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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http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpagliarini/2013/12/11/5-rules-if-you-play-an-office-lottery-pool/