 million acres under the program — roughly 10% of all the land in the United States.
Even as far back as the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers understood that property ownership made people more engaged, more productive citizens. Ownership meant that you had a vested financial interest in your community... and your country.
‘Let’s not be naive’: Ray Dalio says economic world order ‘is gone’ — warns of US ‘civil war.’ Preserve your wealth now
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How Do I Manage This Much Money?
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My mom was much richer than I realized, and left me more than I could have imagined. How do I manage this much money? During the next 20 years or so, Americans will inherit an estimated $105 trillion as older Americans pass down their accumulated wealth to younger generations, in a phenomenon that has been dubbed the Great Wealth Transfer (1). That means there will be a lot of people who are surprised — even if pleasantly so — to be inheriting money and unsure about how best to manage it.
5 Subtly Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money — That You Should Do, Too
These moves don’t have to be reserved for the super rich.
t can feel like the super wealthy have access to some secret money playbook the rest of us never got. And in a way, that’s true. They have connections and access that most of us simply will never have.
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To paint you a better picture of my situation, allow me to elaborate.
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Being broke sucks. Worrying about bills and living paycheck to paycheck also sucks. And the thought of that being for a lifetime is demoralizing.
While all our financial situations are different, we all have the ability to change our “broke status.”
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The trick is to really come to terms with these bad money habits and that yes, you probably are guilty of some or maybe even all of them.
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It was the early 2000s, and poor Monty was down on his luck.
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‘We are super screwed’: This couple spent a $171K inheritance in less than a year.
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5 Pieces of Financial Advice to Avoid at All Costs
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By Suze Orman
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