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Deleted member 28227
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Correct. What are your odds to roll one die with six sides and roll the 6 to win on your first roll? 1:6.
What if you can roll the die twice and need to get a six on either roll or both to win? 2:6 which is 1:3. Not 1:6 nor 1:5 nor 1:4.
Now, with the lottery there are more than 6 outcomes on one drawing. Whether 1 ticket is bought or 1000 are bought the expected outcome is basically still much less than you spent on the tickets. But, your odds to win the jackpot are 100% better when you buy a ticket.
I agree the math says to not pay the lottery. On the other hand, escapism for the time between ticket purchase to finding out if you have the winning ticket does provide entertainment value. My spouse asked me what would i do different if won a huge jackpot. My answer, sign the back of the ticket, cash in and then disappear if my state does not allow anonymous claiming of the jackpot.
We owe no one anything, are set for retirement, have some future inheritance coming and will never fear whether have a roof over our head and food in the refrigerator. I watched several friends self-destruct over the years. Some started out poor while others started out in very wealthy families. The odds for a spectacular failure in life was much higher from the pool of friends that were from wealthy families.
How to not screw up my family and the next generation or two? The median American household makes $78,000. Half of the households make more and half make less than $78,000. That includes a household that is one person and includes those with three generation under one roof. How do you get a 17 year-old excited about school when a trust is ticking in the near future that will hand over a lump of $1 million or hand over $100,000 a year for life?
My answer. You get the following deal. $25,000 a year in income from the trust when graduate from college or valid training program or join the military and from that point on you can also get $1 from the trust for every $1 you earn up to $250,000 a year for the next 10 years. Then nothing more. I want to promote investing in oneself rather than devaluing the pride one gets from working to make money.
People do this crap all the time, setting up trusts with incredibly condescending rules.
Between growing up outside of a ski town and going to a fancy east coast school my personal experience is those trust rules do jack shit beyond screwing up parent child relationships.
Some folks are driven some aren’t, some take that trust money and do amazing things at young ages, others get it at 45 and it’s gone by 50, and they are looking for handouts.
YMMV