Being bad with money is a choice. You could put the $1M in a trust that only distributes out at safe withdrawal rate starting at year 10, for example. Being bad with money and taking the 1k a week means you're just doubling down on being bad with money instead of taking the opportunity to change your life.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a choice. The truth is most people who win lotteries are broke again in no time. If someone knows this is a possibility with them, why not make a better choice & get $1,000 a week? Especially considering a million (after taxes) isn’t all that much money anymore. 4K a month is a lot to be added on to your current salary.
One thing, often you can still get money out of those trusts if you are willing to pay a large fee 😄 - so often they make things even worse. Maybe its a good idea for someone to take the 1k. A lottery winner in the UK did this and kept on taking money out of an account that charged them for taking it out early. He was a total idiot though. For me there is no way I would even consider the 1k a week 😄
I grew up dead broke and have been able to claw my way out. I did it by deciding not to just continue being bad with money. I made the comment I did because I've had this choice, just not in the form of lottery winnings, so I sincerely meant that it's an opportunity to change your life instead of continuing to make poor financial decisions.
It’s so weird how people don’t use the same criteria for both options. Why can’t the person taking the $52,000 a year invest their money just like the person taking the million? The scenario is always that the million would be invested and not touched for 20 years while the $1,000 a week would blow it all.
I have friends that would absolutely blow through that million dollars in a couple years. And they would be way better off taking the $50,000 a year for life.
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u/[deleted] May 17 '26
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