$60M Lotto Max jackpot cheque makes 31 N.L. co-workers instant millionaires

[Slava]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

Bingo. That's the education part I was talking about. But when you go a step further and get even more education you learn that diversification is not the free lunch everyone thinks it is and you should be investing where the returns are. A balanced portfolio makes sense if you're not willing to know how to actively manage your dough.

Smart people, aka educated people, may have kept their stocks in 2009 but the huge majority of retail investors were punted. The only way to combat emotion is through knowledge. Buying anything, balanced or not, is a bad idea if you don't understand what you're doing.

Well that’s just plain not the case. Behavioural investors will tell you that you can combat cognitive biases with education, but in truth emotion is much more difficult. For most emotional biases (virtually all) you can mitigate or moderate these, but education won’t solve the problem. In other words, it’s not that people don’t realize that they should hold in the face of a market crash, but emotionally they still can’t make themselves do so. I have dealt with a lot of clients and you can see that clearly when you do. People will say things outright like “I know that I shouldn’t do this but...” or “I know you don’t agree with this, but...”

So yeah, it sounds great to pass that off as uneducated people, but I wouldn’t agree. And for a little context here, the latest Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders came out last weekend. One of the parts that is most impressive is the chart that Buffett has where he shows the declines in value of the shares. Some are just plain crushing. The mental fortitude and ability to hold regardless of the losses is impressive! With the benefit of hindsight bias we can say it was the right decision, but as you know, those decisions are made without that benefit and it’s much more difficult!

[snootchiebootchies]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

Bingo. That's the education part I was talking about. But when you go a step further and get even more education you learn that diversification is not the free lunch everyone thinks it is and you should be investing where the returns are. A balanced portfolio makes sense if you're not willing to know how to actively manage your dough.

"The goal of investment is to find situations where it is safe not to diversify” - Charlie Munger

[puffnstuff]

Why would a person buy a house for a relative with lottery winnings? Wouldnt it make more sense to buy a house, their house they currently live in, and then just rent it to them for some nominal monthly fee. You own the house, they save the money they would paying on a mortgage. If You spend the rest of your money like a drunken monkey and go broke, you would still own the house and be able to sell it if you have to.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'd be on a plane to wherever hours after picking up the cheque.

I think with a few million handy I'd be in a position to make that happen.

"Hi honey! Yeah, so I bought Djibouti. I'm a warlord now. Apparently. So far its going well."

You should have to forfeit all your winnings if you didn't end that conversation by saying, "I bought Djibouti. Now, get yo' booty on a plane and get over here."

[Hockey Fan #751]

If I won $2 million, I'd just buy $2 million worth of bitcoins. What can go wrong?

[Roof-Daddy]

With a couple million in winnings I'd pay off my debts, set up a payment plan to pay the rest of mortgage off in 5-7 years.

I'd keep working, but not as much and I'd do more stuff on my days off, like travelling etc.

[lazypucker]

If I had won the jackpot, I wouldn't be here talking to idiots on an internet forum.

But unfortunately, I am still here talking on an internet forum.....

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

If I had won the jackpot, I wouldn't be here talking to idiots on an internet forum.

But unfortunately, I am still here talking on an internet forum.....

And then we could've invited you to the special non-idiots part of CP.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

And then we could've invited you to the special non-idiots part of CP.

[Regular_John]

At one of my previous gigs there was apparently a lottery winner amongst the staff at the head office. Other than buying a luxury condo close to the office and taking pretty baller vacations he didn't change his life all that much from what I hear.

Personally I'd keep working... but I'd take a big step back and decide what kind of work I wanted to do. Once you reach the point where money isn't a factor in why you work, you have a ton more freedom to decide what you want to do.

Go work for that risky start up, run an un-profitable photo studio, heck volunteer your time to a non-profit. Whatever keeps you motivated & engaged every day. If after traveling the world and drinking the finest of wines you decide your old job was an AOK way to spend your days... well that's ok to.

But yeah, I'd buy a nice place closer to the office and cut my commute down to minutes.

[Nufy]

I only have mortgage debt so a couple mill would have me dancing out the door on the way to retirement.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Nufy

I only have mortgage debt so a couple mill would have me dancing out the door on the way to retirement.

I've seen you dance. Its not a pretty sight.

[Nufy]

That wasn't a dance..I was drunk...