I was watching the news, and I learned that people are now swarming to play the Lotto (lottery) because the grand prize now reaches to whopping ONE HUNDRED SIXTY THREE MILLION PESOS!! (PHP 163,000,000.00).
The reporter went around to ask Lotto players what are they going to do with the money in case they won the jackpot:
Player 1: “Take my kids to school and will buy a house.”
Player 2: “Buy delicious foods and relocate my parent’s grave.”
Player 3: “Enroll my kids to school, celebrate, and give some (balato) to my neighbors.”
I was surprised that none of them answered that they’re going to invest their money or put up a business.
Perhaps there’s a lot of factors why most Lotto winners or instant millionaires loses their money, but I think it all boils down to 2 things: lack of education and bad attitude towards money. Read some of their stories here.
“For many people, sudden money can cause disaster,” says Susan Bradley – a certified financial planner in Palm Beach, Fla., and founder of the Sudden Money Institute.
Lack of education or, more specifically, lack of financial literacy tend to lead instant millionaires astray. Most of them will not have any idea what to do with their sudden gush of cash. Investing and putting up a business may intimidate them and make them feel unsecured. And that paying dept, buying houses and cars are the most rewarding or, shall I say, safest thing to do with their money.
Another thing is instant millionaires have this bad attitude toward money. After winning the lottery, they tend to have this “I should enjoy my money first” way of thinking. There’s nothing wrong about enjoying your luck money, but I think “over” enjoying it is another story. They’ll spend like crazy as if their money is unlimited. Then at the end, their adversary is Contentment.
But there’s an even worst attitude towards money: Those who gamble their money. Well, perhaps what they say is true: “It’s easier to spend the money that you didn’t work for.”
Read Matthew 25:14-30 of the Holy Bible for a guide on the right attitude towards money/resources.
Before ending this post, let me share you a very old but very inspiring quote about lottery:
“You are 6 to 45 times more likely to die from a lightning strike than you would be to win the lottery.”
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You make an excellent point here. I was talking about this with one of my teachers the other day and he said that (was it 1/3?) anyway most people who win the lotto, declare bankruptcy because they don’t know what to with.
Over celebrating is what most American do now a days, and because of this we are the farthest in debt. People need to be more educated on matters such as these and invest money rather than spending it all.
-Izzy
I can certainly understand your view, but I think people just wish they could have what they never had before. For example, if I were to play lotto, which I don’t, and I won, I would most certainly buy a Ferrari 308GTB. It cost about 40,000 dollars U.S. It would be an unsound choice of how to spend the money, but when else would I have the chance to own it?
After reading the parable in Matthew 25, I don’t think he was actually talking about how to spend money,lol.
Anyway, good post, thought provoking.
@Izzy: Thanks for your point Izzy. ^^ Hmm.. I think I need to research whether what type of people are actually playing the lotto. I’m quite positive that if a business owner won the lottery, the odds of him getting bankrupt is very slim. What do you think?
@Mr. New Dilemma: That’s exactly the point. As Izzy said, instant millionaires tend to “over” celebrate and buy all the things they have dreamed of. The next thing they know they have already overspent and on the verge of bankruptcy. One thing leads to another
In Matthew 25, it’s not talking how to spend money but having the right attitude towards money. What will you do with your money? Make it grow by investing or putting up a business. Or just dug it to a hole?
I’m sorry if it’s not that clear, but I hope you got the point.
Thanks very much for your comment. Visited your site and it’s nice.
“I was watching the news, and I learned that people are now swarming to play the Lotto (lottery) because the grand prize now reaches to whopping ONE HUNDRED SIXTY THREE MILLION PESOS!! (PHP 163,000,000.00).”
What country are you reporting from? Chile, Columbia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the Philippines, Uruguay, ALL use Pesos! After looking over the list at:
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic
the ONLY reason why I know you’re talking about the Philippines is because you mentioned PHP. The next time you mention Pesos, you should also include “the Philippines” so your readers don’t have to go off site.
I also did the conversion from the above site and here are the results as of Monday, June 8, 2009:
163,000,000 Philippine Peso = 3,475,222 US Dollar
You probably should have done this for reference to your USA readers since your page is in English. 163 Million PHP Pesos sounds like a lot, but for USA readers, $3.5 Million is actually a small jackpot.
@Lotto_Player: Thank you for your concern, but PHP is indeed the official code for Philippine peso. I’m sorry for the hassle to go off site, I’ll surely take note that.
In any case, it may seem $3.5 Million is a small jackpot, but this amount can surely change one’s life dramatically.
Peace.
hi, i agree with your post. majority of Filipinos would instantly buy things they can’t afford once winning the lottery. honestly even me, when i win i will probably buy a house for my family and my parents. but investing is a must to keep your money and have it for long term. my plans include buying a property i can convert to an apartment complex which i can have it rented so i will have a constant income monthly. invest it also in drinking water business because i believe water is a necessity and will always be a primary need. how about you, what will be your investments?
@ lemuel: Your future investments sounds good. I always wanted to invest my money in properties, but I also consider expanding our transportation and automotive business. And perhaps I would invest a on my blog or my future online ventures
as I always dreamed of becoming a big time internet entrepreneur. 
you have an automotive business? what kind? i read somewhere you are in quezon city. you are right, i think investing online is good right now as long as it is legal and not get-rich-quick money making schemes. do you have another site other than this? i remembered your post before that this site is pagerank 2. is it rank 3 now?
@lemuel: Yep I’m in automotive and transportation business. We’ll be opening a car dealership this August. So watch out for that
The company is Great Wall Motors, chinese cars. Though it’s a chinese brand, we’re quite impressed with their line up. They recently tied up with Chrysler. You can visit their site if you want: http://gwm.com.cn/eng
Yeah, I’m still sticking to blogs and probably online stores in the future. I would like also to learn how to invest and selling domains and keywords.
