People Imagine The Cover Stories They'd Tell If They Won The Lottery To Hide Their Wealth
"Reddit user divorced_dad_670 asked: 'Powerball is currently at 1.4b, if you won, what is your cover story as to why you’ve suddenly gained so much wealth?'"
Who hasn't, at one time or another, dreamed about hitting the lottery big time?
When you do lotto research (as I frequently have), you learn the best thing for you is anonymity.
Hiding your fortune is one of the best ways to stay alive!
That's not a dramatic statement.
There are horror stories surrounding lotto winners.
Money changes everything, so keep your secrets.
Redditor divorced_dad_670 wanted to hear about how creative people would get to make sure nobody knew they were super rich, so they asked:
"Powerball is currently at 1.4b, if you won, what is your cover story as to why you’ve suddenly gained so much wealth?"
I have thought long and hard about how I'm going to win the lottery and how I will hide it.
I'm clearly not alone as may Redditors have their own plans.
Out West
Farm Workers Food GIF by Denyse®Giphy"No cover story. I'd tell no one. Then I'd move to a ranch in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Northwest, and spend the rest of my days riding dirt bikes and gardening."
Clintman
Fists Up
"Keep working for a week or two. Get more and more angry. Get in a fight with someone and get fired, never to be heard from again. No one will miss me."
dr_xenon
"I would totally miss you, dude. I feel like we are kindred spirits, you and I. And I would never let a kindred spirit miss out on a prime business opportunity like the one I am about to tell you."
TigLyon
"Bro, for 10k, I'll start the fight with you, and you can leave because of a hostile work environment. Then in 6 months when you blow it all, you can come back to work and I'll apologize."
spenser1994
Spend Less
"If people have realized I've gained obscene wealth, I've failed already."
thoawaydatrash
"The only way to really tell is if you go straight Hollywood baller route. I remember 50 Cent saying you don't want a house that big. If you think s**t I don't want to walk all the way down there it's too big."
Klashus
"This. I would absolutely not tell anyone, keep working, pay off my house and car (and not tell anyone), (secretly) invest, and keep my mouth shut."
AnAntsyHalfling
Remember
"Bought Bitcoin early. Forgot password. Remembered password."
savethearthdontbirth
"This sort of happened to me. I got tipped $1 in Bitcoin years ago because of some stupid comment here on Reddit. I forgot about it for years until Bitcoin was actually worth something. Sold that little bit for ~$300! Most forgettable comment I’ve ever made on here, but the most profitable!"
Vefantur
Be Gone
"I won the Powerball. I'm disconnecting my number. You won't be able to reach me. If I want to reach you, I'll send a helicopter. Lol, get screwed, nerds."
"Vanishes in a cloud of smoke which cost me $230,000 to have set up!"
d**k_for_hire
A big, splashy peace out "I QUIT" MOMENT can be a lot of fun.
Fools...
Diva Hello GIF by WHOLLY GUACAMOLEGiphy"I'd tell people I stopped buying avocado toast based on a story on the news - next thing I knew it I had a ton of extra cash."
random-idiom
Making a Family
"I’d immediately start some bogus MLM, and begin soliciting anyone who asked about my money. I know I haven’t seen you since high school, but I’d like to talk to you about an exciting business opportunity. We’re more of a family than a team, really. If you’re a go-getter, you’re exactly who we’re looking for. #Bossbabe #MyownCEO #IDidYouCanToo."
Nwcray
"This is actually genius. People will think you're swimming in debt to sell the idea, when in fact, you're swimming in cash 😂."
69stangrestomod
Florida Issues
"I would say I sold all my crypto. Those who say they didn't know I was in crypto I would say yeah I didn't want to talk about it because too many crypto bros out there ruined talking about it. Florida releases the names of winners 90 days after they claim it. So the lie is not going to work for long. I would have isolated myself by then so it's not like I will need to worry about people showing up where I live and work asking for money."
"Apparently a corporation, trust, non-profit, partnership, or estate can claim lottery winnings in Florida. I was told many years ago that you had to claim it yourself. That's great to know I don't have to claim it myself. I'm still concerned it would get out that I won. That would be a nice worry to have compared to worries I am dealing with."
Orcus424
BOOM!!
"When a colleague who ran our work lottery syndicate decided it was our turn to win, he said we should figure out how we were going to quit."
"His plan was supposedly to blow the south wall off the open plan office all the programmers use, hire a helicopter with some sort of harness arrangement, and the London symphony orchestra to play him away from the car park with Ode to Joy as he disappeared backward on his harness over the city under the helicopter with two fingers up at the building the whole time. I wish he’d won, he was just crazy enough to have possibly done it."
JT_3K
Karma
"I will ask everyone I know if I can borrow money. Every single person will be asked for an amount that will be enough that they don't say yes instantly but not so large they can't afford it. If I barely know you maybe I ask to borrow $40. If you're my parents I ask for $10k. I write down every single person's response. When I am later asked for anything I will reply with that exact answer."
nevetscx1
Simple Plans
signing season 3 GIFGiphy"No cover story. You call an accountant, a lawyer, and a financial advisor. You move states and claim the ticket after you have moved."
-brokenbones-
Money is fantastic but it can be dangerous.
Lessons learned.
Do you have any fantasies about winning the lotto? Let us know in the comment below.
Friends Of People Who Won The Lottery Describe What Happened After They Got The Money
Most of us have had one of those fantasies about all the magical things we would do if we won the lottery, like starting an antique car collection, buying a mansion, or even more humbly paying off their or their family's debt.
But most of us have limited knowledge about what it's actually like to win the lottery or what their lives look like after winning.
Redditor RivalxGames asked:
"Have you ever actually met or known someone who has won the lottery? What happened to them?"
