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The two biggest problems I've faced because my sister won tens of millions of dollars in the lottery are 1) Not being able to blog about it so that she could retain some sort of privacy 2) Trying to blog about it several years later.
OK the not blogging about it wasn't TOO hard. I do have the ability to keep my fingers off of the keys. I wanted to blog it but that desire faded pretty quickly because of the reactions of the few people I told about it. A couple of days after I found out, I told my co-workers before the start of a phone conference and the response was both surprising and troubling to me and went something like this:
Me: My sister won XX million dollars in the lottery last week.
Coworker: OMG, you're kidding? OMG, when are you quitting your job and who can we hire to replace you?
Me: Umm no I'm not kidding and I said my SISTER won the lottery, not me. I won't be quitting my job.
Coworker: Well why not? She's going to share it with you, that's what lottery winners do!
Me: Ummm, it is? Well, I don't know what she's going to do but it's her money and no I'm not quitting my job.
Coworker: That's crazy.
Me: [nervous laughter]
The discussions I had with friends and coworkers tended to go along in that vein for a good long while and they made me very uncomfortable. They also caused me to stop and think about my pat response to the "What would you do if you won the lottery?" question that has inundated online communities since the dawn of online communities. My answer has always been...
I'd buy a house only a tiny bit bigger than the house I'm living in now. I'd set up trusts for my kids. I'd give the rest away to family, friends and causes I cared about. And then, I'd simply live the way I've been living. No trips around the world, no quitting my job, no new expensive cars, no diamonds or new wardrobes.
That's a pretty typical answer from my experience with this question and online communities. There are some variations, but generally it's the take care of your immediate needs, splurge on something awesome, and then share it with those you care about and just keep on living your life. But would that be what my sister and my brother in law decided to do with their winnings? I'll be honest and say that TW and I and my big kids spent a lot of time in those early days wondering what they would do with it. It's a much more interesting topic when it's a family member who was photographed holding that huge lottery check.
It's also a much more sensitive topic. I can go from criticizing my sister for her spending to praising her for her thriftyness - all in the same conversation. It was that way in the first six months after the money was in their hands and it is that way today - several years later.
I've learned a lot about myself and how I feel about money by being the big sister of a lottery winner. My answer to the "What would you do if you won the lottery?" question has changed quite a bit because I've watched my sister make choices that I both agree completely with and disagree completely with. I've seen her change and I've seen how she has stayed the same. I don't know for sure, 100%, nobody truly knows until it happens to them but here's my new answer to that question...
I'd pay off my bills. I'd buy a house a little bit bigger than I'm living in now. I'd set my kids up with a SMALL amount of money to help them in emergencies. I'd share a percentage with my immediate family members and a few close friends (taking the IRS and its' "gift rules" into consideration.) I'd donate a percentage of my wealth every year to causes I care about. And I would invest the rest very, very wisely. I would NOT give it all away to friends and family and causes I care about. And, as much as I love my job - I'd probably have to leave it because people treat you differently
