Idaho Lottery Winner Finds He has Many New Friends

A friend in Pocatello had a winning lottery ticket.  He woke up last week to discover that he had won $50,000 as the consolation prize in the latest Idaho Raffle.  He drove to Boise and was presented with a large ceremonial check, but the real one amounted to just over 35,000 dollars after taxes.  He decided to buy his fiancée a ring.  Jewelry isn’t cheap.  I was at a gas station and talked to a woman this week who told me her son went to buy a ring for his girl.  He had 400 dollars.  He was crushed when a jeweler laughed at him.  The last time I bought a ring for a woman (a dozen years ago), I spent 2,500 dollars.  Precious metals were cheaper at the time.

Headaches Ahead for Prize Winners

My friend will incur additional costs when it comes to marriage.  Probably a honeymoon, some furnishings, and maybe he wants to put some money away for a rainy day.  Good luck on that count, too, because he’s suddenly hearing from relatives and friends he hasn’t seen in years.  They now view him as a bank.  I remember reading a story about a woman who won a small jackpot 35 years ago, and she commented that people believe you’re walking around with a massive wad of cash in your wallet.

Nobody Owes You a Living

I’m not aware of any legal or moral requirement for sharing a small amount of good fortune with others.  You have the choice of giving your winnings away, but the wisest thing is to find a good money manager, and if it’s a larger prize, a lawyer as well.  If my buddy gets a big raise at work, would you demand that he share it with you?  By the way, he works hard.  He spent years working a graveyard shift in a mine in order to buy himself a modest home without a mountain of debt.  If some old buddies had followed his example, they wouldn’t need his money today.  He’s a nice guy, so he won’t tell them to get bent, but I’m not sure if he would be wrong in slamming the door.