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USA Today reports that Mega Millions has hit a $1 billion jackpot - which is the largest Mega Millions prize ever. The article recognises that hitting those six lucky numbers will forever change your life. But how?
We have all heard stories about how some lucky lottery winners are not so lucky after all. Unprepared for sudden wealth, some solo winners squander their winnings, have friends and relatives come out of the woodwork demanding a slice of the pie, or buckle under the pressure of a financial windfall they are ill-equipped to handle.
When tickets are purchased as a team, such as through workplace office pools, winnings can be tied up in litigation for years without any of the winners ever seeing a dime. Far from the lighthearted jokes cracked beforehand about "not showing up on Monday," lawsuits over lottery winnings drag on through endless motions, court appearances, and arguments over who put in what amount and when, who only ponied up the cash before a jackpot "rolled over" to create even bigger odds, and consequently, who deserves how much of the award.
Stereotypes and horror stories aside, how do lottery winners really behave?
Research results may surprise you. From a psychological perspective, we can all agree money can never make anyone happy. But it can definitely make life easier for many people - assuming they seek out or already possess the means to manage it. Many lottery winners, having grown wise through watching how sudden wealth has adversely impacted others, try as hard as they can to keep a cool head in deciding how to spend (or save) newly acquired financial abundance.
In Becoming a Winner But Staying the Same: Identities and Consumption of Lottery Winners, Bengt Larsson found that contrary to the myth of lottery winners escaping current circumstances and becoming "someone else somewhere else," in reality, lottery winners generally remain the same-except for indulging in higher levels of consumption. Larsson concluded that receiving large winnings is generally accompanied with an effort to maintain identity and social relationships.
Think if you hit the jackpot you would end up leaving town and buying a yacht in the South of France? Think again. Believe it or not, research reveals that many lottery winners would choose to keep working. Research by Bengt Furaker and Anna Hedenus found that a significant amount of lottery winners stayed in their same jobs. In their study, they found that less than 12 per cent of winners quit working, and about 24 per cent of participants took full-time unpaid leave. Of those who continued to work, 16 per cent reduced their working hours, and 62 per cent did not make any changes.
Winning the lottery does not generally eliminate the desire to earn a living through employment. The size of the winnings, however, did have a significant impact on decisions to reduce work hours, and take unpaid leave. Nonetheless, it is heartening to know that so many people choose to adopt sensible financial strategies to manage their winnings that that manage wealth while maintaining relationships.
And of course, if you are holding a ticket for the big drawing - good luck!
-Psychology Today
Wendy Patrick is a career trial attorney, author of Red Flags, and co-author of Reading People
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