Yep as of now this is my only site. yeah I already reach PR 3, but unfortunately it went back to PR2 after I did a little paid posting.
huhu the advertiser required do-follow links grr.. Well, I already moderated those paid post, and thinking of not doing any paid posts anymore.
How come you’re not posting my comments? You’re too much of a fascist blogger for me to participate. I won’t be returning.
@Lotto_Player: With due respect, I post every comments I received. I can’t understand why wouldn’t I post your comment/s. How many comments did you post if I may ask? Because I only received one comment from you and it is reflected here. I even made a reply to your comment. Kindly double check.
Guys can you please help me? Is his earlier comment not posted here? Can anyone see it? or I’m the only one who can see it?
Thanks a lot!
Sorry about my angry outburst. I tried 10 times to post a comment but for some reason your site wouldn’t take it. I even modified it several times but no luck. There might be something in my text which your site doesn’t like. I used IE6-SP1 and FireFox 2.0.0.11. I just tried again but it’s just not taking my text.
JeD, if you’re reading this it’s because I removed the California lotto website address which your site doesn’t like:
I am not going to make any plans because, well, I haven’t won. LOL. The odds of winning the lotto are pretty lousy. I think most Americans would call them dreams, if you want to be more exact.
I typically play the California SuperLotto Plus game when the jackpot goes above USD 20 Million. This reduces the number of times I play (which saves me money). The jackpot was USD 39 Million on Saturday. There was one winner. It starts at 7 Million and has gone as high as 99 Million.
I avoid the 11 state Mega Millions game unless the jackpot goes above USD 200 Million which it rarely does. The odds of the Mega game are a ridiculous 176 million to 1 against you.
I also play the Fantasy 5 game which has better odds than the above 2 games when the jackpot goes above USD 170,000 (about once a week).
@Lotto_Player: No worries, everything is cool ^^v I’m glad that you can now post comments on my blog. If you experience it again, you can email me here: jedwardchan@gmail.com . Forgive me I haven’t fixed my contact form yet.
You’re always welcome here.
I hope everything is alright now. God Bless!
@Lotto_Player: Hey it seems that you’re really having fun playing lotto. Wow! that the jackpot in your country is sick! If it will be converted to Philippine peso, whew! perhaps a person can just be a couch potato for years!
Hmm..what is your day job if I may ask? Are you playing lotto as one of your hobby/vices, or you’re really after for the money?
Well, it seems some lotto players are just playing with their luck for fun. I can remember when my aunt were watching the lotto game as if it is a regular sitcom.
How much have you invested in playing lotto?
Thanks so much for giving us such valuable information Lotto_Player. We wish you luck on your next game. God Bless!
JeD,
yes, as you can see, the jackpots in California are huge and almost all of the other 49 states in the USA also have a lottery. Despite what you hear in the news, there’s still plenty of money here. Someone in the USA becomes a millionaire, for one reason or another, every day. There’s so much money here that teenagers, when they run out of minutes on their cellphones, simply throw them away and buy new ones instead of buying more minutes. National restaurant chains give away free food all across the country. The government gives citizens new homes for free. America is still the land of milk and honey.
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration which I received at a USA university where the tuition was minimal, virtually free. While the old saying that “America’s streets are paved with gold” may not be true, it certainly is true that money still flows freely here, virtually falling from the skies. In America, there have been traffic jams caused by people picking up money thrown on the freeways.
The lotto for me is really just a hobby and a perhaps a vice, depending on how you look at it. I wouldn’t call it “investing” because of the odds. I haven’t really kept track on how much I spend but it’s not that much.
It’s really just an interesting pastime which doesn’t consume much time since all I need do is click on a link on my browser to see what the current jackpot is. If you want to see the California Lotto site is, here it is. Take away all the “_”‘s and change the “DOT” to a “.”: _c_a_l_o_t_t_e_r_y_DOT_c_o_m_. Click on each game to obtain more information. I cannot give you the direct links to the games because your site does not allow it.
@Lotto_Player: Thanks so much, your giving us very insightful information.
Well yeah, a lot of Filipinos are actually going out of the country to find greener pastures. A lot of them are dreaming to go to America because of the said opportunities and, well, for the milk and honeys. It is like the promised land for them, you know what I’m saying.
Oh really?? Teenagers throwing away their phones? Are they the ones paying for that or their parents? Well, I think even I have the resources I won’t just throw away my phone like that.
I love our country, I really do. I think we have a very great land. I think the only problem is the government.
I really salute how the government of America is giving their utmost services to the people. You can’t find anything free here now, in fact more paying and taxes are just going up.
Throwing money on the street? You’re kidding right?
Traffic here in the Philippines just suck up your time and money. In one research I’ve read, we are actually millions or perhaps billions because of traffic – considering all factors. Perhaps it’s because more and more cars are on the streets, and streets are getting narrower. Another is discipline.
So are you still studying right now? Love it, how you studied with minimal tuition.
Well, I think that’s good. I think the value you spent for lotto is actually for the “fun” factor. Aside from money, more importantly you had fun playing lotto.
Thanks so much! Just visited the site. The gallery actually showcases the winner.. Whew! So much money! I wonder how many times they’ve bet before they won millions.
Have a good one. ^^v
I just won the lottery! No really I have the bonus number too!
First thing I going do is fast and pray about what to do with it all.
I hope to make wise choices, but am still in shock I triple checked.
I was about to chuck my lotto ticket, when I realised I hadn’t bothered checking it. That was 20 mins ago, I am home alone with my hamster milo. I don’t know what to say, I only played the lottery randomly without thinking a few times b4.
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