Featured Advisor
Ed Meek founded Edge Portfolio in 2005. Prior to that he was the Senior Financial Consultant and Account Executive at Fidelity Investments Private Access Group, Oak Brook for 11 years. In his downtime, Ed enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids, playing and following basketball, playing golf and participating as an advisory board member for Breakthrough Urban Ministries.
Srbo Radisavljevic joined Edge Portfolio in Jan 2011. Prior to joining Edge, Srbo was the founder and...
Winning the lottery is an irresistible fantasy, but would it change how you live? Would frugality triumph over temptation? A majority of U.S. adults would like to think they could continue to live normally, according to a new CouponCabin.com survey.
More than three-quarters of Millionaires surveyed by Millionaire Corner attribute their wealth to frugality. But newfound riches have a way of changing people. Just ask Evelyn Adams, a New Jersey woman who squandered much of her $5.4 million on gambling and reckless spending. Or Jeffrey Dampier, an Illinois man, who won $20 million and whose generosity toward family and friends was rewarded with his kidnapping and murder by a jealous sister-in-law and her boyfriend. Or Willie Hurt, who won $3.1 million in the Michigan Lottery, but who, within two years, had divorced his wife and lost custody of his children.
But that would never happen to you, right? According to the CouponCabin survey, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) said they would be extremely or very likely to continue to live frugally, while 55 percent would still be extremely or very likely to use coupons (this is a CouponCabin survey, after all).
The odds of winning the lottery are astronomical, of course. It has been estimated that you have a better chance of dating a supermodel, dying from a lightning strike or becoming president of the United States. And yet, an estimated 37 percent of U.S. adults buy lottery tickets at least sometimes. Men are more likely to buy a lottery ticket than women (42 percent vs. 32 percent). To their credit, Millennials are less likely than baby boomers ages 55 and up to purchase a lottery ticket (28 percent vs. 41 percent).
But what would you do if you won? CouponCabin’s random survey summoned a variety of responses, most of which are admirably practical, philanthropic, and high-minded. Some, though, could be trouble…. :
