10 Ways to Win the Lottery…April Fools! – FT004

Posted on Fri April 1, 2011Sun December 28, 2014 by Jim Collison

Jim Collison and Andrew Hunt are together again for the April Fools edition of the Financial Tech Podcast. In a jam packed podcast, we cover some tips and tricks to winning the lottery without ever playing it! This could be the best 30 minutes of your day.

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10 Ways to Win the Lottery…April Fools! – FT004

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“Once I win the Lottery…”
I think we have all heard it said before: “Once I win the lottery, then I can do…”
Wouldn’t that be great!? Winning the lottery – wow that would be cool.
·         The odds of winning the Powerball: 76,275,360 to 1.
·         The odds of getting struck by lightning once in a life time: 3,000 to 1
·         The odds of getting struck by lightning twice: 9,000,000 to 1
WHAT!? You are more likely to get hit by lightning twice than winning the Powerball!
So let’s say that you do win the lottery…
It probably won’t end well.
·         Researchers at Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh studied the Florida lottery.
·         Looked at 35,000 winners who won between $600 and $150,000 from 1993 to 2002
·         They found the 5.5% filed for bankruptcy within 5 years of winning. Large winners were just as likely to file as small winners
Why is this?
Money does not change who you are… it simply magnifies your relationship to money!
So if winning the lottery can’t even help us achieve our dreams then what’s a guy supposed to do?
Create your own luck by saving each month.
·         Pay yourself first – create automatic ways to save before you pay any other bills
·         Use Insured Savings Accounts, Qualified Retirement Plans, and Brokerage accounts
But how much do you need to save to reach your goals?
Recent study by Wade Pfau:
If you save for 30 years and plan on having 30 years of retirement you need to save 16.6% of your salary each year to ensure your goal!
So what are the take-a-ways?
1. Pay yourself first
2. Have a goal of saving 16.6% of your salary each year
3. Playing the lottery is a waste of time, money, and emotion – Create your own lottery!
4. Achieve your dreams by making it automatic.
Sure we can talk about some of the goal setting websites out there such as:
www.lifetick.com
www.goalforit.com
www.habitforge.com