“I don’t have to worry about the word ‘struggle’ no more, and neither do they,” she said. “I just want them to understand that money doesn’t change you, but it can help you, so they don’t have to worry about debt, none of that. They can go to college; they don’t have to worry about nothing. And I’m glad that I can do that for them.”
Such a strange juxtaposition. On one hand, she says money doesn’t change you. True. But then she said that her children won’t have to worry about debt any more. That’s false. If money doesn’t change you, and you’re in debt now, then you’ll find a way to get back in debt even after a $100 million+ payday.
Without the right mindset and habits around money, you will always be living paycheck to paycheck–no matter how big that paycheck is.
This woman seems likable enough–mother of 4, struggling financially–but she needs a reality check. She is currently unemployed and in debt. Her last jobs were at McDonald’s and Wal-Mart. It’s almost viewed as blasphemous in current society to say this, but this lady isn’t very intelligent. She needs to put that money in a spendthrift trust overseen by a skinflint attorney who has the guts to tell her no.
That’s about the best lottery winners can do for themselves: take away their own ability to blow all the money they won. But few have the self-restraint to so that. That’s why they’re poor and playing the lottery in the first place.
Lottery winners, NFL players, famous actors and musicians–these are all groups of people who get rich and go broke because of bad financial habits.
As I tell you all the time, you can put yourself in a different league if you just start saving money. Put $50 a month in a savings account, and you’re smarter than the lot of them. This will start you developing the mindset and habits required to grow wealth in the long run.
“I’m very, very grateful,” she said. “I’m ready to embrace the change.”
Why do I get the feeling she’s talking about something more than money here? Some subjective experience that isn’t for sale, but she somehow thinks money will buy for her?
This is high up on the list of lies we tell ourselves, and it goes hand-in-hand with the belief that we will get our financial house in order just as soon as we get that big break. The lie is that something personal will change when we are richer. But she needs to take her own advice: money won’t change you.
Here’s an exercise you can do right now: if you find yourself longing for money, ask yourself what is the experience you’re really after? A feeling of security? Freedom? Escape from obligations? Leaving a legacy for your children? Really flesh this out and get a handle on what you really want. Once you know that, you can act on it more intelligently than wishing for a windfall of cash to make it happen.
Do this, and you’ll be far happier than any lottery winner.