Once apon a time, when I was young and single I went to a Superbowl party with my friend. She is brilliant - degrees in neurology and electrical engineering brilliant and incredibly well grounded.
During the halftime show we started discussing the upcoming Powerball drawing. There was a jackpot of $300M or something and we all had plans for it. Someone asked me what I would do if I won and I told them that I would buy one of the old brownstone mansions in Boston's Back Bay that had been broken into apartments and I would restore it. My friend looked at me and said, "Back Bay? Really? Well I guess it is near all the subway lines."
I just looked at her until she realized that people who win $300 million don't take the subway.
Another time my husband and I were driving down the street when the song 'It's a beautiful morning' came on the radio. He truned to me and said, "If we won the lottery, my alarm clock would play this every morning."
"That's funny," I told him, "Because if I won the lottery, my alarm clock would play "It's a beautiful AFTERNOON - from the trashcan."
My friends are always shocked when I tell them that I play the lottery. "Put you're so practical and the odds are SO BAD." they say.
And I agree with them
But I don't think about it as an investment - that would be dumb. I think of it as entertainment; like going to the movies or cable tv or surfing the internet. For a $1 ticket I get to dream for 3 days about what it would be like to have enough money to spend every day with my children, to have the house of my dreams and to be able to travel, etc.
But even in my dreams I'm a planner. The first thing I do is find out how much the jackpot is. Then I calculate how much the one time payout would be after taxes. Then I calculate how much I would give to my family, how much I would give to charity, how much I would put into a trust fund for the kids, how much it would cost us to live - and only THEN do I think about spending a single frivolous dollar.
My husband takes a dreamier approach. Tonight he came home with 1 ticket for Powerball ($46M) and one ticket for MegaMillions ($86M.)
"Wouldn't it be nice" he asked me. "if we won them both?"
Were it not for dreamers, nothing would ever have been accomplished.
Posted by: Sherimcdonald | October 18, 2010 at 08:22 AM
My husband does the exact same calculations before he plans our relocation to Italy.
Posted by: red pen mama | October 18, 2010 at 08:33 AM
I think that's a pretty good way to look at the lottery. I have a vast collection of toys/figures/cards/ect. and I loo kat them rpetty much the same way.
Posted by: Sono | October 18, 2010 at 08:43 AM
I would just give it all to Tessa.
Posted by: Fred Miller | October 18, 2010 at 09:03 AM
My husband plays that $2k a week for life thing and has it mapped out to the last penny. Which is cute since we'd spend it all on a house and buckets of glitter, damnit.
Posted by: Elly Lou | October 18, 2010 at 09:11 AM
I've only bought a lottery ticket a handful of times, but I still ove to fantasize about what I would do with the dinero...
Posted by: That One Mom | October 18, 2010 at 09:42 AM
I like to play the Publisher's Clearing House. I just know they'll show up on my doorstep with that huge check one day. and then I'll pay off my student loans, buy a house, and take my friends traveling around the globe. then I'll buy a baby. because I've always wanted one of those.
Posted by: andygirl | October 18, 2010 at 02:07 PM
We play the lotto every now and then but not regularly. If we ever won, we would pay for a week-long Disney World vacation for all of our friends and family.
Posted by: TechyDad | October 18, 2010 at 04:05 PM
I LOVE the lottery! I play but never check my tickets - I hate hearing I've lost.
Once or twice a year I take my stack of unchecked tickets to the counter and usually take home enough for dinner and a movie.
It works out well.
L
Posted by: Lindsay Ann | October 18, 2010 at 08:33 PM
Lottery is a big part of my youth...My dad always asked me and my sister for numbers for pick 6 (NJ)...I think I was 6 years old and I gave my dad all the numbers but he only played half of my numbers...He always asked me after that but no luck..
Posted by: D H-Arza | October 19, 2010 at 12:58 PM
You know that saying "you gotta be in it to win it"?
Well, ok, buying a ticket in the lottery WOULD help me win it. And for you, I'm buying one for a 15 million jackpot tomorrow. Fingers crossed I'm your neighbour soon :P
Posted by: Paxochka | October 19, 2010 at 05:11 PM