How Would You Spend Your Lottery Fortune?
When plunking down your dollars to buy a lottery ticket, it only makes sense to start planning how your inevitable millions will be spent. But not everyone dreams of a personal chef, a pet dipped in gold and a tropical island to call their very own. More than six in 10 adults say that, even after hitting the jackpot they would follow a cautious course and live frugally, holding their current job while parsing out their fortune in nickels and dimes at discount stores.
It’s a hypothetical decision about a wildly hypothetical windfall, but maybe the long-lagging economy has had an impact on the way Americans think about lavish spending. An online survey of 2,570 adults conducted by the penny-pinchers over at CouponCabin explored how a lottery fortune would affect spending habits and choices, and more than half of respondents said they would be "extremely or very likely" to maintain cheap living habits such as shopping at dollar stores and buying items only when they're on sale. Thirty-six percent said they would continue working at their current job.
Could a sudden multimillionaire really keep the purse strings tight on a bulging purse? Some, at least, indicate they’d try not to go all Kanye with their winnings. CouponCabin offered a sampling of responses to a question about what people would do with the money if they won a large amount. You can read their list here, but following are a few notables:
• "Build a homeless shelter."
• "Pay for medical procedures that my insurance won’t cover."
• "Get a divorce."
• "Buy my parents a home closer to me so I can take care of them."
• "Start my own business."
• "Donate 10 percent to my church."
• "Get rid of my student debt."
• "Open an orphanage."
The Daily Dose offered a handful cautionary tales of lottery fortunes turned to profound misfortune earlier this year, when a record-breaking Mega-Millions pot prompted us to ask, Who Could Blow $640 Million? Perhaps the best way to make sure a lottery doesn’t change your good habits, or your good life, is not to win at all.
Photo: Buena Vista Images/Getty Images
It would be soooo wonderful to win a bunch of money! But frankly I do not wish to be RICH-RICH. Sounds crazey I know, but I have no lavish desires of traveling, luxurious homes, fancy clothes or putting on airs. I would just be thrilled to death to be able to not have to work 8 days a week. I would just love to be able to be the me I am inside. I would spend all my time with the ones I love (husband, children, grandchildren, family) and enjoy cooking, cleaning, gardening, and best of all not being concerned with Insurance Bills and just the normal basic bills that come with every day living. And boy would I love to be able to help out my children's finances and see my grandchildren fullfill a dream of going to college to become whatever they wished to be. It would not have to be MILLIONS of dollars. Just enough to have a relaxing life. (I know, I know, selfish is what this sounds like! Not only that, but I,m sure you think I'm some sort of pothetic lier.) MAY SOUND BORING TO MOST. But a DREAM to me!!!!
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