Sensible Folk Should Not Read This Post
One of the aims of this blog is to educate you in thinking about money incorrectly. You heard it right... INcorrectly.
So why am I the best person to do this?
My views on handling money are somewhat unconventional - and I think this makes for a more interesting life. So instead of advising you to save all your money and live frugally, I suggest you splash out when you want to... buy whatever you want, live the life you want right now. You're a long time dead.
I wouldn’t make a very good budget advisor, would I?
Well, maybe I won't influence you as much as you think. Here's how I figure it...
If you're the kind of person who's going to spend lavishly, you will ignore my advice to put your money in the bank.Automatically you will put yourself in the correct camp without any direction from me.
And if you are a careful saver, there's no way that you will splurge your hard-earned savings on a Ferrari.
So what I'm about to say next will probably only makes sense to a small percentage of you who read this.
It's about how you handle your winnings.
Consider this: Many lotto winners are broke after a couple of years. Some take 5 years to do it.
Why? It's a combination of "sudden money" shock, combined with the fulfillment of years of dreaming finally made real. It's not only lotto winners that fall under this curse, but many others who acquire a large sum of money overnight.
A small number of sensible winners don't have that problem. The first thing they do after they win is visit a financial expert. These shinyshoed, pinstriped advisers will usually tell them to put most of the money away into a range of investments, and maybe spend 10% on themselves.
This is tremendously sensible advice, especially if the winners want to remain rich the rest of their life.
But it does take the fun away. Instead of splurging out immediately on your gated mansion with tennis court and heated pool, you're forced into waiting for your investments to mature before you can spend them. The years pass while you patiently wait for the interest to accumulate and your new life to begin.
Sounds a bit like real life, but without a win, doesn't it?
Now, some people may be happy with that, but I'm not. All my life I've tried to achieve beyond my grasp. Sometimes it's worked, many times it hasn't. My life has been a roller coaster ride of extremes that I still haven't learnt to cope with properly.
But you know what?
If I had my time again, I wouldn't trade the experiences for the world. I would never trade them for the boring, sedentary, plodding life of a sensible consumer. My life has been extreme - consisting of exotic cars, grand homes, travel to many countries, gadgets galore...
... and often - the worry of how I was going to cope with retirement.
Of course, as the years have passed, retirement is less of an issue. A successful internet business like mine can be automated to a large degree and provide cashflow for a long time without work.
While I still have sound mind and active body, I never intend to retire. I hope to write my last creditor's check on the day they put me in the box.
In the meantime I've had a great deal of enjoyment and done exciting things many people have never experienced.
So here's some advice from a lotto renegade to a winner... live your life as YOU want to.
PS. This post is not intended to replace sensible financial advice from a qualified professional. It comes from me, someone who has lived an exciting life to the full, and regrets nothing. You choose your own path.
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