Cottage Core
"Friends of ours won 30 million dollars. They took a group of us on vacation. Then they bought a cottage and built a house."
"Not much really changed. They are doing great."
- Blondefarmgirl
Responsible Purchases
"My MIL (Mother-in-Law) won $33k on a scratch-off. She paid off some debt and got new windows installed on her house. The new windows in an 1890s farmhouse are amazing, don't think I've seen a happier woman!"
- CaseyBoogies
Spending Where It Matters
"I knew a welder who won a 30 million jackpot."
"He retired, bought two Ford GTs, and spends his time doing yard work, playing low-stakes poker tournaments, and raising his two young kids."
"His wife bought a crib from me used for their second child."
- PigStickerOnStone
Two Kinds of People
"I've known two people who won, actually."
"One was a friend of mine in high school who won $15k on a scratch-and-win. She rented a house downtown and threw a party."
"Somebody said I should stop by and check in on her, because they'd been down to the party and hardly recognized anybody."
"Sure enough, I got there, my friend met me at the door, put waaay too much money in my hands, and told me to go get a bottle of wine. She just partied with whoever was around until it was gone, which took about three weeks."
"Next was a friend of mine from Toronto who is mostly known for doing zombie walks. She won a 'cash for life' dealio and I think it's around ten thousand a month. She bought a theremin and started making 50s-style monster movies and is generally living a high-rolling rockabilly lifestyle."
- greihund
It's All About the Goats
"My neighbor won the lottery in his sixties, it was something like 1.2 million in the late '90s. We lived in a trailer park in a rural part of the US, a pretty low-cost-of-living area so the money stretched pretty far."
"He bought his trailer and land outright with the money and pretty much just spent every day drinking on his porch and yelling at his goats."
"If I remember correctly, he used a good chunk of what he won to put his son and grandkids through college. Died of liver failure at 85 or something. Not a terrible way to do it, all said and done."
- Kahazzarran
Oh, the Irony
"A neighbor won a few million, built an old folks home, named it after his mother, and she refused to live there."
- pascontent
People Letting Their True Colors Show
"Someone got 30k or something. Not too much, not too less. She got a lot of hate for not 'sharing her riches' whatever the f**k that means."
- Eveleyn
Family Matters
"I did see news footage before of someone in the US, I believe, who won a huge amount but somehow they worked it out that they could wear a 'Scream' mask or some sort of Halloween mask to the check pick up and photo session. And I can't blame that person at all."
"My favorite was I saw a legit story about an older woman who lived in a trailer park who won several million at least in the lottery."
"Her kids quietly moved her out of the trailer once they saw the ticket at her place and knew she won, they found her a new home in some retirement condo community that was nice with extra amenities and they packed all her stuff up for her. Whatever they didn't take from her trailer they just donated out and sold for her and sold the trailer off."
"Because they did not want her going back there after everybody found out she won all that money, especially when she was older and more likely to be manipulated with sob stories or demands."
"Some of the neighbors went on about how sad they were they never got to say goodbye and fair game, I can believe the odd one was sad. But I suspect most were sad they didn't get to see her to ask for a cut of that money or ask her if she could just help them all out."
- Dancingskeletonman86
Bragging Rights
"Technically, a kid from school's parents won a few hundred thousand. His parents were chill, and acted like they had the same money as before, but the kid was acting like a baller."
BaldEaglz1776
Romanticizing Life
"My aunt's husband won $36 million. They bought property and traveled. He liked to fish and drink and build stuff. He passed away three years ago, but he was an awesome dude."
Unable-Astronaut-677
Keeping It Simple
"I know two people who have won significant sums (well, significant for me)."
"The first guy won $100k back in the early 2000s. He and his wife agreed to split it between them. She bought a car. He slowly lost most of his half over the course of a couple of years playing in poker tournaments."
"The other people aren't friends, but I see them a few times a year. They won $61 million in 2013. They bought a home i my mom's neighborhood (lakeside property, but priced in the $200k - $500k range back in 2013, depending on which lot)."
"I'd met them several times before finding out that they were 'screw you' rich. You'd never know they were more than a regular retired couple who had enough money in the bank to take cruises and such. They are some of the most down-to-earth people I know; nice cars, but nothing fancy, etc."
- Nythoren
Blasts from the Past
"I had a patient, a hairdresser who owned her own shop, who won about 6 million. Her winnings were announced in the local newspaper."
"She consulted the right professionals, worked a plan to sell her salon, and mapped a way to retire on her winnings without a change in her lifestyle."
"But she told me that she had old boyfriends, and even guys that barely knew her in high school, who called her with some variation of, 'You know, I always loved you...'"
"She just laughed and blew them off."
- Earguy
An Epic Pizzy Party
"I worked with a guy who won like $3k/week for life on a scratch-off. He continued working for like six months before he bought a truck and went and lived the O/O life in the oil fields of North Dakota. He bought everyone pizza on his last day."
- 0100100012635
Keeping It Humble
"A friend won 1 million. They paid off their house. Saved for their kids' education and basically don’t live paycheque to paycheque anymore. Both of them still work full-time."
- hornblower_83
That Darn Pandemic
"I met a girl at a party shortly after the pandemic who won 1 million pounds. She won it about six months before the pandemic hit. Her parents are already millionaires and her dad convinced her to put more than half of it into reliable stocks."
"She also planned a huge family holiday all around Asia... Well, the pandemic hit, canceled the holiday and disintegrated all her shares."
"She said she bought a house for 200k, a new car for 20k and she has about 100k left, and still has her same job."
- TheBrazenBeast
While some of these were extravagant by everyday standards, most of them were heartwarming in how the person continued to lead a simple, if not also humble, life after winning a large cash prize.
It's a great reminder that while money can afford someone stability, that money doesn't necessarily equate with happiness.